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Norms of Ritual CEFLURIS
Introduction
The spiritual education of CEFLURIS, which has come through Mestre Irineu and
Padrinho Sebastião, encompasses many spiritual traditions, values and teachings,
materialized in this XX th century, which we are again living this very day,
graças a Deus! It was in the transition from the twenties to the thirties that
Senhor Raimundo Irineu Serra had the vision of a Lady who appeared to him in a
great light, in the form of a moon, inside the forest. In this vision She
declared that She was the Virgin of Immaculate Conception, the Queen of the
Forest, the Mistress of the teachings of this spiritual lineage.
She ordered him to pay complete attention to the work he did and to meditate on
the teachings that would come after he would put to practice a recipe which he
received in the same vision. Senhor Irineu, then, would have to do a fast of
eight days eating only cassava without salt and tea without sugar, while he was
drinking the Daime to receive more instructions. In this period he worked with
the Peruvian Caboclos who were entangled in the struggle for daily life without
knowing themselves and the divine nature of creation. During this period of
fasting Raimundo Irineu Serra received a great teaching which is contained in
his own hinário which carries the name of The Cruzeiro.
Therefore the hinário of the Cruzeiro must be exercised and studied with
complete attention because this is the message of the Queen of the forest. It
was also ordered that the expansion of this Doctrine, of these teachings, should
be done with the greatest care and respect for the Divinity Creatrix of heaven
and earth. For it is in gaining respect for the human being and nature that we
render possible the road of return to the Father. This road leads to the
understanding of what life needs to exist in health, well-being and the
salvation of the soul. This is a contribution of the culture of the Amazon
region.
CEFLURIS is a spiritual and eclectic university, universal and Amazonian, that
comes to support all those who in the way of friends recognize it as a
Brother-Centre and capable of helping in the spiritual development of all those
who desire it to be such.
The expansion of this Doctrine falls today to my responsibility as I am the heir
of this School of Raimundo Irineu Serra and Sebastião Mota de Melo. I am full of
care for the good progress of the Doctrine, of the values, the miracles and the
healings which come from our Divine Sacrament, the Santo Daime.
And now, on the material level, we are organizing legally all our affiliates and
registering our centers and communities in Brazil and outside. Everything is in
full accordance with the law of their respective countries and also in full
accordance with the bureaucratic requirements and with the documentation.
We are facilitating this organization for the brothers and sisters who solicit
us and those who have invited us to visit their groups or communities, so that
they could better develop their mission and expand in the most natural way.
For this divine charity we owe Padrinho Raimundo Irineu Serra, Padrinho
Sebastião Mota de Melo, Madrinha Rita Gregório de Melo and CEFLURIS, under the
direction of its President Alfredo Gregório de Melo.
I declare this truth to who may have interest and desire.
From grace you receive, from grace you shall give
With harmony, love, truth, justice, union and peace. That is the message.
Alfredo Gregório de Melo
President of CEFLURIS
Preface
The ritual of a living doctrine is a guide, a symbolic map which helps us to
travel with greater facility over the intricate roads of spiritual knowledge.
Once fossilized, both the ritual and the doctrine can become a fetter, a real
strait jacket for its participants. Exactly for this we must avoid the extremes
both of ignoring the so wise prescriptions of the tradition, and of fossilizing
it to the point that we become imprisoned in hollow and outer formulas.
In this sense one must care and have respect in relation to what was prescribed
by the masters, without preventing the tradition to maintain the purport of its
message in its actuality and usefulness for the diverse necessities of each
epoch.
The danger comes therefore from both sides Padrinho Sebastião used to say that
"spirituality is respect". Some people find it difficult to accept or comprehend
the norms of ritual, because they don't like to submit to any school or
discipline. Even when we admit that there exist people in whom the spirituality
may be above any conventions, we believe it necessary to have recourse to a
number of practices, rites and symbols so that we rise quickly to the different
degrees of spiritual life.
In the same way it is good to give a warning that the simple statement and
description of our rituals presented in this text, which is meant for the study
and perfection of our work, does not impart any power to the readers, in the
sense that they would feel themselves capable to become a spiritual leader
overnight, thinking it is enough to recite the passages from a manual. No doubt
this little booklet can, as we mentioned before, give an inestimable help for
all those who work at the diverse fronts of our atendimento espirita. But its
reading and application is not a substitute for the arduous apprenticeship, the
love and charity and the ethical virtues, that are only possible through a life
dedicated to spiritual evolution. In final analysis our ritual has to be the
fruit of a consecration. The scenery of our ritual has to be a sacred space. In
it we sing, meditate, channel energies, radiate energy and heal ourselves.
This book therefore forms an obligatory point of reference for all members of
CEFLURIS and can help us to become more conscious of and prepared for the
fulfillment of our spiritual mission This work, which is placed at the disposal
of all associates of CEFLURIS, forms part of a request made almost fifteen years
ago by our beloved Padrinho Sebastião, originating from a word he heard from
Mestre Irineu himself, in the sense of all the time more documenting and
registering our Centre, its precepts, principles and norms. It seems the
prophetic eye of our Padrinho already looked far ahead and he felt as if this
organization would be necessary for the "times to come", as he used to call the
future time of expansion and growth of our Doctrine from the forest to the
world.
Well then, the times to come are already here, we are living them and this work
of systematizing becomes each day more necessary. Recently we had the
opportunity to take a great stride in this direction when the IX th Encontro was
held in Mauá. At this moment the Doctrinaire Ritual Council, formed on the basis
of the new statutes, is charged with publication with the Book of Precepts, in
which are brought together the statutes, internal rules, official regulation and
decrees, our ethical-doctrinaire fundamentals and principles, instructions and
orientations of general interest.
This edition of Norms of Ritual which we are presenting now is part of this
undertaking. We decide to publish it immediately due to great interest that was
awakened by the topic and that gave rise to innumerable requests to publish this
material in advance of the Book of Precepts. In this way we make a starting
point possible that will certainly help the refining and standardizing of our
ritual. We expect in the same way that the publication of this work strengthens
the part played by the local Doctrinaire Councils, which will thus have a point
of reference for the perfection of our spiritual work. In this first edition we
only discuss the rituals that are considered official. There exist other works
of more or less widespread and consecrated use. It is the duty of the
Doctrinaire and Ritual Council to keep these norms up to date or even the
incorporation of new procedures and works in the official calendar.
As the one responsible for the edition and co-ordination of this book and other
institutional texts, I would like to express my thanks for the support given by
the president of CEFLURIS, Padrinho Alfredo Gregório de Melo, and of the
president of the Doctrinaire Ritual Council, Padrinho Valdete Mota de Melo, both
deeply engaged in the strengthening of our process of institutionalizing and the
standardizing of our ritual work.
I would also express my thanks for the valuable contributions of the madrinhas
Rita, Julia and Cristina, real guardians of living memory of our ritual
traditions. At various occasions this text was read, commented upon, and
rewritten with them. Rest me to thank the team which worked together on this
project: Luis Fernando Nobre, compilation and interviews. Nelson Liano Jr,
production and editing; Tetê Paz Leme, artwork for the cover and Nilton
Caparelli proofreading.
Alex Polari de Alverga
Vice-president of CEFLURIS
Member of the Doctrinaire and Ritual Council
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