Our Lady and Samba City

“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a …….”

Yep, it was a Mercedes Benz van that picked us up from Centro Paulus, all shiny and fabulously comfortable. We were grateful for the gentle transition. Devi and Tom, Anahata and I, Patricia, Paulina, Margie from Australia and Maria Ache were heading a couple of hours north to visit Nossa Senhora, the Black Madonna of Brazil. From there we would continue on to Rio.

The small village where Our Lady was discovered was bustling with life. We drove first to the old church at the top of the hill, with the magnificent pedestal of Mary. We arrived just in time for lunch. Next door to the serve yourself café was a shop with enormous ram’s horns and Anahata delighted the locals with her mastery of circular breathing. We enjoyed strolling along the little bridge between the old church and the Grande Basilica stopping off to buy some of the long bees wax candles in the official church shop. A tape measure on the wall enabled each of us to offer a candle exactly our height. We are expecting that the answer to our prayers will be suitably tailored.

It was quite a different experience to visit the Cathedral on a Saturday. Bustling with the devout, we were able to witness first hand the fulfillment of some “promises”. One man, accompanied by his family was walking on his knees from the back of the church to the altar.

Clusters of pilgrims gathered before the priest to be sprinkled with holy water. The ceiling of the Room of Promises was covered with photographs of those whose prayers had been answered.

I wrote quite extensively of the story of this Black Madonna last year, and posted many pictures. (http://www.taradhatu.org/ROAD/BR2003/BigCity.html .) That was our first visit to Nossa Senhora Aparacida. Bush had just declared war and we brought Her our troubled hearts, Anahata and I had stayed a long time in reflection and prayer. This year we were pleasantly content from our wonderful retreat. We slipped past Our Lady who Appeared, part of the crowd, whispering loving songs of contentment and gratitude.

Tumbling back into the Mercedes we dropped Paulina and Margie at the bus station, they were headed back to Sao Paulo. We went On to Rio!!! Patricia couldn’t bear to leave us so she continued north to stay with us for a few days helping us organize our little household. Rui,
Maria’s beloved, had given us his flat for the week, he went to stay with Maria. It was a bachelor pad in Portuguese, we thanked our lucky stars every day for Patricia’s help. Devi and Tom sampled several Rio Hotels and enjoyed the sights.

Our main task for the week was in the recording studio. Aradna (Heloisa) had come from Bela Horizonte to record the Tara Dance in Portuguese. Maria Ache, instrumental in translating the music/text, sat in the recording room coaching her in the proper cadence and inflection with elaborate, highly dramatic gestures. I sat behind the trap set with my African drum. Flavio, master technician demonstrated a high degree of patience and perseverance. Anahata was the producer, doing her best to keep us unruly troops on course.

During the week I was able to slip off a couple of times to go to my Rio dentist, Pedro. Pedro speaks excellent English and is a devotee of Hariakan Baba. We chatted at length before he got down to filling my few little chips and cracks. The rear molar gave him a bit of a go. His Novocain syringe leaked and put my tongue to sleep. A novel sensation.

We popped in to see our dear Isabel who organized everything so efficiently for us last year. This year she has a BABY. Little Gabriel is the sweetest, quietest most serious little darling.

We visited the Bank of Brazil’s Central Art museum to see a marvelous exhibit based on the Yanumami, a tribe still living naked and unadulterated in the yet unexploited jungle. Their area had just been granted protection so that they could continue to live their ancient ways.

Tuesday night we had a love feast of Dances of Universal Peace on the spacious grounds of the Folk Art Museum. Under towering trees with the moon swelling above, so many of our dear friends came to sing, dance, hug and give warm Brazilian kisses. Yum.

Maria and a host of Rio Taras discovered that their tickets south to the Tara Retreat were for Wednesday night instead of Thursday so they quickly had to pull themselves together and head to the airport. We were on our own for a whole day. Fortunately Isabel helped us to organize ourselves to our flight south. No departure angst was suffered knowing that we would be returning to Rio. On to Tara’s Pure Realm.

Con Amor,
Prema & Anahata

To view the photos that accompany this story go to http://homepage.mac.com/prematara/Brazil*2004/PhotoAlbum22.html

Oh yes, at the end of the “story” photos there are photos of Annie’s beautiful malas. These malas are of 108 beads all of native seeds. Most are acai, from a fruit high in vitamin C, greatly prized as one of the national “teas”.

Annie has aspirations to join our training next year and this is one way that we can support her. If you are interested in one of these malas me know what color tassle and what style #.

prema@traveling-light.net

You can send $27 by check payable to:
Anahata & Prema
P.O. Box 75537
Seattle, WA 98175

For paypal directions or by credit card. Write to Ciara
ciaratara@yahoo.com

We will order the style you like, she will send them to us in Rio, we will carry them back to Hawaii and mail them to you.

Om Om, Hari Om
www.traveling-light.net