Welcome back to the show, everyone. Happy Thursday and happy Walborg. Today marks

Valborz Meshaufton or Valborg, which is this big celebration that happens every day on the very last of April here in Sweden.

If you were in Sweden right now, today and into the night, you will see these

huge bonfires really all over the country. You find them everywhere. It's a big day of celebration.

And of course, if you are a farmer or you live on a lot of land or you have a big garden, it's a perfect opportunity to

burn away debris from the wintertime. So when we clear our gardens and we're waking up old

leaves and we have things that we need to get rid of, we burn them today. But also back in the day,

Valboi was this tradition to bring in light into the darkness.

It really marks the end of cold season and the beginning of the light season, right?

And also, it was meant to ward off evil spirits. And that tradition, we see that across

all different kinds of cultures. That tradition is something

that has been a little bit lost in today's world. But I absolutely think we all still have a need for

protection, but we have lost the rituals that our ancestors used to keep around that. Maybe in today's world we're not so

much thinking about the idea of evil spirits. Volubour is also rooted in what I think is a fairly

misogynistic tradition, this idea of warding off evil witches at this time. And maybe,

you know, in today's world, we're not so worried

about evil spirits, but we still need protection. I still absolutely believe that there is such a thing

as bad energy, as a necessity to set boundaries, to say no to things that don't serve us, and to create this

sacred space around ourselves and around our lives, where we choose to invite the things

that actually nourish us and toxic energy or people who are mean-spirited who actually don't want the best for us.

Maybe people who look at us from a very negative lens.

We see so much of this in social media today and on the internet with hatred and judgment.

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