Our First Water Purification Ceremony Bali - Melukat Ritual
Updated: Jan 1
A water purification ceremony (Melukat) is a Balinese ceremony for the physical and spiritual cleansing ritual to wash away bad spirits to purify the body and soul. If you have experienced a bad situation recently, have anxiety / worries or have been feeling out of sorts recently, the Melukat ceremony is a recommended ritual to perform. Balinese people do a Melukat ritual around a full moon, after being poorly, or whenever they feel called to do it.
Since we had some huge life changes ahead of us, it seemed the perfect timing to do our first ever Water Purification at the end of our trial month of living in Bali - to see whether the move to Bali could work for us as a family - and as we came to the end of that month long trial and things were starting to make sense for us - we felt pulled to the Melukat. And what an experience it was. And now 1 year in on our Bali adventure with no regrets and only looking ahead, we're feeling the call to do our next water purification ceremony. And that's what our priest said. He told us that we'd know when it was the right time to do another, sometimes this coincides with when the bracelet that you receive naturally falls off - this hasn't happened yet - we are still wearing our bracelets but the pull is there. Like a magnet we are feeling yet again pulled to the temple. I'll be sure to write when we go to our second Melukat.
But back to our first time...
We'd had an amazing time exploring Bali for over 1 month, but the trip itself hadn't been the smoothest. My 7yo had fallen off his bike 2 weeks in after getting his foot caught in the spokes of the back wheel (getting a peggy off Dad) on Gili Air. The ankle was pretty gruesome and resulted in a fast visit to a Medical Centre during a Tropical storm (rainy season), flooding, electricity black out. Myself using my phone torch to help staff see whilst they cleaned and bandaged his foot. With us having to get a boat off the Island to visit a hospital on the main island of Lombok for an Xray. It wasn't broken thankfully but severely swollen and Boo was out of action unable to walk for the rest of the trip and having to avoid all swimming which was very tough for him and us having to carry him everywhere. Next up Si had been poorly a few days prior. But after Boo's accident he got very very sick and was bed ridden for 4 days (this was out of character for him) we knew something was wrong and left him to sleep. This meant I was having to do my best to get Bertie around by carrying him and to try and keep those plates spinning. It turned out Si had caught meningitis and was quite seriously ill.
We'd finally got back to Ubud (Bali) after all plans had had to be changed until Si was well enough to get on a boat. Once back in Ubud, the purification ceremony that we'd so been looking forward to to mark then end of the trip and set us on our way to get home to all the planning to make the big move happen. Seemed like just an after thought, as so much had happened. Si wasn't back to even being 60% health but he insisted that we must go. It was something we must do.
It felt like we needed to go.
There are many purification temples across the whole of Bali and many in and around Ubud. Some of the temples are absolute tourist traps and for me, this was just not appealing. Bali itself is insanely busy if you follow to tourist trail. After seeing queues of 100's of tourists lining up for hours to get 'purified', it had tainted, what to me seemed like such a special ceremony. I think Usher was in Bali at the time and had posted about his Melukat ceremony and so the mayhem continued.
Luckily for us, we had met a beautiful Balinese family earlier on in the trip that lived in a quite village outside of Ubud. They had offered to take us to their temple in their village if we wanted to go to our first ceremony and experience it the authentic way. It was an amazing experience for us. Peaceful, quiet, surrounded by Balinese families going about their rituals, one or two respectful foreigners. It felt very pure and very special. I can't say for sure that a purification ceremony at one of the main temples wouldn't be a good experience. But there's a process to the Melukat ceremony. There's the giving of your offering to the gods. A high priest blessing of the palms. Giving prayer. We had to focus, concentrate our busy western minds and be guided in a way that I feel would get lost at a touristy place. There's an element of meditation and presence of moment that's needed and I need peace and calm to get into this meditative space. So pick your Melukat wisely and read the reviews before booking as you want your first one to be as special as possible and I do recommend a guided tour like this one or a local guide because there's a process or 'things to do' in order and your guide will explain and talk you through the scared nature.
Feeling purified after our first water purification ceremony. We will perform a Melukat ritual with the kids on our return visit now we know what to expect.
Melukat ceremony
The Melukat ceremony in Bali is performed on the beach or river, as well as in places of worship. The water purification is believed to be able to purify a person physically and mentally, eliminate negative forces in the body to bring about healing. We connect to source, set intentions, give thanks and by doing the ritual, we get closer to God through them. From my experience of my first ever Melukat Ceremony, It's a chance to let go of a lot. To let yourself let go. To soothe and clean the energy. I can imagine that each ritual would be different to each other in terms of what you take from the experience. But I can assure you that each will be a wonderful experience and it's a must for those on a spiritual journey at any stage in their journey.
Book your Water Purification Ceremony here with a local guide who will guide you through this most beautiful process and a must do when in Bali.
Posts coming soon: Melukat Etiquette / What happens during a water purification ceremony / making an offering to the Gods / Balinese traditional clothing.
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