Invite to a Spiritual Ceremony | Bucket List #77 | Ann Varney

BUCKET LIST #77 | MIND, BODY & SPIRIT | ✓ TICKED

An Invitation to a spiritual ceremony

“I didn’t know what I was walking into.

I knew exactly where I was.”

ANN VARNEY | BANGLI, BALI | APRIL 2026

✓ Bucket List #77
Complete

I didn’t plan this one.

You can’t plan an invitation. It either comes or it doesn’t. And when it does — when someone looks at you, a guest in their world, and says come, you are welcome here

— you don’t say no. You say yes. And then you ask the staff of the hotel what on earth you’re supposed to wear.

Sri Augustine, who works at the Swan Paradise here in Bali, who has looked after me like family every time I’ve stayed — invited me to her son’s hair-cutting ceremony. Her son is three years old. And yesterday, for the very first time in his life, his hair was cut.

This is not a haircut. This is a sacred Balinese rite of passage. And I was invited as a guest.

“I did not take this honour lightly. Not for a single second.”

Why I made this list (And why your reading this)

Because no one knows how long they have. We all die. That isn’t dark, it’s clarifying.

And back then, when I was 57, I realised something simple and life-changing:

I had a choice.

I could drift through the next 30+ years reacting to life… or I could design the life I wanted to live.

So I wrote a list. Not a “maybe one day” list. A declaration list. A blueprint for the rest of my life. A living vow that I would not arrive at the end thinking, “I wish I had…“

I wanted to arrive saying, “What a fricken ride that was.” And darling… I did.

What Happened After That

Everything changed once I wrote it down. Because it wasn’t just a list. It was a frequency. A standard. A contract with life.

One by one, it unfolded. The Oracle Code became what I always knew it could become. The retreats happened. The schools got built. The scholarships multiplied. The women rose. The money arrived, and my nervous system didn’t collapse this time. The love arrived, not drama, not chaos… just warmth, humour, and devotion. The sisterhood deepened. The art exploded into colour and meaning. The grandchildren came, and my heart cracked open in the best way. And yes… I danced. I danced a lot.

I didn’t live smaller as I got older.

I lived truer.

BEFORE THE CEREMONY

The Belt, the green wrap
And the backpack i left behind...

The image above gives you a feel for what I wore — a beautiful green wrap, full Balinese dress, held together with a borrowed belt and a lot of goodwill from the girl at reception.

I didn’t take a single photo of myself. I was too engrossed in the ceremony. And honestly? It wasn’t about me. It was about a three-year-old boy, his family, and a community that showed up with their whole hearts. Some moments you just live. This was one of them.

First things first. What do you wear to a Balinese ceremony when your entire wardrobe is gym gear and loose travelling clothes?

I asked the staff at the Swan Paradise. They were magnificent. I had bought a beautiful green wrap in Ubud, for the occasion, and the lovely girl at reception helped me dress properly in full Balinese style.

Balinese ceremonial clothing is tight.

I want to be very clear about this. It is not designed with a digital nomad’s comfort in mind. And I, a woman who lives in loose linen and considers a backpack a formal accessory, was suddenly wearing something fitted, wrapped, and held together by a belt borrowed from Mr Gus Wi’s wife.

Mr Gus Wi. The man at the Swan who has looked after me, made me laugh until I’ve nearly fallen off my chair, and who has now also contributed his wife’s belt to my spiritual journey. When Sri saw me arrive in full Balinese dress, she was amazed.

“Who dressed you?”

The girl at reception. With great patience and several attempts.

I didn’t want to rock up to a sacred ceremony in gym gear and a backpack. This mattered. I wanted to honour it properly. And I did.

THE CEREMONY

The Priest, the cigarette, and the energy I could see.

I arrived at 2pm. The setting was in Bangli, near the mountains, cooler, cleaner air, lush green all around, tight winding paths through a beautiful tight-knit village community. The kind of place that makes you breathe differently the moment you arrive.

The priest was expected at 3pm.

In true Balinese style, up he rocked at 3:45pm. With his ornate cane. With his entourage. And — puffing a cigarette.

Now. I have spent time with Rinpoches in Nepal. With shamans in Peru. With Native American elders in California. With Druids in Scotland. I know what spiritual authority looks like. And it does not always look the way the Western world expects it to look.

This was a relatively young man. Slim. Unhurried. Cane in hand. And the moment he walked into that space — I felt it.

And then he proceeded to smoke a cigarette which I loved the paradox of how our world would see this!

Before anyone told me who he was. Before the ceremony began. The energy of the place shifted. That is not something you fake. That is not something you learn from a course. That is someone who carries genuine power.

"Everyone thinks a spiritual ceremony is quiet. In many of the worlds greatest traditions. It is anything but."

When he began – the offerings, the ritual, the hand movements – it was loud. Expansive. Energetically enormous. Like a quantum field opening in the middle of an ordinary afternoon.

I have sat in Buddhist ceremonies in Nepal at 13,000 feet – stranded on a mountain after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, meditating for world peace in a cave only accessible by helicopter. I know what it feels like when ritual creates a genuine energetic field. This was that.

The ceremony was both Buddhist and Shamanic in nature (even though it was Hindu) three great traditions entwined so seamlessly the weave was invisible. The hand movements. The energy moving through the space visibly, if you know how to look. And I looked. I watched every second of it.

The mother and young Sri were placed together inside a domed basket. On the stone sat yellow rice. The father-in-law — also a priest — held a white chicken over the dome. The chicken, kicking at the yellow rice, scattered it across mother and child.

Taking all negativity from them. Clearing the path for a future life. Beautiful, ancient, complete.

After the main ceremony, ballet dancers (which I missed, Wayan my taxi driver had already been waiting half an hour outside, bless him) and three suckling pigs gifted to the gods in gratitude for a son and daughter. And here is the part that made my heart crack open completely:

Every gift. Every offering. Every pig. All fed to the community. Nothing kept. Everything given.

THE COMMUNITY

What a Tight-knit Community

actually looks like.

The whole village came. Mostly everyone, anyway.

Children running barefoot between the adults. Government officials sitting informally alongside neighbours. Elders. Young families. All of them there. All present. All fed.

Very little English was spoken. It didn’t matter. Not one bit. Because warmth doesn’t require translation. When someone welcomes you into their sacred space with genuine joy, you feel it in your bones regardless of the language.

I sat in that ceremony and felt something I hadn’t expected.

Homesick.

Not for a place. For a feeling. For the long table. The open door. The noise and the laughter and the people crowding into a home because something worth celebrating is happening inside it. It reminded me so completely of the parties at Balwearie, my home back in Scotland, all the people who used to come, the warmth and the belonging of it.

I missed my sons. I missed my grandson. I missed my people with a fierceness that genuinely surprised me.

"Community is not a strategy. it is the oldest human technology we have.
and when you see it working properly, you remember exactly why it matters."

THE END OF THE DAY

A Glass of wine,
a full heart, and home

I came back to the Swan Paradise. Sat with a beautiful meal and a glass of wine. Looked out at the evening and let the whole day settle into me.

Full heart. Missing my sons & grandson. Grateful beyond words for the honour of what I had witnessed.

And a decision that had been quietly building landed clearly:

I am bringing my people here.

A retreat. At the Swan Paradise. Because what I experienced in that village, in that ceremony, in that community, my people need to feel this. This is exactly the kind of experience I came here to share.

THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THIS DAY | BALI | APRIL 2026

Mrs Sri Augustin

The beautiful woman who invited me. Who has looked after me every time I’ve stayed at the Swan Paradise. Who saw me arrive in full Balinese dress and looked genuinely amazed. Her open beautiful heart that is a genuine blessing for anyone to be within her space. Sri, thank you for letting me into your family’s sacred day. I will never forget it.

Mr Gus Wi

The amazing man at the Swan who keeps me well, makes me laugh harder than almost anyone, and whose wife’s belt held the entire outfit together. Literally and structurally. Without that belt this story ends very differently. And I hope one day my family get to meet both of these wonderful amazing souls.

Ms Riskia

The lovely young beautiful receptionist (I’m hoping I have her name correct) as she helped me dress in the cultural way, so the skirt and band would not fall off. She showed such kindness and patience, and me being a ex-bridal designer, you would think I would know how to dress myself. Ha, ha

Mr Wayan

My taxi driver. Who waited patiently outside for a good half hour while I was inside watching ceremony, missing ballet dancers, and not knowing about the pigs. A patient and genuine gentleman.

The Priest

Young. Unhurried. Ornate cane in one hand, cigarette in the other. More genuine spiritual power in that space than I have felt in many a grand ceremony. You cannot fake that energy. You either carry it or you don’t.

'Thank you to each of you for making this a very special day, I hope one day I can repay the favour when you all meet my own family & community'

THE BUSINESS BIT | FOR LEADERS AND COMMUNITY BUILDERS

You Cannot Build Community

From Behind a Screen.

Here is what I watched in that Balinese village yesterday.

A community that shows up. Fully. Without being asked twice.

Without calculating what is in it for them. Without checking the ROI of turning up to a neighbour’s ceremony on a Tuesday afternoon.

They came because someone in their community mattered.

That was enough.

We talk about community constantly in the online business world. We build groups and memberships and ecosystems.

And some of them are genuinely extraordinary. But the ones that really work, the ones that feel like something real

are the ones where people show up for each other the way that village showed up yesterday.

Every gift came in and all of it was fed back to the community
Nothing kept. everything given. that is the model.

That is The Oracle Code model. That is the Spiritual Awakening Academy model. Give everything. Trust that it returns.

And presence. Real, physical, in-the-room presence.

There is no substitute for it. Not a Zoom call.

Not a voice note. Not a beautifully written post, and I say that as someone who writes a lot of beautifully written posts.

Sometimes you have to get on the plane. Put on the uncomfortable ceremonial outfit with the borrowed belt. Sit in a space where you don’t speak the language. And just be there.

That is when the real learning happens. That is when your business becomes something beyond a business.

That is when it becomes a life.

"I didn't know what I was walking into
I knew exactly where i was."

In a community. In a ceremony. In a moment of pure, ancient, extraordinary humanity.

Bali keeps giving. And I keep receiving, with a grateful, full, slightly homesick heart.

This is post four. There will be 101.

One experience at a time. One story at a time.

Watch this space.

Love & Hugs
Ann

P.S. The priest smoked a cigarette before conducting the most energetically powerful ceremony I have witnessed in years. If that does not teach you something about not judging a book by its cover, I genuinely don’t know what will.

P.P.S. The Balinese outfits were magnificent. My comfort was irrelevant. Honour matters more than comfort. Write that down.

P.P.P.S. Mr Gus Wi & Mrs Sri Augustin, I hope one day to repay the favour and you get to meet my beautiful family from Scotland one day soon.

Spiritual Strategist & Leader | Author

About Ann Varney

Trained with 5th generation Shamans in Peru, Rinpoche’s in Nepal, Native Americans in Outback in California, and Druids in Scotland.

Also trained with Tony Robbins, William Whitecloud, Scott Jansen, Bob Proctor, Jeffrey Allan, Donna Eden, Michael Beckwith, Anodea Judith, Peggy Dylan, Dr Joe Dispenza, and so many more spiritual teachers…

Postgraduate Degree in Psychology and is qualified in Master Hypnotherapy and Meditation. An acclaimed International Spiritual Teacher and Author of 3 books, specialising in; Shamanic Energy healing; Angelic Healing; Alchemy; Master of Sekhem/Reiki; Pranic healing; Firewalk Instructor, Educational Leader and so much more.

With a deep dive into your innermost heart, I am here to help you uncover the unique passions that define who you are and reach for what lies beyond. With more faith in yourself comes an easier manifestation of whatever goals await – let’s break through those barriers together!