There were big crowds and small, but overall lots of people took up Agnihotra, and it feels now as if Homa Therapy is truly established in New Zealand. Fifteen workshops were organized and four more were spontaneously added to the itinerary. We also had four radio interviews and two or three newspaper articles published.
Art of Living people are taking to Agnihotra in good numbers and with deep respect for the science. In Auckland we stayed with Nirmala D’Souza who organized workshops with AOL people, and in Wellington Raj Vinod Anand facilitated a workshop attended by many AOL people.
We also conducted two workshops, at the Steiner school in Ellerslie, organized by Darryl Sang. Here key members of the biodynamic movement took up Agnihotra and have since been introducing Agnihotra to more organic farmers.
At a workshop with the Theosophical Society in Palmerston North, participants commented that they had not experienced such potent transformational energy for a long time.
At Havelock North there was a big crowd. It was organized by two Agnihotris, Patricia Iversen and Corra, an organic farmer. Both have had profound experiences with their Agnihotra practice.
The main instigator for our teaching tour in New Zealand was Kay Baxter, a leader in organics and heritage seed-saving in New Zealand. She runs Koanga Institute and organic farm situated in a secluded, remote valley at Hawkes Bay. Kay is very supportive of Agnihotra due to the positive effects in personal well-being and in growing food. Three community members took up Agnihotra, much to Kay’s joy, as she now has support in adding Homa to the organic farming practices.
We will hear more from Kay, as she is a keen experimenter and is presently conducting Brix test (a method of measuring the nutritional content of foods) trials on various organic methods, including Agnihotra and ash application.
We did a day-long practical workshop on Homa farming applications at Koanga, including making Homa biosol liquid fertilizer. Koanga community are now making Agnihotra dried cowdung patties for sale.
In the South Island we went to Golden Bay. It is an alternative area and many people, including a lot of young people into organic gardening and alternative living, took up Agnihotra. We continue to receive requests for Agnihotra kits from New Zealanders.