Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1994, Page 44
It deserves to be pointed out that not all the local preachers played up to the religious
corporations, and many of them have accommodated to the more modest parts of society.
Umbandanism
The Umbanda is a sincretista (syncretic) cult that is founded on African religions, mixed with
Catholicism, indigenous cults, spiritualism, and occultism. It originated in Brazil at the
beginning of the century and today is practiced by millions of people. In the last two
decades it has spread to the majority of Latin American countries.
The Pae and the Mae are in charge of the practices of this cult. At the religious assemblies
or sessions, they aid the follower with a pain or bad spirit that needs the gods to expel it. In
full session “the spirits” embody the faithful and “cure” their pains. In some cases, to
confront the bad, they must resort to Exu and sacrifice edible animals: goats, chickens,
doves.
Unfortunately the majority of the Pae are people with few scruples who take advantage of
the more humble sectors of the population, taking large amounts of money and
endangering their well-being. The majority of the faithful leave their traditional medicines in
hope that the Pae or the Mae will cure their illnesses.
Risk Groups (New Age)
In the last few years there has been a phenomenon that borders on the cultic and that has
penetrated primarily into what is referred to as the middle class. These groups are based
upon a particular theme (bioenergy, yoga, biodance, cosmobiology, harmonization of the
centers, therapies to liberate anguish and fear, mental control, neurolinguistics, occultism,
etc.). These groups, weakly structured and poorly organized, are first focused on a method
or theory that presumably produces a personal benefit, from smoking cessation to eternal
salvation.
Throughout the last two decades, the Latin American middle class, the members of which
reside in the large cities, has suffered a series of great blows, which led many to undergo
moments of uncertainty and anxiety. Politically and economically they are beaten they feel
this time will be a period of adjustment. While the lower class takes sanctuary with the
Catholic Church or the evangelical-pentecostal pastors, the middle class does not believe in
or feel represented by the Church. Nor can the middle class undergo the traditional
therapies such as psychoanalysis because it does not have enough money for the sessions,
nor does it have four to six years to wait. “So then what?” asks the middle class, alone,
distressed, losing faith in politicians and the traditional religions. Suddenly there appears
information in newspapers, magazines, television programs, pamphlets, that say things
such as these:
Come, you too are invited, yours is the moment and the occasion to transfigure the
bar of gold...
We invite you to get to know us and walk together toward the New Age...
We search for something big, we search for something universal, outside the
boundaries of the old dogmas, we attain a system of positive thought so you can
discover for yourself new opportunities, and not dwell on old eras...
If you suffer many frustrations ...if you are searching for something else ...if you go
to see movies like Ghost, if you prefer alternative medicine, if you eat vegetarian or
macrobiotic foods ...if you have read any esoteric books, if you cast the I Ching ...if
you are interested in the strange, the mysterious, science fiction, if you question the
fundamental themes, and you receive no response, not in the classic religions, in the
sciences, or in technology ...THEN YOUR PLACE IS IN THE NEW AGE.
It deserves to be pointed out that not all the local preachers played up to the religious
corporations, and many of them have accommodated to the more modest parts of society.
Umbandanism
The Umbanda is a sincretista (syncretic) cult that is founded on African religions, mixed with
Catholicism, indigenous cults, spiritualism, and occultism. It originated in Brazil at the
beginning of the century and today is practiced by millions of people. In the last two
decades it has spread to the majority of Latin American countries.
The Pae and the Mae are in charge of the practices of this cult. At the religious assemblies
or sessions, they aid the follower with a pain or bad spirit that needs the gods to expel it. In
full session “the spirits” embody the faithful and “cure” their pains. In some cases, to
confront the bad, they must resort to Exu and sacrifice edible animals: goats, chickens,
doves.
Unfortunately the majority of the Pae are people with few scruples who take advantage of
the more humble sectors of the population, taking large amounts of money and
endangering their well-being. The majority of the faithful leave their traditional medicines in
hope that the Pae or the Mae will cure their illnesses.
Risk Groups (New Age)
In the last few years there has been a phenomenon that borders on the cultic and that has
penetrated primarily into what is referred to as the middle class. These groups are based
upon a particular theme (bioenergy, yoga, biodance, cosmobiology, harmonization of the
centers, therapies to liberate anguish and fear, mental control, neurolinguistics, occultism,
etc.). These groups, weakly structured and poorly organized, are first focused on a method
or theory that presumably produces a personal benefit, from smoking cessation to eternal
salvation.
Throughout the last two decades, the Latin American middle class, the members of which
reside in the large cities, has suffered a series of great blows, which led many to undergo
moments of uncertainty and anxiety. Politically and economically they are beaten they feel
this time will be a period of adjustment. While the lower class takes sanctuary with the
Catholic Church or the evangelical-pentecostal pastors, the middle class does not believe in
or feel represented by the Church. Nor can the middle class undergo the traditional
therapies such as psychoanalysis because it does not have enough money for the sessions,
nor does it have four to six years to wait. “So then what?” asks the middle class, alone,
distressed, losing faith in politicians and the traditional religions. Suddenly there appears
information in newspapers, magazines, television programs, pamphlets, that say things
such as these:
Come, you too are invited, yours is the moment and the occasion to transfigure the
bar of gold...
We invite you to get to know us and walk together toward the New Age...
We search for something big, we search for something universal, outside the
boundaries of the old dogmas, we attain a system of positive thought so you can
discover for yourself new opportunities, and not dwell on old eras...
If you suffer many frustrations ...if you are searching for something else ...if you go
to see movies like Ghost, if you prefer alternative medicine, if you eat vegetarian or
macrobiotic foods ...if you have read any esoteric books, if you cast the I Ching ...if
you are interested in the strange, the mysterious, science fiction, if you question the
fundamental themes, and you receive no response, not in the classic religions, in the
sciences, or in technology ...THEN YOUR PLACE IS IN THE NEW AGE.
