NOTES: 1) 🇺🇸 the image attached is a real photo of the bat house that was built and placed in my backyard after the bats were safely removed from the walls, because bats are protected in florida and could not simply be harmed or disposed of. -- 🇧🇷 A imagem em anexo é uma foto real do abrigo para morcegos que foi construído e instalado no meu quintal, após os morcegos terem sido removidos das paredes de forma segura — visto que, na Flórida, esses animais são protegidos por lei e não podem, simplesmente, ser feridos ou descartados.

1. 🇧🇷 Você pode encontrar a transcrição aqui e traduzi-la para o idioma de sua preferência. Ou, se preferir, pode ouvir a versão em áudio dublado no YouTube aqui: https://youtu.be/9gO662CSv08

QUOTES:

-- “i have never been initiated in the sense that people talk about initiation because that has never been allowed for me. i don't do any rituals. i don't do ceremonies.”

-- “when we look past the differences, we're able to see the similarities in ourselves, our cultures, our lifestyles, our experiences, our struggles, and even many of our spiritual and religious practices.”

DESCRIPTION:

yesterday morning, while drinking my coffee, smoking my tobacco, watching the sunrise, and communing with nature, god, and my ancestors, a bat kept flying back and forth near my patio. at first i wasn't completely sure what it was. then i smelled it.

yes. i know what a bat smells like.

that recognition took me back to living in an old church in new smyrna beach where bats once lived in the walls...

i haven't been initiated into a spiritual tradition. i don't perform rituals or ceremonies. i don't use ayahuasca, cannabis, mushrooms, or other substances to create these experiences. over the last decade, i've studied, researched, experienced, and connected with people across different religions, spiritual traditions, ancient practices, astrology, human design, gene keys, and other systems because i'm curious about where they overlap.

and they overlap more than people may realize.

for years, including through the porch, i've intentionally created spaces where people with different religions, spiritual practices, backgrounds, cultures, and belief systems could exist without being forced to agree with one another.

in this episode

• the bat that showed up outside my patio and why i immediately recognized its smell
• how living in an old church in new smyrna beach connects to what happened
• recognizing an energy i had experienced during other major turning points in my life
• finding a photograph of a journal entry written by a babalawo more than a decade ago
• why i originally went for an ifá reading and why i distinguish confirmation from seeking answers
• two orishas that became part of the synchronicities unfolding around me
• reconnecting parts of my spiritual history between the united states and brazil
• why i've never been formally initiated and don't practice rituals or ceremonies
• my experiences studying astrology, human design, gene keys, african traditional religions, esoteric systems, and other modalities
• what ten years of studying different belief systems has taught me about similarities hiding underneath our differences
• why i don't allow people to invalidate someone else's spiritual or religious beliefs

listen to more conversations from faafo with courtney, hosted by courtney c also known as sisi in brasil, at faafo.app/radio