Auteure.
Friday, March 16th was the last day I would be nearby João de Deus, in the Casa Dom Inácio de Loyola. Siting in the same room. In silence. Eyelids shut. For four hours. Wearing a white dress I bought for the occasion. The corrente. The meditation a hundred people attend every morning and afternoon, from Monday to Friday.
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.
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… Lire la suite The Santo Daime
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… Lire la suite Cachoeira Sagrada
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.
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!
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."
"Nothing happens by chance. Coincidences do not exist. Everything is part of a much bigger plan."
When I was 10 years old, a baby-sitter once told me: “Curiosity is a very bad flaw”. I felt really anxious for a second. But then I thought: “this is the most stupid thing I have ever heard”. Today, curiosity led me to an Ayahuasca ritual in Arraial d’Ajuda, Brazil. I could doubt it was… Lire la suite Do not skip steps
I was feeling at peace now, seated a dozen meters away, at the edge of the sacred circle, few inches from my vomit. "But I want to go to toilet", I asked, allowing myself to be childish. He pointed out the light in the forest, on the path that conducted to the house. As I looked toward the path, it seemed a huge challenge for me to get there alone.
Gabrielle Lebeau 