[Marc Bonomelli is an independent journalist specializing in the study of religious phenomena and new spiritualities. Author of the book Les Nouvelles Routes du soi (“The New Roads of the Self”), he write a column for Le Monde des religions about the flourishing spirituality of our time and how it reinvents itself. From “naturists” to “soul surfers,” these new roads of the self seem to cross all fields, from health to politics, including digital, personal development and, of course, religions.]
In January 2025, the full moon rose over the arid mountains of the south of Tenerife, Spain. Almost every month, this heavenly body marks the date of an event attended by about 30 people, mainly young women, from Europe and America. This nods the transnational appearance of the ritual that is being prepared, while we sit in a circle in a wooden shelter in the heart of a permaculture farm that houses withdrawals and holistic workshops.
Mili Gentile, one of the organizers, is Argentine. “I traveled in South America and Asia with the intention of connecting with the ancestral traditions of each place,” he said, surrounded by candles, a bowl of natural spots and statues of Buddha and the escivality of the Hindu god. In the center, a steamed pot, which contains a cocoa drink. Prepared with prayers and channels, it was a central element of the ceremony about to begin.
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