mo mosaic always a privilege to be here. i have pastored taylor memorial united mettist church, i would like to thanteisth having an exceptional reception to me last year. all of these churching i've

served in the last 16 years, the members ask me where do i get the robes that i wear, and i counted, i have about 28 robes in my 40 years of ministry. in the last 16-20 i've gotten at this particular store, sagrota. the stoles, i have about 100 of them. i wanted to invite the owners of the the store that i've gone to in oakland for all these years. it's a privilege to have the owners here this morning, and that's mary and carlo buzzby. great to have you. always great to see you. i'm way in fairfield, but i make sure to come by at least once a month. tell us, why sagrota? the name, the history. it's your 20th anniversary next

. >>we, wean store in at le hsetae f t e telegraph avenue streetcars, so it was born in a stable. >> i didn't know that. >> the neighborhood that we're in is the word for the sacred ceremonial sweat lodge. so the land that we're on is sacred ground, so it makes sense that our store or some place that honors the traditions of the sacred is in our neighborhood. our theme in the should be, our overarching theme is the sacred. >> i see. now, it's been 20 years coming up this coming year. >> coming august will be 20 years we have been there. started in a little place, and about three to four years into

it, we came around to telegraph avenue, which is where we met zblu now, why -- >> by the way, thanks for helping put food on our table for all those years. >> it's been great. >> you're a consistent kus me. are we appreciate it. >> i feel if people are going to look at you every sunday, you should have some color. you should have something exciting. >> you've got it. >> i have some wonderful stoles here. it seemed like you expanded in so many areas. what made you expand to do art facts and crosses and all sorts of faiths that are represented. right there from the beginning? >> well, the idea twluz from the beginning. it wasn't as expressed as it is now. we were looking for a way to -- well, we started off in ministry together and met through ministry. >> right. i'll ask about that later. >> we decided we wanted to provide a service to the community and that there was a

sense that this area, the bay area, is one with great diversity. so to respond to that, we decided to what we call serve people of all faiths. we weren't quite sure what that meant. so we started small and took a lot of suggestions from our customers. they're the ones that inspired us and guided us. little by little, we adapted and expanded and tried to express the various traditions through our books and through other music and places of -- or items that can be used for devotion. >> i see. so you're always working on that. >> all the time. >> it's evolving like a garden. >> not come pplacent. >> our job is to listen and respond sto what changes.

>> every time i come in, there is that sacred kind of space there that's so special. are you praying? are you conscious of that? it seemed like you're very intentional about that. >> aren't you praying all the time? >> we are quite conscious of it. >> people come in sometimes and say, i just needed to come to my temple today. >> oh, okay. >> that there's also a need for people who aren't connected with any particular tradition or they don't have a sacred place to go besides their own home or a tree qb and they feel it when they come in. i do feel that part of it as when you go to a temple or a sacred place, the gathering and the residue of the devotion of people who come and the goodness that they bring with them is there. >> let's talk more about that in the next segment.

thank you for being here. please join us with mary and carlo buzzby and sagrota.

♪ welcome back to mosaic. if you have been following us, i have another stole on. the creators are here.

and tell us. where is your store located. >> 4926 telegraph avenue in oakland near 51st street. >> and you have been there how many years now? >> all together, 20. >> the beginning of our 20th. >> right. we were talking earlier about how the store expanded into some of the different things that you do because of people's needs and they asked and so forth. the books you have, you have some great books over there. tell us a few and show us a few of those and why you went in that direction. >> well, one of the books i brought was just to honor dr. houston smith. some of you probably know this title. dr. smith was sort of one of the inspirations for our shop because he wrote -- this book came out around the time we were beginning. >> hold it up a little bit before. >> a little before we started the store. so it caught that spirit of

honoring, respecting, and trying to understand other religions, so we actually displayed this book in our very first shop, and it became a center piece for us. fortunately, mary on our first anniversary invited houston smith to come visit us, and he did, much to our surprise. >> and he's in his mid 90s right now. >> he is. and a wonderful contributor to human understanding and especially the appreciation of faith in many traditions. so we took him as our inspiration. >> most of my books i have gotten about him at your store is autobiography and i think he practices induism, buddhism, and christianity. >> he came again last year and had a book signing, and we also

did a little singing. it was wonderful having him back again, sort of bringing that circle around. >> can he sing? >> rekd sing. we sang his favorite song. how can i keep from singing, which is one of my favorites. so we really had a wonderful time together. and people stayed for a long time because he received everyone so personally and warmly, and people were there to see him that day. it was wonderful. >> i did a funeral a couple of weeks ago, and the person loved music, and a certain kind of music. so i looked up all the music they loved, which was oldies in the 70s and 80s, so i brought to the service some of the favorite songs of the person. so it made it concrete for the people, and they said, oh, yeah, she would have loved those songs. so it's good to know people's

favorite songs. tell us about some of the other. you are the ones who do some of these. i have a few here with me. >> you have a few. >> what led you to do some of these? >> well, actually the adjustment making was the beginning of our business. and it was -- what year was that? >> '97. >> what happened was the current pope had come out with a statement that the conversation on women's order nation in the catholic church was closed. and i -- it made me pretty fired up. i got pretty angry about that, and i thought, okay, what am i going to do now? because i thought that conversation ought to be very much alive. i said to carlo, i feel defiant. i'm going to make vestments for women. that's how the whole business began. and we named it at the time cam

pan ones of ciara, who was the contemporary of saint francis, so claire is one of the patrons of embroidery and handwork, so we named it companions of ciara, and i began to make vestments for women this that's had embroidery and quilting. >> i didn't know their history. that's wonderful. >> and i thought, darn it, some day these catholic women are going to need vestments, and we're going to start it now. that was the seed we planted. >> that opened up the door for me. what's your background? carlo, you were a priest, right? >> yes, i was. and that's where i met mary. >> and i'm a music person and worship. those were the areas.

>> and that's how you met. >> yes. >> and isn't that something. >> and we pursued our ministry in a way through this work in the work we are involved in. >> and the vestment making began and women from all different churches were hearing about these sktools. and then rerealized that was not going to be enough to -- to sustain. >> -- to put tood food on the table. and i think then we began and thought, well, maybe there's a need in oakland for a store that provided books and other devotional items. and there wasn't anything like it that served across the board. >> and then the design started becoming more artistic and elaborate, and then started coming and other women ministers from other churches.

so we realized we were really meeting a need. as these people started coming into the shop, they started looking for other items that they could use in their ministry, good books to use. >> music. >> music. also devotional items, prayer books, things like that. so we tried to provide a broad spectrum of items that they can use in ministry, but also for prish ners or members of communities to come strengthen their faith. >> do you have one particular resource you go to get all of these? >> no. it is like a garden. and so much of what we do is fostering relationships. and so someone had told us about mary lou, who does these beautiful -- you have several of her stoles. we have been selling mary lou

stoles since we began almost. >> well, i'll put one of hers on after the break. >> okay. thank you. >> continue to be with us. sagrota. check it out on the 49th and telegraph.

♪ i verge my colleagues to go over to sagrota, but also the lay people who always ask me because there's some things there. here's another beautiful stole. tell us a little about the symbols i'm wearing. >> these symbols represent a number of the major faiths in

terms of the largest representation. so we start with the spiral, which is -- represents the indigenous faiths throughout the world. and here we have the hindu ohm, the buddhist wheel, the egyptian -- theempl for judais ymslam broughtog that unites us all. >> isn't that wonderful. i have at least five of them. i have two green ones, i have a purple one can be and a white one. so i've always tried to reflect the colors along with the symbolism. it's wonderful.

people say they have never seen a -- >> i had seen -- i wanted to do something that was a multifaith robe because we have customers who are chaplains and do that sort of ministry. i had seen several similar designs. there's a woman who designed a prayer wheel with symbols around it. and she's gone all over the world teaching piece-making. i also saw one in hawaii and another one, so i was inspired by their art and i just adapted to this for ours. >> that's great to do that. at the order nation service last year, i wore a robe, and they said they had never seen anything like that. even thoh they were from cotry, you have ever seen before. >> thank you. >> i have been pleased. tell us some of the other books

you have. >> well, one thing that perhaps we haven't mentioned is we have a wonderful children's section too like you were just saying about inviting the lay people to come and visit us. there's perhaps the best books on spirituality right now that are happening are with children's books because they're usually very well done and simple to read and yet powerful lessons. this is just two from a series of four that came out a couple of years ago now. they continue to add volumes. but they use the hebrew and which i say kran skip chur-- scriptures. in a beautiful way that can be used for daily prayer. >> it's not just for children. >> i try to preach on the pstlms

at least a half a dozen times a year. so i may need to get that book. >> they followed it up on one of the scriptures, and all illustrated from a different author and has different illustrations. very engaging for youngsters and thought-provoking for us as well. >> that's great. the one over there, what is that? >> poetry is another area we have expanded. this one is a very popular book. it includes love poems from god. they're inspirational, religious poems from a variety of traditions, and people love to have something to contemplate perhaps at night as they're going to sleep or in the morning when they wake up to guide their day. and this is the kind of book we like to car are i. we have a whole range of them, and people are finding that this theme of spirituality as you

know is a much broader theme than any one particular religion. and these are the kinds of books that can inspire and bring people together around that theme. >> you've had some focus around howard thurman. and i believe reverend dorsey blake was there. can you remind me what that was. we sang, and he used some of dr. thurman's writings, and he wore his robe when he came, which was very special. >> thurman of course for those who are listening, he was here and founded the fellowship of all people, quite a unique church in the country, and he was here to -- well, he lived to about 89 years of age. i happened to go to his funeral.

and it was a four-hour funeral. but i loved every moment because it had speakers and singers and scripture reading. i'm glad you have such a broad approach. >> we try to keep his books in stock because he's a wonderful resource. >> we have one more -- go ahead. >> a lot of people who are reading some of the contemporary buddhist writings are seeing similarities with d dr. thurman's -- >> ye we have seg wh es wrfe oin and go out and find sagrota. ♪

♪ i'm a lover of books. glasses, shoes, but i put stoles right up there too. stoles and robes, and this is another beautiful one made by mary. but there's another book there you want to share with me. >> i wanted to mention for those who have come into the store, there's a couple of areas that are devoted to celebrating the divine feminine, which is a very strong interest of many of our customers. we have an area that has books and devotional objects. >> right. >> celebrating mary magdalin and

also the table on the goddess. this is a beautiful book, the holiness and spirit of janet trying to find an image to give your camera. she has beautiful images, and we have anointing ball made by my sister that's also a popular item. >> there you go. >> we have also a treasure in our neighborhood, max dsshu who has created -- might want to interview her sometime. she has suppressed husry archives of women's interests and god's spirituality through every culture through the centuries. and max has been to our store a couple of times also with her amazing slide shows of her archives. i just wanted to mention that's

a richness people enjoy when they come in. >> i also -- you had this huge cross. are em that? did that ever sell? >> probably not. >> the one from africa? >> yeah. >> that's a beautiful piece. >> you still have that one? >> we do. we usually bring it out during lint. >> our shop celebrates hand-made items, so you often can find something really unique like that. >> i have a few of your crosses, but i can't quite wear that one. >> it's about 4 feet tall. >> we have a few minutes left. something else we should say about sagrota that people should know. i want people to go to this store and appreciate all that's there that i have been experienced for 16, almost 20 years. >> not long from now, we're

going to have the holiday season, and we are almost transformed because we put in a huge tree and a lot of new items that come in that are beautiful. >> hand-made ornaments. >> i remember that now. sure do. >> beautiful items that i think are inspirational. >> we have mentioned that you have wonderful cards. i don't know where you get all those wonderful cards. >> local artists. >> they have wonderful cards. i bought one a couple of weeks ago, and i even bought some socks that were there. >> i would say in the bay area, there's quite a bit of emphasis on eating and food, and sagrota will provide some food for the soul. >> great idea. thank you, mary. wonderful to have you here. >> thank you. see you next time. >> i'm ron swisher, and i've

enjoyed this. we didn't mention the hours. quickly. mondays, except in december, we're open every day. >> get there. i find it a tremendous jo i alm the type. god bless you. thank you for joining us. ♪ wow, look at this selection! tile, wood, stone, laminate, vinyl... and this one is...perfect. at floor and decor, our everyday low pricing on high-quality products and on-trend styles, means you can really bring your room to life. discover floor and decor today!