Reflections on Balinese ancestral traditions from a talk by Jean Couteau at Usada Editor’s Note The following article is based on a talk by Jean Couteau presented at Usada, exploring the cultural and spiritual dimensions of Galungan and Kuningan in Bali. Couteau’s reflections draw attention to the importance of ancestral relationships, ritual cycles. As well […]
Love Potions, Sacred Charms and Guna Guna with Made Surya continues a series inspired by a talk presented by Made Suryasa at Usada Bali. Through stories, cultural context, and traditional teachings, Made explored the Balinese understanding of love charms, sacred symbols, spiritual protection, and the ethical dimensions of esoteric knowledge. Rather than presenting these subjects […]
When conversations turn to black magic in Bali, images of Rangda masks, mysterious rituals, haunted cemeteries, and whispered stories often come to mind. For many visitors, these stories sit somewhere between folklore and fascination, feeding a long-standing Western appetite for the exotic and unexplained. Yet as cultural educator Made Suryasa recently shared during a captivating […]
A World on a String: Susan Tereba Comes to Usada Bali There are dragons and scarabs, chickens and eggs, frogs and dragonflies, cats, mermaids, snakes, eagles, tiger angels, green men, mamulis, and ancient feminine forms. Spread across a table, they appear less like a jewellery collection and more like the inhabitants of an imagined world. […]
Blessing Ceremony for Paon Usada and Cucu Melaspas, Usada and a New Hearth. Today we gathered at a new extension of our Usada hearth in Campuhan. For a Melaspas ceremony to mark the beginning of the next exciting chapter for Usada Bali. In Bali, a Melaspas ceremony purifies and consecrates a newly completed building before […]
At Usada, cultural programming continues to grow through ongoing collaborations with practitioners who bring lived experience into the space. David Metcalf, photographer and visual anthropologist, joins as a community partner, presenting regular photography highlights alongside cultural talks drawn from his travels. His work offers a grounded lens into place, culture, and continuity. This month, we […]
