João de Deus, Day 2: The 8:00 Line

Wednesday morning

We woke at 5:45 a.m, rose and dressed in white, and then went to breakfast. It was still dark as we ate, and as the sun rose we talked quietly with the other visitors at our inn. It was a strange and rather beautiful thing to eat as friends, all dressed in white, full of nervous expectation about the day ahead.

We reached The Casa by 7:10 am, where we picked up our tickets for the “First Time Line” (Primeira Vez). People were already beginning to gather in the Main Hall, the large, sanctuary–like room where people wait to be seen by Joao de Deus.

I found this 3 minute video tour of the inside of The Casa grounds so that you can see what we were seeing:

By 8:00, the Main Hall was full, with standing room only. People were lined up in wheelchairs, walkers, back braces, and heads covered in scarves. (Our taxi driver told us that in recent years, the number of people traveling here who have cancer has increased dramatically.) Children with twisted limbs or heads bald from chemotherapy were held by their parents, and people with swollen and purple feet from diabetes sat patiently waiting until the first line was called. Incredibly, despite the fact that there were so many critically ill people there, the energy in the room was incredibly light, and incredibly hopeful.

In addition, despite the many signs reading “Silencio,” the room was buzzing with nervous chatter. We’d been told that you could never know which line would be called first, so Helena and I sat in meditation, our palms open and resting on our thighs, legs uncrossed, as instructed, in order to best give and receive healing energy. It was a powerful feeling to be in this room with so much love and hope.

Sometime after 8:30, people who were waiting to sit “In Current” were called first. (I’ll explain more about this in future posts.) Close to 200 people got into line and entered The Medium’s Room, which was located to the right of the main platform. The feeling of anticipation grew as people wondered who would be called next. I shifted my weight and closed my eyes to wait.

The next line that was called was people who had been instructed to come for “Revision.” I opened my eyes to watch as this group shuffled in, perhaps another 200 people. As they walked, an older man (a “Son of The Casa”) stood and told us of the history of Joao de Deus in Portuguese. I was surprised to learn that Joao de Deus has been performing this work for 54 years, and admit that I sat wondering at what it must be to completely give up a “pedestrian life” for a life of service.

When the owner of our hotel, Heather Cummings, stood to provide English translation, I understood why we’d been directed to stay with her. By stumbling along the road, we’d managed to find the hotel run by the woman who translated and provided the tour for Oprah’s crew when they came to see John of God. She is a “Daughter of The Casa,” a group of mediums who have been chosen to work directly with Joao de Deus. Somehow, we’d managed to find room at the inn.

Don’t you love those “coincidences?”

Finally, it was our turn. “Primeira vez!” someone called out.

As we entered The Medium’s Room, the first thing I noticed was rows of pews of filled with hundreds of people quietly sitting in meditation. The room was electric, so full of light and love that both of us had tears running down our cheeks. As we turned the corner to face Joao de Deus, I was struck by the sensation of being in an airplane about to take off. The room was semi-dark, and yet it felt incredibly filled with the light of the hundreds of people sitting in prayer.

Within minutes, I was before Joao de Deus. In the split-second it took me to provide just one of my requests, he spoke: “Operacao,” and I was instructed to return for surgery this afternoon. It happened so quickly that I didn’t even have time to make eye contact.

The Casa's vegetable soup

We were ushered to another room where we sat for 10 minutes with our eyes closed in meditation. Then The Casa’s guides brought us outside into the courtyard, where we received instructions on how to prepare for our surgery at 2:00 this afternoon. Once the instructions were clear, we were brought to a soup line, where we waited to receive a hot vegetable soup, part of our “prescription.”

Surgery begins in an hour, and we’ve been instructed to go to bed for 24 hours following the operations. A vegetable broth will be brought to us from time to time, but we’re to have little or no contact with the outside.

As they say here in Brasil, “Sleep with the angels.”

I’ll explain what happened during surgery in my next post, Day 2: Surgery.