The magic cards that connected us with TDF, GoT & Enkhuizen
September 2022:
Amidst the colors, laughter and hugs during the Gathering of Tribes, a festival for regenerative communities in Portugal, Chris and I looked at each other and asked ourselves: "How the f**k did we end up here?"
It's nice to activate the memory and try to remember which doors were opened, which decisions were made, which paths we took and which people suddenly appeared and changed the course of our life. It makes us appreciate the magic of being open and present, able to observe the new signs that life is showing us. After all, plans exist to be changed.
So let`s go back in time a bit: June 2022
It all started with the cards of a magical game called Tarot.
Whether you believe them or not, all I can share is that it was from a Tarot reading that we totally changed course in life.
We were in São Paulo. We couldn't sell our boat, having financial challenges and a lot of doubts about how to go towards Volans (the name we gave to our next boat). In the midst of this crisis, I decided to give Christof a present: a Tarot reading with an amazing woman called Marinice.
There were many revelations from that reading, but I will share here the two main ones, which gave us the impulse to make a few decisions that changed our lives:
The first thing was connected to the sale of Mintaka. Until the day of that session, almost no buyers were showing up for us. We couldn`t understand why, after all, Mintaka is an AMAZING boat and there are only a few like her on the market. Our expectation was that we would sell Mintaka in less than a month. Sweet illusion: six months later we were still waiting, while an underwater forest was growing on Mintaka`s hull and we were still paying for the Yacht Clube Aratu in Salvador, Bahia.
The first cards that Marinice drew, revealed the following: "you are married to your boat and until you do not energetically disconnect from Mintaka, you will not sell her". She assigned us some rituals to be done at home - crazy stuff, proper magic - and believe it or not: two days later a proposal arrived, and at the end of the same week we had the money in our account and the boat documents transferred.
It may or may not be a coincidence, but what matters is that it worked. And it even attracted a BEAUTIFUL family to live in our beloved boat.
We managed to close the 4-year chapter called Mintaka and now, truly surrender to a new cycle of this dream.
From that day on, we got the energy back to continue researching for big, old boats for sale in Europe. And that's how we met Jan, a nice dutch men, owner of the Tallship Company. We set up a zoom call and told him all about our dream and project.
He either considered us way too crazy or too naive for wanting to migrate from a 33-foot sailboat to a 140-foot Tallship, without ever having sailed a boat of that size.
Very wisely, Jan advised us: "if you are any serious about this dream, you should study at Enkhuizer Zeevaartschool in the Netherlands".
The Enkhuizer Zeevaartschool is the best (and as far as we know, the only) traditional sailing school for Tallships in Europe. With the KZV course, we will get a captain´s license for commercial sailing vessels <500 tonnes in limited sailing area.
"Kaatje", the training ship at the Enkhuizer Zeevaartschool
In less than a week, we were not only enrolled in the KZV course, but also in Medical First Aid, Basic Safety and Bosun (about essential skills aboard, like splicing rope and steel wire, welding, sowing of sails).
OMG! SO EXCITING!
The second door that the Tarot reading opened for us added another waypoint on our route to Holland. This sacred spot is called Portugal, where we had the privilege of connecting with incredible beings who are now already part of our dream.
It turns out that Marinice has a partner called Daan, who is one of the founders of Gaia Net.
She connected us with him, who connected us with some other friends, who are part of the"Templar Adventure": a group that aims on crossing the Atlantic from Portugal to Brazil.
One of the members of the "New Templars" is Michal. A beautiful human being, Polish, with a pirate soul, who was at that moment a steward at TDF: an amazing community in Portugal. He invited us to participate in the event they would host there in September, to collaboratively write a book on building regenerative communities. Along with this invitation, he also invited us to join their camp at the Gathering of Tribes festival.
Once again, the decision was quick, because it came straight from the heart - impossible not to accept the calls that come from there. We wanted to be close to those people, learn about regeneration and start to dream about becoming a hub in the ocean to connect communities in land.
Let`s pack and go!
September 2022:
We arrived in a place called TDF.
A beautiful land, somewhat hot and dry, with fertile soil for dreams and human collaboration, surrounded by fluffy sheeps and nurtured with the energy of innovation, revolution and of course, love.
The Traditional Dream Factory (aka TDF ) is the first prototype in developing a new form of living that is more in tune with nature and with our human creativity. They are creating a DAO (short for Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) governed regenerative village, sitting on lands conserved under the OASA Network.
The TDF tribe believes that humans are kind by design, and are committed to promoting biodiversity, restoration of water cycles, regeneration of the soils, and regeneration of souls.
They believe that our creativity is our greatest asset, and that we can channel our collective intelligence towards planetary regeneration. They also believe in using technology for good, and in replacing ownership with stewardship.
They say:
We are here to re:imagine how we live together. A new Earth is waiting. On this new planet, we are the stewards of our spaceship. In this new world, we thrive by promoting biodiversity and being in the service of the greater ecosystem that we are a part of. We must re:learn to be part of Nature, and to respect its delicate cycles.
Pretty nice dose of real life inspiration, right?
It was absolutely magical to be with them. Mind-blowing! An explosion of inspiration and creativity, ideas and talks that expanded our borders, minds and hearts.
We were impressed by the chaotic yet effective way of decentralised collaboration and project management at TDF. Maybe a conservative CEO would go crazy there (good thing). The lack of rigid structures and concrete plans make many people confused and lost. But the constant sharing circles and practices of conscious communication at TDF, with collaborative leadership that evokes self-responsibility, and with a brilliant architecture of local talents, makes their working process much more effective, healthier and HAPPIER than the way most of the business world still runs.
A practical example of the creative collaboration put into practice when we were there, was the birth of their book: "Handbook for Village Builders", which they wrote together (a first draft) in less than a week.
It didn't take long for us to fall in love with those people and the innovative and inspiring spirit that radiated from each one there.
It was everything we needed and wanted: expand our pirate dream and grow our love crew.
From left to right: collaboration, love, nurturing.
Last but not least:
We went from TDF straight to the Gathering of Tribes, which this year took place in a sacred land cared by the Skanking Farmers collective.
GoT is a fully participatory and co-creative festival inspired by ancient tribal gatherings, medieval fairs, unconferences and Burning Man. A temporary village bringing together thought leaders, practitioners and communities to connect, inspire, learn, celebrate and grow the regenerative movement.
We attended workshops, met a lot of inspiring people, had deep meaningful talks, released our inner children, had mud fights, cuddling sessions and amazing dance parties.
I especially want to comment on the mud war, which was part of the launch of our raft, and perhaps the most unforgettable and fun moment of the festival for us. Built by our captain Chris together with the TDF team, the raft and its sheep flag were taken for a maiden voyage in the river the encompassed the festival on the first day. Everyone naked, mud everywhere: we were playing like wild children and celebrating life.
This was definitely one of the biggest lessons learned with the TDF family: "Remember to play".
Our raft, the pirate invasion, the mud war, the naked fun!
Yes we want to create, build, innovate, regenerate, heal, evolve and love. But we learned that playing is also a fundamental part of a spiritual journey. It is very easy to become rather serious, boring and stuck adults. There we learned to look at the world like a curious child, ready to express our spontaneity in the here and now. Is there anything more spiritual than that? Pure presence. Pure love.
Chris and I also decided to contribute to the open schedule and host a workshop called "Desire Game." We brought together exercises of somatic consent, transparent communication, expression of desires and limits and creating a safe and fun space for conscious sexuality.
Participants after our "Desire Game" workshop!
We also had some good brainstorming sessions regarding the next steps of our Pirate Tribe. We met people passionate about the tech world, who opened doors for us to think about our pirate governance through a DAO system - as TDF and OASA do. Check out the OASA Green Paper.
We also dreamed about our future boat and started designing what could be our first prototype expedition on a tallship next year.
Pirate working session at the GoT
How beautiful it is to see our dream taking form, our values and principles getting clearer and more solid, and our pirate crew and family growing.
Some of the beautiful souls we met there. All properly dressed up as Pirates of Love now.
Are we going back?
Certainly. Portugal won a special corner in our hearts.
But more than coming back, the important thing is that we are now moving forward better accompanied than ever!
Thank you TDF, thank you Oasa, thank you Gathering of Tribes, Rebuild and Skanking Farmers. You all filled us with hope and love to continue sailing towards our mission.
We feel more committed than ever to our dream of creating a radical learning space at sea to practice a regenerative culture based on love.
Next step: Enkhuizen! Let's learn how to sail and manage biiiiiig boats, so that everyone we met during last weeks can come aboard soon!
Ahh, and if someone invites you for a Tarot reading, don't hesitate. It can transform your life, change directions and introduce you to new ways of loving and living.
Ps: if you are still not part of our Telegram group, join us there: https://t.me/+Ofi0ooix_N4wNWYx
The upsidedown magic chair at GoT
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