Chapter 181
Let me tell you a story…
Christmas Day, Chiang Mai, Thailand: I walked around a corner to my first sight of a stranger, without context. My head was suddenly full of questions and fascination. From this first moment I wanted to know more, to find out who this man was, what he was… and the more I discovered, the more I found to discover. I fell deep into the pool of life with Fantuzzi.
We’ve traveled together across continents, to festivals, gatherings, events, memories, faces and friends. I’ve met many of the characters that populate his stories, each one has a bucket-load of Fantuzzi stories to share.
To capture Fantuzzi’s life on paper, share the meaning of his journey through the power of the written word, that is the challenge. Across the past five decades and five continents, from the original Woodstock to the west coast festival scene of the 2000s, from the harsh streets of 1950s New York to the blossoming of his sanctuary dream in Hawaii, Fantuzzi has made music, made friends, expanded his family and above all, stayed true to his spirit. He is uncompromising, unashamedly loving, sharing, caring and humble, outrageously joyously celebrating life… he continues his journey, living on a shoestring, striving to do what he knows he is here on earth to do. He has been called a bodhisattva, a troubadour, a mystic, often less admirable things, but all he is, if you ask the man himself, is Fantuzzi.
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In The Beginning…
a rattlesnake bite, memories, mostly of Mother India
Under the blue sky’s arch and bright Topanga sunshine I first notice your beautiful skin and voluptuous curves. I see a glint of something fascinating in your eyes so I reach out to caress you. I want to draw you to me and kiss your smooth body, talk to you, stroke you. My breath hovers between lips and sky, motionless you hang , beautiful. Whipped back and forth, faster than a gasp of air, your head blurs my vision as you strike; deadly aim, piercing irrevocably deep, pumping poison through blood and skin. You sink your fangs into the base of my thumb and index finger and grin. I reel from your sting.
Rattlesnake, if you would have shook your spine- trembling rattle before I stooped to gather you into my arms, I’d have known what was coming , but you coyly hid your true self until I was utterly under your spell, bending close, stretching out my fingers to touch your diamond-scaled back.
This is how I live, acting as my heart tells me – living without a safety net, embracing whatever comes, my direction steered by the grace of the goddess.
I look at my hand and the feeling is strange. I’m disconnected from my brain. Suddenly I hear the pounding of my blood surging from heart to arms and legs, now I feel and see my skin pulsing with every heartbeat and I know I am surely going to die.
We’ve all seen it in the movies, I know I have to suck out the poison. I look around and pick up a stick, scratching and stabbing at my hand until I bleed. I suck.
No-one in the movies feels the way I do. All that poison that was out there at the end of my arm… now I have sucked it into my body, into my head, so close to my heart. That was a dumb thing to do!
A kaleidoscope explodes in my head and it’s brilliant! I love it, wow! What an awesome experience, this is the coolest thing… except…
a great wave of exhaustion sweeps over me, I can hardly lift my head and I want to lay down and drift away on this wonderful cloud of sensations until a small voice inside reminds me that if I do, I’ll die. The voice whispers to me that I’ve gotta run back up the trail to the house and get help. So I turn and force my legs to move, although my head is swimming. Wow, this trip is great! I feel higher than any time in the ’60s, it’s more profound than any revelation from my teachers, this is a journey deeper, wider, stronger than all my meditations…
Kat Dancer
bodymudra@gmail.com,
+1 415 525 2630 (ph/whatsapp)
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