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.

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1994, Page 45
According to the Belgian cardinal Godfried Danneels, the New Age or New Era is very
difficult to define: “It is not a religion, but it is at least religious it is not a philosophy, but it
is at least a vision of man and the world, like a code of interpretation it is not a science,
but it leans against „scientific‟ laws even though you must search for it in the stars. The New
Age is an enigma that possesses esoterica and occultism, mystic and magical thoughts,
respect for the secrets of life, with a dash of Christianity, all mixed with ideas that originate
from astrology.”
In Latin America these groups have proliferated with unheard-of success in the last five
years. For example, editors in Argentina point out that 30% of the publishing market is
comprised of so-called self-help books, with an average of 500 different titles on the
shelves.
One of the characteristics of the New Age is that it pretends to relive the events of birth and
also have close encounters with death. New Age thinking systematically proposes rebirth or
new births to escape traumas and contact with things or beings beyond the known. Some
New Agers believe that mystical experiences are small openings pointing to a personal
belief, to be one with God. This can be dangerous because if a person does not fear death
and believes that he or she is part of the Cosmos, that person might risk life freely.
Sadly, in many cases these groups are founded by doctors or psychologists who have
discovered that all they need is to impose some type of organization to convert their
patients into their true slaves. Many of these groups that begin with a totally commercial
purpose evolve into new destructive cults.
What do we foresee related to all this on the Latin American continent? We can expect that
the destructive cults, which appeared in the early 1970s and worked exclusively with
adolescents, will maintain their historical level. The controversial groups, which had a
dizzying growth in the last two decades thanks to the Electronic Church, have been slowing
down and have tended to decline, in part because the North American religious corporations
are no longer interested in Latin America since the disappearance of Communism. Finally,
the risk groups (New Age) that have appeared on the scene in the last five years tend to
multiply, and we believe they will be the next great challenge.
What to Do?
Nine years ago, when no one else in Argentina was concerned, I alone began to research
the cult phenomenon. Today it is a theme of debate in the Catholic Church, in the Protestant
churches, and in some universities where they study the complex factors that revolve
around the cult world. In 1991 a group of parents, relatives, and professionals
(psychologists, lawyers, sociologists, and linguists) met in order to form the Argentinean
Foundation for the Study of Cults (FAPES), which offers legal, psychological, and social
counseling to those people who suffer from this scourge. One of the principle characteristics
of the Foundation is its independence from the central government, the Catholic Church, or
any of the cults.
To give a sense of our activities during 1992, we will review the figures however, they do
not genuinely represent the feelings of each dramatic testimony from the families destroyed
by the practices of these groups.
 Between the months of March and November, FAPES received more than 1,000
telephone calls, 300 being personal interviews. Of these, 10% of those consulted
contacted our Department of Psychology and another 10% contacted the Judicial
Department.