Meaning of Good Life

Kabbalah movement in British schools

The Kabbalah movement has started running spirituality' classes for pupils as young as seven. Five primaries and a secondary school have introduced the Spirituality for Kids programme. Devotees of the trendy movement visit the schools and teach youngsters to find the light and reject an inner voice called the opponent. The Spirituality for Kids group, or SFK, insists the classes are nonreligious but one head said he had scrapped the programme after volunteers began preaching to children about Kabbalah.

Originally a mystical form of Judaism, Kabbalah was turned into a global movement in the Seventies. Jewish leaders believe the modern Kabbalah craze — whose celebrity followers include Madonna and Demi Moore — is distorting the tradition’s true teachings. They voiced deep concern about schools using SFK, which was founded by the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre. Critics claim the recent branch of Kabbalah has made money out of the credulous. One of the school headmasters John Hicks, who is also a parish priest, said: “They were working in our school but not any more, after a school investigation found them not to have been wholly upfront about their background. We ended the project once the SFK staff started talking about Kabbalah to the children.

Tattoos etch out your spiritual side

According to body art enthusiast Pip Russell — who has been tattooing people for eight years — tattoos carry deeper meaning for people who wear them. “It’s really nice that people are looking a bit deeper into their spirituality,” the 41- year-old says. She has also photographed some of her best work and a selection of shots can now be seen at the West Coast Gallery in Piha. The show Show Us Your Tatts exhibition is being held as part of the Auckland Festival of Photography till June 15.

Pip has 15 tattoos and started working on other people in 1999. “It seemed to be where my creativity fitted the best,” she says. Her own designs have been overshadowed by anything and everything since she’s worked in a commercial studio, she says. Some are mementos of home for people headed overseas — others are Maori-based. The Bethells Beach resident says body art used to be more of a man’s world. But not any more she says. “There are some amazing young female artists out there.”