The Tao, an ancient form of Eastern wisdom, says, “become like water, take the shape of the vessel that contains you,” be resilient, adapt, and then, at some point, you will realize that the shape that contains the water resembles you.
While living here in the Portland area, I’ve finally had a chance to watch the two full seasons of Polyamory: Married and Dating, the show that brings the spotlight on three polyamorous families and their beautiful, adventurous, explorative, and sometimes challenging lives.
It’s been a real pleasure to watch the show in the company of my housemates, who are also involved in the local sex-positive culture. We’ve had time to compare notes, discuss, and reflect on how the experiences of these models compare to the experiences of each of our lives. What kind of dynamics are likely to occur when one engages in styles of love that are beyond binaries, that are more expansive in the ways they engage with inclusiveness in our amorous lives?
Personally, I’ve enjoyed many aspects of this series, in both seasons. Including the settings in two areas of Southern California where I’ve lived very significant chapters of my life. Riverside, where I did my graduate studies in the 1980s at UCR, while i held the job of teaching basic Italian that one of the Season #1 protagonists also holds (coincidence?!) And San Diego, where in the 1990s I actively participated in the Bisexual Forum founded by two avatars of bisexuality, Fritz Klein and Regina Reinhardt. In my experience, San Diego is a city of community, cafe life, holistic health, and warm jacuzzis where people become soft, mellow and amorous as to almost seem to melt into one another.
I’m not at all surprised that it’s been home to the four people in the quad whose interlocking lives are at the center of the show’s narrative. I also like the sense of expanded tribe that emanates from this narrative, especially in Season # 2, where one can also observe characters evolve and even switch roles at times. It’s amazing how places, locations, and one’s experiences in them, are powerful in shaping the narratives of our lives. And in creating legacies, traditions, seeds that eventually evolve, have a life of their own, and expand. West Hollywood is the setting for the Season # 2 triad, and it’s also well rendered as an ecosystem that really holds the characters. I do realize that any reality show, when well done, is also, to some extent, fictionalized. And yet, I feel very strongly that there is authenticity in the narratives, settings, and characters. I feel that people have really put themselves on the line to be who they are, at least to the extent that that’s possible when one invites a Hollywood camera into one’s private life.
One aspect I’ve really appreciated in the show’s structure is the quick asides that interrupt the narrative sequence to help viewers pry into the inner life of each character. What is this person feeling at this moment? What desire, anxiety, motivation, concern is motivating their action? How is their mind, their heart responding to the reality they are experiencing at this time. These asides are quick enough that one returns easily to the narrative. And they are also poignant enough that they provide, with the insights into the characters, also a beautiful way to get a sense of the philosophical gist of polyamory, of what reflections, principles, and intellectual awareness characterize this lifestyle and the communities where it is practiced. The decision to use asides this way has a long tradition in literature, especially in the English language, where of course it was widely used by the Bard, another voice whose tones resonate strongly with sexual fluidity and amorous inclusiveness alike.
Another aspect I’ve appreciated is the integration of sensual, erotic, and sexual scenes into the overarching narrative. Yes. That’s the way life is, right? “Life” is not divided in “genres” (as in erotica vs fiction), as some entertainment production systems would have us believe. “Life,” real life I mean, is actually one integrated narrative. There our minds, our hearts, our yonis, our lingams, and all the different symbiotic parts that make up our beings speak their truth, and manifest the reality we co-create with others. So, yes, I do appreciate that in this show we are taken into the bedrooms, the jacuzzis, the retreats, the play parties where people who love each other experience amorous existence. And where, from this experience they evolve and transform as partners in their relational lives.
This was exactly one of my goals when told the story of a very significant period in my life, especially my San Diego years, in the 1990s. I wanted the intellectual, the emotional, and the erotic aspects of my experience at that time to be synergized into one narrative. it was a way to offer a story that made sense and was beautiful and empowering to those wishing to be brave enough to read and be inspired. This memoir, Eros, was a Lambda finalist in 2006, when fist published with the subtitle A Journey of Multiple Loves. A new edition is now in the works, in both English and Italian, with the new subtitle, The Wisdom of Love. There I’ve fast forwarded to 2020 to really celebrate more fully the experiences in my life that make it part of the communities where amorous inclusiveness and sexual fluidity are practiced. Yes, love is good for you when practiced as an art, and the more you practice the more you learn about it and can share with others.
And this can happen over the arch of one’s entire life! One thing I wish to see more of when Polyamory or other reality shows of this kind resume, is a wider diversity in the age of the story’s protagonists. What about sexy grandmothers? Perhaps that’s another taboo to break up?
Here I really want to congratulate the brave director and the whole very brave and generous cast for this gift to the world. A gift that empowers people to practice love more expansively and evolve as their ability to generate this energy and channel it also expands. I do wish for a world where these gifts are appreciated and where they do their job of opening up options for others. I feel happy and proud of my part in co-creating this world with my own small contributions. And I wish everyone in the show a beautiful future of many decades where the magic of love manifests in many forms to bring health, happiness, and abundance to their lives.
Thanks Michael McClure, KamalaDevi McClure, Reclaiming Walker O’Rourke, Roxanne DePalma, Rachel Rickards, and many others. May your generosity to the better world we all want and imagine be rewarded. You are wonderful and i love you!
I wrote this post with impetus and it reflects the enthusiasm of the first time that my online research brought me onto information about experimental treatments of a certain credibility. It was a very nice moment. I thought, “well, if I get sick at least I will have a cure to be guinea pig for!” And I felt that I would seek these cures and give my complete availability.
The cures discussed below are for phase 2 and phase 3, that is, fairly advanced cases of diseases attributable to Covid-19.
Now I have also received news of treatments that would be useful in phase 1, that is, with very recent symptoms. Some require prescription medicines, others use a simple combination of food supplements.
I describe these at the end of the post.
I don’t know how effective these treatments are, also because this naturally varies from case to case. I know that in field medicine, in medical practice on territory, among the people who have tried these cure and have healed, these cure register as hope. And hope is good for one’s health and the competence of one’s immune system.
This is why I disseminate this information within the framework of fostering a sense of security that is self-generated and empowering.
Perché questo post.
Questo post l’ho fatto con impeto e riflette l’entusiasmo della prima volta che la mia ricerca online mi ha portato su informazioni a proposito di cure sperimentali di una certa credibilità. È stato un momento molto bello, ho pensato, “beh, se mi ammalo almeno avrò una cura per cui fare da cavia!” E sentivo che l’avrei cercata e avrei dato completa disponibilità.
Le cure di cui si parla qui sono per la fase 2 e quella 3, cioè casi abbastanza avanzati di patologie riconducibili al Covid-19.
Ora mi sono giunte notizie anche di cure che servirebbero per la fase 1, cioè con sintomi molto recenti. Alcune richiedono medicine ricettabili, altre addirittura si servono di una combinazione di integratori alimentari.
Queste le descrivo alla fine del post.
Io non so quanto queste cure siano efficaci, anche perchè questo naturalmente varia di caso in caso. So che la medicina sul campo, la pratica medica territoriale, le persone che le hanno provate e sono guarite, le sentono come speranza. E la speranza fa bene alla salute e attiva la competenza del sistema immunitario.
Per questo diffondo l’informazione nel quadro di un senso di sicurezza che sia autogenerato e appoderante.
The Post
In an epidemic, everything is evidence for something. (Scrolla per l’italiano.) People who catch the disease and heal are evidence that a cure or cures have been found. People who catch it and die are evidence that, as Bill Gates says, a vaccine is the ONLY solution to come. Now i ask: what would you like to be evidence for, love? The answer is up to you. Cures have been found in the eye of the cyclone–some of the best hospitals of Mantua and Milan. I’m happy to translate for you so you can get what they’re about. All you have to do is ask. You decide. With love and all good wishes to you and your loved ones
In un’epidemia, tutto è prova di qualcosa. Le persone che prendono la malattia e guariscono sono la prova che sono state trovate una cura o cure. Le persone che la prendono e muoiono sono la prova che, come dice Bill Gates, un vaccino è l’UNICA soluzione, a venire. Ora chiedo: tu di cosa vorresti essere una prova, amore? La risposta sta a te. Sono state trovate cure nell’occhio del ciclone – alcuni dei migliori ospedali di Mantova e Milano. Tutto quello che devi fare è chiedere. Decidi tu. Con affetto e tutti i migliori auguri a te e alle tue persone care
Curious about cures? You bet. Cures heal from panic and we find again the courage to hope. Here i publish links to the videos about experimental cures with promising results in the ICUs of major hospitals in Mantua and Milan. I created transcripts of the videos audio tracks, then translated them into English from Italian. I trust they will help the English speaking public every where to realize that hopefully Covid-19 will become a CURABLE disease within a reasonable time. That medical experiments in Italy’s Phase 1 can be beneficial to everyone. In that case, an eventual vaccine that would at some later time safely arrive could easily be optional and not mandatory.
Curios* delle cure? Ci credo. Le cure guariscono dal panico e ritroviamo il coraggio di sperare.Qui pubblico link ai video sulle cure sperimentali con risultati promettenti nelle ICU dei principali ospedali di Mantova e Milano.Ho creato le trascrizioni delle tracce audio dei video, quindi le ho tradotte in inglese dall’italiano.Confido che aiuteranno il pubblico di lingua inglese in ogni luogo a rendersi conto che si spera che Covid-19 diventerà una malattia CURABILE entro un tempo ragionevole.Che gli esperimenti medici nella Fase 1 in Italia possano essere utili a tutti.In tal caso, un eventuale vaccino che arrivasse in futuro in sicurezza potrebbe facilmente essere facoltativo e non obbligatorio.
Fingers crossed! And please help me reach out with this information to everyone. “We have the power.” As Janis Joplin would say.
Incrociamo le dita!E per favore aiutatemi a raggiungere tutti e tutte con queste informazioni.“Abbiamo il potere”.Come direbbe Janis Joplin.
Experimental Cures for Phases 2 and 3 – Cure sperimentali per le Fasi 2 e 3
Cure by Dr. Viecca, Primary Cardiologist of the Sacco Hospital in Milan. Embolia of capillaries in the lungs cured with anticoagulants and anti aggregants (Heparin and Aspirin)
Cura del Dott Viecca, Primario di Cardiologia, Ospedale Sacco di Milano. Trombosi dei capillari polmonari curata con anticoagulanti e anti aggreganti (Eparina ed Aspirina).
Cure of Drs. De Donno and Franchini of the Poma Hospital in Mantua. Hyperimmune plasma from bood of healed patientes is injected in patients in the accure phase of respiratory crisis.
Cura dei Dott De Donno e Franchini dell’Ospedale Poma di Mantova. Plasma iperimmune tratto dal sangue dei pazienti guariti iniettato in pazienti in fase di crisi respiratoria acuta.
For English speakers:
Transcript of Dr. Viecca’s video interview in Milan
Healthcare Information
Not pneumonia but a thrombosis underlying many coronavirus deaths. The latest discovery bears the signature of Professor Maurizio Viecca primary cardiologist at the Sacco hospital in Milan, who after facing the virus and studying the evolution of the disease in the most acute phase, has developed a therapy based on antiplatelet agents and anti-inflammatory already renamed Viecca protocol.
Dr. Viecca. “More than a month ago I began to observe that these patients went from the phase known helmet phase, to the intubation phase within an hour and a half, and this is not possible with mere pneumonia, because there is no virus in the world that can cause pneumonia, a virus that suddenly in an hour and a half no longer responds to the helmet and not even to intubation. That is, there is another mechanism in play.
I also started looking at the medical records of these patients and found that in some cases there was a blood test called Lidimer which was particularly high. When this altered blood test is found it means that there is thrombosis in progress. And then I spoke with the Naturopath of Sacco, professor Nebuloni, who told me that she had actually done 30 autopsies to these patients, and in all 30 had practically found small pulmonary capillary embolism.
Now, people normally don’t know that when one has embolism of these small vessels, heparin alone, the anticoagulant alone, does nothing. And we cardiologists discovered this already 20 years ago when we did the first angioplasties during a heart attack, in which the coronary artery was finally open, the thrombus was gone, but the blood did not pass, because evidently this thrombus, breaking into small pieces, ended up closing all the capillaries of the coronary artery.
So I urgently took the same protocol, modified it and adapted it to the situation by establishing some parameters of when to start the therapy, what goal to have, etc., and we made as quickly as possible a protocol, approved by our medical committee, it’s so-called compassionate because it’s one of those protocols in which the state does not pay for the drug. Usually it is given by the pharmaceutical company, I did not want links with any pharmaceutical company, which is why I paid for it with my foundation.
I have had this protocol applied in the pulmonology department and we have applied it to five consecutive patients, young, old, what it was, and all five have had surprising results. It is the first time that something new and effective has been found.”
At the medicinal level, what was it that you introduced again?
Dr. Viecca. “On this mechanism of the platelets that join together, the anticoagulant alone does nothing, it takes this anti-aggregator. Consider that the anti-binding agent by definition is aspirin, which is given to heart patients. We administer a drug that is a hundred times more powerful than aspirin, and then as the drug ends we continue with aspirin and other drugs, so as to maintain what we call this blood fluidity so that platelets no longer join become attached to one another, do not form the famous white thrombus which then closes the capillary.”
So with this can we say that we move towards a victory in the battle against Coronavirus?
Dr. Viecca. “Yes, because with this protocol of mine is not that you go through your pneumonia, you do your pneumonia, but you don’t die. We had all these deaths a) because we didn’t understand the mechanism immediately, b) because there weren’t enough intensive care places. That’s for sure.”
However, the bureaucracy risks slowing down the possibility of treatment for Italian patients, an unacceptable delay according Professor Viecca who invites Minister Speranza to apply an urgent procedure.
Dr. Viecca. “In an emergency situation, solutions are needed, emergency routes, given that hundreds of people still die. So if I were minister of health, I would send inspectors to show him the files, to show him the results, to show him all I need to show him, because it’s not an impression, there are tests that prove this, so I have to send whoever is on duty for this, and at that point if I see that what we support is true, give us highways to make sure that we can apply it immediately everywhere. Instead I tell you that likely this will be applied in Albania sooner, it will probably be applied in Dubai sooner than it is applied in Italy. And we are the ones that have discovered it. Which is insanity.”
Transcript of Drs De Donno and Franchini’s video documentary in Mantua
The Use of Hyperimmune Plasma in Mantua
“Let’s do an ultrasound, okay?”
Covid 19 is a new disease, but day after day, field doctors learn more about it and sharpen their weapons to cure it.
We entered the intensive care unit of the Mantua hospital, at the forefront of the treatment of Coronavirus pneumonia. Here every possible strategy is adopted, such as prone supination–patients on their stomachs can breathe better.
And several experimental, antiviral drugs like Interloquine, Chloroquine, all the way to Heparin, an anticoagulant that has aroused perhaps excessive enthusiasm.
Giuseppe De Donno, Pulmonologist, Carlo Poma Hospital, Mantua. “We have used Heparin in high doses immediately, we have seen that many patients develop pulmonary embolism despite the use of high doses of Heparin. So Heparin is not protective. It is used to prevent part of the pulmonary embolism, but there are some situations in which high doses of Heparin are not sufficient.”
Another hope against Covid is contained here, in this yellow bag. And the plasma, i.e. the liquid part of the blood, comes from people who have recovered from Covid 19.
Massimo Franchini, Hematologist, Carlo Poma Hospital in Mantua. “The recovered patient can make himself available to donate plasma, it is a hyperimmune plasma, that is, rich in specific antibodies directed against Coronavirus.”
Antibodies are the armed troops that the body manufactures to fight the infection. Those who have already won his battle can supply ammunition that those who are still fighting.
Franchini. “The fundamental aspect is the control of neutralizing antibodies. Out of one hundred potential donors, no more than 20 are eligible, with sufficient neutralizing antibodies for plasma donation. ”
The Mantua Hospital, together with San Matteo’s from Pavia, is a pioneer in this experimentation. The collected plasma is purified, and it becomes an actual medicine ready to be infused in Covid patients with acute respiratory failure.
“Good morning!” “Our patient arrived this morning with a picture of acute respiratory stress. Since yesterday he deteriorated significantly. Oxygenation in his blood collapsed. He was therefore transferred to our intensive care and we started what we call non-invasive mechanical ventilation. Here we make the first administration of hyperimmune plasma.”
At the hospital in Mantua, already 22 serious patients have received plasma infusions. All have improved and some have already healed.
De Donno. “Plasma has given us surprising results, the improvements are immediate, and when I say immediate I say within a few hours.
Patients who normally had a hard time weaning from mechanical ventilation, managed to wean from them after infusing the plasma. We were able to extubate patients who were intubated. The average length of hospitalization in our ICU was normally 16 days. Now it has now decreased to 5-6 days. ”
A pregnant woman at the 24th week was also treated while hospitalized in intensive care for Covid.
“How are we going today?”
“Definitely better today.”
“The fever is gone since yesterday.”
“So after the second plasma bag, the fever also disappeared.”
“Immediately.”
“What about the breath?”
“Definitely better.”
“Very well.”
Even the baby in the belly is fine.
She will be called Vittoria.
“I would say that your lung has just normalized.”
Although the evidence is still preliminary, plasma antibodies seem like a powerful drug.
Franchini. “In previous Coronavirus epidemics, plasma from convalescents was used. There are numerous studies that demonstrate its effectiveness. ”
De Donno. “It is the only specific treatment against Coronavirus currently in our possession. And it’s a therapy that’s a pity not to use. But when I say a pity, I mean it’s a mortal sin, not a venial sin. It is a therapy that needs to be implemented, and a therapy with very few complications. We have not observed any side effects. ”
However, there is a limit to this treatment.
Franchini. “The main limiting factor is having the donor who has healed. While here in Lombardy we begin to have a substantial number of patients who have recovered and can donate plasma, in other regions this is not the case. ”
To raise awareness of plasma donation, AVIS came out in the field.
Elisa Turrini, AVIS, Mantua. “AVIS has been fundamental in the campaign in favor of plasma, and it will be so in the coming years, also in promoting donations of this plasma. Precisely for this reason AVIS has sent all our recurrent donors an email to raise their awareness for participating in this project. ”
De Donno. “When a patient writes to you that she has been infused with a miraculous plasma, I think it is the greatest joy that can be felt, I still get goosebumps. When I see a mom saying, “thank you doctor, you will be the godfather of my little girl whom I will name Vittoria,” I think it will be a victory for humankind. I think this is a great satisfaction for those who worked on the protocol and it allows us to have this weapon in store for our patients. We are very willing to help all the centers that want to implement this type of method.”
Recipes for Phase 1 – Ricette per la fase 1
I call these recipes and not prescriptions because that’s what they are. They refer to dietary supplements that have been recommended widely from the very start. I have to say that I’ve used them, in moderate amounts. Just as a way to make sure I’d stir my immune system in the right direction.
Dietary supplements do not require prescriptions. So medical approval is not necessary. However, as simple preventatives, they are designed to supplement a bit more of what one’s personal ecoosystem might need at a given time. It’s always a good idea to use moderation at all times.
The supplements I’ve used include: Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, and Quercetin.
Quercetin has been recommended by my Italian doctor as a natural blood thinner. A useful aspect, since autopsies have found out that many Covid deaths were related to micro-embolia in the pulmonary alveoli, there where the oxygen in the breath transfers to the blood stream.
Recently, I heard that more massive dosages of these supplements have been used to combat very early symptom of Covid disease. I have no firm reference for this, except for a website located in Holland. Check it out! And I do publish it because, like many others, I do not have easy access to a local physician where I am stationed now, and if felt I had symptoms, I would try this. I’d for sure ask these experimental doctors before I’d try:
I know that at least, these supplements would not cause a great deal of harm, even in exaggerate amounts. I hope this information alleviates some anxiety. This recipe, I am told, comes from Africa, the former Netherlands colonies I believe, where a MD is practicing it.
Zinc • 120 mg per day Tablet 15 mg tablets, 2 times a day. May also be zinc gluconate, zinc glycinate, zinc methione or zinc citrate, but not zinc oxide.Zinc sulfate is also allowed, but then the dose is 240 mg per day.
Quercetin • 4000mg per day, 500mg Tablet, 4 tablets, 2 times per day.(replaces hydroxychloroquine when not available) Take i.c.m.zinc and fat (e.g. peanut butter, cheese, sausage).
Vitamin C • 8000mg per day, Tablet 500mg, 2 tablets 8 times per day (every 2 hours). Take i.c.m.Quercetin
Vitamin D • 150µg per day 6000 IU, Tablet 25µg, 3 tablets, 2 times per day.
Selenium • 400µg per day, Tablet 200µg, tablet, 2 times a day.
You who read make wise use of this information.And don’t interpret the alleged curability as a green light to recklessness, especially with other people who may be more vulnerable than you.Experimental treatments do not work automatically!Thank you!
Queste le chiamo ricette alimentari e non prescrizioni mediche perché è quello che sono. Si riferiscono a integratori alimentari che sono stati ampiamente raccomandati sin dall’inizio. Devo dire che io li ho usati, in quantità moderate. Proprio come un modo per assicurarmi di muovere il mio sistema immunitario nella giusta direzione.
Gli integratori alimentari non richiedono prescrizioni. Pertanto non è necessaria l’approvazione medica. Tuttavia, come semplici preventivi, sono progettati per integrare un po’ di più di ciò che potrebbe essere necessario all’ecosistema personale in un determinato momento. È sempre una buona idea usare la moderazione in ogni circostanza.
Gli integratori che ho usato includono: vitamina C, vitamina D, zinco e quercetina.
A me la quercetina è stata raccomandata dal la mia medica italiana come un naturale fluidificante del sangue. Un aspetto utile, poiché le autopsie hanno srivelato che molti decessi Covid erano correlati alla microembolia negli alveoli polmonari, dove l’ossigeno si trasferishe dal respiro si nel flusso sanguigno.
Di recente, ho sentito che dosi più elevate di questi integratori sono state usate per combattere i primi sintomi della malattia Covid. Non ho riferimenti fermi per questo, eccetto per un sito web basato in Olanda. Visitatelo! E lo pubblico perché, come molte altre persone, qui dove mi trovo ora non ho facile accesso a un medico locale, e se sentissi di avere dei sintomi, proverei questo sistema. E sicuramente chiederei a questi medici esperimentali proma di provare.
So che per lo meno questi sintegratori non causerebbero molti danni, anche se presi in quantità esagerate. Spero che questa informazione allevi un po’ di ansia. Questa ricetta, mi è stato detto, proviene dall’Africa, credo nelle ex colonie olandesi, dove la sta praticando un MD.
Zinco • 120 mg al giorno Compresse 15 mg compresse, 2 volte al giorno. Può anche essere gluconato di zinco, glicinato di zinco, metione di zinco o citrato di zinco, ma non ossido di zinco. È anche ammesso il solfato di zinco, ma la dose è di 240 mg al giorno.
Quercetina • 4000 mg al giorno, compressa da 500 mg, 4 compresse, 2 volte al giorno. (sostituisce idrossiclorochina quando non disponibile) Prendi i.c.m. zinco e grasso (ad es. burro di arachidi, formaggio, salsiccia).
Vitamina C • 8000 mg al giorno, compressa da 500 mg, 2 compresse 8 volte al giorno (ogni 2 ore). Prendi i.c.m. La quercetina
Vitamina D • 150 µg al giorno 6000 UI, compressa 25 µg, 3 compresse, 2 volte al giorno.
Selenio • 400µg al giorno, compressa 200µg, compressa, 2 volte al giorno.
Voi che leggete, fate di queste informazioni un uso saggio. E non interpretate la presunta curabilità come un via libera all’imprudenza, soprattutto con le altre persone che potrebbero essere piu vulnerabili di voi. Le cure esperimentali non funzionano in maniera automatica! Grazie!
The “Cure” for Political Barricades – La Cura delle barricate
When US Democrats and Republicans agree about the role that Hydroxycholoquine can have in helping to ease up the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, I believe the country will be on its way to a better presidency and a more collaborative, compassionate, and competent health care system and social fabric.
Hydroxycholoroquine, alongside its coadjuvants, Zinc and Azythromycine, has been used by numerous field doctors compassionate enough, and with a sense of mission strong enough, to visit patients in their home and administer this cure which requires preventative exams–for example, an EKG to make sure one’s heart will hold well enough– and also requires wisdom in dosage and timing.
It’s not a cure one would want to do without medical supervision. And, when conscientiously supervised, it is known to have saved lives, even of elderly patients in communities where responsible at-home care was practiced. My data comes from Italy, and my community of Damanhur. My doctor there asked me to do an Electrocardiogram if I felt this would be a cure I’d like to try if I became symptomatic.
Awareness of this cure has caused a lot of trouble in the US and world wide. Because confusing information about it has been spread from high quarters, which has lead people to use it irresponsibly. This I choose to interpret as a symptom of a much wider disease: the disease of ignorance and irresponsible speech found in those in power as well as in large segments of the public.
There is no reason why a medicine, that can be used off-label like many others, should be bashed or criminalized just because a powerful country ended up with a president whose public speaking skills are so below standard!
It’s kind of funny that if your are known as part of the Democratic camp and you mention this drugs, your friends will bash you. And if you’re a Republican you use it as an excuse to bash those who wear masks.
It will take a combination of practicing cures and making them accessible, and of using prudence while danger still looms around, to get the Covid numbers to go down and make sure people no longer die from it.
I do hope that political forces realize this is not the time for barricades–but rather for collaboration and deep listening to each other.
I hope this article brings hope to people who seek it, and that it brings courage to those ready to be in action about re-inventing happiness and health in Covid times.
Quando i democratici e i repubblicani statunitensi concorderanno sul ruolo che l’idrossicololochina può avere nel contribuire a facilitare il corso della pandemia del Covid-19, credo che il paese sarà sulla buona strada per una presidenza migliore e un più collaborativo, compassionevole e competente sistema sanitario e tessuto sociale.
L’idrossicolorochina, insieme ai suoi coadiuvanti, lo zinco e l’azitromicina, è stata utilizzata da numerosi medici e mediche sul campo, quell* abbastanza compassionevoli e con un senso della propria missione forte abbastanza da visitare i e le pazienti nelle loro case e da amministrare questa cura che richiede esami preventivi–ad esempio un elettrocardiogramma per assicurasi che il cuore regga abbastanza–e che richiede saggezza nei tempi e nel dosaggio.
Non è una cura che si possa fare senza supervisione medica. E, sotto una supervisione coscienziosa, è nota per aver salvato la vita, anche di pazienti anzian*, nelle comunità in cui si è praticata l’assistenza domiciliare in modo responsabile. I miei dati provengono dall’Italia e dalla mia comunità di Damanhur. La mia medica mi ha chiesto di fare un elettrocardiogramma se pensavo che sarebbe stata una cura che avrei voluto provare se diventassi sintomatica.
La consapevolezza di questa cura ha causato molti problemi negli Stati Uniti e nel mondo. Perché le informazioni confuse al riguardo sono state diffuse in alti quartieri, il che ha portato le persone a usarle in modo irresponsabile. Ho scelto di interpretare questo come un sintomo di una malattia molto più ampia: la malattia dell’ignoranza e del modo di parlare irresponsabile assai diffusa fra coloro che sono al potere e in ampi segmenti del pubblico.
Non vi è alcun motivo per cui una medicina, che può essere utilizzata off-label come molte altre, debb essere attaccata o criminalizzata solo perché un paese potente è finito in mano ad un presidente le cui capacità di parlare in pubblico sono così al di sotto dello standard!
È un assai divertente notare che se sei conosciuta come parte del campo Democratico e menzioni questa medicina, le tue amicizie ti daranno addosso. E se sei invece di schieramento repubblicano usi questa medicina come scusa per dare addosso a chi indossa la maschera!
Ci vorrà una combinazione di cure pratiche e di renderle accessibili, e di uso della prudenza mentre il pericolo incombe ancora, per far scendere i numeri Covid e assicurarsi che le persone non muoiano più per sua causa.
Spero che le forze politiche si rendano conto che questo non è il momento delle barricate, ma piuttosto della collaborazione e dell’ascolto profondo reciproco.
Spero che questo articolo porti speranza alle persone che la cercano e che porti coraggio a coloro che sono pronti e pronte ad agire per reinventare la felicità e la salute nei tempi di Covid.
Can we answer any questions? Please do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to serving you in your journey of #EcosexualLove. Enjoy!
Ci sono domande a cui possiamo rispondere? Non esitate a contattarci. Ci rallegriamo di potervi servire nel vostro percorso verso l’#AmoreEcosessuale. Godetevelo!
aka Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio, PhD
Erstwhile Professor of Humanities and Cinema at UPRM Convenor of Practices of Ecosexuality: A Symposium
The Resilience of Love: A Crisis with Symbiotic Opportunities
An online project-journey
Introductory Video/Article by
Dr. SerenaGaia, aka Serena Anderlini
Greetings, welcome everyone.
This video/article is for people interested in invoking the Resilience of Love while in this unprecedented perspective that we are experiencing.
This video/article includes:
An introduction with an invitation to be part of this initiative.
A narrative sharing my own emotions and perspectives.
A message of peace, as a way envision opportunities in this crisis.
An invitation to participate in the evolving program and project The Resilience of Love.
When we consider the voice of Gaia, we can interpret this crisis as a message from the sovereign hostess of all forms of life, a message that comes to us humans in the form of a virus. This message now calls for more balance in the symbiosis between planet and world.
For those who don’t know me well, I am Dr. SerenaGaia, aka Serena Anderlini, and I will say that the alarm of the Covid-19 crisis caught me in a period when I was gradually relocating in Italy, and in particular in the beloved community of Damanhur, after about 30 years of research and professional life in academia, and in the areas of the arts of loving and healing, while I lived in various regions of the USA. That includes California, where I discovered Tantra, open relationships and holistic health, and Puerto Rico where I discovered my relationship with the sea, with hurricanes, with forces of nature, and with Gaia theory, from a supreme scientist of symbiosis, Dr. Lynn Margulis.
From my Puerto Rican home in Punta Arenas I observed the patience of nature for 20 years, and noticed that recently that patience has disappeared. From that time back in the 1990s when we missed the opportunity to handle climate change more responsibly with the Kyoto Protocol, nature, I’ve observed, has exerted abundant resilience while waiting for us to decide that we were going to change the course of our voyage on his earth, to correct our route. That resilience has now come to an end. “What does not happen in 30 years can happen in one day,” as they say.
When I became aware that something truly extraordinary was happening, I was visiting New York, en route between Puerto Rico, and Oregon, where two of my expanded families are located.
I experienced all kinds of responses: agitation, avoidance, conflict.
Then I started listening to, and reading a very wide range of sources.
I was reactive, in an emotional state that included anger, fear, pain. Pain for my first matria, Italy, for many loved ones forced to the hardships of lockdown, for many a form of imprisonment, especially when living in small city apartments.
Then I evolved admiration, appreciation, gratitude for the wisdom with which people of goodwill in Italy understood, helped each other, came together, achieved results in flattening the curve, and in many cases even managed to find the pleasant side, with synchronic singing from balconies across the courtyards, with a newfound calm, kindness, simplicity, solitude.
From afar, I came to admire this somewhat magical, somewhat ingenious country, capable of great improvisations, whose people, together, listened and managed to respond.
I made peace with the thing.
When did that happen for me?
Two sources in particular impressed me.
I listened to Prof Telmo Pievani, at the University of Padua, where he teaches science of evolution. In a video, he humbly explains that, as long as the Earth had many primeval forests where herds of free mammals assemble, viruses would happily and un-conspicuously stay there.
Then they decided to make a species leap, they mutated, and came for a visit where free mammals do gather today, that is in metropolitan areas, where we humans are found, we who, until recently, were free.
“The Anthropocene,” I thought. This international exhibition in Bologna is designed to help the public understand why in geology studies today the thesis that the Holocene has ended is gaining support. The Holocene is the era that began with the last Ice Age, about 12000 years ago. Another era has started, an era when the balance of life on our sovereign hostess the Earth, also known as Gaia, is so dominated by our human presence and its effects, that we humans have become a force more powerful than all the other forces combined. Hence, Anthropocene, the era of human beings, as it were.
I put these two messages together and I understood that we are the responsible ones, not everyone to the same extent of course, but certainly each one of us in some way.
I got it. “This time,” I said, “there is no ‘bad guy,’ there is no ‘plan,’ there is no government to bash, there is no conspiracy.”
Or, at least, if there were any, it would be beside the point.
This gave me peace, and I found the courage to face the situation.
I asked myself, how can my practice of eco-sexual love, my experience, my wisdom be useful in this context?
This is the motivation for my initiative, the Resilience of Love. If this is a crisis of imbalance in life’s symbiosis, what opportunities are present for us to change that imbalance into a new balance of mutual support?
My practices, research, knowledge, and acquired wisdoms have served me well. I want to make them available to others.
Here is how I see it right now:
There is the world, what we have created, what can be described as the manifestations of the Anthropocene. And, lo and behold, this world today has come to an almost complete standstill due to a virus. Oh wonder of wonders!
What is a virus?
It’s a very ancient form of “non-life,” it has no body, and biologists assure us that its existence is absolutely necessary for the symbiosis of the various forms of life that accompany us in our journey here in the world.
There is this world, and let’s say that it’s a bit sad today, with people who suffer, worry, get sick, die.
And then there is the planet, that is, there is life, there is nature, which at this moment is quite happy.
There are trees, which as we know now can message each other through their branches and roots. In the Amazon, which is the only primeval forest that still exists, the message has made the rounds among trees, “they are no longer cutting us. Yay!”
Hares have been photographed in the deserted parks of Milan.
Often when we talk about hares, our mind goes directly to the taste of an excellent stew, or spezzatino. Hares hide from us, they are afraid. And instead this time they took courage, “the park is empty here in Milan,” they said, “why not go there for a walk?”
Dolphins reappeared in the lagoon around Venice.
The skies, finally clean, are full of pure air.
And so on.
So what is this Gaia who sent us the virus trying to tell us?
In holistic health, we often interpret symptoms as messages.
For example, I get the flu and I have to stay in bed. Maybe a few days earlier I felt tired and didn’t pay attention to my body’s gentle message. So now the body has to raise its voice, I get fever, and I have to take a break.
Or, I have a stomachache, I haven’t digested well. The body speaks, again. It could be suggesting, “why don’t you fast for a day, that way you give your digestive system a break, and then I can function better for you.”
So this Covid-19 per se, together with the Covid-19 alarm that’s been generated, could be just a symptom from the live body of Gaia, which we may interpret as a message. A loud message. A message that scours the planet from end to end. Not a more subdued message that only impacts some areas, as in super hurricanes, earthquakes in non-seismic areas, and other similar effects.
“I’ve had a lot of patience with you, dear humans,” Gaia could be saying, “keeping my metabolism stable as much and as long as possible so that I can continue to host you all as I did before.”
“That was my resilience of love for you. Now I’ve come to an endpoint. I can’t take it any longer.”
“It is up to you now to practice the resilience of love that I have practiced waiting for you to decide and change your course.”
That’s what Gaia could be saying.
I hear life calling upon non-life to save itself from us.
How did we let that happen?
Can we be more considerate of how we treat our partners?
Do we need a virus to behave as if our world depended on the health of this planet?
From Gaia’s scream, a new awareness can evolve and guide us as we reinvent the world to align with the happiness of the entire planet.
It’s up to us now to change the shape of our presence in the symbiotic system of life that hosts us, from what looks like a powerful tree overseeing the forest when just a single blow can cut it off, to that of a rhizome that’s more resilient because it grows horizontally, it expands sideways where it finds space to weave out its similar collaborative elements.
This is a lesson I get from the philosopher, Gilles Deleuze.
And this, behold, this is what I’d like to call the Resilience of Love.
“Good.” You might say. “And how can we practice it?”
The challenge is now finding ways to help ourselves navigate the crisis while together we also make an effort to change our route well enough for the Anthropocene to continue and be a beautiful time to be alive in.
We don’t have many of the answers of course. All these responses will have to come from the flow of events that evolves.
What can we do together at this time in the digital rooms where we can meet safely while staying in place?
A lot! We can transform the crisis into an opportunity for each one of us to:
Get to better know and love the ecosystem called “thyself.”
Get everyone to create and support a positive energy field in and around themselves.
In these ways, each person can contribute to their physical, emotional and energetic health, and to that of the people, families, tribes, communities, countries they love.
Let’s listen to Gaia and appreciate her message. The Resilience of Love lies in that active listening. The shared vision is co-creating the more symbiotic life that Gaia is requesting, a vision that can generate a new healthy and happy balance between the planet and the world. You can make a difference, and that difference can be key to your happiness and health.
We have weekly online appointments on Thursdays at 9-11 pm Central European Time (12 noon PST, 3 pm EST)
A screen will appear at the end of this video with all necessary information to join the Facebook event.
To access the link to the Zoom room, go to the Facebook event where it will be posted a little while before start up time.
Each appointment will be unique, and together we will work a progression toward deeper understanding and connectedness. The series will hold a combination of practices in the arts of healing and loving. It will expand our awareness of the symbiotic existence each one of us is part of, and its alchemies. These arts will apply to oneself, to one’s loved ones, and to all co-existing forms of life, ecosystems, and communities of beings that one is symbiotically related to.
Each meeting will invite active participation in various forms, including active listening, sharing in large and small groups, breathing, physical activity, movement, inner work, and a wide range of interactive and/or solo practices that will be proposed week by week as wishes manifest and momentum evolves.
A store of videos will gradually be created and made available in a dedicated YouTube playlist, inviting participants to practice, consider joining, and catch up on their own.
We envision co-creating a wide-ranging energy field of trust, support, and sharing.
Space is limited, self-proposing guests are welcome, opportunities to assist and collaborate are abundant. We recommend getting started as soon as possible, being present to as many weekly appointments as possible, and being open to going more deeply as a group moves along.
I send you a warm greeting until next Thursday, and I hope with this to have offered you something useful.
Please feel free to post your questions. We will address them to the extent that we can.
Thank you!
References include:
Video by Prof Telmo Pievani from the University of Padua
Anthropocene exhibition in Bologna
Science of Gaia and symbiosis of Prof Lynn Margulis
Rhizome theory of the philosopher Gilles Deleuze
Gaia and the New Politics of Love by Serena Anderlini
# # # # #
For more information and scheduling contact Dr. SerenaGaia asfo
serena.anderlini@gmail.com, + 39 3294779406 (whatsapp), Serena Anderlini of Puerto Rico, on Facebook and Messenger. Thank you!
aka Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio, PhD
Erstwhile Professor of Humanities and Cinema at UPRM
Convenor of Practices of Ecosexuality: A Symposium
Even as American citizen, a few years ago SerenaGaia decided to try and recreate a base in our beautiful country. I recently visited her in Vidracco, in the Turin area, where she now lives. It’s the seat of Damanhur, a controversial eco village where she has been a guest, even though she’s not an integral part of the spiritual philosophical community called “the people of Damanhur.” An English couple was visiting, with their children, the underground temples that were built here. They invited us to a non-religious circle of celebrations and songs at their home. We entered their cozy bedroom, in the attic of a finely restored cottage they were renting through AirBnB. The floor is decorated with cushions, candles, inspirational books, and musical instruments. We are joined by few other friends. In the sacred circle that is created we all sing, pray, celebrate, and open our hearts and minds, as we connect to the cosmos. People pronounce words such as underground, nature, breath, a flapping of wings. When my turn to speak comes I feel quite high, full of love. I hear myself talk about how sensual it can be to walk and wander through hills and tree-lined ridges. While the shade becomes cooler and cooler, and a suave stream flows that gives life to sweet melodies. The image is that of soft open thighs where to penetrate to meet one’s pleasure.
I decide to share one of my experiences; a vision; a feeling. One day I almost cut half the tip of my finger. Without medications or bandages, I allowed nature to take its course. I was in the Canary Islands, in the middle of a rocky cove where overlapping geological layers were visible. I was amazed to notice how those piling up layers were incredibly similar to those I observed on the healing skin on my finger. For a moment I imagined myself being a tiny, invisible bacterium in my finger’s hollow. What appeared to me as immutable rock was only an insignificant moment in the course of a thousand grandiose mutations that the earth has lived in the past and will still live in the future. Perhaps that bacterium saw my finger and thought it had always been like that, just as I had forgotten that those rocks I saw were only a snapshot of a land that also changed, but with another rhythm. It grew and cracked, it collapsed, erupted, and became submerged, before humans even put a dent to it.
Who knows, perhaps even bacteria in our bowels wake up and wonder what life choices to make. Aren’t we simple bacteria in a plant’s reproductive system? Basically we are simply called to eat their juicy fruits so as to defecate their seeds at great distances. Eat, defecate, breathe, reproduce. Simple bacteria: this is how we look from the eyes of the organisms that host us. Probably one day a comet brought the first water to earth where bacteria used to live. The comet impregnated the earth with these seeds. Bacteria, the real aliens that speak to us from the stars in our guts, are nothing more than the oldest inhabitants of this planet. And they love us.
Perhaps with other visions, Eco-sexuality too speaks about this. It speaks of an ecological relationship with our own body, of sex-toys made from recyclable materials, of nature as an erogenous space where to make love, of dialogue and sharing in dual relationships, in threesomes, and in orgiastic situations. And SerenaGaia empowers those who decide to undertake a journey that leads to the awakening of one’s consciousness through the liberation of one’s body, in union with the planet and the cosmos. A real activist of sexual liberation.
She is involved in the organization of national events by the Italian Tantra family. She has recently returned from the Angsbacka Tantra Festival, 2019, which was held in Sweden. (Tantra, an ancient mystery discipline, is about opening one’s chakras in connection with another.) She participates in and holds Cuddle Parties, which got to Italy many years ago, at least in major cities. They empower people to open up to each other, based on rules that help one feel at ease. She participates in the ISTA, International School of Temple Arts. This organization “facilitates sexual healing and a healthy attitude towards sex” through mystery and shamanic rites that place men and women in a spiritual relationship with their own bodies. She attends swingers events, and other places where one can practice free sexual expression and naturism. She does love herself, her own body and is not the very least ashamed of it.
When we meet, which happens more and more frequently since this friendship was born, we continue to chat amiably as we did that first evening in Bagniaia. By now however, after having faced together our own fears and doubts about it, it can also happen that our chatter takes place while holding hands or huddled against each other, sometimes lying down on a meadow. When conditions allow it, or we are alone in private, we also spend time naked, which we love. We cuddle, while our hands caress the beauty of each other’s scars. Our skins and bacteria meet, our hormones and pheromones dance, the oxitocin [OXT] goes up, and, simply, we speak blissfully about ourselves, about Gaia, about the stars and the world to come, which we hope will be ever more open, welcoming and cuddly.
The Ecosex Manifesto bears the signatures of two American activists: the artist Elizabeth Stephens and her partner and wife Annie Sprinkle, a former sex worker and New York porn star. Celebrated in their awareness campaign with several colorful events, the movement basically aims at a radical change in perspectives for the paradigms that see us humans today in our relationship with Planet Earth: we basically consider ourselves its users, or, even worse, its owners. And what if instead of seeing Gaia as an object, we could see her, not just even as our mother, but rather as our lover?
To explain this, SerenaGaia talks about Metamours. Let’s say that I am in love with Michele and that Gina is in love with Michele too; then Gina and I would be metamours: we would love each by interposed person. If we love the same person, perhaps we have something in common, and maybe we could also love each other. But there is more. Gina might be able to give Michele something I can’t give him, and vice versa. If I really love Michele and I want what’s good for him, then I should be glad that Gina can take care of his happiness in areas where I cannot reach. This, if we accept polyamory, would make life more simple and would be good for all of us. Gina, Michele, and I would be united by an energy of love, with respect and attention for the others’ well being, that would bring us all together. And on this basis we could build a healthy and fuitful relationship. Gina and I could finally also get closer to each other, while we both taking care of Michele.
In this perspective then, we are all, to each other, metamours. If we imagine that Earth is our lover, we realize that no one can claim her all for themselves, and we become aware that we all already always share a partner we love and need. All of us human beings, plants, animals, spores: we all are co-lovers, all in love with Gaia herself. Among other things, as the Earth no longer is our mother, we also need to stop taking for granted that she will always reciprocate our love. Actually, like good and careful lovers, we should constantly take care of her, renew our promises and, at every moment, get her to feel the force of our love for her.
From Nature, our new partner, we can even learn a lot about love. The oxygen that leaves emanate goes into my nostrils, then passes to those of an insect, and then may return to the nostrils of my neighbor. The sun warms up everyone, without distinction: beautiful, ugly, agreeable, disagreeable. Trees and plants show their genitals gifting the world with colors, smells and beauty. A cat’s purr can heal one’s body: the cat enjoys, and their enjoyment emanates waves that harmonize our organs. To love, be loved, and to feel pleasure, to take care of oneself and of others, we discover, are not necessarily mutually exclusive things.
Another significant lesson comes, for example, from Bonobos. Based on their matriarchal structure, these primates have made sex a key to their social organization. They use it, with pleasure, and it serves also to heal and resolve conflicts. They practice with multiple partners, of their own gender and of other genders of opposite or same sex; with wide ranging erotic imagination and in a playful way. If we paid more attention to this ring in the chain of being, often considered less evolved, we could perhaps learn some good tricks about how to live in a less convoluted way.
Native Americans typically start their circles and ceremonies by celebrating “all our relationships.” We are connected to the heavens, the stars, the earth, to our ancestors, animals, plants, and all of this while we also give and receive. Mitakuye Oyasin (“everything is connected”) the Lakota Sioux people repeat like a mantra: this is their way of praying and giving thanks. Likewise, we could celebrate “all our lovers,” all our metamours, which in my case include my grandparents, whom I love and know that they love me in return. In the same way, I love plants and hills around me, my cells and my bacteria. These are all connected by a warm energetic wave of mutual love.