The Universe Spoke – I Listened

I’m Antonio and I want to share my story with you about becoming a Hair Shaman and my adventures of Hair Mastery for the past 75 years of Mystery & Magic. Together we will share our journey on the Road Less Traveled experiencing Freedom from the Known to the Challenge of Change. In my 1st story we start with my memory of around 3 or 4 years old, having my 1st FLOW Experience and calling in the Law of Attraction along with the Power of Intention. The Law of Attraction clearly shows us at a very young age what we are Truly Desiring; it’s a TIMELESS element that allows us to flow and Follow Our Bliss. Clearly at 3 years of age one does not truly understand what the words CHI, PRANA or LIFE FORCE are and it was not until my early 20’s that I came in contact with the SECRET of the Law of Attraction, which started spelling out those meanings in an adult dimension.
 The Challenge of Change:

I can recall the first time my soul awakened. I was maybe three or four years old. Certainly, long before going to kindergarten. On that day, I somehow walked out of my 3rd floor apartment and I went down the street and across the road—I don’t know how I got there all by myself—to a field very far from my house (well, at least far from a three- or four-year-old perspective). In the middle of this field was a raised mound, covered with grass, violets, lilies-of the-valley, grasshoppers, and praying mantises crawling or hopping all around. I walked up the mound and sat down right in the middle of it. Then the Universe revealed itself to me through the microcosm of this little mound of Earth and through the megacosm in a timeless FLOW STATE thus experiencing the Universal Energies in a timeless state of BEING ONE with the Universe. As time stood still, CHI Energies instilled in me that All Life is ONE and Everything that Lives is HOLY. Plants, Animals, and Humanity all must Live in Harmony Consciously.

It would be years before I found the language to describe exactly what I’d experienced. Even then, I was discovering that “chi,” the vital life force of our universe according to Chinese tradition, the energy that comes down to us from the mysteries of the universe, does not initially touch the body, it touches the hair. Although I didn’t know then that there are five types of hair on the body, the idea occurred to me that grass and bushes were the hair of nature. I could see their chi in colored auras of the grass, in shades of green pulsating vibrant and alive, bushes with their brilliant greens shooting five to ten feet beyond their branches and flowers vibrating with colors I’d never seen nor imagined before. Violets particularly captivated me with their intense shades of undulating purple and emerald green.

I witnessed the life force exuding out of each praying mantis and grasshopper. It was like an otherworldly experience. Whatever was happening with all this energy, I was beginning to formulate my earliest understanding that the CHI Energies were first touching the plants’ leaves, insects, and flowers transforming into radiant colors, entering the branches and trunks, flowing down into roots and the earth and finally getting grounded.

When I went home that day, and for some time afterwards, when I was with my parents, I would say things like: “Look at the color! Look at the energy coming out of you.” And they would answer: “Stop that Antonio! You’re just dreaming. You must stop. It’s very naughty to say those things because people don’t want to hear them. It’s not real, your only dream telling you these things.”

So, then I shut down and went inward and created a world where I could live with these Chi Energies thus creating an inner world that would grow and blossom. I later came in contact with these forces again but by then I would be getting confirmation from Masters and Teachers on how to formulate these Chi Energies into healthy, healing living energies to heal oneself and everything around oneself echoing the great phrase “Physician, Heal Thyself. Physician, Heal Thyself”. That would become my Mantra again and again as each shocking experience revealed itself as I met REMARKABLE men and women who would grow my awareness, both inner and outter, thus creating The Third World.

Now I wish to share this with you as we journey together into the Mystery and Magic of the Hair Shaman through fairy tales and biblical stories, dialoguing together to ponder and unravel these mysteries for healing oneself naturally through nature and natural energies, free for all to partake in them.

When my first Spiritual Master, George I Gurdjieff, was asked the question: “Mr. Gurdjieff, you are so enlightened that you can see the past and the future, tell me why I am here and what am I supposed to be doing in order to earn a living or to make a difference. What is my purpose?”

Mr. Gurdjieff would reply with mind boggling answers like: “We all have an Inner Talent and our purpose is to find out what that is and to use it to our advantage. Our Inner talent is not something that we like or dislike it is simply what we do best, whether we like it or not. Simply do what you do best and you will always be successful and be of service to humanity.”

We all have an inner talent, a gift that we bring with us upon being born here in this lifetime, a memory from our past stored in our DNA. A very individual and a very valuable vehicle which allows us to be of service to others. This is something that comes to us like a second nature, something that is easily done, with great enthusiasm like art, music, a trade, or a craft. Some do business well, while others succeed with art, and others are great at fixing things and working with their hands. By using our inner talent, one is free to grow into their true Nature, growing into what makes us all want to live life and experience our lives to the fullest.

Me at 4 years old with his brother Virgil at 5 years old

For me, hair was my first awakening when I was just three years old. I discovered the timeless Universe showing me this world and all its mystery and magic. At that time, I had my first experience with time standing still, seeing and experiencing different energies, like seeing higher states of awareness. It was the leaves, the grasses, and the branches that intrigued me, I then realized they were ethereal energies and not physical. This led me to look at hair as the 5th element, Ether, where chi enters the body through our hair, which acts as our antenna to the Universal Energies.

A few years later, my brother, Raymond, who was eleven years older than me, went on to become a barber. When I was about eight, I started going down to his barber shop. I would sweep the floor, clean up and just listen to the guys—his customers—talking. And I’d say, “You know, I could grow your hair back for you.” and I meant it. And these guys, who were cool and driving around in their Chevys, would pat me on the head and say, “Okay, little boy, you have some imagination. My bald head just needs a rug.” My brother told me not to say that again, that it wasn’t true and he didn’t want me telling stories. So, once again, I was silenced and felt even more repressed.

At that time, did I understand that my inner talent was hair? Not at all. I just had these experiences that kept me growing into my newfound inner world of energies which no one around me seemed to notice nor wanted any part of. That was until my venetian maternal grandmother, Lena, introduced me to her world of mystery and magic.

Like a Venetian – Life in my Toddler and Younger Days:

Life as a Venetian, now enter: Lena, my maternal grandmother & Spiritual Goddess

My first memories without Catholic Shame and Blame:

We were raised in my paternal grandparent’s home with Angelina, my Grandmother, and Virgilio, my Grandfather, who were from Naples, Italy. They lived together on the second floor. My aunt and uncle also lived there but on the first floor. My Mom, Anita, my Dad, Carmino, my Brother, Virgil, and me, Antonio, lived in the third-floor, which was an attic.

My whole family on my father’s side was Roman Catholic with all the shame and blame that came with the 1940s, during and after WWII. But my maternal family lived 42 miles away in Torrington, Connecticut on 2 separate ½ acre lots, one lot had a four-story house and the other lot was the Green Thumb gardens of Lena, my Grandmother, and her Father, Angelo Zucco, my Great-Grandfather who had immigrated from Venice, Italy.

Grandma Lena was not a practicing Catholic, she was a free soul and part of the Theosophical movement, which was started by Madame Blavatsky in the early 1900s. This Theosophical movement was very progressive for women at the time, allowing them to take on a bigger role in spiritual leadership, treating them as equals to men.

Lena had all the good examples for me to see, smell, taste, hear, and feel, but most importantly, she taught me the 6th sense, universal intelligence, freedom from the known. Lena would have seances, candles, and incense burning everywhere. She would reach out to the other dimensions through meditation and always questioning the unknown. In her other world was Polly the parrot, Chi Chi the monkey, and the most beautiful rose gardens in all of town, whereas in Lena’s inner world was mystery, magic, and she always was searching for the universal Intelligence with her 6^th sense.

My Great-Grandfather, Angelo Zucco, was born in 1863 in Venice, Italy and was part of an Alpini Battalion in WWI. The Alpini were elite Italian soldiers who fought on skis in the mountains to protect Italy’s northern borders with France and Austria. He was a decorated soldier in WWI and was honored by having the main street of Fonzaso, Italy, our small village outside of Venice, named after him, VIA A. ZUCCO.

Angelo was a master gardener and carpenter. He moved to USA in 1929 with his daughter, Lena, and landed in Torrington, Connecticut where there was rich soil and plenty of land to grow food. There was also an abundance of work available. That’s why the Europeans came over in droves in search of work, food, and the chance to feed and house their families as they were coming from the destruction of the European War. At that time, there was no welfare, nor free handouts, everyone came to the Promised Land wanting to work and to be of service to their community.

Angelo would say things like, “See these hands,” while holding out his hands for us to see and say “if they were metal, one would have to replace them 100 times, like a tool; but Goddess Earth rebuilds our hands daily along with all the mystery and magic of mother nature.”

Both my Great-Grandfather, Angelo, and my Grandmother, Lena, had two green thumbs and whatever they touched flourished and grew in abundance. Angelo could take one tree and graft branches onto it from another tree. He grew one with apples, pears, apricots, and plums and these fruits would grow on this one tree. Even in those days, folks would come marvel from miles away at seeing such farming techniques.

I have very fond memories of their secret garden. It had a frog pond with water lilies, a garden with roses and different flowers, and a vegetable garden, too. The romaine lettuce that they grew would be a standard for our meals with hand-made vinegar, oil, and Celtic sea salt. This is still my favorite salad today, always reminding me of the taste of my childhood and my Venetian ancestors.

Lena was very sophisticated. She always was well coifed and well-dressed, wearing jewelry and make up even when working in the garden, painting the house, or tending to the chickens and rabbits. She always wore rouge on her cheeks, had beautiful blue eyes, blonde hair, and cameo white skin. Lena was a true Venetian beauty who married Johnny. They had a son named Aldo and a daughter named Anita, my Mom. Her husband, Johnny, worked in a factory and after 3 years of marriage decided not to return home from work one day, leaving my Grandmother to fend for herself and raise her two children alone.

After her Father, Angelo, died, Lena took the lead raising her children along with her rabbits, chickens, and gardens feeding anyone and everyone who was in need. She turned her four-story home into apartments, living on the first floor with her family and renting out the second and third floors, and the fourth which had been turned into four apartments. Lena, like many other self-reliant Europeans, worked hard and smart, living a life of self-respect for all to follow. She worked long hours, 7 days a week with great relish for simply being alive in the free country of America.

My Venetian family showed me examples of how to be in many ways. They gave me lessons at a very early age on how to grow and become an individual. A lesson that we will hear more on in the adventures of becoming The Hair Shaman.