Ask the Priestess

The little girl ran down the driveway, arms wide open. At the end, her father was waiting. He hugged and raised her up, both of them laughing. It's an amazing experience, when you're young and someone lifts you up, up, up, so high up your innocent self cannot fathom life from such perspective. You fly, arms and legs straight out without having to be prompted. You fly in circles, daring in your adventure, ready to touch the tops of trees, of mountains, of clouds. You fly, securely held in the warm grasp of the hands you trust. You fly, spinning around the axis of those hands. When young, flying takes a single leap of faith and unchallenged trust. It is all about the moment, the experience. It is round and circular, like the outline of an embrace. When you age, flying is very different. It becomes a long process, full of steps: planning, booking, packing, waiting, documents, usually uncomfortable spaces and/or unappetising food, more documents, more waiting, unpacking. And all th...

Touch is essential to human beings. Our skin is our largest organ, with its millions of nerve ends connecting its surface to our more innermost centres. Even if we lose any of our senses, touch will remain, may it because we actively touch someone else, or because we are being touched. That may be the reason why we use expressions such as 'it's a very touching story' to imply that our emotional compass has been affected; or 'keep in touch', when what we want is for the other person to remain a part of our tribe, for we care for them and their presence is precious to us; and why most of us relish being caressed, hugged, and so forth. In the last 24 hours, I have experienced all of these three aspects: To begin with, I went for a massage. I do so monthly, to help keep my back in shape despite a sedentary job. I only recently realised that it also helps supply the physical contact humans require to live. I am not particularly keen on being randomly touched, despi...