A Very Special Casting

One of our castings was particularly special and memorable. We all were walking in, books in hand, like any other casting of the day, and we sat down in this office-like area with two cubicles. One woman from a cubicle came over and proceeded with the casting as usual, taking our books one at a time and looking through. She was very friendly though and asked me where I'm from in the US and when I said New York we got to chatting a bit about the last time she went and how cold it was, etc. After looking through all our books, she spoke some Japanese to Aki and he said that she wanted to give us something before leaving. She brought over this big bin of organized folders and proceeded to give each of us a little paper doll for our respective countries (U.S., Canada, Uzbekistan) that these 80-some year old Japanese ladies had made. They are to bring peace to your country and we all gathered around to take a picture holding these cute little paper dolls so she could show the ladies who made them.


As if that wasn't a generous gesture, she then took us over to the wall where she had 4 or 5 of these framed papers with Japanese and Chinese characters written so tiny that from afar it makes up a big circle. They take thousands of years to complete and have special energies. We each took turns going up to the framed writing and placing our palms over the center of the circle to feel the energy there. The girls said they felt tingling and warmth, but on my turn I didn't feel anything. I didn't want to admit that, but I really don't think I did. So she said it's ok not everyone does, and after the other girls finished, she wanted me to try again. She had me take off my shoes, stand on this chair as she held it, so I wasn't reaching up so high and could really feel it. She said to close my eyes and concentrate as she held my hand. I then did feel a tingling sensation that brought some warmth to my palm and was relieved to know something wasn't terribly wrong with me or my energy. She said it was because I think too much about what's going on around me and others. This is true. I think I need to practice meditation more and learn to relax and not think so much.

And THEN!! She asked Aki if we had time, she wanted to pray for us! So we all sat down with our fingers interlocked forming two circles in our laps, and closed our eyes. She proceeded to chant as monks do for a couple minutes and I at first felt a tingling in my head and then down my back. After she finished we opened our eyes and I felt an energy that had gone through me. She said it was an energy that came in through our head and passed through the body and back to our country, for safety and good luck. We were all so thankful to her and felt she was extremely caring of us as foreigners and it was such a unique experience I'm grateful to have gotten a first hand dose of the Buddhist culture. On our way out, we're all feeling energized and talking about how we're feeling light as feathers and in such a good mood, etc. We even forgot it was a casting or what the job was for. It really was amazing.