We all say the same

She got me in the dark garden, around midnight. I am laying on my belly, on the small concrete wall, eyelids shut, forehead resting on the back of my hands. I recognize Her as the chants of the cicadas become very clear and sharp in my ears. She is waking up slowly inside my brain, coming to life nearly six hours after I drank the tea. This is not a surprise anymore. It is our second encounter; I now know that my body assimilates the chemicals much slower than normal. This is not an unexplainable mysterious phenomenon, but rather one that is chemically explainable.

The Santo Daime

If you’re new to this blog, start by reading the first article – as the first page of a book. My shaman said that thursday night’s “trabalho” would be a preparation for Sunday’s ritual. It would be a “concentration” exercise. We would ingest the ayahuasca and sit in silence for few hours, eyes closed, arms and legs…

L’IGNORANCE QUÉBÉCOISE

J’ai beaucoup foi en les jeunes ingénieur(e)s du Québec, un groupe d’individus qui me semblent aptes à unir science, soif de vérité et créativité. J’ai eu envie de recenser pour vous quelques essais québécois, parus au cours des derniers mois. Cette liste, non exhaustive et on ne peut plus subjective, comprend uniquement les livres dont les maisons d’édition m’ont transmis des extraits et qui m’ont semblé profitables à notre éveil : susciter des questions, obtenir des réponses, et encore plus de questions. Je vous présente cette liste par ordre décroissant d’intérêt (personnel), lequel équivaut à un ordre (historiquement) chronologique inverse : depuis le début des temps, jusqu’à demain.

Cachoeira Sagrada

If you’re new to this blog, start by reading the first article – as the first page of a book. I wake up early on this Thursday morning. 6:30. Maxime and I will attend the Corrente from 7:00 to 11:00, a 4-hours silent meditation, while João de Deus receives today’s hundreds of visitors. Maxime is already in…

The purifying process

If you’re new to this blog, start by reading the first article – as the first page of a book. I was walking out of Casa Dom Inácio de Loyola, wearing the beautiful white top I had just bought for fifty Reais on the Center’s street. Everyday, hundreds of tourists come from all over Brazil, North America…

Live it through

  I planned to come to Abadiânia for one day and go back to Brasilia in the evening. Like so, I would make sure I would meet João de Deus and leave before the Santo Daime (ayahuasca) ceremonies. I was scared to drink the plant again, so I deliberately planned my trip to miss the…

Living all lives

Some say that at one point, each soul will have lived all lives: the rich, the homeless, the abuser, the abused… And some souls, stuck in their physical body, sometimes wish – although scared – to live, right now, drastically different lives from their own one. It’s the kind of ideas my dearest friend Pamela and myself discuss for hours. Live someone else’s life, so we could understand how it feels.

Mãe e amor

Two days left in the highly cultural city of Belo Horizonte. I asked my Couchsurfing mate, a graphic designer at Palacio dos Artes, about cinema. He suggested I’d check the program at Cinema Belas Artes. Two Brasilian movies were scheduled today, and one of them, A Imagem da Tolerância, is about spirituality. Choice was easy – you know me by now!

Radiant Women

March 8th is an historical date of fight. Fight against devaluation and abuse. For men and women. On March 8th, 1857, a large number of factory workers in the United States took to the streets to demand their economic and political rights and were repressed by the police, who opened fire. On March 8th, 1908, capitalist bosses in Chicago set fire to a textile factory to stop the daily protests of workers, for the respect of the legal 8-hour work day, and ameliorations of their work conditions. A thousand women worked in this factory. 120 died and many more were terribly burnt. (source: Batayouvriyel) In 1910, March 8th was suggested by the International Socialist Woman's Conference to become an "International Woman's Day."

My first step to consciousness

I was inhaling and inhaling, deeper and deeper until... Toc! My lumbar vertebra realigned itself in a releasing crack! Through breathing! This was the first time I succeeded replacing my backbone through breathing! … I don’t think it’s something we are used to do, right? Or are you? Well, I thought it was fascinating… And, for me, quite a big evolution into body consciousness!