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We explore stories of mystical adventure, inner transformation, and a little bit of fire – sometimes literally.
This show is about pushing limits into the unknown, discovering who we really are in the process, and celebrating the moments of connection that make us feel more alive.
Intro 00:00
Welcome back to The Alighted Way. I'd like to provide some background on my friend Janelle, the creator of this podcast. She stands at the threshold of a mission shaped by nearly two decades of spiritual pilgrimage and sacred site work, what began in 2007 with her first journey to Peru, evolved into an extensive exploration and working with some of the world's most powerful sacred sites. Visiting Bhutan in 2010 kick started her official journey with dragons in 2014 during a transformative visit to bally, she was guided further down the new path, one involving dragon energies, bringing ley lines and wounded warrior women back online, and activating the Divine Feminine on a global scale. But it was a moment in 2016 that crystallized everything. Two mated hawks appeared in her backyard, unusual for them to be in the city at nightfall, one struck her window. It came up and over her garage from the east. In shamatic tradition, hawks represent the east direction. Janelle witnessed the hawk dive bomb the window with such precise force that it ended its life. She was there when the hawk took its last breath. The Mate returned once a year, for many years, to her backyard as the remaining Hawk mourned the loss of its mate, the message was unmistakable. Life as Janelle knew it was over. She needed to begin again. That sign initiated her transition, and in 2018 ultimately led to her shut down of her feng shui school and consulting practice to commit fully to this new calling. Now we're going to jump from the firing pan straight into the flames of a different fire. In this episode, we are headed to Bhutan with Janelle, where her dragon path began. The show is about pushing limits into the unknown, discovering who we truly are, and celebrating the moments that make us feel alive. So let's get into it.
Janelle 02:02
It is no coincidence. Bhutan is known as the land of the thunder dragon, along with the land of the phalluses, also known as penises and testicles. From here on in this is Janelle And I have visited Bhutan with Colleen in 2010 for people that know nothing about this small country, it is like a tiny postage stamp sandwiched between two giants, India and China. Bhutan opened its doors to tourists in 1974 before that, it was very isolated, reclusive. It did not want foreign influence. Since 1974 the people of Bhutan have realized foreigners find it weird that they have penises everywhere. So over time, there are less of them, and presently they are seen more in rural areas. They are very conscious of them now. So foreign influence is real and changes cultures rapidly. In this case, it's only been 50 years.
So it's the first place, but not the last place I have visited where there is unapologetic penis worship and reverence. It symbolizes fertility, protection and good luck. When I travel to places I really enjoy, getting on lesser traveled roads and learning things the locals believe value or do differently as a culture. This is definitely one of those things. So what do I mean by the land of the phalluses, the penis symbols appear in art, architecture, rituals with purposes ranging from warding off the evil eye to honoring gods and getting blessings for fertility, they wear the charm on necklaces. Any self respecting phallus worshiper would have an erect penis and testicles painted or carved onto their house, preferably flanking the entry door for protection and on their places of worship. Businesses use them as welcome signs, restroom signs in window displays. You write your prayers and wishes on it as an offering and leave it at the temple in Bhutan, a traditional house warming ritual involves hoisting a basket of wooden phalluses onto the roof on the new home, securing them at the four corners of the eaves for four directions and placing one inside the house. Farmers also get in on the action and have them erect in their fields like scarecrows. So they are not alone in this endeavor.
04:30
Many countries around the world still have fertility festivals and revere the penis as an object of worship. I have visited Greece, Italy, Nepal, India, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and. All of which still have these festivals. Whole countries, not so much, but definitely, small pockets still exist within all the countries I just listed in ancient cultures worldwide. It was a widespread practice as a tourist visiting the countries of Bhutan, then Greece and Nepal, I could purchase ornate versions of phallus souvenirs because they were sold in the marketplaces. They come in every color shade you can think of, bright to pastel. Some have eyes. Some look like they're ejaculating. Some have hairy testicles, but most of them are beautifully, intricately decorated. Greece is no slouch when it comes to phallic symbolism. Pilgrims knew they were at the right temple on the small island of Delos because there was two very large phalluses. Both of them were well over eight feet tall, and they were guarding the entrance of Dionysus temple. Dionysius is a Greek god of life, force, fertility, ecstasy and wine, so lots of intoxication has ensued in his name, there continues to this day to be a fertility festival honoring him. Romans borrowed a lot of ideas from Greece, so it is not surprising to see in Pompeii, Italy, a mural of the god Priapus, a minor Greek god of fertility, who, since the 1980s has been making a comeback in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, of all places, in a religion and church that centers on the worship of the phallus, the congregation is mainly homosexual men. Most people know Pompeii in relation to the tragedy of the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius that buried the whole city and almost everyone who lived there. It's not so much known for the phalluses everywhere. Some examples include signage marking street corners like Bhutan, they also painted beside doors where people lived. The difference is, they took it a whole step further and carved penises into the stones on the streets. This was not an easy feat. The paving stones are basalt, which is a very hard stone to carve. You require metal tools and strong intent, as it's a labor intensive process to create. I guess they were a determined bunch. In Tuscany, there's a mural of a tree of fertility, a tree covered in penises. Sicily nowadays has a penis themed bar and cafe.
Throughout the world, fertility rites and festivals still draw large crowds, where attendees enjoy phallic shaped treats and souvenirs. There is a procession of a gigantic wooden penis, sometimes carried by many, many people or sometimes pushed on a cart. Japan has a 620 pound over eight feet long, Cypress wooden penis that it uses. The finale to all of this is when it's spun in a 360 degree circle above the crowd to shower the people with blessings of the vitality, protection, life and divine power of nature and for everyone there to have a prosperous year nowadays, the imagery may seem unusual provocative, but it is still deeply meaningful for these and other cultures. So I want you to picture this at the festival. What ensues is there's people in penis face masks, so get the picture in your mind, and they're in costumes, and they may even be holding fake penises, and they're chasing you and teasing you publicly. So what is the punishment if they catch you? You might ask. If caught, you must kiss the penis part of their mask. There is also a new kind of phallic reverence, which began in 1974 in Iceland. Initially, it was seen as a joke, and then, according to the museum's website, it then grew into a meager personal collection. The Icelandic Phallological Museum, in rejoicing has self proclaimed it is the world's only genuine penis Museum. It now receives donations from around the globe for the collection and boasts over 282 penis specimens. Some, by the way, are human.
09:50
Most historians agree that fertility rites where the phallus was integral to all rituals and phallus worship pre existed Buddhism as well as Shinto religions in Central and Eastern Asia. One influential person in Bhutan, cultivating this strong tradition of the phallus culture is nicknamed the divine madman. So he is a 15th century eccentric monk named Drukpa Kunley who challenged the status quo and societal norms. His phallus also had a nickname, thunderbolt of flaming wisdom. This reminds me of the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 days, when she nicknamed his penis Princess Sophia, and he insists it should have a more masculine name, like spike Butch or crow the warrior king, thunderbolt of flaming wisdom should have been considered as a strong contender. Apparently, females did not stand a chance when coming face to face with it, he struck one demoness with a thunderbolt of flaming wisdom. Sorry, just had to say that one more time, and she fell down dead. So think of the power of that one blow and about the craziness of death by penis,
11:29
this bad boy earned himself the title the Saint of 5000 women by bringing them to enlightenment through sex. He used his phallus as a spiritual tool and secret weapon, Colleen and I went to his fertility temple. Usually, monks use a 10 inch wooden phallus carved by the Divine madman himself, allegedly, to hit devotees over the head and bless them with its healing powers. That day, the caretakers were not present, so we blessed ourselves with his wooden fertility phallus. Neither of us wanted children, but we were both wanting to give birth to new projects. This also reminds me of my wedding. We had a stick where people could make wishes for us and tie a ribbon on most people, unsurprisingly, wished for a family for us, so we ended up calling it the baby making stick.
12:31
We were blessed when we were there in Bhutan to experience a festival where we sat in an arena for a midnight naked man dance, where men from the villages wore masks and danced nude. It is a very sacred ritual. This was not seen as lewd or vulgar by the modern crowd. There were very few Westerners in attendance. You had to be in the know of it happening. We've come to the end of the penis portion of this episode.
So let's regroup and move in a different but completely complementary topic in episode one, I did say I would go into more depth about why dragons are very special to me. Now is that time to delve deeper into that. It is no coincidence that in Bhutan phallus, symbols are often depicted with dragons. They are intertwined and wrapped around. Some are spitting fire. They both represent protection to ward off evil, as well as good fortune and prosperity. Phalluses represent fertility and life. So Bhutan is known as the land of the thunder dragon, which is an ancient protective guardian and deity of the land of the people. It lives in the Himalaya Mountains. It is associated with thunder roaring across the mountains, which is interpreted as the dragon's roar and its presence and Lightning is the release of the dragon's fire. Dragons are a big part of Bhutan's Mystique in mythology as a national symbol, and one is even on their flag. Bhutan is only one of two countries in the world who presently have a dragon on their flag. The other one is Wales.
So I experienced what I call a dragon initiation at the burning Lake, which is a sacred site, the experience was simply magical. From start to finish, our guide told us about the burning lake as we approached that there was treasure inside the water. So I, with my inner vision, could see the treasure as I looked into the water, I saw a temple, a dagger, sacred fire, and all of a sudden, a white serpent with a head that looked like a dragon, who was the protector, Guardian, swam up and told me I needed to ask permission and needed to make an offering. So I did a chant of A. Mantra, as I had nothing physical to offer, and it was accepted, luckily, and The Guardian swam off. I sat by the lake for quite a while and just took it all in. Then I was guided to a certain place around the lake. I had a vision where I came face to face with a dragon. It was quite little, like a 40 pound dog in size. I looked at it, it looked at me, and then it ran toward me, at me. We swirled around with each other. I subdued it with liquid from my eye into its eye. The dragon's name was Orchow. I got one drop of dragon blood in me, so he is to protect me. Afterwards, he laid his head on my lap, and we bonded. Afterwards, Colleen and I met with a lama, and I shared what had happened, and he called my experience a vision, and said I was working towards enlightenment. The dragon came home with me and stayed for quite a few months at my house. He was curious about trainings I was doing, and asked to come to some shamanic training with me. The shamans role is to be a bridge Walker and transverse reality and the spirit world. So I definitely saw Orchow as a power animal. They're a helping spirit from the spirit world. They're beings who offer protection and support as needed. They come to you because of what they can teach you, to impart wisdom and guide you, but it is a two way. Street. Relationships are created, bonds are forged, and they are a loyal companion with any relationship they're in your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. One of the funnier stories about Orchow is at the shamanic training. I told him that he could sit anywhere. So he bounded forward. But then he started backing up and was shaking his head, and the leader of the group said, Your Dragon is funny, quickly followed by, he can't sit there. My Jaguar sits there. So the Jaguar was holding her own in this crazy pecking order of power animals for Orchow It was a season. Eventually, he decided it was time to leave. He returned to me wounded like six months later, said that he and other dragons had been attacked. I healed him, and his wing had been torn. When he was well enough, he left again, and I haven't seen him in many, many years. Now, I know if I needed him, I could call on him, and he would come, but he was like a shaman for the Dragons. That was my first, but not my last, experience with dragons.
17:43
There it is, and there you have it. Thank you for sharing and brightening the path. Today. I am not alone in experiencing dragons. Join us next time where you can look forward to Colleen sharing her true but tall dragon tales of how her dragon path began during Reiki training, we will continue to share and explore more stories that may take you beyond the edge of your boundaries. We encourage you to be open and come along for the wild ride. Safety first, though, so buckle up if you are interested in learning more about dragons. Janelle has created an introductory dragon course, which kicks off in February of 2026 you can go to the alighted way.com website to register become part of our community or brood in Dragon speak and the magic that lies within by subscribing or giving us a rating and review Until next time, keep the flame of curiosity burning you.