Kalima and traditional healing

     The “Kalima” is blowing, a very strong wind coming from the Sahara with a lot of dust and burning everything, extracting the water out of everything it can find. De wind blows trough our little house, blows away the chairs in the garden, makes the electric wires sing and sweeps the branches and you can see the leaves becoming brown and curling up.
Apparently there has been a lot of wind this summer and no rain that is why everything looks so dead and brown.
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     Nonetheless I feel happy inside, a special kind of quiet joy. There is no need to move around anymore. Last year I did photograph every detail on the island, did explore all it’s corners. Now I can just be here and have time to feel what is happening inside. Knowing and feeling that the nature around me is so extremely strong and rough gives me a very happy, spacious and free feeling. Also the very basic and simple life we have here is just fine.

     Yesterday someone told me some interesting information about traditional forms of healing here with prayer and giving energy with the hands. About dealing with demons and the evil eye. It is interesting that demons are understood as repetitious clusters of negative thoughts which start to live al life on it’s own because the person gives them his or here emotional energy. And then the demon makes him or her suffer or even makes him or her physically ill. Then the demon has to be chased away with prayers, new intentions, energy healing and healing herbs.
As a psychologist I think that the description of demons is very accurate.
      These forms of healing can integrate religious elements, like the form of prayers used, but are older than religion. For me this all sounds very familiar. I have heard the same principles explained from different cultural contexts. It is actually simple that person from the island told me, and just very practical. People don’t spend too much thought on it.
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      I like it that some things seem to be universal. I wish I would master those healing skills a bit better and wish I had a more simple and calm mind.
Also the importance of being very careful with what you say was stressed, words have power. Words makes your thoughts become true. 

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