Celebration-Remembering: Andrei's Birthday

Memorial Day, May 30, 2011---The day was sunny at Blue Heron Retreat in Matilija Canyon, and the 20-or-so participants at the gathering “Celebrating-Remembering Andrei Natali” included local Ojai-ans, his friends, friends of the family, as well as immediate family (the event was organized by Francesca Gershwin, Andrei’s eldest sister, with her husband Dmitry Alyakrinsky and five young children, who are currently residing at Blue Heron); also in attendance were parents, Nadia and Enrico Natali.

Relatives from more distant locations sent memories via facebook, sms text, and email to be read at the event. See text of these letters here

See Francesca reading these letters to the crowd in front of Andrei's tree here

Andrei Natali (1984-2005), grew up on the Blue Heron Ranch, more recently known as Blue Heron Retreat, and spent his teenage years alternately studying at Happy Valley School and homeschooling.

He expressed his intimate relationship to the beautiful land at the family’s Blue Heron Ranch constantly; whether it was meditation on a boulder or under a tree, walks, hikes or verbalizing his commitment to the land, Andrei was closely involved with the nature in his surroundings every day.

Some of Andrei’s interests also included painting, design and music. He spent some months in Toronto, Canada, assisting internationally renowned director, Vincenzo Natali---his older brother---at the age of 16, and designed one of the weapons used in the filming of Cypher (2002), a Sci-Fi thriller with Lucy Liu and Jeremy Northam.

Andrei was fascinated by wilderness-survival technique, especially the Tom Brown Scout trainings (based on Native American Apache teachings), a continuation of the Tracker Kin summer sessions he attended as small boy. He studied tracking skills, nature survival skills, and also self-discipline---ideals that included,  “…to live in perfect balance and harmony with creation and follow its laws… self-sufficiency would give him the ultimate freedom to go as long and as far as he needed, without depending on anything but the earth.”  -The Way of the Scout

The May 30^th Gathering began with a barbeque in a field under some mulberry trees. The children played and interacted with the guests, and everybody enjoyed a buffet of burrito fixings, salad, and shish kabob.

As soon as all the guests had arrived and been fed, the group moved down to a small nearby field and formed a half-circle as Dmitry (Andrei’s brother-in-law) described the times he and Andrei had had during the few months preceding Andrei’s passing; he shared, for the first time, the special rock there and the White-Sage bush under which Andrei spent his most private moments, in meditation.

Those who desired to do so, took a moment to sit on the rock and feel the energy of the spot.

Next the group was called to move up, past the main house, to a grove of young oak trees that circle a single rock surrounded by grass.

Francesca Gershwin then spoke a few words on the wonderful experience of having Andrei as her brother, and read from the notes received from friends and family around the world, while photographs of Andrei and some drawings by him were passed hand-to-hand among the seated listeners.

A link to a video of her reading some of these notes can be found here

here is link to a full list of these remembrances and notes from fr...

Dmitry Alyakrinsky retold the story of how he was a witness to Andrei’s tragic drowning, on January 7, 2005, in the rivers of Matilija Canyon during one of the worst storms in local history.

Joanie Chiarodit shared the sweet memories of her children riding horseback with Andrei on the Ranch many years prior. Her son was also a close friend of his as a young adult.

Enrico Natali, father, spoke next of his concerns about Andrei during his lifetime, and the hopes he had had for him.

Francesca and Dmitry presented the plan for a memorial stone or scu...

A draft of this memory stone is still in progress. Marica, Andrei’s older sister, an Artist, has begun work on a painting to be included.

More about this plan can be viewed at www.blueheronretreat.org, and suggestions are welcomed.

The whole group then adjourned for a cake and candle-lighting ceremony as dusk descended.

Video can be viewed at this link

And the last event of the day was the ceremonial lighting of three oil lamps: these symbolize the ever-present light of Andrei’s soul that continues to shine through the dark, even at nightfall, the literal time of Andrei Natali’s tragic passing.

Those guests who stayed till midnight played around the campfire, in true Andrei style.

---Francesca Gershwin, June 01, 2011