Enlightenment Journeys

Let's start with Selene Calloni Williams for "The Journeys of Enlightenment", which take us to visit some sacred places capable of nourishing the soul, enriching it with beauty, balance and harmony.

 

 

I started traveling when I was only nineteen, I was in Sri Lanka where I deepened my knowledge of yoga, shamanism and Theravada Buddhism. This was followed by numerous trips to Japan, Myanmar, Yemen, Siberia, Mongolia, Bhutan, Tibet, Ladakh and Kashmir, India and Nepal, America and South America, always in search of the spiritual traditions of the peoples, in order to live the ritual and ceremonial experiences live, because spirituality is empirical, not theoretical, it must be practiced even before being studied.

 

 

Experiencing spiritual practices of other cultures, even very different from ours, helps us to open the boundaries of the mind and to better understand ourselves, freeing us from that conditioning that a culture inevitably ends up exerting on us when it is the only point of reference we have. Traveling, experimenting, participating in different lives and experiences helps us a lot to move towards freedom and self-awareness. So twenty-five years ago I founded Voyagesillumination, a cultural association that organizes trips for small groups to the most mystical places on the planet, not only to visit beautiful places, but also to experience the traditions, rituals, spiritual and healing practices of peoples.

 

 

My travels are the result of intense research. I never organize a group trip to a place without being there to live for a certain period during which I have researched and met spiritual characters, enlightened masters who can welcome my group and do ceremonies, rituals or even individual consultations with the participants that can help them in their everyday life, to which they will return after the journey. A Voyagesillumination changes something forever in the participant and always enriches his perspective to the point of being able to see solutions that were previously unthinkable.

 

 

There are many, but if I really have to choose, then I choose two: Japan and Mongolia. In Japan , meditation and initiation practices with yamabushi shamans are experiences of great emotional and spiritual intensity that allow you an evolutionary acceleration of extraordinary scope. I am referring, for example, to all the practices of Shinrin Yoku, immersion in the woods, rituals of mutual empowerment between man and nature, not to mention the experiences related to the search for one's own Ikigai, one's life mission and those concerning the art of Wabi Sabi which allows one to transform fragility, shortcomings, insecurities into powerful allied forces. On all these topics I have written and published books with the help of the great master Noburo Okuda Do, a yamabushi shaman of the shugendo tradition. Mongolia is absolutely unmissable not only because of the breathtaking natural landscapes but for the ceremonies that hereditary Mongolian shamans practice in the yurts and steppes with us. It was difficult for me to come into contact with shamans of authentic lineage and be welcomed, but today I have a network of acquaintances that ranges in almost all the main regions of Mongolia; therefore, both in winter and in summer I can lead my groups to discover the most ancestral and authentic shamanic traditions that every true spiritual seeker can only appreciate as real treasures.

 

 

After so many years spent traveling, I still don't have a place in the drawer, but I have many places where I would like to return, wonderful characters to whom I feel united by a deep common spiritual feeling that I would like to see again. So every day I thank you for still being alive and for being able to travel again.

 

 

No special preparation is necessary, not even for the most demanding trips , for example those that require several days on horseback: you learn to ride on the spot and with the help of meditation everything becomes possible. But I prefer to get to know the people who will participate first, so I have an interview with the candidates that is not so much aimed at selecting, but to explain and understand if the trip is really suitable for the future traveler. People must be clear that we are not "going on vacation" but are approaching an authentic spiritual reality that opens the doors to another world in which we must enter with an open mind, without prejudice and with total respect. I also make sure that the small group of people leaving is well assorted and well close-knit, because on the road you have to support and help each other.

 

 

We have the Pacific Retreat in California between December and January, then in January the unmissable trip-seminar to Japan with the yamabushi shamans and shugendo monks, in February Mongolia with the hereditary shamans that at least once in a lifetime you absolutely must know. We propose a winter itinerary to discover an extreme, authentic Mongolia, far beyond the commonly beaten paths. The journey will take us to the mystical shores of Lake Khovsgol in northeastern Mongolia. It is right on the shores of this huge lake, completely frozen to the point of being able to cross it by car during the winter, that one of the largest ice sculpture festivals in the world is held every year. The cold but dry winter of the steppe is also the time of year when nomads practice the ancient tradition of hunting with the eagle. With temperatures of up to 40 degrees below zero, we'll stay in traditional Mongolian ghers, tents insulated by thick layers of felt traditionally used by Mongolian nomads.

 

 

In this absolutely unique setting our group will have the opportunity to learn about the spiritual traditions of the Darkhad Mongolians. This population, which inhabits one of the most remote regions of Mongolia, is known throughout the country for its devotion to an extremely pure form of shamanism and a lifestyle still rooted in the eternal cycles of nature and animism. Our group will have the unique opportunity to carry out meetings, personal consultations and ceremonies with a Darkhad shaman, as well as shamans of other Mongolian ethnic groups. In short, a magic that required, to be organized, years of work, frequentations and, of course, travel.

 

 

As for the novels , I recommend "The Scent of the Moon" and "Speech to the Moon", they are both set in the steppes of Siberia and Mongolia and are "fairy tales of power". With this term, shamans indicate accountsthat contain initiatory keys capable of activating latent powers and faculties in those who listen to them or read them: in short, two real shamanic initiations.

 

 

Regarding the essays, however, my advice is oriented towards different " worlds":