The Daime, Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil An Amazing Story Translated from the Portuguese by Jose Murilo and Lou Gold Go to Portuguese Version THE DAIME, CAETANO AND GIL by Juarez Duarte Bomfim The journalist Carlos Marques , who is today an adviser at UNESCO living in Paris, was 20 years old when the managers of Manchete magazine decided to send him, accompanied by a photographer, to do an article about the distant city of Rio Branco, capital of Acre state, in the year of 1969. [1] Among the many interviews, Marques talked with the Italian bishop Giocondo Maria Grotti, who two years later (1971) would die in an airplane accident in the region of Sena Madureira. When asked about the problems he was facing in the region, the bishop complained about the Santo Daime Doctrine, which was founded by a black man from Maranhão state, Raimundo Irineu Serra. Marques decided to meet Master Irineu Serra, who was working in the cut field on his property when the journalist arrived. - That meeting was the most extraordinary experience in my whole life. Master Raimundo said he knew I would come, and that he was waiting. He said my name, that I had recently been released from prison, and that I had a scar on my leg. Marques also said that he spent 3 days at Alto Santo and drank Daime, but he did not reveal details of his experience. - He told me I would some day come back to Acre, but I never believed in this possibility. During his farewell to Master Irineu Serra, surprisingly he was offered a bottle of Daime with the recommendation to drink its contents along with his sensitive friends. [2] Back in Rio de Janeiro, Carlos Marques handed the bottle and its contents to the tropicalismo musician and composer Gilberto Gil, describing it as "a sacred indigenous beverage that produces gorgeous visions and the highest states of soul". [3] On that same day Gilberto Gil took a dose of the drink, and soon afterwards he went to Santo Dumont airport, in Rio de Janeiro, to take a flight to São Paulo. Once he was in São Paulo's Congonhas airport lobby, where a military exposition from the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) was being launched, the effect of the Daime fully came on, and Gil "caught indescribable contents from the presence of the military". [4] It was during the time of the military dictatorship and the Brazilian artistic and intellectual class was being brutally persecuted, and these very artists -- Gil and Caetano from Bahia state -- would soon be arrested and "invited" to leave Brazil. Under the influence of the Daime, Gilberto Gil in the fashion of Glauber Rocha [a famous exiled Brazilian film maker also from Bahia] felt "as if he had understood the ultimate meaning of our people's historical moment as a nation under authoritarian oppression"... and even influenced by the fear that the military evoked then... he felt that he could "love -- beyond the terror and his convictions or political leanings -- the whole world in all its manifestations, including the oppressive military". [5] There was the Christian message arriving in the heart of the artist, despite all the persecution and fear: "Love your enemies". [6] That was the Daime operating... After this solitary experience during a Rio-São Paulo flight, Gilberto Gil gathered a group of friends in the apartment of the musician and composer Caetano Veloso and he proposed that they all should make a collective trip. Following Carlos Marques' recommendation, Gil serves to each one a little more than a half glass. [7] Caetano narrates: "the thick and yellowish beverage had a taste like vomiting, but it did not cause any nausea". [8] From now on, the poet's inspired prose transmits a compelling report of the visions and perceptions of what he saw and felt, from the life he could perceive from inanimate objects, "the story of each grain of matter" from a prosaic nylon carpet in his apartment, for example... Listening to the sounds of Pink Floyd's progressive rock, in the tiny limits of the twentieth floor of a São Paulo building, the experiment unfolds: "Sandra (Gil's wife) was coming in and out of the bedroom with hard eyes and serious face. She was scared. I thought she looked like an Indian. Gil had his eyes full of tears and was saying something about dying, having died, I don't know. Dedé (Caetano's wife) was circulating around the living room saying that she was seeing herself elsewhere. I was very happy to observe that the people were so clearly themselves... Some colored points of light surged in the infinite space of darkness... Circular forms were composed by beautiful dancing points of light. Little by little I knew who each of these illuminated points was. And soon they were showing themselves as human beings. There were many of them, from both sexes, all of them naked and resembling Indians. These people were dancing in complex circle designs, but I could not only understand all the subtleties of this complexity but also had a calm concentrated awareness to know about each person the same amount I know about myself and my close and loved ones". [9] It is said that it is from experiences such as with the Daime, particularly the peak experiences like this one -- from Gilberto Gil ("Gil... was saying something about dying, having died"...) -- that there came about beautiful songs from his repertoire, such as "If I would speak with God". Here it is being sung by Elis Regina If I would speak with God I have to be alone I have to turn off the lights I have to shut the voice I have to find the peace I have to unfold the knots From the shoes, from the necklace From the desires, from the fears I have to forget the date I have to miss the count I have to have empty hands To the soul and the body naked If I would speak with God I have to accept the pain I have to eat the bread That the devil stretched I have to turn myself into a dog I have to lick the floor From the palaces, from the castles Magnificences of my dream I have to see myself sad I have to see myself as scary And despite an evil so big Rejoice my heart If I would speak with God I have to adventure myself I have to climb to the skies With no ropes to hold I have to say farewell Turn my back, walk Decided, along the road Which in the end reaches nothing Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing From what I thought I would find. [10] And, in ecstasy, Caetano would watch his "Indian angels" in this "celestial experience". "I would alternate -- while opening and closing my eyes -- the observation of the external world and the experience of this [internal] world of images that would become each time more dense... soon I started to recognize that the beings I watched with closed eyes were undoubtedly more real than my friends who were in the room, the sound, the room's walls and the carpets".[11] With awareness expanded by the miração [vision], Caetano acknowledges a new conception of space, different from the standard and precarious "conventionality" -- the "time was equally criticized by this higher stance in my lucid consciousness: Benevolently and with no anguish, I knew that the fact of being experienced in that moment was irrelevant in front of the evidence I already had -- or would have -- of being born, alive and dead -- and also never being -- even though the perception of my 'self' in that situation was an inevitable illusion". [12] [Caetano] the artist from Santo Amaro [a city in Bahia state] continues this inspired narrative of his experience -- which we recommend to be read with care, because it is not possible to transcribe all of it here. And remember the one who speaks is also the philosophy student from the University of Bahia: facing the representation of the "idea of God" declares not knowing that he had the "sudden retraction of one who had learned that the face of the Creator cannot be viewed...." There comes the doubt in the heart of someone who was experiencing an extraordinary ecstatic moment, and while being taken by Dedé to look at himself in the bathroom mirror, to see his 'everyday' face after the whole experience... he then was certain that "he was mad". But "this 'self' who was certain was indestructible -- this one does not get mad, does not sleep, does not die, does not get distracted...." What a beautiful experience... We see that the light of the Daime was revealed to this sensitive poet and composer from Bahia with the merit to see himself as spirit, discerning his own essence -- which is Divine -- as it happens with all of us. Inebriated by the divine and marvelous which is God, playing with the philosophical doubts in a Rogério Duarte style, the future Hare Krishna devotee says, "I don't believe in God, but I saw it!" or "It's obvious that God doesn't exist, but the inexistence of God is only one of the many aspects of its [God's] existence" ... Parodying Nietzsche, Caetano will cry out to all Brazil, "God is released!" under the boos in the festival presentation of his "It is prohibited to prohibit". From this transcendental experience, Caetano reflects: "...for more than a month I felt like living one palm [floating] above every existing thing. And for more than a year some remnants were maintained. In fact, something of an essential kind changed inside of me from that night on". Miracles From the People - Caetano Veloso "The one who is an atheist, and has seen miracles like I did Knows that the gods without God Don't cease to blossom, and don't get tired of waiting And the heart that is sovereign and is the lord Doesn't fit in the darkness, doesn't fit in his 'no' Doesn't fit in itself of so much 'yes' It's pure dance and sex and glory, and floats beyond history Ojuobá would go there and watch Ojuobahia Xangô ordered to call Obatalá the guide Mother Oxum cries tears Tears of happiness Petals of Iemanjá Iansã-Oiá would go Ojuobá would go there and watch OjuoBahia Obá The one who is an atheist..." (Miracles from the People - Caetano Veloso) [13] Going back to the start of our story... can you believe that journalist Carlos Marques returned to Acre after 40 years? At the end of an audience with then Governor Jorge Viana, he was asked if he already knew Acre. Marques reported what we have just narrated, and to his surprise the Governor showed him the invitation he had received to participate in the celebrations of the 50 year marriage anniversary of Master Raimundo Irineu Serra with Madrinha Peregrina Gomes Serra, the leader of the Center of Christian Illumination Universal Light - CICLU Alto Santo, on the next day, September 15th, 2006. And [thus] he convinced the journalist to stay in Acre one day more. Marques again met with Madrinha Peregrina Serra, Irineu Serra's widow, to whom he apologized for the offensive content that his report carried in the edition of Manchete magazine, because many pages were published with the prevailing version of the bishop that we were speaking about a diabolical sect. "That was the first among many other [reports] to annoy Irineu Serra and his followers". [14] - "I could not reveal that I had found God" - said Carlos Marques. On the night of April 30th, 2008, in the headquarters of CICLU Alto Santo, there was an official event where the Elias Mansour Foundation from Acre state, the Garibaldi Brasil Foundation from the city of Rio Branco, and representatives from the centers that integrate the three branches of the Ayahuasca doctrines (Santo Daime, Barquinha and União do Vegetal), made a request to the Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil, that the National Artistic and Historic Heritage Institute (IPHAN) begin the process of recognizing the use of Ayahuasca in religious rituals as a Brazilian Non-material Cultural Heritage. The event was a full success and a milestone in the Brazilian Ayahuasca universe. In the closing speech of this religious work of the April 30th, 2008, when the authorities (Minister, Governor, State Secretaries and politicians in general) had already left, the official speaker of CICLU - Alto Santo recalled the unique story of the journalist Carlos Marques, concluding that (in my words from my memory's account): Master Irineu, knowing about the past, present and future of the journalist Carlos Marques, gifted him exceptionally with a bottle of Daime so that he could make it reach the singer Gilberto Gil, in a way that he could take it and get acquainted with it, so that, 40 years later, he could come to Alto Santo as a Minister of State to mediate the request of recognizing ayahuasca as a non-material heritage of Brazilian culture. VIVA! MESTRE IRINEU! VIVA! NOTES [1] The information was extracted from Altino Machado's blog: "40 Years Later" http://altino. blogspot.com/2006/09/40-anos-depois.html Viewed in September 15th, 2006. [2] Speech from journalist Antonio Alves in the CICLU Alto Santo headquarters on May 30th, 2008. [3] VELEOS, Caetano. "Tropical Truth". São Paulo, Cia das Letras, 1997, p. 308. [4] Ibid, p.308. [5] Ibid, p. 308. [6] Luke 6:27. [7] The old ones say that this was a recommendation of Master Irineu. [8] VELOSO,, 1997, p. 322. [9] VELOSO, 1997, p. 324. [10] Listen to "If I Would Speak With God" - Elis Regina - http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=tWuQc7W0O-A Viewed on May 26th [11] VELOSO, 1997, p. 324. [12] Ibid, p. 324. [13] Listen to the videoclip Milagres do Povo - Daniela Mercury, at http://www.losacordes.com/videoclip/daniela-mercury/milagres-do-povo [note: a different version is presented above because of the youtube code allowing it to be embedded in this post] [14] MACHADO, Altino. "40 Years Later" http://altino. blogspot.com/2006/09/40-anos-depois.html Viewed on September 15th, 2006.

SANTO DAIME FESTIVAL IN BRASILIA: Connecting the City and the Forest

Brazil's national capital, Brasilia, is located in the great cerrado grassland of the central plateau or high plane (planalto) which is an ecological interior zone between the mountains of southeastern Brazil and the Amazon basin forest. As in Brazil in general, its capital is where many cultural and spiritual traditions meet and mix.

In the ceremonies of Santo Daime one can feel as if in a celestial bus station with lines to many cultures and places. Africa, Europe, Amazônia, forge new mixtures of the Old and the New. In this personal interior zone, the rituals of Santo Daime offer a profound celebration of the universality of Spirit -- many paths and many people.

Last week in Brasilia a Santo Daime festival of spiritual works began by celebrating the birthday of Céu do Planalto and inauguration of its new church with the singing of Padrinho Alfredo's, "O Cruzeirinho". In two subsequent seesions the festival continued with the singing of Padrinho Fernando's hinario, "Na Força do Padrinho Sebastião" and Padrinho Alfredo's hinario, "Nova Era" at Céu do Planalto and then ending at Divina Luz with Madrinha Conceição's hinario, "Forças Verdadeiras" and selections from Padrinho Sebastião's hinario, "Nova Jerusalém".

Truly, it seemed as if the Orixás from Africa, Caboclos from Amazônia, Christian Celestial Beings and the expanding family of Juramidam were journeying together in a great celebration.

Here are some of the videos...

Hymns from Padrinho Fernando's Na Força do Padrinho Sebastião sung at Ceu do Planato:





Hymns from Padrinho Alfredo's Nova Era sung at Ceu do Planalto:





Hymns from Madrinha Conceição's Forças Verdadeiras sung at Divina Luz:





Hymns from Padrinho Sebastião's Nova Jerusalém sung at Divina Luz:





I have posted many more videos from this festival (and others) at youtube. Click here to view them.

ceudoplanalto26@daime.brasilia

The Santo Daime community of Ceu do Planalto has a new church and a marvelous festival has begun in Brasilia. It began on 21 April with the singing of the O Cruzeirinho hymns of Padrinho Alfredo.

Here's are some pics...




And a few videos...








VIVA SANTO DAIME!

VIVA PADRINHO ALFREDO!

VIVA CEU DO PLANALTO!

VIVA PADRINHO FERNANDO!

VIVA MADRINHA CLARICE!

PARABÉNS PARA TODOS!

CEU DO PLANALTO AT 26

Today the Santo Daime community Ceu do Planalto celebrates its 26th year and newly renovated church in Brasilia, Brazil.

Here's a slideshow of pics -- present and past.





The community and Padrinho Alfredo will inaugurate its beautiful new church with the singing of O Cruzeirinho.

THE MUSICAL DOCTRINE OF SANTO DAIME: "The hymns are currents."



Much has been written and posted on the Internet about the musical doctrine of the Santo Daime religion. The anthropologist Edward McCrae, building on the work of Fernando Couto, has developed the notion of Santo Daime as "collective shamanism", Jose Murilo has offered a penetrating analysis of this in the context of developing urban Santo Daime communities and I've posted previously on spread of the musical doctrine here and here.


A key to understanding the spiritual works of Santo Daime is to focus on how the hymns are employed in a ritual setting. But, try as we might, it remains very difficult to stuff such a profound spiritual process into words and concepts. The realization of and the transformative power of the Doctrine of Santo Daime is located in its full mind-and-body musical performance.

Let's begin with the making of the sacrament. The objective is to forge hard work into a collective ritual of harmony, strength and joy. Here is how the process works in the forest roots community of Vila Fortaleza in rural Acre, Brazil. The hymns are from the hinario of Germano Guilhereme. The ritual is a batação where the jugube vines are pounded into fibers for cooking with the leaves of rainha.

The mallets and music are governed by Saturnino's maracá and the goal is to align with its high level of discipline in order to integrate the energies of work, celebration and union into a tightly performed ritual. If you listen carefully to the whole thing, you can feel the struggle to get it right -- a true batalha espiritual that rises, falls and amplifies as it channels energy into the sacramental tea.



The next video comes from the 2009 New Horizon celebration where the Daime hymns of Mestre Conselheiro Luiz Mendes were performed in an all-night ritual of welcoming in the New Year.



A few nights later Senhor Tufi Rashid Amin, who maintains one of the Alto Santo centers in Rio Branco and is a great friend of the Luiz Mendes family, arrived with his full family to present his hymns -- called Sou Feliz (I Am Happy) -- with incredible gusto and joy in celebration of the 69th birthday of Padrinho Luiz Mendes.



I really can't add any words to this -- the meaning is inside the energy current of the performance -- but I do recall the words of a Native American spiritual leader I once knew in Oregon. At the start of a ritual he would say,

"No one here is a medicine person but the Creator has given each of us a little piece of His Medicine. If we put those pieces together well in ritual, we get as close to God as human beings can get."

That's what I think the Work is in the Doctrine of the Santo Daime. It's a process of putting our pieces back together and perfecting the individual and collective performance of being all that human beings might be. And, with the Master in front, there is always a New Horizon.

HAPPY EASTER FROM BUJARI



The extended family of Luiz Mendes maintains two spiritual centers in Acre -- one in the municipality of Bujarí near Rio Branco and the other at Vila Fortaleza in the municipality of Capixaba. This year Easter was celebrated at both locations.



When the spiritual works are a bit smaller, Padrinho Luiz often calls them "festinhas grandissimas" (GREAT little festivals) because the strong energy of a few people who really know how to perform together in spiritual union can really rock and send a marvelous light into the world.

And this was certainly the case last night at Bujari as people celebrated the continuing rebirth of the Master with love and joy.

First we sang the hymns of Francisco Ribero (a contemporary of Mestre Irineu)



And then the hymnal "Pequenininho" of Saturnino



The energy seemed particularly special because, in addition to the spirit of the risen Christ, a new generation of the Luiz Mendes family had been born. Earlier in the day Maria Flor arrived -- daughter of Suzi and Neto, granddaughter of Luza and Saturnino, and great granddaughter of Padrinho Luiz and Madrinha Rizelda.

There are more photos (and a good story) of an earlier "work" at Bujari here.

2009 Encounter for a New Horizon
-- the PHOTOS

Each year's Festival at Fortaleza fills my camera with a huge number of photos. It's a good thing because trying to describe a spiritual journey of 10 days at Fortaleza is a daunting task. So here are a series of slide shows.

NOTE: You can skip the slide shows any go directly to the full collection here.

Opening Works and New Year

A few pics from the first concentration work and the New Year work that opened this years gathering.




Lucio's Haircut

Every year the Encounter for a New Horizon is full of special moments. This year one such moment was Lucio's haircut. It was on New Year's Day. Saturnino had been kidding him for weeks about his long hair. Lucio evidently made a firm New Year resolution to take action. What fun it was!




Lojinha - The Little Store

There was a fine New Year's day inauguration of the little store and visitor center at Fortaleza. It began outside with Cicero telling stories for Padrinho Luiz Mendes and then everyone carried the party inside, ending with a grand entertainment for the children.




Spiritual Works in the Forest

The day of spiritual works in the forest begins with a festive gathering at the church and then drinking Daime and strolling through the forest to sing hymns at three locations. One of the high points it when Padrinho Luiz offers his dramatization of the forest spirit Casmerim delivering a message that the forest provides everything and must not be damaged.

It is also recognized that in nature nothing is permanent -- the great Copaiba tree now lies on the ground as a result of a big wind storm last year. But nothing in nature is wasted. The ecologists say that a fallen log is the most important structural component of a forest. It stores water, provides a habitat for many plants and creatures, and decays to create new soil. The ways of nature are infinite and the cycles life and death create a world without end.

This year a fourth spiritual work in the forest was added to the official calendar. The new Salão de Apui is especially dedicated for the singing of Padrinho Alfredo's hinario, Nova Era.




Camping

During festival times many visitors camp, creating mini-tent cities of folks from the same region. So there's bound to be a Sao Paulo "Barraca", one for Campo Grande, Minas Gerais, etc. Tents and laundry dominate and so does intimacy and friendship.




Xipamano River Trip

The land of Fortaleza is bordered by the Xipamano River which separates Brazil and Bolivia. This year the community has inaugurated a series of boat trips, up the river, to visit and "old-style" settlement of "colonistas" who inhabit, farm and raise livestock on one of the cleared areas on the Bolivian side.

Solon and Berg led a presentation of stories and songs -- telling of the past and of their love for nature.





Birthdays

The birthday of Padrinho Luiz Mendes -- and Junaida and Janaina -- is like a non-stop festival of joy. It begins at night with a spiritual session singing the hinario's of two of Padrinho's dear friends -- Seu Tufi Amin and Eduardo Gabrish. One of the most moving times comes near the end when people offer their heartfelt words expressing their deep love for Padrinho. It continues with a morning breakfast and cake party and later an afternoon barbecue.




Day of the Holy Kings

The day of the Holy Kings is one of the most important festivals of the official Santo Daime calendar. It signifies the completion of a year of spiritual activity to begin anew the day-to-day work of living in the Holy Peace of God.

It is also a time for personal milestones such as baptisms and receiving a star. This year Flora and Gustavo were baptized by Padrinho Luiz and Christina (from France) received her star.




Theater and Culture

One of the events that everyone looks forward to is the night of theater and culture presenting the folklore of Amazônia. This year's "choreographers" were Joaquim and Cicero who held many rehearsals and guided family and friends and audience to a fine time for all.





Forró

Forró is the popular dance form from Northeastern Brazil where Mestre Irineu was born. In its modern form it is a vigorous dance like a polka but more rhythmic and hip twisting and it has been remixed into forms that are currently popular in the Brazilian dance club scene.

In Fortaleza it is danced mostly in the old-fashioned waltz style. This year's innovation was that the music was led by a saxophone player who used to play at some of the Concentration Works of Mestre Irineu.





Closing and Farewells

The closing spiritual session of each year's encounter involves singing the hiarios Novo Horizonte (Luiz Mendes) and Nova Jerusalem (Pad Sebastiao).

At the closing there is a very special time for people to share their thoughts and feelings. The words are like prayers -- true words from the heart. There is a second kind of prayer as well. It's what the Native Americans call the "listening prayer" Yes, indeed, speaking and listening from the heart is surely a way that one might sum up what it's like to experience an Encounter for a New Horizon.





Feitio

At Fortaleza the work never ends. Immediately following the farewells and departures yet another cycle of work started -- the making of the Daime beginning with the night of the full moon.




We hope to see you next year which should be pretty special -- it marks the 70th birthday of Mestre Conselheiro Luiz Mendes.

A NEW HORIZON



It's been nearly 30 years since I had a very special dream that gave me my first encounter with the Queen of the Forest.

Today, that dream remains alive as if it occurred only moments ago despite the passage of time – time that carried me from the cornfields of the State of Illinois to the Illinois Valley of Oregon and a very special spot called Bald Mountain. It was a somewhere-near-nowhere place far from the cities (half way between San Francisco, CA and Portland, OR) but somehow it felt like it was the Center of the Universe. It gave me my first spiritual horizon and a forest preservation mission.

Nowadays, I find myself looking at a new horizon in another somewhere-near-nowhere place in Brazil and somehow I feel again that the wings of fate have carried me to the Center of the Universe. Yes, this place has captured me like nothing else since my time on Bald Mountain.

This New Horizon is called Fortaleza – the Fortress – and it is located in the hinterland of western Brazil two hours by car or bus from the Acré capital of Rio Branco, near the small town of Capixaba, close to the border with Bolivia. This is where the Luiz Mendes family has chosen to build a community of folks learning about living in harmony with Nature and Spirit.

Here is one of our favorite Fortaleza views of the forest and the lake.



My temporary home is a room in a little house



which belongs to the family of the brother-in-law of Luiz Mendes, Senhor Emilio who leads the family center of Beautiful Bujari.

Here is the view from my window.



This is the “office” where this post is being composed.



And this is where I sleep and enjoy siestas.



The main community focus at Fortaleza is now all about preparing for the coming 8th Enounter for the New Horizon which is less than a month away. By the end of the December, people will be arriving from all over Brazil and from many foreign countries.


Here is Luiz Mendes showing the proof page of the design for the new T-shirt and poster.



WORK, WORKING and WORKS

Three years ago, when I was among the newcomers to Fortaleza, I had no idea how much work goes into preparing the details of accommodations, meals, rituals and events for the annual festival. It's truly amazing what kind of effort is involved. Indeed, nowadays being at Fortaleza is all about work – work, working and works – nearly non-stop.

With his great laugh, Padrinho Luiz says, “At Fortaleza everyone works except for Luiz and Lou. We watch.” I think Padrinho Luiz is being characteristically humble about himself. He does plenty of work.

He is usually wearing his favorite pair of work shoes – some very well-worn crocs that had been gifted to him during a trip to the South last February.



He is often found planting in the garden...



or harvesting manioc roots



or cutting sugar cane



and carrying home a sack of good things from nature



Padrinho Luiz is known as the Master Counselor because he is full of stories of the Doctrine and of his years of living with Mestre Irineu. Today he is an ever-present source of wisdom and inspiration. It is as if he is always “feeding us” -- whether gathering food from the garden, or cooking a new batch of Sacrament



or sharing a story or a laugh or just his great smile.



Yes, Padrinho is certainly doing a lot more than “just watching.”

These days Padrinho is often assisted by Bira, a Brazilian who arrived recently to find his New Horizon after traveling the world for 12 years – including some years working with tours of Disney World in Florida and other times learning yoga and meditation in India. He first encountered Santo Daime in Spain and it was what made him want to return to Brazil. He says that he was doing Internet research on where to connect with a Daime path in Brazil and that as soon as he saw the face of Luiz Mendes he knew that he wanted to study the living doctrine in the community of Fortaleza.



Bira's energy reminds me of the archetype of Hanuman, the great monkey-god-servant of Rama from the Indian epic of the Ramayana. He seems to be everyone's helper, moving from one task to another. He is a marvelous new addition to the Fortaleza community.

Many come to Vila Fortaleza, not only to learn and experience the special energy of this particular place and its way, but also to bring the gifts of other paths. About a month ago a group of Yawanawá indigenous people came to perform one of their ayahuasca rituals and make a cultural and religious exchange.

Fortaleza is very much a center of openness to all spiritual and religious ways.
Somehow it manages to be both local and cosmopolitan. Even the local Capixaba newspaper came to document the event.



Recently, our friend Lucio, who was here last Spring, returned from his travels in Bolivia and Peru where he had been studying healing ways with a curandera



and living in a Buddhist community, learning from the teachings of the world-famous Vietnamese peace monk, Thich Nhat Hahn.



Some believe that ayahuasca is the world's greatest teacher – I certainly do! – and that it can be used in combination with any genuine religious or spiritual path to strengthen one's inquiry, healing, insight and wisdom. Many Daime communities show a great interest in and respect for other wisdom traditions.

One of the Nova Era hymns of Padrinho Alfredo says, “The Master is the one from Nazareth and the mystery is from Amazônia.” As they like to say in the Santo Daime, “It's a study for all.”

Even the physical work is a study – a study in how to stay calm and focused despite the intensity of the labor and the tropical climate. At Fortaleza Saturnino is the commander-in-chief. Not as a rank or a privilege like a boss or a manager but because he is usually the one who plunges in first and deepest... and holds a calm center.



Typically, he carries a large load, works long hours and generally inspires everyone else to put forth their strongest effort.



There's a lot of work going on here – many new construction projects – built largely with the gifts from the forest. For example, there's always a need for structural lumber which is generally salvaged from dead trees in burn areas.






Sometimes wood has to be carried long distances from where a tree fell deep in the forest.





This year's construction projects include an expansion of the general dining area.



And a doubling of the size of the general kitchen.







Soon there will be a new office and visitor center.









At Fortaleza all of the work by “daimistas” is done on a volunteer basis. Padrinho Luiz tells an important story in his remembrances of Mestre Irineu that when Mestre asked the Queen of the Forest to put the healing properties of all the plants and remedies into the sacramental tea, She said that She would on the condition that there would be no personal gain from it.

Nowadays in the Luiz Mendes lineage, all personal livelihoods are earned from sources outside of the Daime. So, in addition to all the community work, Saturnino is developing a cottage industry for additional income, making furniture from tree stumps and pieces that were left behind after the fires and deforestation.















For expert assistance, Saturnino has hired Seu Francisco, who is a true caboclo chainsaw wizard, to come from his home in Rio Branco to Fortaleza with his incredible skills.



Watching him work along a big log, just following his line of sight, is a marvel...





He has been cutting all the wood for furniture and all the structural lumber for the construction with no special milling equipment other than his chainsaw.





Seu Francisco is also a master builder and I'm blessed to have his services for the building of my new home which was started last Friday with the first stake being driven into the ground.



By the end of the second day, he had dug all the holes for the piers and cut and set the foundation



and completed the floor joists



Then, for the first time, I was able to stand on it and imagine the location for the future window of my room and check out the view – a panorama of the forest.



They tell me that the plan is to plant a new Rainha garden nearby for growing the ayahuasca leaf used in the preparation of the Santo Daime. Apparently, in the immediate view of my coming horizon, I will be surrounded by the Queen. Whew. What a fine spot it is! It's like winning a spiritual lottery or something. I'm feeling blessed and very grateful.

On this particular day, as Francisco was building, everyone else was over at the feitio house and garden area.



Some were doing the feitio tasks of preparing the Santo Daime.







Others were out in the vegetable garden.







Little Noé is a very serious worker



He is great at pulling out the weeds.



They were getting it planted with a new crop and generally prepared for Dona Maria who is the in-residence overseer of food, plants and flowers. Dona Maria has been away for a medical check-up in Rio Branco and will return this week.



For the last few weeks Zulede has been here, singing and telling stories as she makes certain that everyone is well-fed and taken care of.





Zulede, who is an especially high-energy person, has a lot to be excited about and she seems especially happy these days. Earlier this year a new granddaughter – named Eva Taio Siris – came into her life.



And, additionally, now she has a new daughter in-law Cynthia who is expecting Sofia to arrive next month.



Geri and Cynthia asked me to send out their love to all their friends.



Pictures speak best so I made a little album with more photos here.

Geri, along with Clayton



are the lead musicians right now and they help in all things.

Geri is often the human cement mixer.



And Clayton is the lawn mower which, in the tropics, is a pretty tall order.



Padrinho Luiz is not exaggerating in any way when he says that everyone works at Fortaleza. And it has a style. There seems to be a certain calm rhythm or tranquility that makes it appear as if no one is stressing as an enormous amount is being accomplished. For example, I could hardly believe it when found, at the end of the fourth day, that Francisco, working only with hand tools (and with the assistance of Lucio), had fabricated and constructed all the structural components of my house and installed half of the roofing.







WOW!

Truthfully, with all this work going on, I have to admit that I have not always felt comfortable in my role as the one who “watches” even though Saturnino keeps stressing that this is not my time (or age) for physical effort and that watching with my camera and telling the story is my mission.

I guess that what is being challenged is the old achievement orientation that still lives somewhere inside me that causes me to make comparisons between myself and others. Of course, the problem with comparisons is that someone is always put 'up' or 'down' as comparisons create ranks and competitions.

Padrinho Luiz likes to point out that at one time during the days of Mestre Irineu they had ranks of spiritual attainment at his Alto Santo center but that Mestre eventually abolished all the ranks and when he died he left everything as equal. Saturnino has a recent hymn “We Are All Equal” that is now starting to be sung in many centers. Here it is on a memorable night last February when the family brought it to the beach near Salvador.

Saturnino stresses that equality means that everyone one has a special gift, a special value even though there are different levels of development. What is really equal is our need for each other and to support and learn from one another. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons that he has asked everyone in this lineage of the family of Luiz Mendes to learn the hinario Nova Era of Padrinho Alfredo of the Sebastião Mota de Melo family line. .

Nova Era has been the focus of our recent spiritual works. Here it is being rehearsed in the community.



The hymn says:

Give me strength and give me love
My Father where I am
To work within You
With firmness and vigor

For myself, the hymn seems to be saying “let us work with love to go beyond all separations.” Or, that's how it feels to me. In any event, I have heard many visitors comment that personality dramas do seem to be rare here. Perhaps, it's a Fortaleza of Friendship?

The spiritual works here are inclusive, emphasizing connection, mutual support and learning from each other. They have multiple meanings – both at the personal and grander levels – and there is the loving space to allow each person to find their own place.

Saturnino has announced that the hinario Nova Era will now have a official place in the program of spiritual works of Vila Fortaleza and that a special forest salon has been cleared at the foot of an Apiu tree that is growing in partnership with a Copiaba tree. It will be consecrated with the singing of Nova Era during the coming festival.





He further explained that the on-going expansions of the hinarios Nova Era of Padrinho Alfredo and Nova Horizonte of Padrinho Luiz Mendes are providing the instructions and guidance for the new age that we have entered. At this time we are all learning and expanding.

And what does this expansion mean? For myself, it's impossible for me to even approach comprehending what living and working at Fortaleza will mean. I laugh when Padrinho Luiz says that I'm the Patriarch of Fortaleza because I'm the oldest one here. I like to say that, after 70 years, I still don't know what I will be when I grow up.

All I know for sure is that Fortaleza is even more challenging than I had feared and more loving and supportive than I had ever dared to hope for. The power of friendship is a major force here. It has given me a new place, a new family, a new house, and... a New Horizon.

I hope that you can join us someday.

In addition to all the work, we also have a lot of fun.



PS: If you would like to support the projects here, you might want to use the new DONATE button in left column of this blog to make a contribution.