Granville Street

Cherry blossoms

Japanese plum blossoms outside my parent's house

Right now - this very week, even - is my favourite time of the year.

I blame it on the cherry blossoms.

There's something, almost like a pheromone, that gets released into the air when the cherry blossoms are in bloom, and it speaks to me at some sort of primal level, and all I want to do is go outside and bask in the gorgeousness of spring flowers.

Perhaps it's also the Daylight Savings Time taking into effect - it's 6:15pm right now and yet the sky's light and it feels like sunset's hours away - a feeling that screams summer's coming right up and the winter of a few weeks ago is a long forgotten memory.

On Thursday I entered a Twitter contest being held by the City of Vancouver in promotion of the upcoming Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, and found out a few hours that I had won the prize: a book called Ornamental Cherries in Vancouver.

The book features all the species of ornamental cherry tree in Vancouver - its history, how to recognize it, etc. I picked it up from City Hall on Friday afternoon and as geeky as it is, I'm proud to have it in my ever-growing collection of Vancouver books.

My Unusual Night at the Planetarium

The H.R. MacMillan Space Centre aka: the Planetarium

When I was invited to attend Awakening the Universe Within at the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre last month, I knew that it wasn't going to be your typical night at the Planetarium - a venue perhaps better known for its Pink Floyd lazer shows.

But I've always been a fan of Vancouver's MacMillan Space Centre and astronomy in general. Despite pursuing an arts degree, my highest marks were always in UBC's astronomy classes. One of my most memorable vacations was at the Observatory B&B in Osoyoos, and I probably own more Carl Sagan books than I care to admit. Sure, I might not have known what it meant to "awaken the universe within", but I was open-minded and was more than willing to find out.

The first sign that I was in for something different was when I read the following introduction on the official event website:

Calling all healers, conscious energy workers, yogi’s, holistic health care practitioners and everyone on the path of higher consciousness.

Having only tried yoga for the first time a few months prior, this was definitely new territory for yours truly. But it was also new to everyone else. You see, this event would be the world's first star activation DJ event. The event would be showcasing Sacred Geometric Patterns (called "Star Activations") created by artist and healer Baljit Rayat, accompanied by music and sound by Soundscape Producer Derrick Bauman.


Needless to say, I still had absolutely no idea what to expect. Would this be a concert? Would this be therapy? Some of my more cynical friends snickered at me for agreeing to go at all, but I was sincerely curious. All I knew was that I would be led through Baljit's Star Activation Healing Method which will be accompanied by Derrick's enchanted, ambient soundscapes - soundscapes of singing bowls, tuning forks, electronic instruments and planetary recordings. 


I then thought, would it be weird going alone? Would I know anybody there? Would I stick out like a sore thumb? Would it be obvious I wasn't one of them? In my wildest imagination I had envisioned a Shambhala trance-like techno party taking place under a dome of stars while wild psychedelic images pulsated in time above.

I couldn't have been more off.

The audience gets settled in their seats before the show.

When the lights dimmed, both Baljit Rayat and Derrick Bauman were introduced.
Baljit started off with an interesting anecdote. She said that she used to work at an architectural firm and one day found herself playing with the AutoCAD software inexplicably creating unique shapes and patterns. A colleague who had been observing asked what she was doing, and Baljit simply responded, "I don't know". She didn't know what motivated her to create these images, but she could sense their energy and continued creating what she would later learn to be Sacred Geometry, or Star Activations.

Baljit Rayat and Derrick Bauman

Baljit describes Star Activations to be "similar to those that you would see in crop circles, but instead of having to be in a plane over corn fields to feel the energy of those designs, Iʼve created my own system of sharing sacred geometry shapes for the purpose of healing on an energetic or physiological level.”

She explains the concept in more depth on her website:

"Sacred Geometry are Universal patterns of geometric shapes that carry a high vibration. They are a make up of our DNA strands and our Reality.  I discovered through communicating with my higher dimensional guides that the sacred geometry that I have been channeling are called “Star Activations”. The “Star” comes from the Sacred Geometry acting as a STARgate channel that sends a Powerful vortex of Light Energy connecting to the Universal and Cosmic Truth to Your “I AM” vibration. This assists in removing karma, old programming that is no longer serving your Soul’s Mission, and fear based emotions healing on all levels of your bodies balancing the Divine Masculine energy and the Divine Feminine energy within YOU."

Don't worry if that makes little sense. What I took away from the night was that she uses her Star Activations and healing powers to help us fulfill our goals as creative individuals.

Derrick, a local audio producer, then explained that this was the first time his soundscapes would be set to Baljit's Star Activations. He intuitively created soundscapes that suited the distinctiveness of each Star Activation. Sure, we were guinea pigs for the night, so to speak, but we were ready to experience it. The lights and stars dimmed, and the first Star Activation faded into existence.

The first star activation of the night.

The entire room was quiet and an ambient bell - a Himalayan Bowl - started to resonate in the background.

The Star Activation rotated counterclockwise ever so slightly and there were subtle animations running up and down the strands like electrons following an orbit. It was incredibly soothing to look at, almost hypnotic.

I remember thinking, "How did she make that?" which led to me thinking, "I shouldn't be thinking about this right now". At least I wasn't snoring, like the man behind me! But I couldn't really fault him - it was all very comforting and relaxing.

Each Star Activation was on the screen for several minutes - some looking simplistic, some looking tribal, others organic and cell-like, and others completely alien. Some were incredibly complex and I found myself transfixed by the whole experience.

The soundscapes were indeed that - ambient sounds - each suited the Star Activation perfectly. I remember at one point of the night being reminded of Johnny Greenwood's Bodysong. Nevertheless, I loved what I was hearing and the mood that it was creating.

Baljit's voice - confident yet soothing - announced the name and purpose of the Star Activation and called upon universal energies, her voice almost chanting at times. It was my first experience with such a healer. It was quite powerful to experience

Thankfully this wasn't at all like I had been anticipating - a techno party. No, this was more like a group-led meditation session, and it was exactly what I needed. The session went through at least 20 different Star Activations and continued for an hour and a half until 8:30pm.

When the lights came back up, it was as if the entire crowd awoke from a giant slumber, smiling and feeling rejuvenated. A woman a row over to my right whispered to her friend, "Did you sleep at all?" Her friend responded, "No, I wanted to watch the entire thing".

She wasn't alone.

The end of a beautiful night at the Planetarium