Hi Everyone,
I’m a very happy guy.
I’ve been in Brazil for one month and it’s been a whirlwind of reunion with family and community, a trip to Amazonia, the festivals of June in Mapia and Brasilia, Madrinha Rita’s 80th birthday, the visit of members of the Grandmothers’ Council (including Oregon’s Aggie Pilgrim) and, mostly, a great big hug of joy and celebration. It all truly defies words so I’m going to provide links to lots of pictures.
I arrived in Brasilia on 8 June and, following a week of getting settled in the home of Jose Murilo, my dear brother in the Santo Daime community of Ceu do Planalto, I traveled with my good friend Manuel Poppe and a group of 10 from the community in Brasilia to Mapia, the Forest Mecca of the Santo Daime religion.
We traveled “redeye” arriving in the regional capital of Rio Branco in the middle of the night where we took a van for a 120 mile ride over a terrible road to Boca da Acre at the confluence of the Acre and Purus rivers. 
The road travels through a massive strip of deforestation – often many miles wide – that has replaced the forest with large-scale cattle ranches. Boca do Acre is a typical riverine town with a definite “cowboy” flavor linking the ranching and logging areas with the water 
commerce of the Amazon basin. It was no small irony to see the signs advertising Oregon chainsaws.
This time of year, celebrating the holy days of June and the special occasion of Madrinha Rita’s 80th birthday, Mapia is incredibly festive and full of visitors from around the world. It was mind-boggling to see a gathering of over 1000 people in this very remote place in the Amazon forest of far western Brazil.
Twentyfive years ago none of this was in place. Today there’s a global village with direct satellite Internet hook-up and wireless zones for instant worldwide connectivity. Soon I was discovering dear friends – Marie, Sky, Alex and Grandma Aggie — who had come all the way from Oregon to join the festivities.
Everything was dressed up and decorated for the occasion. The interior of the church was dominated by an overhead canopy of back-lit photo montages of Madrinha Rita and in the
entrance hung a very large portrait of Padrinho Sebastiao, the founder of the community of Mapia.
The forest is amazing – a living, breathing, pulsating fortress of seemingly infinite life in incredibly diverse forms, a true garden of nature. One day the leaders of the Santo Daime movement were meeting in a beautiful opening in the forest. They were declaring new levels of union as the several ayahuasca-based religions of Brazil prepare for institutional elaboration as this spiritual medicine moves forward toward world-wide legitimacy and acceptance. A profound and very beautiful moment came with the arrival Daniel Serra, the nephew of Santo Daime founder Mestre Irineu. It was as if the Master himself was somehow present, or at least something of his energy. Following the meeting, Padrinho Alfredo took us on a tour of his greenhouse and garden. He was especially proud of a large bed of earthworms that were creating rich black soil that is unknown in Amazonia.
http://imageevent.com/visionshare/inthegardenofnature
During the brief week I was in Mapia there were three major ceremonies culminating with the 80th birthday of Madrinha Rita. There were many celebrations including a wedding and many baptisms. At times it was difficult to know the specific focus. It was more like joy cascading into joy and manifesting in endless forms as people sang, danced enacted the happiness of a life of love.
Five members of the Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers — www.grandmotherscouncil.com — were present for Madrinha Rita’s birthday celebration and during the interval they received an incredible welcome from the people of Mapia. Two Council members — Clara Shinobu Iura and Marie Alice Campos Freire – are full time residents of Mapia, two — Margaret Behan and Agness Baker-Pilgrim — are from the US and Bernadette Rebienot is from Gabon in Africa. Also traveling with them were Jyoti, who’s Center for Sacred Studies, has been instrumental in moving forward the vision of a Grandmothers’ Council, Darlene and her wonderful family of Courtney, April and Ash, and Iris and Susanne who assist Bernadette. http://imageevent.com/visionshare/grandmothersvisitmapia
The culminating event, of course, was the birthday celebration for Madrinha Rita. What can I say? Her beauty is both that of a noble queen and of a simple humble human being. I believe the pictures speak for themselves. http://imageevent.com/visionshare/madrinharita
Today the community of Mapia, founded by Madrinha Rita’s deceased husband and still guided by the light of Padrinho Sebastiao is a center of hope and joy in a most difficult world. There is no easy way to tell the story of Mapia. On this, my second visit, I had no profound insights or visions — just a clear and present feeling that I’ve never before experienced such an intensity of life and joy. I came away with the strong feeling that I’d like to spend some time living there. Perhaps this collection of photos of people, ceremonies and life will portray something of what I saw and felt in Mapia. http://imageevent.com/visionshare/mapiageneral
Leaving Mapia after such a short and intense visit was hard. But I needed to return to Brasilia to help prepare for the next stop along the trail of the Grandmothers – their visit to the community of Ceu do Planalto and meeting with representatives of Brazilian agencies and organizations. When the grandmothers arrived they settled into the home of Padrinho Fernando and Madrinha Clarice. Darlene’s family stayed with us. We visited the Sunday craft market at the base of the big radio tower – known as the “hippie faire” – and the grandmothers joined the community for the work of Saint Peter and made a presentation at Oracao (evening prayers). They were greatly appreciated at Ceu do Planalto. http://imageevent.com/visionshare/grandmothersvisitbrasilia
On Monday morning (July 4), Susana Cabral organized and facilitated a meeting with the Special Secretariat for Women Policies and the National Council of Women Rights of Brazil where the mutual concerns of the Council of Grandmothers and the Brazilian Government were presented and exchanged. Guilherme’s translating was essential to this cross-cultural exchange. The meeting ended with the singing of happy birthday (parabens) to Margaret Behan who got to celebrate it this year in Brasilia.
Meanwhile, if you’d like to see more pictures of Mapia checkout Manuel’s June 2004 album at http://imageevent.com/visionshare/manuelsalbum Or, you can see other Brazil and Amazon photos from my December 2003 trip to Jurua at http://imageevent.com/visionshare/kayumaritojurua1
AIURUOCA
plantations and dairy lands famous for their cheeses (primarily queijo minas and parmesan). It also became a popular tourist area for Brazilians because of its well known healing and mineral waters and the extraordinary beauty of its mountains.
The small town of Aiuruoca (2004 pop: 6,394) is one of those ancient-future places mixing a feudal past, country simplicity and traditional Catholic religiosity with the Internet, motorized mobility, tourists and New Age
spirituality. Today, there’s quite a mix of hippie artisans and native cultures. Often, it made me recall western Oregon.
Despite similarities, it is quite different too. Folks still commonly walk or ride horses to cover long distances. There are a few jeeps, SUVs and pickups, lots of motorcycles and more VW Beatles than I’ve ever seen in one place.
In Brazil, the Beatle is called the Fusca. Its production ended in the early 90’s but today they live on in all conditions and colors.
Aiuruoca feels like the Fusca capital of the world and I spent a morning “following the Fuscas” through daily life in Aiuruoca.
