UISP It is declared that the I.R.C., Institute of Research of the Conscience, is affiliated to the UISP, Italian Union Sport for All, institution of sport promotion founded in 1948 and recognized by the CONI.

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Sword Animation® Video 


SWORD ANIMATION®  The Sacred in the western martial arts

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It consists in the techniques of increasing the defenses, the attitude to combat and traces the Western traditions of the Latin, Iberian, Anglo-Saxon and Germanic peoples.
This set of techniques and rituals are inspired by a Western initiation tradition, through which, in successive degrees, results are obtained concerning the increase of the will, the lowering of tensions, the fading of fears and obsessive ideas and the regeneration vital energy ‘Bios’, to then rediscover the sacred dialogue, typical of some chivalrous groups of the past, such as the Templars, the Teutonic and others.

The proposed methods help to acquire greater centrality and make oneself mobile and attentive, plastic and dynamic both in postures and in life. They are a sort of missing link that has the right grip on people’s conscience, leading them to the rediscovery of a martial sacredness typical of our Western world.

Their birth is lost in time, if there are traces, if desired, in the study of the psycho-physical preparation of many warrior groups from ancient Egypt to the Roman Empire. So many understood that to be efficient in the outside world they first had to find and defeat their fears. The sword, for us Westerners and not only, is an extension of our body to define spaces and moments to act. To learn more from where Umberto di Grazia left, read the home, the ‘journey of Umberto’.
These techniques are also performed outdoors, on various types of terrain and in places of great natural richness. The breathing techniques, the postures, the decrease of the ‘background noise’ of the predominant thought help to get a better contact with our intuitive abilities that have been dormant for too long.

The Sword Animation® path discipline is characterized by:

• Movements with the Sword, free and pre-established.
• Free and formal fights (Forms).
• Active and passive meditation.
• Breathing methods.
• Taking geometric positions, with and without Sword.
• Contact with Nature and its Energies.
• Symbology of the Sword

The path is divided into different levels of maturity, each one characterized by attributes (animals, colors, stones, zones …) that symbolically represent the type of work to be performed on oneself.


You can see the following videos directly on our Youtube channel

Video 4: Mark Ramunno, pupil of Spada, and Ludovico Camellini in an exhibition during the Matildic Historic Procession 2014 of Quattro Castella (RE).

Symbology of the Sword

The Sword is one of the most meaningful symbols in all cultural traditions and represents the power that exerts its beneficial force, used in purity and nobility of purpose.
In its emblematic representation, in fact, the sword is the sign of virtue and skill, justice, dignity and faith.
Many ancient stories, particularly in the Carolingian period, have as their protagonist a warrior who at the beginning no longer has his sword, for having broken or lost it, which is returned to him intact or donated “magically”. From there begins his adventure: he must pass various tests, until the final encounter with the monster, the fire or another serious danger, whose overcoming will allow him to awaken and free the princess prisoner or victim of a spell.

Naturally the meaning of these stories is symbolic and represents the path of each one: but we can not face the trials of life, until the last one that “REVEIVES” the consciousness-knowledge without the sword, that is without first having the right self-esteem, balance, centrality.
The sword, according to beliefs and civilizations, symbolizes different values, but also represents the backbone of the human being, from the head to the coccyx, which is the tip of the blade. It is important to understand that symbols communicate more than words and awaken information that is asleep and independent of logic.
In the sword there is a language of awakening, which is activated in proportion to the motivation and honesty of the researcher (warrior, man or woman, without sword).
Woe to those who assimilate from the symbols only that which brings logic and even more trouble to those who deform or minimize the meaning of archetypes: this is what the sages of all ages have supported.

But the sword also has other translations to be internalized: for the one who ‘searches’ it is easy to find episodes and explanations concerning its symbolism: besides the specific texts, the common literature has made known various aspects. For example, that of ‘consecration’ of the Samurai sword, that of handling it made an art, while tradition imposed chastity on the builders’ blacksmiths. In the myths of the West it is the symbol of the life force, attribute of the god of war Mars and symbol of lightning for the gods of thunder, represents the divine power and the sovereignty of kings, while in some esoteric disciplines the sword is challenged by the Guardian of the sacred Fire. As a warrior symbol, the sword is challenged by the one who fights for a holy war and when we say ‘holy war’ we must understand above all an interior war, for spiritual conquests. Symbolically it is transfigured into the light, due to the brilliant reflection of its mirror-polished blade; it is a fragment of light in the Japanese tradition, since the Japanese Holy Spada was generated by light.

Virtually the sword has two distinct aspects:

positive action, working to safeguard peace and to the service of justice and the opposite aspect of destruction, injustice and oppression.
In its twofold creative and destructive aspect, the sword symbolizes above all the Divine Word.

It is significant, for example, that the Muslim Khitab holds a wooden sword in hands during the preaching, while the one held by the Vedic priest represents the lightning of Indra and is the symbol of the purifying fire the sword held by the angels during the expulsion from the Eden of Adam and Eve. Flaming is the sword that the Bodhisattva brings to his side, in the world of asuras (demons), as a symbol of combat for the conquest of superior knowledge, necessary for the final liberation from the attractions of the lower levels.

In the Western legendary tradition, the sword is always present in the songs and tales of the deeds of kings, heroes and knights errant, defenders of the faith: Orlando, Oliviero, Charlemagne, Ganelon, Arthur, who had female names: Balmung, Nagelring, Durlindana , Altochiara, Coorte, Beltraina, Excalibur, which suggest a magical-symbolic value. Eastern legends also attribute, in some cases, to swords a name. A Shinto myth tells that the God of the storm Susanoo would have drawn a sword from the tail of the eight-headed snake, previously killed. It is called ‘Ame no murakomo no tsuguri’ and is part, together with precious pearls and a rare mirror, of the Japanese imperial treasure.

Swords in ancient Egypt were also oriental in style: a relief on an Egyptian column, dating back to the Ramesses age, shows the pharaoh in a ritual pose, while he raises his hand to grasp the sickle-shaped sword that God gives him . In the ancient Far East it was said of swords that, in the hands of magicians, were able to hunt demons and it is interesting to note how the legends find a comparison in the modern disciplines of study.

In China it was believed that a woman who drew a sword into a dream will give birth to a child and this ancient belief coincides with the modern point of view of the psychology of the deep, whereby the sword is considered a phallic symbol. In female dreams, possession of the sword indicates good fortune, while in men the sword that falls into the water announces the death of women.

In it is symbolized the union of spiritual and temporal power. In the Christian world, several popes including Innocent III, the supreme head of the Church entrusted the use to the legitimate sovereign. In Western religions the sword always assumes a symbolic role in defense of good and to administer justice: the sword of the archangel Michael strikes down on demons; it is depicted in the hands of King David, in those of Judith when he cuts his head to Holofernes. In the Apocalypse of John there is talk of a sword emerging from the mouth of Christ, symbol of invincible strength and of the heavenly truth and which, like a thunderbolt, descends from heaven. They chose the sword as a sign of their holy sovereignty Stephen of Hungary and Charlemagne and were adopted as a symbol of martyrdom for St. Paul, James the Elder, Thomas Becket, St. Catherine and St. Lucy.

The sword is not always brandished by male hands. In some cases it is entrusted to female hands, as it was for the maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc, who led by Saint Catherine, had known how to find her. She herself told:

“The sword was under the ground, all rusty, covered by five crosses, from the voices I heard I found out where it was … I wrote to the local priests and begged them to entrust me with that sword. by A.Holl, 1982, Bibl.21 of the procedural documents). Even in the East the sword is not always just a masculine symbol: According to Chinese tradition, there would be two, one and one, both made on Mount Kuenlun by melting the liver and kidneys of one.

The sword has been challenged by the highest civil authorities, by dignitaries depositary traditions in brotherhoods and Orders with an initiatic character and represents the authority exercised and recognized even in modern times, as an expression of law, inflexible and just, capable of restoring balance .

In one of the symbolic religious dimensions, relative to the two celestial hemispheres, according to the philosopher Philo’s interpretation, the flaming sword is gripped by the hand of the Cherubs as a cosmic trail between the “Seventh Heaven” and the Sun. Immediately after having driven out of Eden Adam and Eve, God disposed that two cherubim armed with a flaming sword, who make eternally and whirlingly rotate to guard the Tree of Knowledge and Life (Genesis 3, 24), thus representing the motion of the Universe in the eternal becoming , expanding the infinite space in hyperbolic circular cyclic translation. The sword is related to the symbol of faith, placed in the divine attributes of goodness and power, through which God manifests himself in Grace and Providence (De Cherubini, 21-27).

The symbols have always had an important value. They are codes that allow us to change pace and overcome the ‘fundamentalisms’ and the limits of our logical translation, putting us in communication with the hidden areas of the mind and the unconscious, which are the most creative and rich in information. One of the methods used by the Orientals, for example, is to focus on “mandalas”, symbolic colored geometric shapes, which enter into a different state of consciousness.
In the discipline based on ancient western traditions, called ‘Animation of the sword, which is part of the “Techniques of Union and Awakening” ® by the leader Umberto Di Grazia, the sword is manipulated in a ritual way, both in the meditation exercises and in the movements of fighting, creating appropriate geometric figures.

Since the sword represents the vital energy and in the man its backbone, through the practice of this technique the will and the attention are strengthened in the individual, the muscular and nervous tensions are dissolved, anxiety, stress, depression are overcome. and phobias, to acquire the right detachment from negative emotions, balance and centrality.

Recommended books:

“Enciclopedia dei simboli” ed. Garzanti

“Il Dizionario dei Simboli”, Bur Rizzoli.

“Manuale del guerriero della luce”
di Paulo Coelho, ed. Saggi Bompiani.

“Flos duellatorum – il fior di battaglia”
del Maestro Fiore dei Liberi da Premariacco –
testo inedito del MCCCCX; Giardini editori e stampatori in Pisa

“Fragile” by Sting

If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the color of the evening sun
Tomorrow’s rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay
Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime’s argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are
On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star
Like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are
How fragile we are
On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star
Like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are
How fragile we are
How fragile we are
How fragile we are

Photo gallery

Templars memories Music composed by:
Vince Tempera, Maurizio Martellini, Alex Borriani

tenor singer: Maurizio Martellini

Tracklist:

Courtesy of the label «Sette Ottavi»

Francesco_e_Emberto_Di_Grazia

Francesco e Umberto di Grazia

Marisa_Menna

Marisa Menna


Antonio_Gavini

Antonio Gavini


Fabrizio_Viali

Fabrizio Viali


Aldo_Maiolatesi

Aldo Maiolatesi


Stefano_Livi_e_Stefania_De_Filippis

Stefano Livi e Stefania de Filippis


Marzio_Bresciani

Marzio Bresciani

Federico_Miraglia_e_Clea_Nardi

Federico Miraglia e Clea Nardi

Nota Interna

Below we report the names of the instructors who were trained through our school and who now follow their own personal line different from ours:
• Livio Bessi
• Mirellina Caprettini
• Rosaria Cozzolino
• Vincenzo De Giovanni
• Paolo Lupi

This post is also available in: Italian