Haji Maa: Healer, Astrologist and Artist
Meet Haji Maa, Montreal-based meditation guide, yoga teacher, astrologist, healer and artist also known as Secondsight. We first encountered them at Elmnt when we attended their sound bath and Embodied class and felt equal parts grounded, transported and uplifted by their authentic loving energy and we’ve been in awe of their magic ever since. Their teaching aesthetic speaks primarily to the energetics of one’s anatomy, the poetic and profound nature of the astral and subtle realms, and the pairing of Astrology with one’s Yoga, breathing, and meditation practices. An otherworldly experience just being in their presence, we HIGHLY recommend their movement based classes as well as sound baths if ever you have the opportunity to experience them. Learn more about this deep and beautiful soul below and be sure to check out their online sound bath for the 20th anniversary of the Suoni per il Popolo festival. They are scheduled to be on the night of the solar eclipse, and the solstice....so june 20th going into june 21st, online.
What’s your sun, moon and rising sign?
In Western Astrology: Pisces Sun / Leo Moon / Aquarius Rising.
In both Tantric and Vedic Astrology: Aquarius Sun / Cancer Moon / Capricorn Rising
What lights up your soul?
Experiencing music lights up my soul, peu importe la manière. I love it when I’m on the receiving end, soaking up someone else’s creations, or when I’m in the flow of inspiration glimpsing song ideas and attempting to channel the ethers and ground them into my work, or when I’m the one sharing my own sound offerings out into space.
Favourite self-love ritual?
I would say my breathing practice is undeniably my favourite and most reliable and consistent self-love ritual.
What is your gift you offer others? (What you are here to share with your sisters, your mission)
I’m still in deep in the process of unfoldment, and so I’m anticipating that my purpose may eventually grow and change. Present day, what I’m attempting to communicate is that Liberation/Enlightenment is possible for all, and that it’s possible in one lifetime, and that just as the Universe is expanding, there are deeper and deeper states of Enlightenment, even the most advanced of sages is also discovering new depths, new realms, new sources of wonder.
I attempt to express these concepts and this energy in three primary ways: through making art and performing it, through being a spiritual guide to those who seek me, and lastly through embodying my own teachings and devoting myself to my personal practice and to my self-inquiry.
Biggest shadow aspect you had to overcome/are overcoming?
I'm working on allowing myself to show up, and be present, and occupy physical space. I’m warming up to the idea and the ideal that I can be deep in my practice and also still create and exist in the world.
Can you share a story of when you first stepped into your feminine power?
I prefer to identify as androgynous when it comes to gender and with regards to my sexuality, I guess if you had to call it something I’m bi. I didn’t really have language nor context for those types of themes and preferences I was growing up and for the longest while, if I did, I think I would have been better able to assert my sense of self earlier and better understand how that self related to the external world. That being said, I am definitely aware that I am in a female body and I am definitely happy that I have female body parts.
And so I don’t really have a defining moment or story to share about stepping into feminine power. I find that my femininity comes and goes, in waves. And that I can consciously bolster my femme vibe through my choice of wardrobe and styling, and I very much enjoy playing with my look in that way. I can be more feminine when that feels like the most authentic expression of me at that moment in time, or be more masculine when I need to, or become something else altogether, just simply through what I’m wearing or not wearing and how I’m wearing it.
At the end of the day, I think womxn are amazing, and I think men are equally amazing. I have an appreciation and a reverence for both. I’m attracted to and am intimate with both. But as for myself, in my own energy, I experience myself as neither male nor female, I prefer to just be free to move between things. Allowing myself to be fluid in my expression and in my orientation has been incredibly healing and empowering and freeing for me, given my life path so far.
What’s one thing you want to learn this year?
Probably the most exciting thing I’m learning this year, or hoping to be ready to learn, is a new sequence of meditations that I’ve begun to glimpse in my dream state. I’m hoping the full transmission comes through before the year is done, so that I can start to practice it fully.
Early bird or night owl?
It varies, I let my sleep cycle lead the way. Whenever I feel like dreaming, I go to sleep, and whenever I wake up from that rest, it tends to initiate a certain version of me that’s super engaged and enamoured with wakefulness. I find myself more able to savour the external world and this particular plane of existence, if I’ve just returned from dreaming.
What makes you feel empowered?
The sky.
Art, especially film, fashion and music.
Breathing Techniques.
Vivid, insightful dreams.
Meditation.
Something most people would be surprised to know about you?
I'm still currently rehabbing from a near-death experience from a few years ago.
Inspiring book or podcast recommendation?
Podcast: StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson
If you were an oracle who could only deliver ONE message, what would it be?
What an honour to evolve into being a seer, and an even greater miracle to be able to express in a way that’s mutually transformative and meaningful to one’s self and simultaneously to others. I’m nowhere near that level of grace within my personal spiritual practice yet, to have earned that role or responsibility. And so I can’t quite speak on what the exact message would be, it’s still a secret, even within my own awareness. I can speak though about how I would approach that karma, if ever it was mine to experience. I imagine I would do as I do with most things, I would go into my meditation or into dream or some form of deep cleanse or ceremony, and remain in trance and in contemplation and in play there, waiting for guidance about what to say, and when, and how, and where and to whom, and then I would follow the advice received as best as I can, and gift my one final message, and be at peace because it was in alignment with the highest part of me.
Social Links
https://www.instagram.com/sssssecondsight/
https://sssssecondsight.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/2ndsight