Brazil in Blossom

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A Report by Patricia Kaminski

I was honored to return to Brazil in November, 2002, to teach and dialogue with Brazil's outstanding flower essence practitioners. My kind and gracious hosts were Cynthia and Bibo Asseff of Essências Florais. The office of Essências Florais is an exquisite healing oasis in bustling Sao Paulo. Greeting me at the entrance to Essências Florais was a large native Iris of Brazil, bursting with buds and blossoms. Everyone commented that they had never seen this plant with so many flowers!

We all agreed that the abundant flowers of the Iris were a wonderful omen. The Iris flower is the logo for the Flower Essence Society, evoking the creative opening of the human soul to the rainbow world of flowers, and the Portuguese word for "rainbow" is Arco — Iris (arc of Iris).

Iris plant in front of Essências Florais office.

I had come to give a new seminar on color and flower essence therapy: Weaving The Rainbow Path of the Soul. This course was organized as a four-day residential retreat at Campos do Jordão. Situated high in the lush Mantiqueira Mountain range, Campos do Jordão is graced in the Brazilian springtime with many beautiful flowers, bird songs, and sunsets and sunrises that inspired us during our walks and color meditations.

Patricia and Thais Accioly
at the color workshop.
Visit Thais' beautiful web site.

My course was a step-by-step path through the color signatures of flowers, discussing many ways in which practitioners can incorporate aspects of color therapy along with flower essence therapy in order to enhance soul healing. My excellent translator, Frances Rose Feder, also offered circle dances in the evenings, resonating with many of the themes from each day’s class. A special part of our experience was a large "chalice" of colored water, made from plant-based colors and infused with flower essences of each color. We used the sacred waters before and during each session to help us deepen the experience of each color theme.

My host Cynthia Asseff, of Essências Florais, made a most beautiful environment for our seminar on the color language of flowers — decorated with silks, paintings, hand-crafted candles and many other expressions. Cristiana Leão offered her hand-made colored paper, for all of us to write "rainbow wishes" of soul healing . Claudete dos Reis contributed her exquisite artistry, crafting enchanting dolls to represent each of the color moods. I was touched by all the ways we were not only "learning" about color and flowers, but truly weaving a rainbow in our souls. This is the Brazilian way!

I also taught a weekend course in São Paulo at Convento Santissima Trindade (Convent of the Sacred Trinity), a beautiful garden retreat center that is home to a Catholic order of sisters, Missionarias do Espirito Santo. This seminar focused on the new Range of Light Essences that have been researched by FES for the last decade. [FES Members can access on-line information about these essences.] These new FES research essences are named in honor of John Muir, who has served as such a strong inspiration for all our work, and for our home in the foothills of the the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Muir's name for the Sierra, Range of Light, was based on his perception of a unique emanation of light from these spectacular granite-quartz mountains. It was a special joy for me to teach this course and introduce the many extraordinary flowers from the Sierra that carry this quality of healing light. For most Brazilians, it was a first encounter with the remarkable life of John Muir and his legacy of the Sierra Club. Many felt his spiritual presence in the room during our course.

In the pristine gardens of
Convento Santissima Trindade.

In honor of John Muir at
the Range of Light class.

My stay in Brazil allowed for numerous meetings with practitioners, whose work in hospitals, healing centers, workplaces, and a broad range of social outreach programs is truly impressive. I am able to learn so much from our colleagues in Brazil and am deeply grateful for the opportunity. In this brief report, I would like to give special mention to two such programs:

Programa Social Gotas de Flor com Amor
(A Social Program of Flower Drops with Love)

Programa Social Gotas de Flor com Amor celebrated its tenth anniversary of social work during my visit. It was so touching for me to hear from Denise Robles, Ernestina Souza, and many other colleagues about the founding of the program in 1992. The program was initiated after our first visit to Brazil, when the Flower Essence Society offered encouragement and support for practitioners reaching out to social needs in their communities.

None of us could have imagined how splendidly Gotas de Flor com Amor would grow during these ten short years! The primary population served are the street children of Brazil, extending also to the families of the children. A strong network of volunteers offers support in countless ways, providing educational, cultural and artistic opportunities, counseling, and healthcare. The astonishing success of Gotas de Flor com Amor has attracted many impressive benefactors and has made possible the establishment of a vital center for the work in the heart of São Paulo. Flower essence therapy was the beginning seed of this social program and remains at the vibrant core of all that is done for the children, their families, and all the co-workers.

The directors of Gotas de Flor com Amor recognize that healing the emotional wounds of the children and their families is the most important key to creating positive change in all the other aspects of their lives.

Information from the Gotas de Flor com Amor
web site (in Portuguese)

Read a letter written to the Flower Essence Society in July 2003 by Denise Robles, Founder and Vice President of Gotas de Flor Con Amor.

Educational workshop students at the
inauguration of their new headquarters.

Angelica and her volunteer “godmother.”

Photographs from the Gotas de Flor
com Amor brochure

Núcleo Mãe Maria in Campinas, Brazil

Patricia visits the
children at the center.
Click on picture for enlargement

Rosana Vieira with one of the children.
Click on picture for enlargement

Núcleo Mãe Maria is a social institution maintained by Os Seareiros, a Catholic religious charity that organizes professional volunteer teams of health practitioners and educators to serve the needs of about 350 families in the Vila Brandina community of Campinas, Brazil. This region is a major drug center of the city, marked by violence as well as poverty.

In 1998, Rosana Souto S. Vieira, director of the Instituto Cosmos de Terapia Floral (Cosmos Institute of Flower Therapy), introduced flower essence therapy to the children and families of Núcleo Mae Maria, working alongside other professional therapists with remarkable and beneficial results. This year 96 children and about 80 adult family members were included in the flower essence therapy program at the center, staffed by a 5-member volunteer team. In January, 2003, Rosana Vieira was honored for her outstanding volunteer work at Núcleo Mãe Maria by the mayor of Campinas. Please view photos of Rosana receiving her award here.

In front of the Núcleo Mãe Maria office (left to right):

Teresa Diegues, a flower therapist who works primarily with the mothers and other relatives of the children who attend Núcleo M. Maria.

Leonor C. Moussali, the institution's Educational Coordinator and General Manager. Leonor works with the entire team of volunteers and is the link between Núcleo M. Maria and the community.

Rosana Vieira, the founder and Coordinator of Flower Therapy at Núcleo M. Maria. Rosana works closely with the children as well as with their parents.

“Although the children are referred to our center for learning disorders, emotional development is at the core of these problems and is the great goal of flower therapy. Learning disorders are the manifestation of emotional deprivation or imbalance. It reflects of an atmosphere of fear, physical and sexual abuse, rejection, and abandonment. Many children suffer also from skin problems, often stemming from lowered immune response and low self-esteem. Urinary disturbances, including bed wetting, are very common, along with allergies and various respiratory symptoms.”

Rosana Vieira

Rosana Vieira shows
case studies to Patricia.

Photographs (except as noted)
by Cynthia Asseff.

More images of Patricia's visit to Campinas

P.O. Box 459, Nevada City, CA 95959
800-736-9222 (US & Canada)
tel: 530-265-9163 fax: 530-265-0584

E-mail: mail@flowersociety.org