The Journey Begins

BRASIL

November 2003,

Itaparica

The

moment the ferry docked, the bracelet I had received

during an

initiation

broke. T

wind

lided by

my right ear and whisper

Everything you

know

is gone.

Understand:

this

was a hot,

still

ight

. For a quick moment I panicked. I called

out to

Gardenia,

the

Sacatar

administrator who had pick

me up

at the airport

"Gardenia, my bracelet

has

broken!" "Ah, do not

worry, querida," she shouted back, already

the door with one

of my

three

suitcases. "You are

home

Voltando

December

2003

, a

Ilha dos Frades

After a large meal of fried hand-selected fish, vegetables, and

rice,

the other

Sacatar

fellows and I

asked a local to

take us to

a small church at the top of the

island. I

drawn

o the

padlocked

cemetery

door

. When I dare

look

through the rusted

gates

, I s

that the

headstones were sinking,

the

ground

as not t

ended, there

were

no flowers,

and the spirits

ere

lonely. When I asked if we

could enter, t

he man

replied

that no one c

ame

this

way

and no one ha

a key

ere these

dead

who

ouldn't

get someone to

bring

even a

flower. Try as I might, I

ould not

walk away from

the gate or the voices.

Visitation

October 2004.

"Todos que voce precisa para sua vida esta aqui."

All that you need for your life is

here. (

elecommunications board facing me when I disembark the ferry from Salvador in Itaparica

)

I will try to share

some of

the incredible life transformation

and lessons

that began with

those

words,

"You

are home."

(

Oya

Acompanha Mim

)

These events began my greatest learning of letting

go of the self I thought I was and the life I thought I had to live.

I can not do this without sharing Brasil and the island of Itaparica. Brasil challenged me to be fully

human, fully spiritual, and fully present by its relentless joy in the midst of extreme poverty and

forgotten dreams.

These lessons

of change and changing

brought me full face (and spirit) with the power of the orisa

Oya, mother of change, transformation, guardian of the graveyard. This was not my first

connection with this energy so I understood that any attempt to cling to some misguided and

outlived vision or version of myself would only hurt me and those around me. Moreover, I

recognized that I was entering a path that had been shown to me close to 10 years prior. In my

desire to live a "normal" life I had chosen to forget it.