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blog

FULL MOON IN LIBRA - April 6-12

A standout idea, a winning proposal, a surprising decision: These are some of the things that will characterize your magnificent work week. There are no challenges where there is determination and will — of which you now have a lot. Wednesday and Thursday are the most interesting days to create memorable situations. When it comes to feelings, an external problem or responsibility will slow your rise. Be patient.

TEMPO: vivace in tripudio


It can't be said that this week will begin calmly. Monday and Tuesday will see a peak of irritability: Something or someone is obstructing your path. In work, for example, this could mean that there is a score to settle or an uncomfortable rivalry. In love it could be the presence of a family member who creates discomfort in projects with your partner, or the presence of an ex. Important decisions should be left until the weekend when there will be an improvement.

TEMPO: adagio nervoso


On Saturday, Venus will enter your sign. Charm and the desire for love will increase. Lonely hearts will sail in fresh waters; however for many it is not the time for commitment. Concentration is on work, but if you want my advice, given this time of crisis, I would make sure to get a good understanding first. This is a week that favors you, especially on Thursday, which marks the beginning of new work collaborations, as well as the end of poor relationships with partners or suppliers.

TEMPO: moderato con brio


An important week for work is coming. Around Monday and Tuesday there will be an interesting planetary situation that pushes a confirmation or good opportunity to reopen professional scenarios. Despite this period's expenditure, an influx of money will be facilitated. New love is protected by the stars, as are stable couples: By the summer you may decide to get married. Free yourself from the ballasts and set sail!

TEMPO: allegretto poco a poco


Again this week, especially around Monday and Tuesday, Mars and Venus are in a stressful aspect that create a climate of intolerance. Relationships formed recently don't convince you yet: There is interest to be together, but the other person's work, or some other external factor more generally, might annoy you. Couples fail to agree on anything — watch out if you have been in crisis for a while, because you might move on to brazen solutions. Even at work, caution should be exercised.

TEMPO: larghetto agitato


The planetary game puts pressure on financial issues and work. It's possible to reach a crucial crossroads in a family-economic controversy, or get first responses — albeit lukewarm — for a project. In both cases, a positive resolution is on the horizon. In love, the favorable winds of Mars and Venus continue, even if from Saturday on a little spat could call a connection into question.

TEMPO: vivace rallentando


By now you have learnt how to be a totem. The scales that find their middle between two weights are a distant memory, but, those who love you will follow you. This is as true in business as it is in love. Lonely hearts will find sparks with new encounters from Saturday on, while couples solve small disturbances that have plagued them recently.

TEMPO: allegretto marcato


An atmosphere of unrest and instability is still in the air. Many of your thoughts still with your partner, especially if you have been in a critical relationship for some time. Stable couples shouldn't worry, but still must cope with a lot of recent, unexpected expenses. Surely the tensions at work don't help — a boss hindering your career, delays in negotiations or in a recognition that never seems to come, etc. Keep looking ahead.

TEMPO: lento affaticato


This is a wonderful sky for lonely hearts. Around Wednesday there is a chance to get involved in fascinating plots with intriguing knowledge. Those who have recently experienced bitter disappointment don't want to commit now. To shoulder this, starting Saturday, Venus will be in opposition — teasing the minds of even long-term couples. An additional force, a professional confirmation is coming mid-week.

TEMPO: allegro indipendente


The focus this week remains on work. You feel that there is no time to lose and right now you can get something more. In this sense, the most interesting days will be Tuesday and Friday. Those who want to make a revolutionary change to their lives, such as a new job or transfer, will be favored. Love has the colors of passion, novelty and important decisions. But don't rule out — for those who truly want it — the return of old flames.

TEMPO: vivace appassionato


On Saturday, Venus returns favorably — but for the rest of the week there is a bit of swell when it comes to affections. Monday and Tuesday are especially to be noted as irritable days. I invite stable couples to be patient and be forward-looking in their projects: This too shall pass. Unlike the mood for those in crisis who will have to try to understand their partner or will come to loggerheads. Work needs a total overhaul, both in management and planning, as does relations with colleagues or partners.

TEMPO: adagietto ballerino


Good news, a job opportunity may already be arriving early this week! You are looking to change your life, more or less radically. So it is important right now to activate yourself and propose, without resting on your laurels. Love is less exciting, and around Wednesday the first signs of discontent in couples will be visible. To lend a hand, Venus steps in from Saturday: There will be moments of tensions and a potential 360° shift. Lonely hearts are dozing.

TEMPO: marcia rivoluzionaria

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Society

How Brazil's Evangelical Surge Threatens Survival Of Native Afro-Brazilian Faith

Followers of the Afro-Brazilian Umbanda religion in four traditional communities in the country’s northeast are resisting pressure to convert to evangelical Christianity.

image of Abel José, an Umbanda priest

Abel José, an Umbanda priest

Agencia Publica
Géssica Amorim

Among a host of images of saints and Afro-Brazilian divinities known as orixás, Abel José, 42, an Umbanda priest, lights some candles, picks up his protective beads and adjusts the straw hat that sits atop his head. He is preparing to treat four people from neighboring villages who have come to his house in search of spiritual help and treatment for health ailments.

The meeting takes place discreetly, in a small room that has been built in the back of the garage of his house. Abel lives in the quilombo of Sítio Bredos, home to 135 families. The community, located in the municipality of Betânia of Brazil’s northeastern state of Pernambuco, is one of the municipality’s four remaining communities that have been certified as quilombos, the word used to refer to communities formed in the colonial era by enslaved Africans and/or their descendents.

In these villages there are almost no residents who still follow traditional Afro-Brazilian religions. Abel, Seu Joaquim Firmo and Dona Maura Maria da Silva are the sole remaining followers of Umbanda in the communities in which they live. A wave of evangelical missionary activity has taken hold of Betânia’s quilombos ever since the first evangelical church belonging to the Assembleia de Deus group was built in the quilombo of Bredos around 20 years ago. Since then, other evangelical, pentecostal, and neo-pentecostal churches and congregations have established themselves in the area. Today there are now nine temples spread among the four communities, home to roughly 900 families.

The temples belong to the Assembleia de Deus, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and the World Church of God's Power, the latter of which has over 6,000 temples spread across Brazil and was founded by the apostle and televangelist Valdemiro Santiago, who became infamous during the pandemic for trying to sell beans that he had blessed as a Covid-19 cure. Assembleia de Deus alone, who are the largest pentecostal denomination in the world, have built five churches in Betânia’s quilombos.


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