Another Victoria's Secrets

I dunno what got into me but since July this year I was strongly attracted to tarot reading. Born a Piscean, I naturally have a tendency to like anything related with superstition, spiritual, and magic. I've always interested about dreams, tarot, and higher forces. But I never dared to plunge myself in. All I ever did was dipping my toe and that's it. A friend gave me a deck of Rider Waite tarot years ago but my mom disposed it and I never thought I'd ever have another deck ever.

Few weeks ago I found this beautiful deck 'Tarot Nusantara' by Hisyam A. Fachri and fell in love with it instantly. And after more than a decade being curious about it, I finally bought a deck myself. I was as surprised, but the force was too strong it was inevitable. And I was going with the flow, following my intuition more than ever. When the deck arrived, I felt super excited. I love the images so much it is a mix of Javanese wayang and the Rider Waite deck. Super super love it!

It is always funny how The Universe work. A day after I received the deck, I got to know the illustrator, Sweta Kartika, thru a friend's facebook. We chatted a bit, and I told him how I love his works. But the fact that I could get to know the illustrator is something too incidental to happen. I guess it's true what Paulo Coelho said: "When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

Nothing in this world happens in coincidence. Just like my encounter with my new friend Clarissa last weekend. The fact that we share same perspective, idealism, and interest in spirituality and tarot really intrigued me and made me excited about life even more. Meeting people in the same frequency can really give us energy boost. And talking to Clarissa expanded my perspective about myself. Deep talks really help me in understanding the way this Universe works.

via deviantart

How Tarot Really Works

I used to think of tarot as a fad fortune-telling, divination stuff. I got some readings in 2015 and 2016 and both were not accurate and I took them as for fun. I didn't believe in that. But now as I am more attracted to it, I studied it through the Youtube and Pinterest, and found that this isn't fortune-telling at all. Tarot is all about confirmation, affirmation, and explanation. 

Because somehow you know what you want / need after all, but most of time your decision is clouded with logic, theory, or traumas. When you're in the middle of a situation you're not certain of what to do, tarot can help you in understanding the energy around you.

We believe that everything in this world has energy, be it living plants or inanimate objects. That's why Balinese has special days to pray for these, because of the energy contained. In quantum physics, it relates with the atom or subatomic particles. It reacts to our energy, and is part of what's called as law of attraction.

"What we seek is seeking us," said Rumi. This works not just with human beings, ideas, dreams, and goals, but also with the things around us, the things we wear and use, the things we touch. And when you are focusing your energy in seeking for answers, the answers revealed.

The 22 cards of Major Arcana speaks of the force from The Universe, while the 56 Minor Arcana cards describes what state you are currently in. The four suits of cups, wands, swords, and pentacles represent consecutively our primal energy, emotion, action and material things.

Understanding these cards can really help us know what's really happening and give us a solution of what to do to get thru it. It does not tell forecast at all--it shows us cause and effect, and valid for just 1-3 weeks until we take a new decision that would change everything all over again.

Last weekend I was invited to go to Kota Baru Parahyangan for the "17 Pertiwi" photography exhibition and book launching. The book featured photo works of the selected 17 Indonesian women photographers, and the exhibition added more works of several other professional photographers, and contest winners. I was invited because I helped the text and editing for the photography book--I felt so lucky!

couldn't sleep in the bus so I took selfies instead

So we all gathered at Darwis Triadi School of Photography at Bundaran Senayan at midday on Friday (Aug 11). I had some trouble with my MacBook the previous night and had to deal with the ransomware hacking so it was a terrible morning for me, but meeting the women photographers, all new to me, was quite a mood boosting.

the 5-storeys hotel

the swimming pool and breakfast area

I loved the hotel instantly. It has modern classic architecture with great view, and the room is spacious. We got the room with a balcony facing other building's roof, but the fact that it has balcony is another plus. It has many restaurants options for all day dine-in. The swimming pool is large and the greens are really refreshing. With the published rate, I think it's so worth it!

the spacious room - and I was having a nite coffee

We departed at 2 p.m. by bus to Padalarang and arrived at Mason Pine Hotel at Kota Baru Parahyangan by around 5.30 p.m. The air was cool and the hotel was nice. By that time I had long forgetting my problems. I was roommate with Clarissa Jayakumara of Clarissa + Peddy Photography and she was so nice I'm glad we were paired.

the ladies

still, the ladies

dinner time

That night we had dinner at the Bumi Pancasona Sport Club, where all of the photographers, some JPS member, and Darwis Triadi's crews gathered. I chatted with more of them there and it was so fun. But apparently I had to call the night off quite earlier because suddenly I caught flu and had a restless sleep that night. I had only two hours of sleep but amazingly woke up refreshed.

me, after having breakfast

the '17 Pertiwi' women photographers

the photographers and me!

We got up at 6 a.m. the next morning, had breakfast and gathered at the lobby before departing to Bale Pare by bus. The last time I went there was 2003 when I just entered Maranatha University, so it was quite a nostalgia for me. The event started at around 10 a.m. and it contained some opening speech and ceremonies, and also award-giving to the winners.

on our way

the gang took photo before the event

wefie during the event

me and Mrs. Hermandari Kartowisastro - a healthy 74-year old lady!

me and dr. Erytromisin Cahyaningtyas - she has the name of medicine!

me and Mrs. Dina Andrea Wijns - I superlove her works!

me and Mr. Darwis Triadi himself

After lunch, Darwis Triadi gave a free workshop for fashion photography, which we attended for two hours. I joined the photo hunting group to Stone Garden Geopark, about 20 minutes drive from the complex. It is a site of ancient stone cluster located on top of a hill among the lime mountains. At the bottom of the hill there is a sacred cave Goa Pawon, but we didn't go there.

welcome to the geopark tourism destination

the parking lot

this photo was taken by Clarissa

who can resist a bowl of meatballs in the cold mountain breeze?

We had a fun two hours of photo hunting there, but I used the first hour to eat with Clarissa instead. When I climbed up the hill, the sun was hiding behind the clouds and night was approaching fast. The view from up there was amazing and if I don't say it perhaps you'd think I was in Ireland or somewhere Nordic. Perhaps.

the view was splendid from up here!

another additional member is the ambassador of Bosnia & Herzegovina on far left back

the cool ancient rocks

on the way back - took a selfie for a proof

we all had fresh young coconut after the climb to restore energy

We went back to Kota Baru Parahyangan and had Mie Naripan for dinner but it was quite disappointing. Apart from the food, we didn't like the service they gave us--especially the part where they don't put the price on menu (it really feels like a fraud or a rip-off where you should wonder about the exact price). But we survived it at least.

tired and hungry at Mie Naripan

That night I wanted to pay off my lack of sleep, but again sleep was canceled. I chatted with Clarissa instead and we made it till 5 a.m. It is amazing how sometime The Universe make us meet a person we can easily connect with. We were amazed at how similar our interests and perspectives are, and I guess the talk went on with the higher force. It was as if we were charged with the energy.

this is so much like a nostalgia: yamien asin bakso

We had 3-hours sleep that morning and woke up at 8 a.m. We missed the photo hunting session that morning but we could still have breakfast. We checked out at 11 a.m. and we went by bus to the Al-Irsyad Mosque built in 2010 by Bandung's current mayor Ridwan Kamil under his architecture firm Urbane. It is a modern square building with no pillar, and the façade read the Arabic sentences "Laailaha Ilallah Muhammad Rasulullah". We took a good 15 minutes to get pictures there then the bus left for Jakarta.

the interior of this mosque has no pillar in it

some of the ladies - the ones who went back to Jakarta by bus

We arrived back at Darwis Triadi's School at around 2 p.m. and went our separate ways home. I carried on by commuter train. But during that special weekend I had more than just a weekend getaway trip. I got new friends--special ones--and great network, thanks to Pak Rikin Junaedi of JPS who invited me. I feel so blessed with this experience, and feel that my energy is now fully charged.

Thanks to The Universe _/|\_ Rahayu.


P.S. for more great photos, check out my Instagram account. And about the book, check here.

Last Saturday I went to Gedung Kesenian Jakarta at Pasar Baru with my sister to watch the dance performance of Dhea Seto and her friends at Animal Pop group. The last time I watched a dance performance was in 2011, of the "Ali Topan Anak Jalanan" musical theatre, so this was quite refreshing. Only that this time the dance is a contemporary one, not musical drama.

the girls acted as contemporary wayang wong, the human puppet, which is quite a good idea!

The performance was divided into two scenes: the first one is fully a contemporary Trans Papua and the student class musical. The second one is a sort of exam or inauguration of the dance school from different class levels. I really enjoyed watching the dance moves, the energy I got from the performers, and the philosophy behind the choreography. Here are the things I love from that night's show:

1. Great choreography.
As the title "Trans Papua", the dance showed movements and acts from people of Papua. The first act had the dancers dressed up like Papuan people (although the girls didn't wear any costume, which perhaps showed the 'trans' part of the story.) But I got the idea and it was great.

2. They highlighted some pop issues.
On the second scene (the class musical) they would highlight teenagers' daily problems such as physical issues. Most teenagers grow up feeling inferior in their peer group and physical things become an important thing. The dance had a song that told us that it doesn't matter if you're fat / skinny, dark / light-skinned, etc. They packaged it in a song / dance performance and I like the idea. It really is a good message for growing up teenagers. I hope more people get the message too.

3. Great energy.
I could really feel the great energy of the dancers that night, because I was all ready to dance too all night. I could see how much effort the dancers put on giving their best, although my focus was centered to Dhea Seto, the only person I know on stage. But I could see the performance of the Trans Papua dance was equally good, and the credit goes to the whole team!

Dhea Seto and Zsa Zsa Utari

I found the first act was superb, but a bit confused with the second one because of certain things. It was too confusing that I think I had to write about this somehow. I think any dance performers / choreographers should really notice these things:

1. On stage, appearance is everything. 
Yes, the moves and stage control are important, but what's more important is the costume. Even if it's "just" a student musical dance. Wearing loose T-shirt is definitely a no-no. If you're on budget, you could at least wear something basic, black and body fit like gymnastic clothes. It really annoys the eyes when you wear a loose class T-shirt on stage. For a moment I was confused if I really went for the performance night or was it the rehearsal night, and was questioning about the ticket price I had paid.

2. Art performance should be universal.
I was personally bothered when I see one of the group performers wore hijab. I know it is a sensitive matter, but I just think that it's not appropriate to show your religion preferences on stage where it (dance, music and art) should be universal. It's not that I disrespect anyone's preference of belief, but to me it is as if the person is disrespecting the art of performance itself. It made her seemed like she wanted to be seen and be treated special because of her personal belief and principles and that she didn't want to blend with the team--where the rest of her group wore uniformed hairdos. 
I just think that one's religion shouldn't be taken onto the stage and a good actor/actress should be able to play any role regardless one's religion/principal, because it's what a stage is for. And it just ruined the whole visual artistic.

3. Inner jokes are for your inner group.
It's great to have inner joke with your friends; it could show how close and solid your relationship is. But when the show is open for public and they pay for it your audience wants to enjoy the show they could understand. When your joke is funny only to your own crowd, it's where your show fails. Art could be confusing sometimes, but inner joke isn't part of art.

4. Repeated pattern is boring.
It's cool to have a bit element of surprise, but when the pattern is repeated for more than twice, it becomes predictable and boring, and won't make your audience stay till the end. On the show I watched, I could see a pattern of how each song would be stopped by a Papuan actor--and on his third time I became too bored. I didn't stay until the end of the show (and it's too rare that I leave any show before it finishes) because I thought I've seen it all and assumed the rest of the show would be a repeated pattern; nothing to be waited to the end.

5. Keep it minimal.
On the performance I watched, there were two guys played as ladyboys. On their first appearance, I found it hilarious. Especially because one of them acted as another character in the previous scene. But when these two characters keep showing up again and again, I found it to be too much and cheesy. We could all take something exaggerated once for a refreshing surprise act. But when it's repeated, the audiences would think that you are not that creative, and anything excessive is not good.



Other than these critics (which went mostly to the choreographer), I think the performers did great that night. Some uniformity in movement still should be worked on, but it's just a matter of practice. I really do love watching art performances and I love seeing people being creative in their own terms and fields. I hope both the Animal Pop group and Indonesian art in general would get better and expand more.

Rahayu _/|\_