ILLUSTRATES Marcos de Lima
In the heart of the Amazon
Santo Daime is a spiritual doctrine founded in the 1920s, in Basel (AC), by rubber tapper Raimundo Irineu Serra. Called Mestre Irineu by his followers, he had his first contact with ayahuasca (the main component of Santo Daime tea) in the Bolivian Amazon. The drink brought him a vision of a woman who presented herself as “the Universal Queen”
Pilgrimage and Revelation
The Queen directed him to wander through the woods for eight days. At the end of the period, she revealed herself to be the Virgin Mary and, according to Irineu, guided him to spread the word of God through ayahuasca. The tea should be called Daime, because of the verb “dar”: the hymns used in current cults may include expressions such as “Dai-me amor”, “Dai-me fé” and “Dai-me cura”
A big family
As its origin indicates, Santo Daime has traces of Christianity. The Sagrada Familia is at the base of their beliefs: God is the supreme entity, Jesus is a model to be followed and the Virgin Mary is idolized for having taken the word to Irineu. There is also influence of spiritism: it believes in community life and unity to spread the teachings
The Doors of Perception
Santo Daime is focused on the tea ritual, which followers believe has the power to amplify the strength of consciousness. Under its effect, the person would have a clearer view of the Universe and answers to their anxieties and doubts. According to followers, Irineu also considered the liquid a way to find true love. During the service, the Daime is ingested three times
Everyone does their part
The preparation of the drink is also ritualistic. Women are responsible for separating the queen leaves, also known as chacronas. The men are responsible for cutting the jagube vine. Together, the two ingredients are boiled, creating a tea with a strong hallucinogenic capacity. The rules for its religious use were made official in 2010 by the Brazilian government.
It’s not for everyone
The toxic effects of ayahuasca are still not completely known. Therefore, the community organizes itself to avoid excesses. The tea is contraindicated for children and pregnant women and prohibited for people with mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia. Newcomers to the cult fill out a liability waiver and anamnesis form about the state of their mental health
How is the cult
Led by a godfather (a type of priest), the meetings take place on the 15th and 30th of the month. In the first part, of concentration, the followers (always dressed in light tones, like white and blue) form a circle, divided by gender. Afterwards, queues are organized to drink tea, also with the same separation – the women’s dose is half that of men
high contact
Each person takes about three doses, but there is freedom to be more or less. The second phase begins, of meditation, in which the followers “access consciousness” under the influence of ayahuasca. Throughout the entire service (which can last several hours), hymns are sung, which recall the lessons of doctrine and the life of Irineu and important sponsors, such as Padrinho Sebastião
The doctrine spreads
The first services open to the public only started in 1930 in Vila Ivonete, near Rio Branco (AC). Then they spread across the country. Currently, there are about 50 affiliated centers. The main one is Igreja do Culto Eclético da Fluente Universal Light and one of the most famous is the community of Alto Santo, in the rural area of the city of Rio Branco
SOURCES Websites Jornal do Brasil, Santo Daime – The Doctrine of the Forest, Doctrine of the Santo Daime, Mestre Irineu, The Juramidam Family, Brazilian Association of the History of Religions, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Unesp) It is National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute; books Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Amazon and Beyondby Beatriz Caiuby Labate and Clancy Cavnar, and Santo Daime Revealed: Drugs, Frauds and Lies, by Gideon of the Lakota; and research Santo Daime: Theoecology and Adaptation to Modern Timesby Maria Clara Rebel Araújo and Ricardo Vieiralves Castro, Ayahuasca: Neurochemistry and Pharmacologyby Rafael Guimarães dos Santos, and The Contents of Ayahuasca Visionsby Benny Shanon