TUFI RACHID AMIN

In Memorium

Senhor Tufi Rachid Amin who long-suffered a chronic kidney disease has passed from among us, leaving behind a trail filled with happiness, joy, friendship and healing. The story of his life and times (with special explanations of his healing hymns) is at Cadernos de Hinário (in Portuguese).

Words are limited always in their capacity for describing a great soul. Perhaps the videos that follow can give a bit more flavor to the story of the dear friend who we miss and celebrate.

From his friendly smile to his forró singing to his healing hymns, Tufi Rachid Amin transmitted love and joy and his personal sensibility of "I AM HAPPY" which is the title of his collection of Santo Daime hymns.

A FORTALEZA PHOTO ARCHIVE

I have no idea how many photos I have posted of Fortaleza and the travels of the Luíz Mendes family and friends, but the number "feels" large. So, perhaps it's time to post a links to past collections.

Collections at Flickr

Collections from Cefli and elsewhere at Imageevent

FEITIO: THE MAKING OF SANTO DAIME

Many consider the making the sacrament -- the Santo Daime -- to be the most integrated and profound spiritual work of the tradition.




Every step in the process is ritualized, beginning as the women collect and wash the Rainha leaves



and the men gather and clean the Jagube vine.



Then the polarities -- men and women, macracá and mallet, leaf and vine, water and fire -- are brought together in the work of producing the holy sacrament.

The videos tell the story best.

























For more pics click here.

FORRÓ, DAIME and FUN

One of the most looked-forward-to events at the annual Encounter for the New Horizon is the cultural night which begins with a theater of family and folklore at the Salão do Cípo in the forest and then continues at the church with drinking daime, dancing forró and generally celebratiing the culture of Northeast Brazil, the place of origin for many of the rubber-tappers and migrating peoples who settled in Acre during the 20th Century.

This year the theater focused on the life of Padrinho Luíz.

Teatro ...


(or go to Flickr set directly)

Forró ...


(or go to Flickr set directly)


Cicero and popular culture ...


(or go to Flickr set directly)


The videos follow, first with forró and an unusual band where the normal accordion is replaced by a saxophone. The saxophonist is João Braz who used to be invited to play at the concentrações of Mestre Irineu.


























Popular culture and dance from Northeast Brazil ...

THE CELEBRATION OF THE HOLY KINGS

The Day Of the Holy Kings marks the beginning of the yearly calendar of the Santo Daime tradition ... a perfect time for fardamentos (Michela and Lucas) and a baptism (José Daniel).

Here are some photos:


(or go to Flickr set directly)




(or go to Flickr set directly)


And here are a few videos

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR MESTRE CONSELHEIRO LUIZ MENDES

To all of our great joy, Padrinho Luiz attained 70 years and we had what he would call a "festaissima" (a great party).

First, a few photos


(or view the Flickr set)

and here are a bunch of videos beginning with singing hinário of Mestre Irineu



















The festivities during the interval in singing the hinario were especially spirited.

















And in the morning a breakfast of song, birthday cake and fireworks...





PARABÉNS e VIVA para nosso Mestre Conselheiro Luíz Mendes

A TRIBUTE TO PAD LUÍZ
from Reino do Sol

The celebration of the 70th birthday of Padrinho Luíz Mendes was central event of the 2010 Encounter for a New Horizon. But the big party was a few days off so the delegation from the São Paulo church Reino do Sol gave a warm-up tribute.

Here are a few photos...


(or view the flickr set directly)

The videos follow:

A DAY IN THE FOREST

The day of spiritual works in the forest is a great favorite among visitors to Fortaleza. It begins with everyone gathering at the church, then hiking into the forest to visit three terreiros (clearings in the forest), drinking Daime at each one and singing hymns in praise of nature, the Queen of the Forest and the doctrine of Juramidam.

The slideshow below carries us through the first part of the day-long event which will extend into the night.


(or view the flickr set directly)

Videos from the day follow.

NEW HYMNS FROM SOLON

It is always a special moment of sharing when someone presents their new hymns (often informally during an interval). During the interval at the New Year's work, Solon Brito -- brother of Saturnino and son of Mad Rizelda and Pad Luíz -- offered three recent arrivals to family and friends.





more videos follow

NEW YEAR AT FORTALEZA

Bringing in the New Year at Fortaleza is a grand all-nighter -- about 15 hours reaching well into the first morning of the new year -- singing all of the hymns of Mestre Conselheiro Luíz Mendes and many interval entertainments.

Here are the photos across the 15 hour celebration:


(or view the flickr set directly)


The baptism of Daniel:


(or view the flickr set directly)

The videos are below:

PAJÉLANÇA AT FORTALEZA

This is the first in a series of posts documenting the 2010 Encounter for the New Horizon and recent scenes from Fortaleza (in Capixaba, Acre) which is the spiritual retreat center of the family of Mestre Conseheiro Luíz Mendes and many friends.

It has been taking quite awhile to bring this material together and to the Internet due to the challenges of being in rural Amazônia so I've had to wait to come to the city of Rio Branco where Internet and electric energy are much more dependable. Sorry for the long delay but I'm pleased to finally be able to share the results.

The 2010 Encounter for the New Horizon opened on the night of 30 December 2009 with a spiritual session of Concentração (concentration) which featured a pajélança presentation by Shaneihu, a young shaman ("pajé") in a line of shamans from the Yananawa people. Pajélança is a musical healing tradition. More about it (in Portuguese) here and here.

The slideshow below begins with the Concentration and ends with Shaneihu administering the Indian snuff called rapé.


(or view the flickr set directly)

3 videos of the beautiful songs of Shaneihu are below.

NEW MEDIA AT FORTALEZA

Sorry for the long break from blogging but I've been in the Inter-Not-Yet zone of rural Acre, Brazil on the border with Bolivia where there is a small Santo Daime community called Fortaleza and where we have a new media project. It's preparing to quick-launch the children into the 21st Century Age of Information as soon as Internet WIFI spreads across the State of Acre. (We are hearing stories that fast Internet will arrive by the end of the year.)

Here is a slideshow documenting the early stages of this project (during January 2010) which was brought to Fortaleza by Débora, Lorena and Pafy and funded by a grant from FUNARTE (a public agency supporting art and culture projects in Brazil).



The next video documents some of the artistic collaboration that the project is generating. Here, Clementino (our very talented local artist) is quick sketching a portrait of Loro (our talkative and engaging parrot) while Polidoro and Mateus use some to the new media equipment to document the process. As you can see, Loro developed quite a relationship with Pafy and Clementino, and then carefully inspected (with eye and tongue) his new portrait.



When the project finished, Loro returned to his favorite tree where I attempted to interview him. But he was up to his old trick of getting me to call him Jaco and giving a good laugh when I did.



To access more individual photos check out the Fortaleza Media Project set at Flickr.

SIMPLICITY

Sitting here in the center of South America's largest city and surfing the complex worlds of the Internet, I can't help thinking back on a simpler life in Acre. How sweet the memories are.




Back in early July, our 24 hour journey began in Capixaba and traveled to Bujari for the celebration of São Pedro and a full night of singing and dancing, 3 baptisms and much joy. Family, love, children, fun, nature, sunrise, a refreshing swim, a perch in a tree and then rest. All in a day.

Viva simplicity!

LAST HYMN OF SATURNINO

The Doctrine od the Santo Daime religion evolves and elaborates as new hymns are received. Here is the latest one from Saturnino, No 50 "Novo Tempo".

Luiz Mendes and Family Head to Europe for a Grand Tour



Padrinho Luiz, Madrinha Rizelda, Saturnino and Luzirene leave Rio Branco tomorrow (25 September 2009) for a grand European tour.

We wish them Boas Viagems (good journeys) and bom trabalhos (good works).

Here's the schedule of the Europen tour:

Holland
*Amsterdam 29 August 2009 Cura work "Os Chamados "
*Amsterdam 30 August 2009 Concentration "Novo Horizonte e Pequenininho "

England
*London 03 September 2009 Cura Work " Os Chamados "
*London 05 September 2009 Work with "Novo Horizonte and O Pequenininho"

Belgium
*Belgium 11 September 2009 Cura Work " Os Chamados "
*Belgium 12 September 2009 Star Work " Germano Guilherme and João Pereira "
*Belgium 15 September 2009 Concentration " O Pequenininho "


Germany
*Germany (Hamburg ) 18 September 2009 Cura Work " Os Chamados"
*Germany ( Hamburg) 19 September 2009 Star Work " Novo Horizonte and o Pequenininho "

Italy
*Italy pierluigi lattuada - monte carmel- VARESE LIGURE 25 September 2009 Cura Work " Os Chamados"

*Italy Stella Azzurra - Vedriano - REGGIO EMILIA 28 September 2009 São Miguel Work - Hin.Caboclo Guerreiro e Novo Horizonte

*Italy Stella Azzurra - Vedriano - REGGIO EMILIA 30 September 2009 - Concentration " O Pequenininho "

*Italy Assis 02 October 2009 Cura Work " Os Chamados"
*Italy Assis 04 October 2009 Trabalho de São Francisco de Assis Hinario Teteu
*Italy Assis 06 October 2009 Trabalho de aniversario do pad Sebastião,hinario do

*Spain Barcelona 10/10/09 Cura Work " os Chamados"
*Spain Barcelona 11/10/09 Star Work " Novo Horizonte and O Pequenininho "

*Spain Madrid 15/10/09 Concentration " Novo Horizonte"
*Spain Madrid 17 October 2009 Star Work " Germano Guilherme and João Pereira"

*Portugal Lisbon 24 October 2009 Cura Work " Os Chamados" *Portugal Lisbon 25/10/09 Mestre Irineu

There's more information HERE.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Here are the latest Amazon posts from Mongabay.com.

Brazil's 'Obama' weighs presidential bid

(08/20/2009) Marina Silva, the charismatic rubber tapper who went on to become senator and Environment Minister, is weighing a presidential bid in Brazil's 2010 election, according to multiple reports. Political observers say that while her chances are long, Silva's entrance and focus on the environment could spur interest among Brazilians disenchanted by the Workers' Party, the dominant part which has been tarnished lately by corruption scandals.



Photos reveal illegal logging near uncontacted natives in Peru

(08/17/2009) Ariel photos show proof of illegal logging for mahogany occurring in a Peruvian reserve set aside for uncontacted natives. The photos, taken by Chris Fagan from Round River Conservation Studies, show logging camps set-up inside the Murunahua Reserve, meant to protect the uncontacted indigenous group, known as the Murunahua Indians, in the Peruvian Amazon.


Police face murder charges in killing of indigenous protesters in Peru

(08/16/2009) A federal prosecutor in Peru filed murder charges against two police generals and 15 other officers over the deaths of indigenous protesters at a roadblock in June, reports the Associated Press. The Indians were protesting new rules that would have made it easier for foreign developers to exploit oil and gas, timber, and minerals in Peru's Amazon rainforest. The skirmish left 23 police and at least ten protesters dead.

Brazilian beef giant announces moratorium on rainforest beef

(08/13/2009) Brazil's second-largest beef exporter, Bertin, announced it would establish a moratorium on buying cattle from farms involved in Amazon deforestation, reports Greenpeace. The move comes after the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) withdrew a $90 million loan to Bertin following revelations in a Greenpeace report that the company was buying beef produced on illegally deforested lands. The report, which linked some of the world's most prominent brands to rainforest destruction in the Amazon, had an immediate impact, triggering a cascade of events.


Amazon stores 10 billion tons of carbon in 'dead wood'

(08/12/2009) Old growth forests in the Amazon store nearly 10 billion tons of carbon in dead trees and branches, a total greater than global annual emissions from fossil fuel combustion, according to scientists who have conducted the first pan-Amazon analysis of "necromass."

SÃO JOÃO AT FORTALEZA


We had an absolutely marvelous festival of Saint John at Fortaleza. The festivals of St John are thought to be an especially important time for the possibility of personal and collective transformation and thus they are usually great parties.

I have lots of photos which I've been trying to upload for weeks but, somehow, flickr.com and my Acre Internet connections have not been cooperating. So, without further ado, here are the videos of our Fortaleza festivities.

THE HOLY ASK

(A purely personal mental and visual journey.)

It is said that spiritual growth begins with asking and that everyone receives according to their nature. To say, "Give me' -- dai-me in Portuguese -- especially under sacred conditions, is to receive it.



In the practice of the Doctrine of the Santo Daime at Fortaleza the guiding motto is, "humility is the symbol of nobility". Humility and asking are connected.

I've got to confess that it's not always so simple or easy. Indeed, I continue to be challenged to watch what I'm asking for. In a sense, the cleansing power of the Daime is a self-awareness project that keeps putting a mirror in your face. We look. We let go of the unnecessary. We firm up our aspirations. We learn to be humble and careful about what we are asking for.

I think that others are doing something similar. We are all cleaning and polishing and developing. But the target keeps moving toward something better. Here, no one rests for long. There is always a New Horizon.

Although I'm a natural communicator, it's really been challenging living among my Portuguese-speaking spiritual family and friends. Most often I'm overwhelmed by the language gap. That's an important reason for why I keep turning to visual art. With camera and computer I search for ways to express the beauty that I see. It's a good thing that I like to make images as much as I like to talk.

Even better is to have subject matter like this…



And to have a work station like this…



The other evening I had the rare treat of being visited by a young friend who speaks English. She was interested in "my story" and this gave me the special opportunity to use words, lot's of them! In telling the story I looked through my present Fortaleza lenses to see how I seem to have gotten here.

I reviewed my younger years of endless ambition, of searching for ways to "present" myself. Now it all seems as a successful but rather fraudulent performance of clever image management. It's called "role playing." I remember saying once in a moment of despair, "Why can't I just be a gift as I am? Why can't we all just be gifts? Why must we hide the child within? Why is it so necessary to prove and compete? Isn't a life of love and beauty our true birthright?"

Nice dream, huh? But all of my social training had taught that this was not the way of reality.

My understanding started to change only during my activist years of doing summer-long vigils in the old growth forest of Bald Mountain in Southern Oregon where for the first time I was able to just be myself, bringing together my child-like love for nature, my spiritual urge to serve the Queen of the Forest and my political work of seeking protection for the forest's community of life.

In the forest, the work had been so simple – just be there and then tell the story. One way that I practiced was to hike through those ancient groves of towering Douglas firs and recite endless variations of a simple Navaho prayer:

With beauty before me, I walk.
With beauty behind me, I walk.
With beauty above me, I walk.
With beauty below me, I walk.
With beauty within me, I walk.
With beauty all around me, I walk.

And I would add:

Touch the Earth and Blessed Be

It is lovely, indeed.
It is lovely, indeed.
It is lovely, indeed.
It is lovely, indeed.

In the enchantment of the Ancient Forest of the US Pacific Northwest I learned that the child's dream could be a living reality and that I could share publicly who I am.

I guess that I'm enchanted again here at Fortaleza. Surely, I feel blessed to be in such a pretty place with a community that really values the child inside us all. I have received what I asked for, walking in beauty and telling the story. But now I get to do it not as a lone hermit but as a member of a community.

Needless to say, I am thrilled. There's something about the child-thing that makes me want to walk in beauty, create art and play visually. Sometimes the journey -- in my imagination – is like being carried along by a powerful primal mother.



To walk in beauty is not always easy. Sometimes I really have a big struggle but it's a labor of love. In the Santo Daime tradition that's called, "a batalha" – the battle. We say that we drink Daime to work with strength and vigor. The challenge is to stay humble and to maintain a comfortable balance between desire and acceptance. As the great hymn of Padrinho Sebastião says, "I am not God, but I have an aspiration".

At times, it can be a bit like shooting for the stars but "why not?"



At Fortaleza our story is not so much about exotic spiritual adventures deep in the jungle, but more about how ordinary folks of local Acreano origins and recent arrivals from distant places have been working to expand the living Doctrine of the Santo Daime by performing lots of ceremonies, receiving visitors and building a community. Here, the spiritual teachings unfold in a very down-to-earth context where people hold real jobs, and raise families with the normal aspirations. They also hope to achieve a healthier, more joyous and balanced life in harmony with nature.

Fortunately, we are blessed to be working together with the loving examples of:

Mestre Conselheiro Luiz Mendes



Madrinha Rizelda



Saturnino and Luzirene



And, especially during festivals, a bunch of friends and extended family.



Festival time in the Santo Daime is very special. The works are intense, serious and highly disciplined. And there are also priceless moments of spontaneous beauty, playfulness and joy. We have been documenting a lot of it.



We are now planning for the next Encounter for the New Horizon (Dec-Jan 2010) which will be biggest festival ever held at Fortaleza, especially honoring the 70th birthday of Mestre Conselheiro Luiz Mendes. There will be 10 days of spiritual works followed by several more days of the feitio rital of making Daime.

I don't really understand how we do such an intense schedule, working hard physically while also doing the inner work of cleansing our consciousness AND manage to have so much fun. For me, it's a mystery.

As Padrinho Alfredo's hymn says,

The Master is the one from Nazareth
The Mystery comes from the Amazon

Indeed, cleansing, love, joy, work, intimacy, light-heartedness, openness and much more flow together in the rituals and life at Fortaleza. There's seriousness AND and incredible sweetness…



Flower of the Waters,
From where you come, where you are going
I will do my cleansing
In my heart is my Father.

The Home of my Father
Is in the heart of the World
Where all the Love exists
And there is a profound secret.

This profound secret
Is in all humanity
If only all knew each other
Here is this Truth


The inner path is personal, unique to each individual. Every person must find his or her own way. (That's a reason why no one is ever encouraged to drink Daime.) Of course, the truth and the light can be found everywhere but I have always loved the forest and that's where I have always looked. Below is an image I took about five years ago in Oregon, looking at an altar piece on the window sill of my cabin in the forest. At that time, before I had moved to Brazil, I was still imagining what living in Brazil might be like.




A picture may be worth a thousand words but it is still not the real thing. All that I can say personally is that I am grateful for this light in the forest. I'm grateful for being able to tell this story. I am grateful for being here with this wonderful family and so many friends.

I got what I asked for.

MAKING BIRTHDAYS IN THE SANTO DAIME

Birthdays are a big thing generally in Brazilian culture and the Santo Daime tradition has its own special ways of celebrating them. As usual, it's a making or a performance.

Here is Ken's recent birthday in Brasilia



and here's a bunch being celebrated together at Bujari...




Parabéns para todos os aniversários!

MAKING WORKS IN THE FOREST

In the Santo Daime tradition, each spiritual ritual or ceremony is called a "work" (trabalho in Portuguese). But, often, I think that the notion of a "work party" might fit even better because the intention is to create a joy more than a labor and often the "church" is an open "salon" in the forest.

Here are a few videos of spiritual works in the forest at Vila Fortaleza. The first two are at the Salão da Copaíba and are from the hinario of Edson Alexandre...





The hymn Nova Era (New Age) of Padrinho Alfredo advises that celebrating in the forest is part of the "work":

Eu convido os meus irmãos
Se alegrar na nossa festa
Esquecer a ilusão
E se firmar bem na floresta

I urge my brothers and sisters
Rejoice in our celebration
Forget the illusion
And be well anchored in the forest

Here it is being sung in the inauguration of the Salão do Apuí which has been dedicated especially for the singing of the Nova Era hymnal of Padrinho Alfredo.