On early Tuesday morning, we walked down to the soup kitchen at the Casa of Dom Ignacio to prepare the Sacred Soup. It was a groggy, grey morning and I had woken up feeling unmotivated to do any kind of physical labor. It was not crowded at first but there was a few people scattered around different vegetable stations—potatoes, orange squash, some green vegetables, carrots, and more. After putting down our bags, I was led to a potato peeling station next to another woman.
Author, Rachel, right, peeling vegetables for the “sacred soup.”
Honestly, when I first started I really didn’t know how to peel a potato and was awkwardly scraping the top layer of the vegetable hoping it would come off. Luckily after observing other people (and switching out my peeler for a better one) I started peeling the potatoes successfully…once I started, it turned into a very restful and even therapeutic exercise for me. My hands did physical work while my mind, while focusing on peeling potatoes, was also allowed to wander. I also enjoyed the spirit and atmosphere of it; I like participating in and the idea of volunteerism, and it seemed like many of the people in Abadiania were willing to help out and volunteer their efforts for a community event such as this, which speaks to the charity of the neighborhood and the people who go to the Casa.
What made the experience even more interesting was that my partner in potato-peeling immediately engaged me in friendly conversation. I have always felt a little intrusive and nosy whenever I ask someone flat out “So why are you here??”, so it was refreshing to have someone feel comfortable having that conversation with me without me prompting it. Her name was Mel, and she was from Australia and was on a spiritual journey throughout South America. This had included living among shamans in the Amazon jungle in Peru and some of the experiences she described was doing ayahuasca and having encounters with aliens during that hallucinogenic experience, including going up in their spaceship. She also described being able to hear people’s thoughts and learning to understand where people are coming from. In Australia, she runs her own crystal bed and spiritual healing practice, and she hopes to gain more insights from her month long trip throughout South America.
What I thought was the most interesting was how she was searching through other Southern American cultures for inspiration on ways of healing in order to integrate it into her own practice. I guess it makes sense that the practices and techniques that she uses can be from what she has discovered through her own spiritual journey. These things can’t be taught in a classroom or any other normal school, so you can say this is her way of learning and expanding her passion. It feels similar to how I feel on this trip–going to the Casa here at Abadiania has been spiritually enlightening for me, and even if I have not had a spiritual awakening, there is a lot to be learned about this place through our fieldwork.
By Rachel Chang
