Eat, Pray, Love

leave the country. Which is in about three weeks.
But it’s turning out to be almost impossible for Wayan to find a piece of land she deems
appropriate for a home. Setting aside all the practical considerations, she has to examine the
taksu—the spirit—of each place. As a healer, Wayan’s sense of taksu, even by Balinese
standards, is supremely acute. I found one place that I thought was perfect, but Wayan said it
was possessed by angry demons. The next piece of land was rejected because it was too
close to a river, which, as everyone knows, is where ghosts live. (The night after she saw that
place, Wayan says, she dreamt of a beautiful woman in torn clothes, weeping, and that did
it—we could not buy this land.) Then we found a lovely little shop near town, with a backyard
and everything, but it was located on a corner, and only somebody who wants to go bankrupt
and die young would ever live in a house located on a corner. As everyone knows.
“Don’t even try talking her out of it,” Felipe advised me. “Trust me, darling. Don’t get
between the Balinese and their taksu.”
Then last week Felipe found a place that seemed to fit the criteria exactly—a small, pretty
piece of land, close to central Ubud, on a quiet road, next to a rice field, plenty of space for a
garden and well within our budget. When I asked Wayan, “Should we buy it?” she replied,
“Don’t know yet, Liz. Not too fast, for making decisions like this. I need talk to a priest first.”
She explained that she would need to consult a priest in order to find an auspicious day
upon which to purchase the land, if she does decide to buy it at all. Because nothing signific-
ant can be done in Bali before an auspicious day is chosen. But she can’t even ask the
priests for the auspicious date upon which to buy the land until she decides if she really wants
to live there. Which is a commitment she refuses to make until she’s had an auspicious
dream. Aware of my dwindling days here, I asked Wayan, like a good New Yorker, “How soon
can you arrange to have an auspicious dream?”
Wayan replied, like a good Balinese, “Cannot be rushed, this.” Although, she mused, it
might help if she could go to one of the major temples in Bali with an offering, and pray to the
gods to bring her an auspicious dream...
“OK,” I said. “Tomorrow Felipe can drive you to the major temple and you can make an of-
fering and ask the gods to please send you an auspicious dream.”
Wayan would love to, she said. It’s a great idea. Only one problem. She’s not permitted to
enter any temples for this entire week.
Because she is... menstruating.
Eat, Pray, Love