Forest of Visions

ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH

Alex Polari de Alverga spent years as a political prisoner during the rule of the military junta in Brazil, enduring torture, brutality and deprivation. On his release from captivity and in search of something to restore his spiritual connection to life, he had a transformative encounter with one of the two revered founders of Santo Daime, Padrinho Sebastiao Mota de Mela.

Sant Daime - an Amazonian religion born out of jungle entheogens, medium ship, and healing, that features a unique synthesis of Christianity and indigenous practices - provided Alverga with an alternative to his disillusionment with modern society.

His quest for spiritual initiation eventually led him deep into the heart of the rainforest, to Mapiá, one of the spiritual centers of Santo Daime, where he became a teacher and leader of the Daime community.

Forest of visions, a story of classic spiritual encounter comparable to the Tibetan Saint Milalrepa’s search for his leader Marpa, is also an intimate account of the genesis of an important religious tradition that from modest beginnings in Brazil now has spread throughout the whole world , and continues to grow.

Alverga’s tale provides an inside look at the spiritually centered village of Mapiá, a model for communities in the twenty-first century, and at the religious leader who helped create it.