The Foundation of Light is delighted to have Peter Fortunato presenting a performance on November 8th as part of our Fall Membership and Fundraising Weekend. Peter’s performances are ceremonies of imagination, spontaneous interactions with his audience, and presentations of his poetry. This evening’s theme is “The Journeys We’re On” and it begins with a shamanic ritual to open hearts and minds with drum and words. Expect to be taken places! This event takes place at 7pm on Friday, November 8th in the Great Room. Admission is $10-20 sliding scale, and all proceeds benefit the Foundation of Light's operating fund.
Peter has been associated with the Foundation of Light from its early days, and he currently serves on its Board of Directors. Peter knew and learned from all the founders, has been instrumental in building and maintaining the Stone Circle, and has served in many capacities at the FOL. Founder Mable Beggs was among those who forty years ago recognized him as a shaman and urged him to practice publicly. Peter has been a Buddhist yogi for most of his life, a certified hypnotherapist with a long-time private practice, and also an author, artist and educator. He taught at Cornell University and Ithaca College for many years, and his memoir Desert Wind: My Life in Qatar tells of his four years teaching at Weill Cornell Medicine in Qatar. When asked how he blends his various pursuits he says, “I do the things a shaman does.” Learn more at https://peterfortunato.net
Peter’s books, including his recently published poetry collection, World Headquarters, will be onsale during a reception following this event.
Peter Fortunato volunteered to answer some questions about what he has planned for his benefit performance on November 8, as well as to reminisce a little about his years at the Foundation.
FOL: You’ve said this won’t be a typical reading of your poetry and other literary works. Please explain.
Peter: Over the years I’ve done many kinds of programs that include written texts, and this evening will also include readings. My hope is to engage the audience at a deeper level than they might ordinarily have while listening to an author read from their works. I believe that people come to the Foundation of Light because they wish to be moved spiritually, whether during group mediation, some sort of ritual, a yoga class, dancing together, and so on. On November 8, I will in essence be conducting a ceremony in my role as shaman.
FOL: Over the years you’ve led many rituals at the Stone Circle for the Summer Solstice and at other times, like this past April’s Solar Eclipse. Why are these kinds of events important?
Peter: To be in tune with and celebrate astronomical events is truly in our human DNA. The Stone Circle amplifies earthly and heavenly energies. For this reason, people have built stone circles and
labyrinths around the planet since time out of mind. You might say I’m an old fashioned kind of guy—I believe in the old ways. With the audience that I hope will attend my November 8 program, I hope to build a collective energy that goes beyond the entertainment value of a reading or piece of theater. This is what shamanic performances in traditional societies are intended to do. Mind expansion, healing, inspiration,journeys into non-ordinary realities can be the result.
FOL: Are you going to hypnotize us?
Peter: The short answer is yes! A longer answer is that hypnotic trances take many forms and are largely the product of participants’ willingness to create altered states of consciousness for themselves. But this won’t be the kind of stage hypnosis people have either seen on TV or maybe attended in person at a theater.
FOL: Sounds intriguing. Is it safe?
Peter: I will askaudience/participants to take responsibility for themselves. This is an event for adults. No children, please.
FOL: As a Board member of the Foundation of Light, you frequently recall the early days of the organization. Why? And how do you hope to benefit the Foundation besides raising money for it at your 11/8 program?
Peter: I think of myself as one of the cultural historians of the organization. Anyone who’s been around here like me on and off over the past 51 years, has their take on what has the place has been and what the purposes were that the three founders believed the Foundation could serve. John and Kate and Mabel saw that in our materialistic, consumerist, war-obsessed era it is important to preserve ancient wisdom and practical knowledge for how to keep both our inner lights and our civilization’s outer lights alive. I think of the FOL as a fire circle and I’m one of the people tending its flames, offering various pieces of fuel. That’s what shamans do in traditional cultures, by the way. The very word shaman comes from a Siberian language, where it indicates one who has a fire within and is a see-er.
FOL: How do your books play into this?
Peter: My recently published poetry collection World Headquarters charts many of my physical journeys on the planet, including my time in the southern Sahara Desert when I lived and worked in Qatar. It offers readers the possibility of accompanying me imaginatively. I consider a poem to be a kind of magic spell. My main purpose has never been therapeutic self-expression, although writing with others in mind is also transformative for me. The urge is always to communicate things of universal value. Alchemy and hermeticism have been lifelong interests of mine—some poems in my book Late Morning: New and Selected Poems refer to these traditions. My memoir, Desert Wind: My Life in Qatar, includes my reflections on what I’ve learned from my visits to Egypt as well as what it was like to practice Tibetan Buddhism, a type of alchemical yoga, privately in an Islamic nation.
FOL: Is there anything more you’d like to say about what you intend to do on November 8?
Peter: I’d like people to come together to really feel how much energy we can generate when we can create together. That is a benefit for ourselves, and also for the Foundation of Light, and it’s definitely aligned with our purpose. I’ll have some specific things to share, which are the content of my performance, but my hope is to activate inner change, peace, and happiness for the audience.
