Muddy Blairs, "Tony Blair & Wife Perform Chant Ritual To Lizards/Pyramid In Mexico."

[Dennis]

> Dressed only in bathing suits, Britain's first couple stood outside
> a brick pyramid on the hotel's grounds and bowed toward each
> point of the
> compass while chanting to each of the four winds.
> The spiritual leader of the ceremony encouraged them "to feel
> at one
> with Mother Earth," the Times reported, and to "experience inner
> feelings
> and visions."
> The Blairs then moved around the outside of the pyramid, one
> façade
> at a time, praying first to the Mayan symbols of the sun and
> baby lizards,
> signifying spring and childhood. They then prayed to another
> wall, on which
> a bird was painted, representing adolescence, summer and freedom.
> One a
> third was a crab for maturity and autumn, and finally a serpent
> for winter
> and transformation.
> Moving inside, Tony and Cherie immersed themselves in the
> herb-infused mist of a Mayan steam bath to sweat the physical
> and spiritual
> impurities from their bodies and to "balance their energy flow."
>
> Mayan holy songs were incanted as they meditated and attempted
> to
> conjure up visions of animals in the steamy air. The celebrant
> explained the
> meaning of each of their hallucinations.
> Before emerging from the pyramid, the Blairs were instructed
> to give
> voice to their hopes and fears (they said a prayer for world
> peace), and
> then undergo a "rebirth."
> This involved smearing one another with papaya and watermelon,
> then
> with mud from the Mayan jungle outside, the Times explained.
>
> Finally, while exiting the womb-door of the pyramid, "the Blairs
>
> were told to scream out loud to signify the pain" of birth. They
> then walked
> hand-in-hand to the beach for a dip in the Caribbean.

Wow. Sounds like a wild kick -- not quite like Ginsberg and Burroughs eating
yage in South American jungles and seeing Death emerge from the mud and bile
while they vomited snakes and divine light, but for a NATO partner, this is
pretty extreme, which isn't a bad thing in my pseudo-holy book.

DP