The Scarlet Letter
Volume III, Number 2 | December 1995
Column: Out of My Mind
Thelemites in the Tropic of Capricorn
by Fr. Sharash, Editor

Faze o que tu queres há de ser toda a Lei.

On December 8th, 1995 e.v. I left the day's chilly, damp Texas weather and took to the air toward the Tropic of Capricorn. I was part of a three person team to fly into Brazil for eleven days to initiate several Thelemites in Rio de Janeiro. I felt completely honored to be on a team with Br. Lon M. Duquette and Fr. I.B.M., O.T.O. super-hero. Despite this, I was still extremely paranoid of Rio from hearing so many stories of muggings, shootings, thievery and other things I really do not like. I finally decided whatever happened, I certainly would make it back to Austin alive. This was somehow comforting.

Left to right: Carlos, Lon, Marcello, Glenn, Euclydes with his beautiful wife and granddaugher, and Marisol. Sitting is Haroldo. This is Euclydes' home, site of our guerrilla Minerval initiation before we left that night back to the states.

After a 10 hour airline ride, doing the Gnana Yoga practice of Silence, (primarily due to my seat-mate's and my inability to verbally communicate in a common language), I finally arrived in Rio de Janeiro. I was thereupon greeted with great warmth by Brs. Carlos, Marcello, and Euclydes. On the way to the apartment Carlos turned and asked me if I had seen the Christeos yet. "No, not in person," I replied. "Well, when you do, you will look up and say, 'JESUS CHRIST!!!!" I knew then I was in good hands.

After feasting that night, the next morning we ran up to the airport to pick up Br. Lon.We were told by yet unnamed forces to look for Santa Claus. But instead, we found a person with a very peculiar likeness to Antonio Fergundes, the Rio male Sex Symbol of mid-day soaps. It should be noted here that Antonio did look a bit like Santa Claus, and, therefore, we suspected we had bagged the right person.

Br. Lon was a wonderful Jupiterian soul to work with, and "Col " I.B.M. was the engineer that I suspect was building Solomon's Temple in an earlier incarnation.

Lon prepares to drink The Blue...

That night we met and re-met a number of awesome people; Br. Carlos—our marvelous host and newsletter god, Sr. Marisol—our lovely lioness and knowledgeable hostess, Br. Marcelo— a great guy with exuberant energy Br. Haroldo— "Mr. Crowley," witty and absolutely brilliant, Sr. Cristina— Gypsy Grande, shy but glowing, Br. Euclydes— Grandfather Thelema and an absolute pleasure and honor to meet, Br. Antonio— Magniflco!, Br. Dirceu— Goat Man, Sr. Else— no less than an exquisite manifestation of a goddess, Sr. Eliane— Mater Triumphans, and Adriane— a beautiful conversationalist and superb hostess.

I have never had so grand a level of hospitality anywhere than these brothers and sisters provided to us. The initiations were hard work but worth a million times more than any amount of sweat we could have poured into them. In the end, we had performed sixteen initiations; ten Minervals, six First Degrees, eight Baptisms, eight Confirmations, and eleven new friends.

I will miss all of them but I am looking forward to going back for the next initiations. Oh...advice? Don't drink the Blue...

Amor é a lei, amor sob vontade.

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