Page 11 - The Wave Holistic and Metaphysical Journal Sept/Oct 2016

Henna
is a Prayer
Henna is a prayer that you wear, just as you use beads or chanting for prayer. It’s a language of symbols and every design has a meaning. The henna symbols are an offering and the color that stays behind is a blessing.
I am from India and in India we cannot get married without having henna. It is the highest form of an offering that a woman offers to the gods and the goddesses. It allows her to receive blessings before she gets married. It is a ritual. The day before the wedding, we do the henna blessings. All the women gather - mothers, sisters, daughters, and girl friends. It’s like a spiritual bonding. We chant together, we pray together with each other, for each other.
Henna is an ancient art of adornment. Traditionally, hands and feet are decorated with the henna symbols. But here in America, people like to use it for decoration, so I will do henna designs on the arms, back, tummy, and legs,
which is fine as long as we are doing it as a prayer, with respect and reverence.
Henna is also used to place
a red decorative dot on a woman’s forehead. This is traditionally done by women to indicate that they are married. But many women now like to wear the red dot as a decoration, whether on not they are married.
Henna is a natural dye that
stays on two to three weeks, depending on the amount of pigment in the skin. Henna stays the longest on the palms of the hands. The heat of the palms causes the henna to sink more deeply into the skin.
Henna paste is very difficult to make. The henna leaves are dried and then ground very fine to make a paste.
by Renu Lal
Then the paste is used
to draw henna designs
on the skin. It leaves a
reddish brown stain.
But now a white paint,
mixed with surgical glue,
is popular for painting
henna designs, especially for weddings. The white henna designs are very popular with people with darker skin.
Designs can be for healing, for fertility, for prosperity and abundance, for many life issues. My clients can choose a henna design from my collection, or they
can have a custom henna design with a reading. I connect with you, I choose a henna design, and intuit the symbols you need and why, and with your energy I draw customized symbols. My clients say they can feel the spiritual power of the symbols.
My mission is to help women, with my readings and blessings. I work with women and fertility to bless them with conception. I work with chemo patients, to lift them up. In my readings I see what my client needs and give her a henna prayer design that is created just for her. Prayers are more powerful than anything you can think of. Henna blessing designs support what you need to do in you life.
Renu started her career as an elementary school teacher, then she taught Indian cooking. Friends told her she should start doing her henna designs and reading professionally. In 1998 she quit her job and began touring
the US offering henna design work and readings. She also offers henna designs for parties, wedding, showers, and other special occasions in the Sacramento and North Bay region. You can see and experience her henna designs and reading at the upcoming Santa Rosa Mystic Fair. For more information: www.hennadesigns.com
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