While traveling around the world, Amrita meets people who shares their stories and experiences with her. In consignment with them Amrita invites you to listen to some of the stories.
Written by James Wilcox, London, United Kingdom:
Sunday, 6th January 2013 Pousad Sao Miguel, Abadiania, Brazil 
Its 3.30am on Sunday morning and I awake with a start, uncertain as to what has disturbed my deep slumber and rest from a hectic and moving week at the Casa.
I stir around in my single bed at the pousada and turn on the light to see the smiling face of St. Jermane looking down at me from the painting on the wall opposite of my bed, in the small bedroom. Jesus Christ is next to him also smiling with large brown eyes, do they know something that i don’t?
I get out of bed and go to the bathroom and then return and open my book, “Love never leaves you” by Andre Luis. I start to read and become engaged again in the story of the apostles, living near Galilee and preaching the gospel. The story is interspersed with a narrative on a Roman Senator who is seeking the help of the prophet called Jesus Christ to help the Roman Emperor and the Roman Senator’s young child who is stricken with leprosy. How strange but surely no coincidence that when I met Medium Joao with Renato on Friday evening to close my three weeks at the casa that he would address this very difficult subject and speak in a serious tone about the need to help the lepers in Brazil. Has nothing changed in 2000 years?
I read for half an hour and then turn the light out as I need to rest. My mind moves to the events over the last three weeks and I think how amazing to find myself at this remote and beautiful place, the Casa de Dom Ignacio. I find myself dozing and dreaming of prayers, and then realise its 5.45am and that it will be soon be light and I need to be at the casa before the magic hour of six, to capture the essence of the day. As its my last morning, I think it would be really good to watch the sunrise, do some yoga (Amrita will be pleased and so will I) so that I can capture the last energy and enjoy an early morning to sit and meditate at the casa, for the last time before my return to England later in the day. I shower quickly and dress in warm clothes putting on an extra layer as the temperature has dropped.
I try to move silently so as not to disturb the other guests who are sleeping on this side of the pousada, as the slightest sound travels and the morning is very still. I open the metal door and turn the key slowly and quietly. Once I am outside I notice the slight chill and darkness but the path is suddenly illuminated by the overhead lights and I walk around the gardens to reach the front door of Pousada Sao Miguel. Once I get to the outside gate, two people pass me and turn and waive whispering quietly “Bon Gia” as they too walk to experience the sunrise at the casa. The road is otherwise deserted and everything is very still and quiet. The sky is showing the first hints of the day to come, and the moon shines above illuminating the southern skies.
The Blue and white gates are open but the Casa is completely empty save for the lone gardener, bronzed and weathered by the intense heat of the Brazilian sunshine. I have often wondered if he is one the wisest and happiest men at the casa, he looks after the trees, plants and grass with much love and dedication. He is clearly content and happy in his job. He waives and says good morning back to me.
I walk round and enjoy the still calm fresh air of the early morning and marvel at the beautiful sea of white mist which extends along the valley below the casa. I sigh and look over the beautiful rolling hills which are a mixture of trees and green, slighly lit by the first signs of the morning sun, rising in the East.
I move towards the main hall and in the darkness of this building approach the triangle to commence my morning prayers and give thanks for the wonderful and inspiring three weeks at the casa. I approach the triangle and remove my track shoes as a mark of respect, and slowly step up to the platform and to face the large wooden triangle. I feel an immense gratitude (a theme of the last three weeks) at being alive and present in the casa at this time. Slowly I work through the names of all my loved ones, family, friends, colleagues at the law firm and at the Cathedral in London as well as the priests and staff at St Paul’s Knightsbridge which is my local church. I feel a sense of praying into an eternal space and my head feels an intensity as i press against the white walls of the casa. I stay there for some time and then leave to go and start my exercises in the garden.
Here is another story that was written by Nicola Brown, Spain 
Before I began the journey to Abadiania near Brasilia to visit The Casa where John of God works, or Medium Joao as he is known in Brazil, I was asked by many of my friends to keep a journal. It was indeed my intention. I had even been asked by an Italian journalist, if I would write an article about my experiences for her newspaper. Surprisingly though, when I was actually there in Brazil, I could not write a single word, let alone send an e mail or make a telephone call. The experience was so intense and absorbing, that I had no time for other things. So it is only now that I am home, that I am able to assimilate and feel the urge to write. The experience is still with me a I continue to take the herbs and be treated be the Entities. I can still feel them with me, and the connection to the Casa energy has travelled back as a part of me. I give tremendous thanks for being so blessed.
My connection with the Casa began about four years ago, without me even realizing it. It was summer of 2008 and I had been doing some hard traveling
Across the Kalahari desert in Botswana. We had spent many hours bumping through the sand in 4 wheel vehicles to reach a sacred site in a remote part of the north if the country, to get there in time to see the full moon rise over the salt pans. We arrived just in time and it was a truly remarkable experience and worth the hardships. I had arrived back in London and had a back problem which I had had a few times over the years. Whist in Botswana there was only a limited supply of good drinking water. The South Africans leading the group preferred to drink beer, and I remember thinking that I must be getting very dehydrated.
I phoned a Clinic in London and asked if they had someone who could help me with my back. They referred me to an Indian Ayurvedic doctor. I was surprised when the first thing he did was strap a small device to my wrist. When I asked him what he was doing, he said he was measuring my brainwaves! I said “the problem is my back, not my brain.” He told me to eat almonds to improve my memory, and eventually moved on to my back. The problem, he said, had been caused by dehydration, which had affected the muscles.
As I hobbled out, I picked up a few sheets of information about other therapists working there, which had caught my eye. Returning home I read about a treatment called the Crystal Light Bed, where one would be bathed in colours passing through large crystals. Having just completed a two year colour therapy course, and having a life-long love of both colours and crystals, I picked up the phone and made an appointment for the following day. This is how I met Maria and her wonderful crystal bed.
My treatments with Maria continued over the next few years. Every time I visited London, I would look forward to my next crystal bed treatment. Maria was a doctor from Rio de Janeiro . She had come to London many years before and decided to study vibrational medicine and leave behind her previous way of working. After five years of studying, she began working with the crystal bed. Because of my knowledge of crystals, I recognized that the seven large crystals which were placed above the seven main chakras, were cut in Vogel style. Marcel Vogel had discovered that if crystals were cut in certain geometric shapes, they could hold a specific frequency. She also told me that the crystals came from a very special place in Brazil. But she never gave me any more information.
I loved my treatments. First she would give a hands-on healing, then cover my eyes, pull down the blinds, and switch on the programme which would pulse colored lights through the crystals. The effects are a balancing and cleansing of the chakras and the energy body. This produces a feeling of relaxation and well-being. This tied in so well with my own work as a sound healer using crystal bowls. Whilst I was receiving the treatment, Maria was in a room next door meditating and receiving information about her client, in this case me. So many times she would say to me “you must go to Brazil, your work will be so well received over there.”
I had been wanting to visit Brazil for a long time. So whilst visiting London earlier this year, I told Maria that I wanted to go to Brazil. “Do you?” she asked. “Well yes” I said “you have told me to go there many times.” “Have I?” she said “I don’t remember.” Then she added “maybe I will go there in August and maybe I will take people with me.” “Please let me know” I replied. And it was only then that she told me she was going to Abadiania where John of God has his centre. This is where she had been going two or three times a year when she had disappeared off to Brazil, and this is where the crystal bed had come from. None of which she had mentioned before. Over the years I had heard of John of God, but had not felt drawn to go there before. I have always rather resisted any form of Spiritism, although it has so often been around me. But now there seemed too many coincidences to ignore.
So when, back home in Spain, I received an e mail from Maria saying “I am going in July and August. Please make up our mind before the weekend and book your ticket,” that is exactly what I did.
On the 1st August I made the rather long and tiring journey from Heathrow via Lisbon to Brasilia. All had been arranged by Maria, and my driver was waiting or me at the airport. He took me on the one and a half hour drive to Abadiania to the Pousada where I would be staying for the next two weeks.
It was evening when I arrived and I was exhausted. They showed me my room, a simple bed, table and chair and bathroom. Everywhere there were crystals, in the room, the passages, the entrance hall. Maria appeared and told me that I was in a spiritual hospital. I ate a delicious and healthy supper and went to bed.
The next morning she took me down the road to visit the Casa. The Casa is the healing centre that John or Medium Joao was told to build in this area, which sits on a plateau of crystals. The place is small and simple and open to everyone. There are several buildings painted in white and a bright sky blue, where he sees and offers healing to thousands of people every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, which are known as Casa days. Bus loads of Brazileans arrive from all over the country and in the last ten years or so, many Americans and Europeans have joined the queues. People in wheelchairs, those suffering from cancer and so many other problems, both serious and not so serious, throng to see this humble and dedicated man. For fifty four years he has worked incessantly, seeing and helping millions of people. No-one is turned away and no-one is charged. When he is not working at the Casa he is working in other centers in Brazil or occasionally in other countries.
Spiritism is big in Brazil, over one tenth of the population visit spiritual healers. There are sixteen psychiatric hospitals where Spiritists are also working. A Spiritist is a full medium, someone who incorporates an entity, a person who has passed over and works from the realm of spirit through the body of the medium. Joao is known to incorporate more than thirty three different entities, many of whom were doctors in their last incarnations. Depending on which entity is incorporated, Joao’s whole physical presence will change
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The above was written in 2011 after my first visit to Abadiana. That is all I managed to write! I think I was still assimilating all that I experienced during that first trip. Since then I have returned two times and am planning on going back there again soon. I feel that I am changing, my heart is opening and I am learning so much. I now own a crystal bed of my own and offer treatments to clients in combination with my crystal bowls. They work well together. I am eternally grateful to my path through life that continues to lead me on a journey of learning and healing which I try to share with others the best that I can.
