On the 19th April, 2019, still dark at night, I was off to Riacho da Onça with a group of entities. I’ve never heard of this place before, so apart from finding out it existed, I rediscovered many other things. A gift box that was given to me and when I opened it, I was already there. A time travel!
Trips to places like that have an alchemical effect on me. After some sessions of past life therapy I have attended, also after many powerful rendezvous I had since my childhood with people from different parts of the countryside, even abroad, and yet from uncountable dreams, I dreamed with that environment. I catch myself again thinking about how much it orbits me, inhabits me.
This journey made me reflect about so many things as I saw myself profoundly in all bits. I’m still taking some time digesting and learning from this experience.
I picked a wild vegetable called maxixe with Nina, a woman from the Caatinga that would tell us wise stories in the meantime. She said the cascavel snake is the most amicable animal on the planet as it always warns us when it is around. This lady told us how many times she had to face and stab one, two, three of them. Easily. - No problem!
While listening to that, I was in an alert state, aware of all insects noises, wondering if any of those could be a snake, even though I trusted that 82 years old lady with a lot of intimacy and knowledge about that fauna and flora. I knew I was safe beside her.
I haven't been born in that context of the Northeast of Brazil, however it’s the region which both sides of my family were from, feeling pretty close to my karmic root when I am there. A belonging feeling always hangs in the air.
Luckily, I was there a month after a heavy rainfall, not so common in a place where could be without it for over a year.
So I had the chance to see all sorts of cactus with powerful flowers in front of me, as described in a famous Brazilian song about Mandacaru flowering in the semiarid. Decided to try its fruit, which is considered a superfood, it didn’t taste as special as it sounded, honestly. Not bad either, just a funny sensation on the tongue, hard to explain but it fades quickly.
Those tiny colourful flowers in a such uncountable celestial variety almost made me stop for photographing one by one. However, it would take much more time than we actually had for them at this time.
I finally stepped on those cracked-dried soils, only seen on the TV news when warning about the damage caused by the desertification every year around that area. I also saw a flock of ducks flying over. It might sound silly, but I have never seen that before and completely loved it. I could have passed straight, focused on the destiny only, though the landscapes on the way to Riacho were truly breathtaking and it was like watching a beautiful movie happening right in front of your eyes.
Riacho da Onça, Queimada - Bahia. A tiny piece of land in the middle of the Bahian hinterland, with approximately 10,439 inhabitants, that overflows magic in everything, especially in its people - showing how being simple is chic and wise.
Look at Nina again: teaching so much without even realising it! That beautiful skirt that she handmade using broken umbrellas (in a place that hardly rains) left me open - mouthed and full of joy.
I began to see everything differently. Specially living in Ireland, a country that rains a lot and is windy most of the year, usually finding broken umbrellas on my way, I never considered recycling that piece of fabric or even the metal frame. I was conditioned to think that lost material was pure rubbish, ignoring it.
When she told me those stories, with no intention of teaching me anything, I took everything I could as a lesson from the best course about craftsmanship, sustainability, creativity, for thinking outside the box. It was so mind-blowing to see things thrown along the streets, for the wasted potential of being more than that! Nothing really ends, but functions and their uses have cycles of beginning, middle and end. That served as a shelter and now became clothing, then a bag or whatever else we want. Just like any garbage. So funny how far I had to go to have this understanding!
I noticed how adaptable the human kind can be. Moreover, the woman from Caatinga told me that everyone could get married to anyone there. If the relationship is not good anymore, just change it. You might get married with the ex of your sister, with your cousins, with your future neighbour etc., without anyone getting mad at you. Even if you need to repeat people, there’s no bother at all. Everyone vibes in love in this place surrounded by wisdom.
While she was telling me that, it was hilarious to imagine myself getting married to these characters in my own life. So bizarre for the mindset where we came from, isn’t it? In the biggest cities, this behaviour is unacceptable and sounds so uncomfortable to think about continuing to deal with your ex, because now he is your sister's current guy and so on. I believe we are changing this as the Age of Aquarius approaches. How beautiful it will be also when love washes all these fear with freedom and acceptance!
This and many other radically different views that I can’t even mention are embodied in any saying of people like that. A thousand of lessons per second to be processed made me more thoughtful after leaving that place.
A divine universal power we all have within, believing it or not, is always suggesting us an expansion and, naturally, when we least realise it, we will be already adapted to this new role in order to keep existing physically, mentally and emotionally.
Damn to these repressive and meaningless human laws. We are pure nature, we are electromagnetic waves, attracting and repelling all the time!
The karma is the addition of all our lives. Action and reaction, cause and effect. The thread that connects all pieces of this patchwork or path-work.
See you soon Riacho… In this life or in another time, I will come back! #sertao #bahia #riachodaonça #brazil #anscestors #countryside #northeast #pastlife #karma #mandacaru #fauna #flora #mothernature #wisdom #brunagosta