quarta-feira, 30 de novembro de 2016

Onde

Pedro Cuiça © Colegiata de Alquezar (Aragão - Espanha, 31/10/2016)

Frei Betto cunhou uma expressão de grande verdade: «A cabeça pensa a partir de onde os pés pisam». Efectivamente, se alguém pisa sempre em palácios e em sumptuosas catedrais, acaba a pensar segundo a lógica dos palácios e das catedrais. 
[BOFF, 2014: 60]


Pedro Cuiça © Colegiata de Alquezar (Aragão - Espanha, 31/10/2016)


Referência bibliográfica
BOFF, Leonardo. Francisco de Assis e Francisco de Roma – Uma Nova Primavera na Igreja. Lisboa: Pergaminho, 2014. ISBN 978-989-627-219-9

terça-feira, 29 de novembro de 2016

...desORIENTação

Devastadora também para o psiquismo desorientado do «homem da rua», desarticulado e acossado por frustrações e «fantasmas» que os meios de comunicação de massas excitam e agravam e que a arte das «vanguardas» vem juncar com os estilhaços de uma cultura dinamitada, com os lixos e os restos heteróclitos de uma civilização do in-significante.
[FREITAS, 2006: 333]

Pedro Cuiça © Rosa dos Ventos (Funchal - Madeira, 2011)

Referência bibliográfica
FREITAS, Lima de. Porto do Graal – A riqueza ocultada da tradição mítico-espiritual portuguesa. Lisboa: Ésquilo, 2006, pp. 352. ISBN 972-8605-72-2

segunda-feira, 28 de novembro de 2016

Woodcraft

Pedro Cuiça © Grupo 48 AEP (Damaia, 2013)

Na sequência dos posts que publicámos anteriormente sobre The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift e John Hargrave, o seu fundador, deixamos aqui algumas referências histórico-bibliográficas acerca da evolução do woodcraft e, nesse contexto, um vídeo sobre a Woodcraft Folk, que ainda se encontra hoje no activo, com vista a contextualizar esse fenómeno que, actualmente, será remotamente associado àquilo que se considera esco(u)tismo.

Um famoso clássico sobre vida ao ar livre e técnicas de campo trata-se de Woodcraft and Camping (1884), um livro escrito por George Washington Sears (1821-1890), mais conhecido como "Nessmuk". Trata-se de uma obra que, apesar de ter mais de um século, se revela bastante actual e mostra o quanto Nessmuk estava "à frente"... A designação "Nessmuk" é bastante conhecida pelas características facas assim denominadas, mas o mesmo não acontece com os escritos do autor que deu a conhecer esse nome. Para além do referido livro, Nessmuk também escreveu diversos artigos para a revista Forest and Stream.


The American Boy’s Handybook of Camp-lore and Woodcraft (1920) trata-se de mais um clássico, desta feita de Dan Beard (1850-1941). Daniel Carter "Uncle Dan" Beard foi um ilustrador e escritor, fundador dos Sons of Daniel Boone (1905) que viriam a integrar os Boy Scouts of América (1910). Outro clássico de Dan Beard é Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties (1914).


Mais um clássico: The Book of Woodcraft and Indian Lore (1913), de Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946). Este escocês, naturalizado norte-americano, foi um notável escritor e artista dedicado à temática da vida selvagem. Foi também o inspirador do movimento escotista na Inglaterra e, posteriormente, do Kibbo Kift. Outra importante obra de Thompson Seton é Boy Scouts of America (1910). Um livro no qual esse profícuo escritor, com mais de meia centena de obras publicadas sobre “artes do campo”, cria os fundamentos do escotismo na América do Norte. Saliente-se que Baden-Powell foi coautor.


O escotismo surge, em 1907, como uma forma de woodcraft, pioneira na descoberta/exploração da natureza por parte de crianças e jovens num contexto de actividades de ar livre. O movimento, fundado por Baden-Powell (1857-1941), implantou-se com base no conhecidíssimo Scouting for Boys (1908), publicado em Portugal inicialmente sob o título de Manual do Escoteiro (1915) e posteriormente com o título Escutismo para Rapazes. Não deixa de ser curioso comparar o original com as traduções portuguesas



A Flor...



«Strong Legs, Good Health»

«Ao entendermos “religião” na sua acepção etimológica de ligação (do latim religāre: ligar a, unir a, atar) o que nos ocorre é o acto de andar como actividade privilegiada de (re)ligação à sacralidade da natureza ou à própria divindade. É nessa acepção, aliás, que o caminhar visto como uma espécie de “ioga ambulatório” dá sentido a essa curiosa expressão, tendo em conta também a etimologia da palavra “ioga” (do sânscrito योग: unir ou juntar, entre outros significados).»* Mas uma abordagem profana surge com igual validade como forma de atingir uma (re)ligação simultaneamente ao meio envolvente e ao si, afinal ao (macro e micro) cosmos, se esta constituir uma manifestação plena da «ciência do concreto»** que tão somente exige elevados níveis de atenção e a plena vivência dos sentidos. É neste contexto, sagrado e/ou profano, que a caminhada Chi Kung (Chi Kung Walking) surge como um modo privilegiado de (re)ligação ao todo, com notórios e notáveis benefícios para a saúde e bem-estar dos praticantes.
«Many people read, talk, or watch TV while exercising to make the time go by faster. However, to get the most healing benefits from walking, Traditional Chinese Medicine teaches us that the mind should be focused, thus walking becomes a Qi Gong exercise known as walking meditation. Walking meditation is a simple yet profound healing experience; no distractions, just awareness. It’s not about talking or socializing or thinking while you’re walking; your mind is peacefully presente and relaxed.»***

*Pedro Cuiça: Passo a Passo – Manual de Caminhada e Trekking; Lisboa: A Esfera dos Livros, 2015, p.31.
**Cf. A feliz expressão utilizada por Mircea Eliade na sua obra La Pensée Sauvage(Paris: Plon, 1962)
*** Lisa B. O’Shea – New Health Digest, June 2004; disponível em:

domingo, 27 de novembro de 2016

Faz hoje

Faz hoje um ano no "Facebocas"!...


PASSEAR
Há quem leve o cão a passear mas, no meu caso, fui eu que me levei hoje a passear pela multifacetada e cosmopolita Lisboa. Deve ter sido porque me estava a sentir algo engaiolado, como um animal doméstico (mais precisamente aquilo a que os anglo-saxónicos chamam "pet")! Agora, depois de uns bons quilómetros de caminhada, estou pleno de mundo e de fantástica luz invernal... apesar do jardim que me surpreendeu em Al-fama se encontrar à sombra.

PC
(Lisboa, 27 de Novembro de 2015)

Pedro Cuiça © Alfama (Lisboa, 27/ Nov. 2015)


MENIR

Salve, falo sagrado,
Erecto na planura
Ajoelhada!
Quente e alada
Tesura
De granito,
Que, da terra emprenhada,
Emprenhas o infinito!

Miguel Torga
(Outeiro, Monsaraz, 31 de Maio de 1986
in "Diário XIV", Coimbra, 1995, p. 1461)

OBOD © Menir do Outeiro (Monsaraz - Alentejo)

The Camp...

The Glacier Camp

Pedro Cuiça © Messner Mountain Museum Firmian (Tirol do Sul, 14/ Out. 2016)

Midnight on the Chogo Lungma La. Moonlight. The steady sweep of the icy blizzards of the north cuts through canvas and eiderdown and fur. Roland Rex, peering out for a moment from his tiny tent upon the stupendous beauty of the snows, almost wonders that the stars can stand before the blast. Yet, dimly and afar, a speck of life stirs on those illimitable wastes. How minute is a man in such solitudes! Yet how much man means to man! No avalanche, not the very upheaval of the deep-rooted mountains, could have held his attention so close as did that dot upon the wilderness of snow.
So far it was, so heavy the weight of the wind, so steep and slippery the slopes, that dawn had broken ere the speck resolved itself into a man. Tall and rugged, his black hair woven into a web over his eyes to protect them from the Pain of the Snows, as the natives call the fearful fulminating snow blindness of the giant peaks, his feet wrapped round and round with strips of leather and cloth, he approached the little camp.

Patient and imperturbable are these men who face the majesty of the great mountains: experience has taught them it is useless to be angry with the snowstorm. A blizzard may persist for a week; to conquer it one must be ready to persist for many weeks. 
[CROWLEY, 2015: 285]



Bibliographic reference
CROWLEY, Aleister. Ercildoune in The Drug & Other Stories. London: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 2015, pp. 652. ISBN 978-1-84022-734-5

sábado, 26 de novembro de 2016

Magus

Members of Ndembo Lodge (c. 1923), from left: John Hargrave (White Fox), Leonard Pember (Silver Fox), Aubrey Colebrook (Tiger Moth), J. E. Williams (Running Panther) (seated) and Cecil Mumford (Little Lone Wolf) (ROSS & BENNET, 2015: 32)

By this time he had distanced himself from the ‘wan spirituality’ of his largely female Theosophist supporters: ‘I know that I have only to let out a little pseudo-Swami-yogi-Rishi-Pranayana Wanamanaism to fetch both people and money… but this sort of Kagmag would push us right off the trail’, he wrote in August 1923 to A. C. Garrad, a Kinsman who took Eastern esoterica very seriously and must have felt rather taken aback by the comment. As a virile leader, Hargrave was drawn towards ‘magic’ rather than ‘spirituality’ – a perfect example of Alex Owens’ insight than in turn-of-the-century England ‘magic and mysticism were in effect subtly gendercoded, with magic – “intellectual, aggressive and scientific” – assuming a masculine status’: mysticism, by contrast, was ‘associated with emotionalism, a sense of rapture, which did not accord with the intellect-driven will to know characterizing the magical endeavour’. Later in life Hargrave was even more critical of Theosophy’s perceived wishy-washyness. He recalled the Dutch youth leader Baron von Pallandt as having “the vague aura of post-war theosophiscal seeking… thought-form wisps floating in a mystical blue haze’. Emmeline Pethick-Lawrence was one of many later dismissed as ‘drenched in hesitancy, mistaken for reflective wisdom’. Rudolf Steiner was not only weak but completely dead: ‘I heard Dr. Rudolf Steiner speak in London in German’, Hargrave recalled. ‘I understood not a word but I knew the man. Afterwards I shook hands with him. Then I knew I was right – a “dead” man. A bright, white intellectual light shining through a corpse: the light illuminating nothing except the busy complicated intellectual mechanism of this living dead man. Just a little uncanny because he has killed himself long before he died.’
What then was the nature of the occult magic that Hargrave professed, in preference to wishy-washy Theosophy? The presiding flavor was Rosicrucian Hermetic knowledge, a kind of robust magic that depend on a select band od ‘adepts’, a chosen few who were party to secret esoteric knowledge and who maintained bonds of brotherhood through initiation ceremonies and ritual, passing their magical powers down through time in secret runes and diagrams*. Embedded in this world-view was the notion of two levels of knowledge: esoteric knowledge – only available to those who had demonstrated their fitness to handle it; and exoteric knowledge, which was translated into a form able to be absorbed by the unilluminated masses. The exoteric/esoteric split was fundamental to much of Hargrave’s later politics, and although as a general principle it might seem to betray his own belief in self-education, it partly reflected his view that some people just could not cope with the disturbance to their psyche that some knowledge would cause. Esoteric knowledge was only to be circulated amongst those who could ‘eat good and evil without indigestion’, or who could ‘stand the abyss’, phrases he used when discussing a candidate for initiation into one of the Kindred’s male lodges.
The second thing Hargrave drew from the occult was a profound sense of mission, above and beyond his immediate task of helping the English nation after the catastrophe of the First World War. His work was now part of ‘the Great Game’, the battle between good and evil that had been tumbling down through the centuries and which had played out through many manifestations of art, science and philosophy across many civilisations. (…) He saw himself as one of the illuminated ones, a spirit chief whose reach stretched far beyond the tribe, and whose facility with reading symbols went far beyond woodcraft. Occultism inflated Hargrave’s tendency to take himself very seriously indeed.
The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift was to be the practical realization of all these esoteric beliefs, but they came together initially in a small group of men that Hargrave formed in 1919 and that he named the ‘Ndembo Lodge’. The name ‘Ndembo’ had appeared in The Great War Brings It Home as an example of a tribal council from Western Congo. In 1919 was more or less exactly that, a tribal council – albeit operating from Chesham Bois in Buckinghamshire and overseeing a tribe made up from Baden Powell’s Boy Scouts. Hargrave had drawn around him a group of like-minded Scoutmasters, all party to the woodcraft plots being hatched by White Fox and Seeonee Wolf. (…)
By 1922 the group had assumed a more religious look and feel. ‘Camps’ had become ‘conclaves’, attendees wore monk-like ‘vestments’ made from sackcloth (…).
[ROSS & BENNETT, 2015: 30-31]

Kibbo Kift hike formation (c.1928)


NOTE
*Hargrave's comments about the practical magic of images and objects are particularly interesting in relation to the naming of the Kibbo Kift's symbolic visual insignia, later in the 1920s, as 'sigils'. In particular the word was used for the circular devices designed by Hargrave to be embroidered onto ceremonial costumes. (...) The sigil is claimed by occultists to have a long history but it was popularised – if not invented – as a practice of spell-making through design in the writings of London artist Austin Osman Spare (1886-1956). Spare had received his creative training at the Royal College of Art and his occult knowledge from Crowley. Although there is no evidence in Kibbo Kift papers that Spare and Hargrave ever met, they could certainly have crossed paths in the tight social circles of London's interwar occult networks. Spare's theory of sigil magic, first published in his Book of Pleasure in 1913, certainly corresponds with Hargrave’s use of the visual as a form of magical persuasion. [POLLEN, 2015: 156]




Bibliographic references
POLLEN, Annebella. The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift: Intellectual Barbarians. London: Donlon Books, 2015, pp. 222. ISBN 978-0-9576095-1-8
ROSS, Cathy & BENNETT, Olivier. Designing Utopia – John Hargrave and the Kibbo Kift. London: Museum of London, 2015, pp. 182. ISBN 978-1-78130-040-4


sexta-feira, 25 de novembro de 2016

Addio monti

Si stava vivendo in un periodo strano, balordo e innaturale. Gli uomini nel tempo libero non volevano più faticare, né camminare, né fare sport, né il mínimo sforzo fisico. Per questo motivo erano sorti impianti di risalita dappertutto. Non per servire gli ormai rarissimi sciatori ma, soprattutto, per far salire i non camminatori. Che appunto, erano la maggioranza dell’umanità. E così gli se faceva prender quota sui cavi, com seggiole e cabine, per recarsi tra le nuvole a mangiare e bere.
[CORONA, 2016: 76]

Pintura: Thomas Suske © "Edmund" (Hillary) (2009); Fotografia: Pedro Cuiça © Messner Mountain Museum Firmian (Tirol do Sul, 14/ Out. 2016)

Referência bibliográfica

CORONA, Mauro. La Via del Sole. Milano: Mondadori, 2016, pp. 168. ISBN 978-88-04-66930-2

Pico

Pedro Cuiça © Ilha do Pico (Açores, Jan. 2016)

Subida ao Pico, em Fevereiro de 2017, numa actividade Green Trekker...

Pedro Cuiça © Ilha do Pico (Açores, Mar. 2016)

quinta-feira, 24 de novembro de 2016

Longo Curso

O Centro de Formação da Federação de Campismo e Montanhismo de Portugal (FCMP) vai realizar, no dia 6 de Dezembro, a segunda edição da palestra sobre Percursos Pedestres de Longo Curso – estratégias de progressão rápida e (ultra)leve. Esta trata-se de uma acção de formação contínua, reconhecida pelo Instituto Português do Desporto e Juventude (IPDJ), para a revalidação do Titulo Profissional de Treinador de Desporto – Pedestrianismo Graus I, II e III. Para mais informações, consulte o site da FCMP.



---------

Rúben Jordão © Palestra (Lisboa, 6/12/2016)

Cammino

Pedro Cuiça © International Mountain Summit - Brixen (Tirol do Sul, 15/ Out. 2016)

Forse anche sarò vecchio continuerò a essere un viandante. Forse perche il ritmo intimo del cammino risuona dentro di me dall’infanzia. Potrei rinunciare ad arrampicare, ma non potrei mai rinunciare a camminare. Come se dentro di me fosse nascosto lo spirito errante del nómade. Come un’abitudine imprescindible. Non cerco più nuovi orizzonti, ma trovo sempre il tempo e un pretexto per lasciare il mio nido. Taglio la corda! Quel che importa non è la lunghezza del viaggio, ma la possibilità di trovarei l mio posto in un luogo. Quel che mie forze mi consentono di fare mi serve di esperienza. (…)
Tuttavia camminando, il mondo ci appare misterioso, più grande, mai banale. La crescente fidúcia nelle proprie forze, nella propiá resistenza e abilità che ci stimola da giovani quando intraprendiamo un viaggio, col tempo si reduce come la nostra naturale velocità. Ma viaggiare e pensare rimangono una sola cosa. Il corpo e la mente diventano un tutt’uno. Oggi devo camminare per poter pensare.
[MESSNER, 2014: 64-65]

Pedro Cuiça © Brixen (Tirol do Sul, 12/ Out. 2016)

Referência Bibliográfica
MESSNER, Reinhold. La Vita Secondo Me. Milano: Corbaccio, 2014, pp. 334. ISBN 978-88-6380-837-7

quarta-feira, 23 de novembro de 2016

Lisbon Walks

Anda... mexe-te!

Pedro Cuiça © Escadinhas de São Cristovão (20/ Jul. 2016)

Pedro Cuiça © R. Dona Estefânia (2015)

Pedro Cuiça © Terreiro do Paço (7/ Nov. 2016)

Pedro Cuiça © Alcântara Mar (19/ Jun. 2016)

Pedro Cuiça © Ermida de S. Jerónimo - Restelo (5/ Out. 2016)

Pedro Cuiça © S. Vicente (19/ Jul. 2016)

Pedro Cuiça © Graça (18/ Jul. 2016)

Pedro Cuiça © Saldanha (20/ Jul. 2016)

Pedro Cuiça © Alfama (8/ Set. 2016)

Pedro Cuiça © Escadinhas do Duque (30/ Ago. 2016)

domingo, 20 de novembro de 2016

D'a Montanha

O blog Legio Victrix publicou um artigo de Eduardo Martínez Pisón,  intitulado A Montanha Simbólica, sobre uma temática que nos é particularmente cara – o Sentimento da Montanha – e cuja leitura recomendamos vivamente.
Nicholas Roerich © Mount of Five Tresours (1933)

The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift


At the most mystical of all woodcraft groups, Kibbo Kift’s practices – even at the most mudane level – were steeped in magic and ritual. The ceremonial method of organization established new traditions that lent coherence and formality to Kin activities, and provided a structure rooted in common custom rather than military drill or committee method. The Kindred drew on mythology and folklore sourced from geographically and historically diverse cultural and spiritual traditions; as with their design inspirations, these were characteristically adapted into new forms, blended with the latest thinking in art, science and philosophy, and brought to earth in the English landscape. Always original and sometimes secret, Kibbo Kift’s elaborate and poetic rituals were devised to lend a sacred quality to all areas of group life from the making and breaking of camp, to the cooking of meals and the lighting of fires; hikes were reconfigured as pilgrimages and membership induction was recast as initiation. Combined with the newness and strangeness of Kin costume and language, the effect was otherworldly, even religious. Hargrave and many other Kinsfolk sought and found spiritual nourishment in the Kindred. Like all Kibbo Kift’s operation, however, their belief system stood firmly apart from existing structures. A consequence of this rebellion against spiritual convention was that Kibbo Kift earned a reputation as something of a cult; certainly its embrace of no-Christian ritual practices was as controversial in the period as its non-segregated camping practices, its skimpy exercise costumes and its plainspoken ideas about sex education. Many ceremonial practices were concealed behind the public face of the Kindred for this reason, and further rites were only shared among selected, closed lodges within the larger membership. In more open-minded times, and with access to previously inaccessible documents, Kibbo Kift’s littleknow and little-understood myth, magic and mysticism can be repositioned as fundamentally important aspect of the organization.
[POLLE, 2015: 143]



Bibliographic reference
POLLEN, Annebella. The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift: Intellectual Barbarians. London: Donlon Books, 2015, pp. 222. ISBN 978-0-9576095-1-8



sábado, 19 de novembro de 2016

Access to Nature

O grupo de trabalho de Acesso à Natureza da ERA – European Ramblers Association apresentou na última Assembleia-Geral dessa federação europeia de pedestrianismo, que se realizou em Hässleholm (Suécia), no dia 10 de Setembro, o documento conclusivo das reuniões de trabalho que foram realizadas em Portugal (2015) e na Alemanha (2016). Aqui fica, em primeira mão, a resolução que foi aprovada por unanimidade e que irá ser disponibilizada “oportunamente” no site da ERA.


Open up Europe’s Natural Environment!

Free access to the open countryside for all citizens is a fundamental aim of the European Ramblers’ Association (ERA). Therefore ERA promotes a Europe wide free and easy access to nature, further investment in the development of marked paths and the integration of walkers’ interests in planning and legal regulations.

The outdoor experiences of walkers are affected by several factors such as: -the protection of the natural and cultural heritage -the rights of private and public landowners -the interests of other users Negative developments are disturbance by motorized activity, short-sighted planning, access fees and other unjustified limitations to access.

Experiencing the outdoor environment and the cultural landscape induces a greater awareness of nature and a better attitude towards environmental protection.

Walking in the open countryside is a simple, natural and climate friendly way of discovering nature and the cultural heritage of Europe. Therefore access to the countryside for walkers requires special attention and support.

Paths are essential parts of the infrastructure for easy access to nature and form the basis for walking in Europe. The economic effects resulting from this form of activity are substantial in rural development. Moreover, attractive paths have the effect of canalizing visitors to a sustainable use of the natural environment.

The avoidance of conflicts and negative effects requires integrated planning processes for outdoor infrastructure. Early coordination between landowners, outdoor-associations, forestry, conservation organizations and others mitigates such conflicts.

Free access to the natural environment is a benefit which demands proper and responsible behaviour in the natural environment. The ERA acknowledges the interests of landowners and stands for a respectful treatment of nature and Europe’s cultural heritage.

Walking in Europe contributes to the greater understanding between the nations and nourishes European integration. Through direct contact with people from other cultures, prejudices can be mitigated and mutual respect encouraged.

In accordance with the aims and goals of the ERA, as stated in its constitution, the members meeting in Hässleholm/Sweden in September 2016 puts forward the following:

1.      Access to nature must in principle be free of charge so that everyone can experience Europe’s natural environment and its cultural heritage.

2.      Only transparent justifiable limitations of this right of access can be recognized and accepted.

3.      In planning and legal regulations in European countries, the interests of walkers must be taken into account and the regional and national organizations which are part of the ERA network must be involved.

4.      The contribution to sustainable development through walking must be recognized and supported through investment in the creation, maintenance and development of marked paths and care for the open countryside.

Pedro Cuiça © Preikestolen (Noruega, 2012)

The European Ramblers’ Association (ERA) was founded in 1969, comprises 58 ramblers’ organizations from 32 European states. ERA members represent more than hundred years of experience in organizing and creating conditions to facilitate walking (path marking, access, construction of huts, viewing towers, campsites etc.). These organisations have a total of over 3 million individual members.