Sagada and Sarah

Rolling rice straw in a clay-rice husk-sand mixture

Sagada
That was a nice long post on Mountain Province, but it definitely didn't capture 3 months of life-changing experience. Are the negative emotions even worth mentioning? Is it fair to even try to capture an entire human being, friendship, or timeless cosmic transformation in just a few paragraphs? A picture or two? Well, if the last post was about the masculine energy, the Doing action of the construction, the village of Guina'ang, and Russell, this post will be more about the feminine energy, the Being aspect of spirit and community efforts, other locations in Mountain Province, and Russell's opposite persona: Sarah Queblatin.

Sarah Queblatin at Earthdance Manila 2013

It's easy to describe Russell. He fits into molds. It's really hard to describe Sarah. She breaks the molds. Also a mandala artist, Sarah is a peace worker, a teacher, a powerful healer, a veteran of the nonprofit world, a beacon of the Divine Feminine, and above all, a Cebuana. Cebu is the heart center of the Philippines, which is the heart center of Asia. She resonates love everywhere she goes, and people get infected by it. They instantly trust her, just as she instantly loves. 

Sarah was also caught by the net of people of Guina'ang and the depth of indigenous wisdom in Mountain Province. In her time there, besides the Library/Inspirtation Center project she helped start in Guina'ang, she was also working on Green Releaf Initiative, Project Rainbow, and Mandala Earth Story, among so many other things. Sarah translated for me the language of the locals and the language of the universe, and I felt I was always sort of towed behind her. The funny thing is, she would probably say I towed her along. 

One of the places I flowed to Sagada. It was once a laid-back hippie town, but today it's more tourist than hippie. Manilenos even make the 12-hour trip for a weekend getaway in private vehicles. Still, the surrounding area has kept most of its indigenous heritage. Caves, hiking, cool air, and native culture are the main attractions here. I finally made the trip there because of Maui.

Mudhousing!

Maui and Me

Maui Eguia drew me to Sagada. He's the co-founder of Inner Dance and main mudhouse master of Bahay Kalipay and Maia Earth Village. One weekend, I really needed a break from construction labor in Guina'ang, and Maui was looking for help facilitating a natural materials building workshop and project there in Sagada. The project happened to be for the Head Guide of Sagada - Egbert.

For more than 20 years Egbert has guided people around the mountains and through the caves of Sagada area. His family is very special and resonate with the love that Egbert and his wife share, but the last few years had depleted them. They have a special daughter, Edleweiss. Egbert says Epilepsy, but I'm certain it was Cerebral Palsy. Atrophied legs, drooling, and distorted hand and face muscles were all there, but they couldn't hide the deep love radiating from this precious girl.

Inside Egbert's first attempt at a mudhouse

Egbert's first mudhouse

He tried to make a mud house on his own but despite its inspired design, it broke pretty every commonsense rule in mudhouse building. Needless to say, the house had problems from its conception. People in the community had laughed at Egbert for the mere idea of a house made of mud. But Maui was excited by Egbert's initiative and amazing family, so he decided to help. He spent 2 months finding and preparing the materials and the space, and I arrived for the big construction weekend. 

Mudhousing!

Ten people or so came to learn and help, mostly from Besao up the road. Together, we got a lot done on the new space, which would serve as a sort of cafe beneath a wood-and-metal guesthouse with 3 rooms. Two months of time with any light worker is bound to turn your world upside-down. Maui had fomented some powerful healing in this already remarkable family. I was there for 5 days.

Clay soaking

Transformation

My wall painting - the symbol in the middle is a prolific Igorot symbol of fertility

In those five days, Egbert took us mushroom foraging and showed off his two-month-old vegetarian cooking skills. His food was really good! No magic meats, powders, or sauces like the rest of Filipino food, just produce and salt, and heaps of rice to go with it of course. In those five days, Egbert's teen-aged son finished transforming the negative energy he was harboring and was making the most amazing arts and crafts out of all sorts of materials. In those five days, even I did some art, completing my first wall painting since my 3-year-old, crayon-on-wallpaper masterpieces. In those five days, Maui facilitated Inner Dance for Egbert, and Sarah and I facilitated the rest of the family in a truly transformative session, healers and healed included. The mother just needed someone to translate the love flowing from Edleweiss since it wasn't expressed in words or gestures. That girl is a star, the family orbit her, and the community orbits the family in turn. The messages communicated in that session for everyone were indescribably profound.

Where we stayed with Egbert

Every moment with Egbert, his family, and my friends was pure magic for me. Sarah and I were able to recharge somewhat from labor and Russell-related difficulties with the library project, and transformation found its way to Sagada at the perfect time.

Bus-tire steps down to the new mud-space

Igorots of Mountain Province
Part of Sarah's Mandala Earth project the was collection and sharing of stories and wisdom with Indigenous communities. Elders are the carriers of this wisdom, although this wisdom comes more from universe energy and nature than from people. You can find some of her work here: http://mandalaearthstory.weebly.com/.

Mud mixture test

I was lucky enough to tag along on a few of her story-gathering escapades, but usually I couldn't understand what was being said. One story I remember was of the dap-ay. The dap-ay is a circle of stone chairs where elders sit to discuss important decisions for the community. When an elder dies, a stone chair takes their place. Stories of the mountains, of the rising of the Philippines from the water, of many things were told. In my time with Sarah and the elders of Mountain Province, I gathered so many lessons that I carry in my spirit, but so little of it could be told in words.

Failing at the nose flute

The Igorot are one of only three living cultures that carry the tradition of nose flutes. I'm a flautist myself, but I totally fail at the nose flute. I was told that my nostrils are too big. The flute is played by putting the flute parallel to the ground and covering one nostril. Then air from the open nostril blows across the hole at the tip to make sound. It's a unique sound. The air from the nostril is untainted by words, emotions, or lies, and it is filtered by the nose hairs. The air is purer than from the mouth, so the sound is purer. The diuwata, or nature spirits appreciate the purer sound and are more attracted to the nose flute than the traditional bamboo flute. Sarah's friend who showed us all of this not only made her flute but wove the sheath for it. There is an amazing mastery of weaving in the mountains, and hers was no less stunning.

Light workers like Maui and Sarah are constantly healing themselves and others. Egbert's mother was a healer. Egbert would tell us how he would help her walk along the treacherous paths through the mountains for days visiting villages. People would call on her from far, far away, even from the lowlands. She was a master of herbs, and spoke to Mother Earth and spirit guides through indigenous tradition. She could do amazing things, and people recognized her gift. Egbert himself is a more passive healer. He speaks to his guests with the language of nature and connectedness. He helps people remember in the course of a 3-hour hike what's important in life and what's not. His daughter, Edleweiss heals with pure and powerful love.

Sarah photographing beautiful moths on the ceiling

Wind Power

Moths on the ceiling

An interesting side story... My first hours in Sagada were spent sitting in on a cafe meeting of concerned and highly capable locals to discuss a wind farm project that was slipping beneath public awareness in Sagada and Mountain Province. The project would put ten huge wind-powered electrical generators. It was truly unbelievable how anyone could conceive of this project and consciously say it's a good idea. Cutting off the tops of ten mountains, clearing huge swaths of forest just for the highways to transport the large parts to the mountaintops, altering of the local climate because the windmills would obstruct that much air flow, the dangers of erosion, the pollution of almost every source of water in the entire province, and offering almost no financial or other support for the land owners or the villages below are not the way to impress a community with your green project. Tons of money would be made selling premium electricity to Manila, only to increase electricity prices for locals, who would receive a one-time construction compensation of about 1 peso per person (2.5 cents). The four locals who were present at this meeting approached the situation with objective, calculating approaches that addressed every conceivable angle and in the end would leave no possible loophole to allow the project into their community. Theirs was a practiced skill of rejecting colonial and cultural domination. I was very impressed.

Sagada was beautiful, cool, and transformational. It's a perfect travel experience, but it's only one piece of the transformation process. Stay tuned for an autobiographical chronicling of my personal shifts leading up to Mountain Province and launching forward into the whirlpool of transformation that found me here in the Philippines.