We’ve just come through the worst, hardest time of year on the Eastern calendar, Don Season. But today, it’s the New Year. Cheerful Losar (Shambala Day): Year of the Firebird! Below, find more about what the New Year means for us.

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Ladies & Gentlemen, start your Lhasang. [Juniper, Milk Lake, Chinese New Year, Tibetan, Losar, Shambhala Day, Buddhist]

> Start the New Year off right: lhasang (purify) your house. Open your cupboards. Chant. Hit every room, including closets, the basement, the attic. Good bye, bad old vibes. PS: it sounds superstitious, and I hate superstition…but it’s…real/magical…whatever…it works. Science will prive this shiite for reals in 1,000 years, but why wait?

It’s the Tibetan New Year, or Shambhala Day, Losar—when Buddhists around the globe (now that Tibetan Buddhism has spread from sea to shining sea, thanks to the Reds) celebrate the New Year with a Lhasang—a traditional purification ceremony involving the burning of wet juniper (which makes fragrant, pungent, memory-laden clouds of white smoke in which one blesses special and sacred objects and/or oneself). Where to get the juniper? Well, generally, at least in Colorado, you should be able to find a juniper tree out in nature—just make sure to ‘ask the tree,’ for permission to snip a branch, bowing before and after—snip a branch from as high up as possible, and be sure to dry the juniper out before you use it for a Lhasang. Ideally, you should be trained to do a lhasang—it’s a lot more than just burning juniper over charcoal—it really is a special, fun, grounded way to purify and wake up your life, your home, and your year.

You can also get juniper here, and support some good folks in the process:

Dear Shambhala Centers and Friends,

This Shambhala Day Special is for  Shambhala Centers across our mandala;  a special price on FRAGRANT JUNIPER INCENSE:

6 Extra- large Bags of Fragrant Juniper Incense –  $108  +  $20 shipping and handling  in North America ( these are wrapped in gold foil and very lovely as gifts)
(shipping elsewhere – will check with the  post office for prices to your area)

Checks to : Milklake Shambhala Retreat Centre

Milklake Shambhala Retreat Centre
73 Wilfred Road
Middlewood, Nova Scotia, B4V-6J3
Canada

1-902-543-1417  for questions and inquiries ( Connie or Gregg Clause)

This is a benefit for the Canadian Retreat Centre of MILKLAKE  or OTSO SHINGSA  located only 1 1/4 hr. south of Halifax in Nova Scotia.

Many thanks, and good practicing,
Connie/Secret Meadow

Bonus videos: