Jean Pierre and Christine

We have lived in California for many years where we owned a Creative Arts and Healing Center in the mountains of Big Sur.

Our first encounter with the mystical world was in Guatemala when we went on a Human Rights Mission, accompanying a Mayan man back to his mountain village.  There we participated in an ancient Mayan ceremony honoring Mother Earth and all her elements with traditional music and chants. All the Mayan deities were called in for healing of the people and the planet.  The Mayan Calendar was being read.

In the year 2000 we let go of our material possessions and drove south with our VW Bus. The journey took us through Baja & Mainland Mexico, Belize , Guatemala , Honduras , Nicaragua , El Salvador to Costa Rica , visiting secrete sites, ruins, temples, caves, shamans and healers along the way.
One year later we traveled by bus through South America, crossing the Andes, visiting the desert of Northern Chile, danced the Tango in Argentina, explored the hot-springs of Uruguay on the way to Brasil

There we were called to visit the famous medium and healer Joao de Deus (John of God) in Abadiania just outside Brasilia . We were deeply touched by the experience and witnessed many miracle healing. We both received healing of body, mind and spirit along with thousands of visitors from all over the world. Check web-site:friendsofthecasa.com

We spent eight months in Abadiania, being part the support group of the Casa de Dom Ignacio de Loyola. Our transformation was a pivotal part of our desire to create a healing environment of our own in Brasil and invite others to share to bounty of our experience.

During the third leg of our journey we traveled to the southern part of Brasil, Rio Grande do Sul, an area where a new Healing Center of Joao de Deus was being built.

There we were told by a local medium about a beautiful piece of property, 10 acres in size that was currently operating as an herbal pharmacy and needed a new owner.

Within two hours we were at the property and decided to purchase the place. It had everything we dreamed of and more.  The waterfalls, mountains and tropical climate, as well as a variety of buildings for living and creating, including an outdoor art studio and bread oven. The land is home to bees, butterflies, flowers, and vegetable gardens.

We were inspired to call our new place “Sanctuario das Borboletas," Sanctuary of the Butterflies, since there are many varieties of these beautiful insects gliding in the warm jungle foliage amongst us.
Traditionally the butterfly represents transformation which has been a metaphor for a journey and hence the name of this web site "Paranati" a Sanskrit word meaning transformation. This has been our deep experience on the path that brought us to Sanctuario das Borboletas.