Spirituismo baptism

I mentioned in my last blog that there was another story that I wanted to share.

 

In 1971, I moved from NYC NY to Miami Beach Fl. What a transition!  Of course I had experienced Miami several years before after I had I got out of the Navy, spending some time there before making a decission as to where I wanted to begin non-military life. 

Miami is/was a Cuban-American city. A large percentage of the population was Cuban or of Cuban descent. You know the story of the Cuban exodus from their homeland and I will not get into that. Ah.... there is another story indeed.

 

In any case, being surrounded with the wonderful loving, fun-loving and exciting Cuban people, I naturally found some very close Cuban friends.  Little did I know what I had in store for me.

Let me preface this with some previous data.  While I was in NYC, I became involved with the ouija board, tarot cards, minor magic, and read numerous books on such things as ETs, OBEs, Reincarnation, astrology and witchcraft and all the other psi and esp subjects that were popular in the early 70's.  So I was not unfamiliar with spiritual phenomonon.

I met a person named Julio, who was also gay, as was I, and espoused to an American fellow named Tom.  They introduced me some particularly Cuban spiritual practices of cleansing, and using candles and colored water and flowers to influence my surroundings. There were also some prayers and formulas to strengthen these activities. 

I attended parties and fiestas for various holidays many corresponding to our holidays of Christmas, Easter, All Saints Day etc.  They also celebrated days for their particular Saints and holy people.  After I had become familiar with the family and friend of this family, I began to be invited to very private gatherings where the grandfather of my friend Julio would hold a "seance" and the spirit called Lazaro would present himself through the person of Pepo, Julio's grandfather.  (The Cubans called this "Montado", literally "being mounted, as with a horse.) Let me explain that this was not in any form what you would expect when the word "seance" is used. This was a family gathering around a living room or family room, every body joyfully having a glass of whiskey,beer or wine, smoking and having fun.  There was always a glass of Spanish Brandy, called El Presidente set on a table next to Pepo along with a real Havana Cigar!  As the night drew late, things would quieten down, Pepo would go into a trance (or as I thought the first time fell asleep) and suddenly with a stomp of the feet and a shout of "OYE" Lazaro was there!

Ayee! Can you imagine what I felt the first time the happened?  I was terrified at first until Lazaro addressed me by name and welcomed me to the family.  Pepo didn't speak any English but Lazaro spoke English well, if with a very thick Cuban accent. He would have a drink of the brandy, light the cigar and then proceed to tell the gathering what they needed to know, such as when Illiana was going to give birth, that there would be rain a week from now, grandma would get well from her flu 2 days from now, and....."Berry, your grandmother is with you at all times, not your mothers mother, but your fathers mother" "Her name is Cara  and here spirit guides are with you also."  My father's mother died when he was 3 years old, was half Chactaw and was a very spiritual woman.  No one at this gathering knew anything about my grandmother.  Heck, I barely knew anything about her.  I had to find out later.

If this wasn't enough, I witnessed Lazaro do healings, such as to take Pepo's great grandson who had been suffering a servere ear infection and earache for over a week, and with the puff of his breath and pressure of his hands the earache and infection was gone. I saw the pain of recurring arthritis be relieved and numerous other ailments aleveated.

 

It was during this time that I decided that there is more to reality than we can observe with these physical eyes. And my search for Truth began there.  I have traveled a circuitous route through traditional religeon, spiritualism, eastern traditions but it was not until I found out that the Truth is found within myself that I finally got off of the rollercoaster and decided that I will seek the Truth and my Creator Within.

Love and Light,

Berry

lightwins's picture

Thanks for sharing this, Berry. My best friend is a walk-in and he is trained as both a Tibetan Lama and a Brazillian shaman. He works with a group o Brazillians doing "incorporated" healings/channelings weekly and the cigar smoke is thick. The energy is wonderful and the information is often very useful.

Blessings to you,

John

   reminds me of a Leonard Cohen quote:

   "I tried Prozac and Paxil and Wellbutrin, I studied religions and philosophies...but cheerfulness kept breaking through."

  Tricia

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