Freiburg, Germany
Unravelling and Awakening the Spiritual Strength
Goddess Akhalindeshwari, Crocodile Spirit and Healing the Curses and Fears
March 8-9, 2025
Paap Bagaune roughly translates to "being seen from obscurities" or "to release and let go of wrongdoings".
This powerful ceremony is a beacon of hope, as it allows us to ask for forgiveness and pardon, cutting the threads of negativity that we have been holding on to, such as negative thoughts, grudges, words, actions, errors in our rituals, deep emotional traumas and dishonouring deities or spirits. *
During this weekend, participants will be accompanied to unravel self-limitations, deep fears and insecurities with Akhalinda as the presiding deity and the Crocodile as her active working spirit to navigate deeper and through rituals and ceremonies of release and reconciliation. Group healing rituals will be followed by the rituals of life essences calling back and raising personal spirits.
* Traditionally, a ceremony called Paap Bagaune (releasing wrongdoings) is conducted at the bank of the river, where offerings are released into the river to be carried away (if there is a possibility).
Akhilandeshvari
Akhilandeshvari: "Ishvari" in Nepali-Sanskrit means "goddess" or "Shakti" or "female power," and the "Akhilanda" means essentially "never not broken."
In other words, The Always Broken Goddess. Sanskrit is a tricky and unique language, and the double negative here means that she is broken down to her name. But this isn’t the kind of brokenness that indicates weakness and terror. It’s the kind of brokenness that tears apart all the stuff that gets us stuck in toxic routines, repeatedly repeating the same relationships, patterns, and habits rather than diving into the scary process of trying something new and unfathomable.
Goddess Akhilandeshvari says, “Now you get to make a choice.” In pieces, in a pile on the floor, with no idea how to go forward, our expectations of the future are meaningless. Our stories about the past do not apply. We are in flux, changing, flowing in a new way, and this is a compelling opportunity to become new again: to choose how we want to put ourselves back together.
She is a Goddess of annihilation and unexpected change. She opens the ability to reflect and to find a new path. She clears the broken parts within us, clears us and launches us out into the unknown to find a new direction. She represents the power and creativity within us. She rides the Crocodile because they both work on re-emerging from darkness and building something new out of the broken pieces. Her transformative power is not to be feared but to be embraced.
The Crocodile Spirit
The Crocodile is the Vahana(carrier) of many powerful spirits, even the Goddess Ganga (water and grain). Varuna, the water spirit, also rides on the back of the Crocodile.
The Crocodile’s Medicine is to find the strength within ourselves, live in solidarity and silence, and find psychic power and intuitiveness without slipping into depression or despair.
The Crocodile, a symbol of resilience, helps us regenerate our strength and capacity to create something new for ourselves and deepen our spiritual work.
By riding on this spinning, predatory, fearsome creature, Akhilanda refuses to reject her fear, nor does she let it control her. She depends on it. She gets on this animal that lives inside the river, inside the flow. She takes her fear down to the river, uses its power to navigate the waves, and spins in the not-broken water.