The past year I dove into my heritage, as well in favor of my journey to self healing.
On the other hand my birthday, is on the same day many Dutch-Indonesians commemorate the events happened when WO II ended in the Dutch Indies and led to the battle for an independent Indonesia.
Past year August 15th 2023, was the first time I went to the memorial. In my family there was this "indisch zwijgen" (indies silence) a major coping mechanism, with the intention not to talk about the past and what happened during the occupation, war and moving (fleeing) to the Netherlands.
Many Dutch-Indies families don´t mention or don´t commemorate this day. When I was a kid I saw this on the national TV, I went to my family question about it. Filled with joy as it was also my birthday and I discovered something new. Well it wasn´t welcomed and I should ask about it. On the other hand there are many Dutch-Indies and Moluccas who do go to these memorials.
Long story short. August 15th 2023 was the first time I went. My intention was to celebrate and honor my past. Including laying flowers in the sea. I can tell you, when there is a breeze coming into the land, its challenging to lay flowers in the sea, my ancestors must have having a great time seeing their offspring doing this against the wind xD
Some books
To dive a bit deeper into all the magical occurrence in Indonesia. I started to read a book about the Magus of Java and the Mo-Pai. The book is about John Chang who got to a certain level of mastering Mo-Pai. Canalizing the internal energy to levitate, moving objects at a certain distance or putting a chop-stick thru a dining table. Mostly he uses his energy to heal others. If you google on youtube, you might find some video's of John Chang.
There are many more stories like John's. We humans are capable to canalize our energy to our potential. With self-developing and improving our skills we can create miracles. The best part is everybody can do it :-)
Mo-Pai is a form that I guess is for the few among us, there aren´t many books or writings for the public. Their are enough books about Nei-kung, QiGong, Kundalini or other forms of energy work, if you are interested like me. In the end everything is a form of life energy, with a different name. Quantum Energy, Qi, Prana and so on.
Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another. - Albert Einstein.
Another book I am reading is 'Jamu, the ancient Indonesian art of herbal healing'. It's all about, like the titles says, herbal medicine and how it has been used on a daily base. In the western world the use of herbal medicine seemed to be forgotten. However the recent years more and more people are getting interested in herbal medicine. Or maybe my world view changed and I got aware of the usage :-)
Books: The Magus Of Java by Kosta Danaos & Jamu The Ancient Indonesian Art Of Herbal Healing by Susan-Jane Beers. Both are available as e-book or hard copy.