FIR 2.1 (2006) 27-48] Fieldwork in Religion (print) ISSN 1743-0615 doi: 10.1558//fiel2007v2i1.

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Fieldwork in Religion (online) ISSN 1743-0623 © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2007, Unit 6, The Village,
101 Amies Street, London SW11 2JW.

A Phenomenological Study of the Gnostic Church of Brazil

Andrew Dawson1

Abstract:
Integrated increasingly within the globalising system of late-modernity, Brazil is undergoing
widespread transformation in every sphere of its economic-political, social-cultural and
religious-spiritual life. Once a bastion of Roman Catholicism, Brazil is today home to some of
the fastest growing non-Catholic religious movements, has greeted enthusiastically a number
of home-grown and imported new religions and is witnessing the growth of alternative
spiritualities and mystical practices. Together these new and alternative forms of late-modern
religiosity are reshaping contemporary understandings of religion and what it means to be
religious. This paper builds upon fieldwork undertaken in Brazil in recent years to offer a
phenomenological study of a neo-esoteric organisation called the Gnostic Church of Brazil
(Igreja Gnóstica do Brasil). After locating the Gnostic Church of Brazil within its
surrounding neo-esoteric landscape, the article details its origins, discourse and practice.
Concluding remarks signal the possibility of organisational transition within the Gnostic
Church of Brazil from a more to a less traditional repertoire of action.

Introduction
This article forms one part of a threefold analysis of materials obtained from fieldwork
engagement with a neo-esoteric organisation called the Gnostic Church of Brazil (Igreja
Gnóstica do Brasil), but also known as FUNDASAW (Samael Aun Weor Foundation). The
Igreja Gnóstica do Brasil (hereafter IGB) has been the subject of a two year research project
involving, among other things, fieldwork interviews, participant observation, questionnaire
formulation, and content analysis of discursive materials. Analysed and interpreted elsewhere,
much of the data acquired indicates that the IGB is, in most aspects of its discourse and
practice, a typical occupant of the neo-esoteric sector of Brazil’s increasingly pluralized
religious field (Dawson, 2005; and Dawson, 2007). What follows is principally, though not
wholly, descriptive in nature and thereby speaks in an ostensibly phenomenological voice.

1
Dr Andrew Dawson is Senior Lecturer in Religion at Lancaster University, UK. His research engages
the interface of religion and modernity. Andrew’s recent publications include: Santo Daime: A New
World Religion. London: Bloomsbury (2013); Sociology of Religion. London: SCM Press (2011);
Summoning the Spirits: Possession and Invocation in Contemporary Religion. London: I.B. Tauris
(2011); and, New Era – New Religions: Religious Transformation in Contemporary Brazil. Aldershot:
Ashgate (2007).
The academic contribution of this article resides in it complementing existing analyses by
offering a detailed reading of organizational context intended to engender appreciation of the
varied and rapidly changing challenges faced by religious groups, institutions and movements
striving to ride the currents of contemporary life in Brazil. Reflecting a longstanding
academic interest with religion(s) in Brazil, work with the IGB forms part of a broader
programme attempting to map the implications of late-modernity for the religious field in
Brazil. Noting that over the past thirty years ‘religious life in Brazil has changed in ways
never seen before’, Pierucci and Prandi go on to maintain that
the Brazilian religious panorama has changed not only because people are deserting
their traditional gods, laicising their lives and values, but also because there are
growing numbers of others who are adhering to ‘new’ gods, or rediscovering their
old gods in new ways. (1996: 9-10)
Likewise remarking on the ‘mesmerising variety’ and increasingly globalised nature of
Brazil’s contemporary religious field, Beckford argues that ‘religious developments in Brazil
may be a forerunner of things to come’ (2003: 103).
As with other sectors of the religious field in Brazil, neo-esoteric groups, in and of
themselves, comprise a diverse category. Siqueira (1998), for example, uses a threefold
typology in her mapping of the ‘mystical-esoteric’ field in and around Brasília, the capital city
of Brazil.
A number of features constitutive of this plural universe were identified after some
years of research: a) groups of a fundamentally religious orientation (Cúpulas de
Saint Germain, Cavaleiros de Maitreya, Santo Daime, Hare Krishna, etc.); b)
traditional esoteric schools (Theosophical Society, Sufism, Rosa Cruz, etc.); c)
groups of a psychological-spiritual orientation (characterised by practices attuned to
the development of individual potential, such as meditation, solarization, tarot,
astrology, dance, parapsychology). These groups are, in the main, influenced by
various kinds of alternative spiritualising therapies (Vidas Passadas, Rosa Mística,
etc.).
In his mapping of 842 neo-esoteric groups, organisations and movements in municipal São
Paulo, Magnani proposes a six-fold typology (1999: 24-29; 2000: 29-32). Excluding the
2.48% (21) of groups categorised as ‘others’, the five main categories are as follows.
Initiatory Societies (4.28%) such as the ‘Theosophical Society’, ‘Brazilian Society of
Eubiose’, ‘Ordem Rosa Cruz AMORC’, and ‘Círculo Esotérico da Comunhão do
Pensamento’ make up the first category. Historically of European immigrant origin, these
organisations are characterised by defined doctrinal systems, a body of rituals and levels of
internal hierarchy managed through degrees of initiation. Multi-service Centres (12.95%)
including, for example, ‘Illuminati – Centre for Human Development’, ‘Tattva Humi Cultural
Venue’, ‘Marina and Martin Harvey Study Centre’, and the ‘Astrolábio Centre’ comprise the
second category. These centros integrados unite under one roof a variety of services and
activities ranging from consultations, therapies, alternative techniques, sale of products, and
formation courses and programmes. Often run as small businesses, these centres tend not to
have closed doctrinal systems, instead combining elements from assorted philosophical,
religious and esoteric sources. Magnani’s third category is Specialist Centres (15.56%), which
concentrate chiefly, though not exclusively, upon the study and application of a specific
discipline (e.g. martial arts), technique (e.g. divination, therapy, meditation) or practice (e.g.
dance). Sharing many of the generic characteristics of their multi-service counterparts,
specialist centres listed by Magnani include, for example, ‘Palas Athena Association – Centre
of Philosophical Studies’, ‘Géia Peace – Institute of Shamanic Studies’, ‘Centre for the Study
of Acupuncture and Alternative Therapies’, and the ‘Brazilian Association of Oriental
Massage’.
The fourth category of Individualised Centres comprises 31% (261) of Magnani’s
sample and, as the term suggests, these units are run by one or two people. Following no
particular doctrinal or philosophical line, each of these groups offers a specific service that,
when taken collectively, constitute a wide variety of neo-esoteric provision. Among the
services offered by the specialists occupying these espaços individualizados, Magnani lists
astrological mapping, massage and acupuncture, búzios and tarot, Shiatsu, palm-reading, and
chakra-based cures. Sales Points (33.73%) comprising explicitly commercial ventures make
up Magnani’s fifth category. Servicing clients directly through the sale of neo-esoteric
products (e.g. books, food, crystals, incense, and music), these pontos de venda also serve as
points of contact between customers and neo-esoteric specialists by way of organising and
provisioning courses, talks and events upon specific topics. Magnani lists a number of pontos
de venda including, for example, ‘New Age Tourism and Trips’, ‘Green World: natural
esoteric consumables’, and ‘Sankar Sana – Distributor of Indian Goods’.
As with their northern hemispheric counterparts, neo-esoteric groups in Brazil share
among themselves a number of family characteristics of which this typological category is
composed. Among these polythetic resemblances (not all of which are instantiated by any one
group), mention might be made of their: hybridisation of discourse and practice culled from
established world religions (particularly Eastern ones), indigenous traditions, alternative and
marginal spiritualities (e.g. extraterrestrialism) and prevailing cultural sign-systems (Ramos,
1998: 55; Guerriero, 2004: 167); individualistic emphasis upon the authority of self/inner-
experience (as opposed to collective, external authority) as the definitive principle of
hierarchization (Brandão, 1994: 32); relativising approach to competing knowledge claims
through which purportedly exclusive traditions are regarded as alternative perspectives upon
the same all embracing (i.e. holistic) reality (Bandeira et al, 1998); instrumentalisation of
religio-spiritual concerns by which the acquisition and application of particular practical
knowledge leads to inner peace, enlightenment or liberation (Camurça, 2000; Eleta, 2000:
143-44); juxtaposition of an authentic inner/higher/divine-self (experienced through non-
conventional means), with an inauthentic society/world without (experienced through
orthodox sensation) (Siqueira, 1999); dissatisfaction with orthodox religious traditions,
modern (viz. ‘Western’, positivistic, consumer) culture, and prevailing economic and politico-
juridical systems (Albuquerque, 2004: 144; Amaral, 2000: 17); banalisation of prevailing
religio-cultural capital in a way that renders it more readily transposable to other forms of
capital (Pierucci, 1997: 253; Pace, 1997: 38); and modification of belonging through
consecutive switching between and concurrent participation in different groups and
organisations (Souza, 2002; Almeida & Montero, 2001).
Instantiating many of these characteristics to a greater or lesser extent, and allowing for
the approximate nature of any ideal typology (Weber, 1991: 324-326), the IGB corresponds
principally with Siqueira’s second category of ‘traditional esoteric schools’ (1998) and
Magnani’s first category of ‘initiatory societies’ (1999: 26; 2000: 29-30). Brought by north-
European immigrants influenced by esoteric beliefs and practices that swept across Europe in
the latter half of the Nineteenth Century (e.g. Theosophy, Anthroposophy, Rosicrucianism),
traditional esotericism and the initiatory societies that practice it have been officially present
in Brazil since the first decades of the Twentieth Century (Faivre & Needleman, 1992). For
example, the Círculo Esotérico da Comunhão do Pensamento was founded in São Paulo in
1909, the Brazilian wing of the Theosophical Society was officially opened in Rio de Janeiro
in 1919 and the Sociedade Antroposófica no Brasil (with adherents in Porto Alegre as early as
1910) was founded in São Paulo in 1935. As with Pentecostalism that established itself in
Brazil around the same time (1910-11), the esoteric community subsequently diversified
through the establishment of less traditional organisations (e.g. Rosacruz Amorc in 1956,
Rosacruz Áurea in 1957 and Eubiose, 1969) reflective of Brazil’s changing socio-cultural
landscape (Magnani, 2000: 17). According to Carvalho (1992: 139), esoteric modes of
religious discourse and practice are under-researched and have permeated and influenced the
broader religious field of Brazil ‘much more than it seems at first sight’ (1994: 75). The
progressive esotericisation of the African-Brazilian religion Umbanda in and around São
Paulo is a case in point (Souza and Souza: 1999).

Organisational Origins and Raison D’être

Related to aforementioned esoteric organisations by way of shared European ancestry, the
IGB is nevertheless a relative newcomer to the religious scene of Brazil and less traditional in
certain key respects. Headquartered in Curitiba, the capital of the southern state of Paraná, the
IGB is an independent offshoot of the Universal Christian Gnostic Church of Brazil (Igreja
Gnóstica Cristã Universal do Brasil). The Universal Christian Gnostic Church of Brazil,
based today in São Paulo, was originally a missionary offshoot of the Universal Christian
Gnostic Church (Iglesia Gnóstica Cristiana Universal) founded by Samael Aun Weor in
Mexico, 1976. Veneration of Weor and adherence to his teaching (‘New Gnosis’) are the
central dynamics that constitute the contemporary discourse and practice of the IGB.
The man later known as ‘Bodhisattva of the Venerable Master Samael Aun Weor’ was
born Víctor Manuel Gómez Rodríguez on 6 March, 1917, in Santa Fé de Bogotá, Colombia
(Zoccatelli, 2000: 33-48). According to admittedly favourable sources (e.g.
www.fundasaw.org.br, www.gnosisonline.com), Rodríguez was a precocious child who by
twelve years of age had already passed through dozens of esoteric and Spiritist schools in an
insatiable quest for understanding of the deepest truths of the universe. In spite of such
purported questing, however, it was not until Rodríguez encountered in the mid-1940s the
German-born Arnold Krumm-Heller that his ‘longing to encounter the Secret Way’ began to
be fulfilled (Zoccatelli, 2005). A Rosicrucian adept, Krumm-Heller (whose works are
available through Editorial Kier, Buenos Aires; www.kier.com.ar) arrived in South America
from Europe in 1910 and subsequently founded the Iglesia Gnóstica (Gnostic Church) in
Mexico. Not finding as much success as he had initially hoped for, Krumm-Heller moved
around various parts of South America finally settling in Colombia. It was in Colombia that
Krumm-Heller, now known as Frater Huiracocha, founded the Fraternidad de Rosacruz
Antiqua (Fraternity of the Ancient Rosy Cross) and was first encountered by Víctor
Rodríguez. Mentored by Krumm-Heller until his death in 1949, Rodríguez subsequently left
the Fraternity and was immediately charged by the ‘Venerable White Lodge’ with ‘the sacred
and difficult mission’ of ‘Forming a new culture; Forging a new civilisation; and Creating the
Gnostic Movement’. Now known as Venerable Master of the Bodhisattva Samael Aun Weor,
Rodríguez’s message was rejected by Spiritist and esoteric communities alike, and, for a time,
he was imprisoned for ‘quackery’ by the Colombian authorities.
It was during this time of rejection and persecution that Weor wrote the first and still
most influential, of his 76 books El Matrimonio Perfecto (Perfect Matrimony).1

1
A full list of Weor’s writings is available from www.bibliotecagnostica.org and
www.samaelgnosis.net. A number of English translations of Weor’s works have been made to date and
are available via www.geocities.com/gnosis4you/index2.htm, www.gnosiscentral.com,
www.gnosis.webcindario.com.

With contents culled from the gamut of esoteric (e.g. Rosicrucian, Masonic, Theosophical,
Cabalistic, Hermetic, Anthroposophical), oriental (e.g. Tibetan tantrism) and indigenous (e.g.
Mayan) traditions, Perfect Matrimony comprises Weor’s articulation of the place and role of
‘sexual magic’ within ‘Christian Gnosticism’. By way of introduction to the book, Weor
states that
Sexual Magic is practised in Christian Esotericism and in Zen Buddhism. Sexual
Magic is practised among initiated Yogis and Muslim Sufis. Sexual Magic has been
practised in all of the Initiatory Colleges of Troy, Egypt, Rome, Carthage, and
Eleusis. Sexual Magic was practised in the Mysteries of the Mayans, Aztecs, Incas,
Druids, etc.

‘Sexual magic’ (magia sexual) is the central thread of Weor’s teaching and situates modified
Tibetan tantric practices within a revised Christian Gnostic metaphysical system. This
metaphysical system divides Reality hierarchically into five planes, each inhabited by an
assortment of beings whose substance correlates with their particular sphere of existence. The
first and most important plane is that of pure immateriality, the Divine sphere of Absolute,
Ineffable Mystery. As with Christian Gnosticism in general, Weor holds that the universe
originated in the ordering activity of the Absolute upon chaotic primordial matter, giving rise
to (emanating) the subsequent planes of the created order (‘Pleroma’). Emanating from the
Absolute in order of relative immateriality, these planes are: the Divine, the Spiritual
(‘Treasure of Light’), the Mental (‘Psychical’), the Astral (‘Planetary’), and the Material
(‘Physical’). Each plane is ordered internally (from ‘right’ to ‘left’), again according to a
hierarchy of relative immateriality. Humankind is located in the ‘middle’ sector of the basest
(i.e. most physical) plane, the Material. Despite our base materiality, consciousness, itself an
element (‘spark’) of the Divine Mind, permits us to participate and grow (‘evolve’) spiritually
relative to our place in the Eternal Order.
The evolution of the self to the point at which it is able to commence the long and
arduous return to its immaterial origins is dependent, Weor maintains, upon the sustained
practice of sexual magic. Also termed ‘sexual alchemy’, sexual magic is practised when a
(heterosexual) couple engage in copulation whilst supplicating the ‘Divine Mother’ (Mae
Divina) to strengthen and reward efforts to ‘awaken the Serpent Kundalini’ that is coiled
around the base of the spine. Concurrent with the gradual annihilation the plural Ego (Eu),
Kundalini’s ascent up the spinal column is hastened by focussing the physical, mental and
spiritual energies enhanced by the transmutation of sexual energy generated through the
practice of sexual union without orgasm (‘sexual spasm’). Complementing the daily practice
of sexual magic, critical analysis of the minutiae of everyday events and experiences (‘law of
self knowledge’) and regular charitable activities (‘law of voluntary sacrifice’) further aid the
concurrent awakening of Kundalini and annihilation of the Ego. The ascent of Kundalini and
annihilation of the Ego are necessary to the enlightenment of the inner Self and its resultant
escape, if so desired, from the cycle of birth, death and reincarnation which Weor designates
the ‘law of eternal return’.
Although Weor and his followers regard the publication of Perfect Matrimony (May,
1950) as the informal beginnings of the Universal Christian Gnostic Movement, formal
juridical status was not gained for this or its sister organisations until much later. Prior to this
time, Weor sought alliances with an assortment of esoteric, occultist and orientalist
organisations, the most noteworthy of which was Sivananda’s Raja Yoga movement. Moving
through various parts of South America rallying sectors of the esoteric community to his
cause, Weor finally settled in Mexico where he legally founded the Movimiento Gnóstico
Cristiano Universal (MGCU). By now in possession of the ‘New Gnosis’ (nova gnose) for
which he is best known, the self-proclaimed ‘Avatar of the Age of Aquarius’ declared the
commencement of the Age of Aquarius on 4 February, 1962. By the time of his death
(‘disincarnation’) on 24 December, 1977, Weor had overseen the founding of the Universal
Christian Gnostic Church (Iglesia Gnóstica Cristiana Universal) in various parts of Latin
America, including Venezuela, Colombia and Mexico. In addition, Weor and his followers
also created the still functioning Institute of Universal Charity (Instituto de Caridad
Universal), Latin American Christian Workers’ Party (Partido Obrero Cristiano Latino
Americano) and the Gnostic Association of Scientific, Cultural and Anthropological Studies
(Associación Gnóstica de Estudios Antropológicos Culturales y Científicos) (see,
www.ageac.org). Reportedly now a member of the Secret Government of the World that rules
from Tibet, Weor is said, like the ‘ancient’ masters before him (e.g. Eliphas Levi, Cagliostro
and Saint Germain), to make the occasional journey to our dimension, albeit disguised as
someone else.
Instigated by commissioned missionaries of the Universal Christian Gnostic
Movement, the Movimento Gnóstico Cristão Universal do Brasil (Universal Christian
Gnostic Movement of Brazil) was founded in São Paulo in 1972 before moving its
headquarters to Curitiba, capital of the southern state of Paraná. The early 1970s was a
propitious time for any non-mainstream religious organisation to make its way to Brazil. The
politico-juridical space progressively accorded non-Christian religions (Mariano, 2002),
coupled with the socio-cultural reverberations of widespread and rapid demographic change,
had already done much to facilitate the emergence and subsequent establishment of
alternative forms of religious discourse and practice in Brazil. Added to this, Brazil’s
emergent urban-industrial petite-bourgeoisie welcomed with open arms the counter-cultural
movement sweeping the Northern hemisphere in the late-1960s/early-1970s (Carozzi, 1999:
149, 184). Manifest in a thirst for the new, exotic or just plain different, the middle classes’
cultured disenchantment with traditional forms of socio-religious expression offered a tailor-
made inroad to Brazilian society readily exploited by non-mainstream groups such as the
Universal Christian Gnostic Movement and others (e.g. ISKCON, Guerriero, 2001: 44-56).
Although the Curitiba headquarters of the Universal Christian Gnostic Movement of
Brazil closed in 1977 due to a lack of popular interest, an independent organisation calling
itself the Gnostic Association of Philosophical, Scientific and Cultural Studies (Associação
Gnóstica de Estudos Filosóficos, Científicos e Culturais) was opened in the city in late 1979
by Christian Gnostics loyal to the teachings of Samael Aun Weor. In 1983 a number of
A.G.E.F.C.C. members then founded the Fundação Samael Aun Weor (FUNDASAW), a
legally constituted charitable organisation charged with the preservation of Weor’s teachings.
By 1987, however, FUNDASAW was functioning independently of the A.G.E.F.C.C.
Members of FUNDASAW then went on to found the Igreja Gnóstica Cristã Universal do
Brasil (Universal Christian Gnostic Church of Brazil) which gained formal legal status as a
religious organisation on 9 April 1994. Such official juridical recognition was subsequently
complemented in 1998 by the Brazilian State’s granting of charitable status to
FUNDASAW’s sister organisation, the Santa Clara Charitable Association (Associação
Beneficente Santa Clara). Today, Santa Clara is understood by members to be one (‘Social
Action’) of three core components that combines with FUNDASAW (‘School’) and the IGB
(‘Temple’) to form an organisational triad through which the New Gnosis of Weor is lived
and propagated.
By the time I made personal contact (November, 2002) with the group running
FUNDASAW, Santa Clara and the Universal Christian Gnostic Church of Brazil, the name of
the latter organisation had been changed to that of the Igreja Gnóstica do Brasil (Gnostic
Church of Brazil). Although technically distinct given their separate juridical identities, the
same group of individuals runs each of these units from the same location, with the same
resources and to the same ends. Often in practice and sometimes in theory, it is difficult to
distinguish the particular organisational remit within which a specific activity, event or
programme is being undertaken. Members themselves will often, for example, refer to
FUNDASAW and the IGB as one and the same organisational entity. Likewise, written
materials produced by the group sometimes refer to ‘A Igreja Gnóstica do
Brasil/FUNDASAW’ in a way that assumes their interchangeability (e.g. Comunicado
Mundial 27/09/2002).
I made personal contact with representatives of the Gnostic Church of Brazil shortly
after the organisation had instigated the deposition of Igazan Bindu (Oscar Alvaro Tovar
Zapata) who until 27 September 2002 had been regarded by the IGB as the Third Gnostic
Patriarch (Weor being the first) and Master of the White Lodge. Having moved to Brazil in
January 2001 and settled on the IGB and its Curitiba temple as his new headquarters, Bindu
was subsequently denounced by the IGB through a ‘World Communiqué’ issued on 27
September 2002. Among other things, Bindu was charged with ‘physical assault’, ‘sexual
harassment’, ‘psychological coercion to the end of making economic and financial gains’, and
‘heresies against Samael Aun Weor, the Sacred Beings of the White Lodge and diverse
religious symbols’ (Comunicado Mundial 27/09/2002; available at
www.escolabinduista.org.br/). The IGB’s involvement with the Colombian Bindu had been
part of a broader strategy by which the organisation had hoped to re-establish formal links
with the Universal Christian Gnostic Movement throughout various parts of South America.
These links were sought because the IGB believed it had something to offer the movement
originally founded by Weor himself. In effect, the IGB regarded itself as the most authentic
contemporary instantiation of the Weor patrimony.
The IGB’s self-belief in its status as the contemporary torch-bearer for the New Gnosis
was borne out during my first visit to the organisation as a participant observer of a three day
Easter seminário held 18-20 April, 2003. The event opened with a lecture delivered by an
IGB instructor (instrutor) in which the organisation was situated at the endpoint of an esoteric
trajectory commencing in medieval Europe and ending in contemporary Brazil. Subsequent to
the medieval persecution of Christian ‘sects’ (seitas) such as the Albigensians and Cathars, it
was argued, non-mainstream groups and movements were forced underground both to avoid
attack and preserve the purity of the teachings entrusted to them. Through the 1500s, the
Templars were at the forefront of preserving the most important contents of Europe’s esoteric
doctrines and practices. In the 1600s this role passed to the Rosicrucians, who in turn ceded
the esoteric limelight of the 1700s to the Masons. The Masons were succeeded by the
Theosophists in the 1800s, whose responsibility for the jewels of the esoteric treasure chest
ended in the early 1900s with the passage of Arnold Krumm-Heller from Germany to Mexico.
This translation from Europe to South America was consummated upon Krumm-Heller’s
relationship with Samael Aun Weor and the latter’s subsequent commission by the ‘Venerable
White Lodge’ (Loja Branca Venerável) and formulation of the ‘New Gnosis’. As a South
American with access to and understanding of indigenous Latin American cultures, Weor’s
nova gnose was able to perfect the European esoteric tradition by adding to it the
autochthonous heritage of the Mayan, Aztec and Incan cultures. This addition was an
important one, given the fact that these peoples were the direct descendents of those who
survived the Atlantis catastrophe. Weor thereby closed the loop in reuniting two important
cultural strands of the esoteric world order. So far, however, this timeline has yet to account
for the contemporary role of the IGB as torch-bearer for the New Gnosis of Samael Aun
Weor.
The relationship of the IGB to the New Gnosis of Weor is that of the final batten holder
in a relay race. The IGB today holds this batten thanks to a series of events that point, it was
said, to the ‘discovery’ of Brazil not being a ‘coincidence’ but part of a wider plan. Thanks to
successive kings of Portugal making their kingdom a haven for those persecuted by Roman
Catholicism, by the end of the Fifteenth Century the world famous Sagres school of
navigation had actually become a Templar stronghold. In turn, those sailing from Sagres, like
Cabral the European ‘discoverer’ of Brazil, were likewise adepts of the Templar order.
‘Discovered’ by Cabral and his fellow Templar adepts in 1500, Brazil thereby enjoys a direct
historical link to medieval esotericism unmediated by later European esoteric traditions.
Comparing the relative religious tolerance of early 1970’s Brazil to the religious haven of
Manuel I’s Portugal, the IGB instructor explained that the arrival in Brazil of Weor’s
representatives was a direct parallel to the earlier European migration of esoteric adepts in
search of more tolerant surroundings. Arriving in the first South American country to be
populated by European esoteric (viz. Templar) adepts, the New Gnosis of Weor subsequently
found its Brazilian champion by way of the IGB’s formation. Regarding itself as a nodal point
at which Brazil’s noble esoteric past combines with Weor’s vision of the future, the IGB
holds the death of Weor to have signalled the swing of the New Gnostic pendulum from the
Universal Christian Gnostic Movement in general to the Igreja Gnóstica do Brasil in
particular.
The confidence of the IGB in its now central role in preserving and propagating the
New Gnosis of Weor rests principally upon the assertion that other groups ‘do not practice’
(Interview, 1 May, 2003) sufficiently the meditative and yogic regimes central to the efficacy
of Weor’s teachings. A survey of the internet sites of purported organisational exponents of
the New Gnosis, it was claimed, revealed an average of only thirty minutes practice per day
demanded of would-be adepts. Whilst IGB instructors average up to six hours of daily
meditation and yogic practice, at least two hours per day are recommended to those taking
their discipleship seriously and four hours to the more experienced initiate. The centrality of
sexual magic to the everyday routines of IGB members is, however, the cornerstone of the
organisation’s claims to take the New Gnosis more seriously than others. The practice of
sexual magic is situated by the IGB within the triadic schema first outlined by Weor in
Perfect Matrimony.

Organisational Discourse and Practice

Regarded as the ‘backbone’ (espinha dorsal) of the IGB’s instantiation of Weor’s New
Gnosis, the threefold structure of the practice employed comprises ‘mystical death’, ‘sexual
magic’ and ‘charity’. Mystical death (morte mística) involves the ‘annihilation of defects’
through the practice of what is termed the ‘chain of death’ (cadeia de morte). The defects to
be annihilated through the practice of the cadeia de morte are the ‘accumulated egos’ (egos
agregados) of which the self is composed. The process resulting in the gradual annihilation of
these ‘fifteen thousand inhabitants of the interior city’ (each of which has thousands of facets
in its own right), commences with ‘self-observation’ in which every detail of the self’s daily
routines, thoughts, feelings and dreams are individually identified. Leading to ‘self-discovery’
of the basic mechanisms and motivations that drive the individual, these practices, thoughts
and feelings are then subjected to ‘self-analysis’ by means of sustained meditative
contemplation of their propriety or unacceptability. If practised properly, self-analysis gives
way to ‘self-understanding’ as particular defects and their place in the self are identified.
Once identified, each individual defect is then ‘eliminated’ as it becomes the focus of specific
prayers and ritual action, the most efficacious of which is the practice of sexual magic.
Sexual magic, known also by the IGB as Arcano A.Z.F., comprises an orgasmless act of
coitus that lasts anywhere between thirty to sixty minutes. Practised at least once a day,
preferably at night but not during menstruation, sexual alchemy takes place as the sexual
energies retained through refusal to orgasm are transmuted through supplicatory prayers and
mantras. Directed to the Divine Mother (Mãe Divina), these prayers and mantras are aimed at
the annihilation of the specific ‘defects’ identified through self-scrutiny and brought to the act
of sexual magic by its participants. Sexual magic is more or less efficacious relative to the
amount of movement during coitus, the extent of penile erection and the degree of feeling and
pleasure experienced. Graded from ‘black light’ through ‘red light’ to ‘yellow light’, the latter
being best, the energy released by sexual magic is at its most when there is less movement,
less erectile firmness and less pleasure.
Complemented by a range of dietary, yogic, ritual, and assorted esoteric practices, the
efficacy of sexual magic in aiding the annihilation of accumulated egos is further bolstered by
the practice of charity (caridade). The centrality of charitable practice to New Gnostic
teaching mirrors its importance to Spiritist communities (e.g. Kardecism) throughout Latin
America and is indicative of Weor’s indebtedness to the Spiritist tradition for a number of
important themes. Understood by Weor and the IGB as enacting the ‘law of voluntary
sacrifice’, charitable activity earns its practitioner varying amounts of ‘cosmic merits’ relative
to the degree of self-sacrifice involved. Underwritten by the mechanistic reciprocal dynamic
of ‘what one gives up one gets back’, charitable activity enables a healthy ‘balance’ to be
credited (contabilizado) to an individual’s ‘cosmic bank’ (Interview, 6 May, 2003). The credit
accumulated in this account can then be drawn on to ease ‘negotiations with divine laws’ such
as those governing the awakening of the serpent Kundalini and annihilation of aggregated
egos. Although accumulated cosmic credit is most efficacious when cashed with the Divine
Mother during the practice of sexual magic, it pays to have a surplus of credit by the time of
one’s physical demise in order to facilitate a progressive evolution through birth, death and
reincarnational cycles.
Although members of the IGB strive to be charitable whenever appropriate opportunity
arises, it is at the Santa Clara Charitable Association (Associação Beneficente Santa Clara)
that charity is held to be practised in its purest form. Situated approximately thirty kilometres
from the city of Curitiba, activity at what was to become the Santa Clara Charitable
Association upon its formal juridical recognition in 1998 actually began some twenty years
earlier. Also known as the Institute of Universal Charity (Instituto de Caridade Universal),
Santa Clara is staffed on a voluntary basis by IGB members and receives food, clothing and
assorted items distributed through neighbouring religious and private charities. Currently in
operation three days a week, Santa Clara caters mainly for the elderly and pregnant young
women by offering nutritional meals, life skills clinics and alternative medicinal practices
(e.g. acupuncture, chromatherapy and meditation). Santa Clara’s small gardens are also used
by clients to grow fruit and vegetables, and donated materials and sowing machines provide
opportunity for those attending to make clothing and other items.
The second component of the organisational triad introduced above is FUNDASAW
(Fundação Samael Aun Weor), which gained formal legal status in November, 1983.
Understood as ‘School’ (escola) in the classical esoteric sense, the Samael Aun Weor
Foundation represents a First Chamber (Primeira Câmara) open to all, irrespective of their
initiatory status or experience. FUNDASAW is today run from a purpose built, single-storied
building situated on the outskirts of Curitiba. In addition to housing the IGB temple,
FUNDASAW headquarters includes a large room for seminars and a smaller one for
meditation, kitchens in which health foods and organic sandwiches are prepared for purchase
by visitors, and an entrance hall/lobby in which CDs, books, candles, crystals, and assorted
neo-esoteric paraphernalia are on sale. A hybrid collection of mystical-religious ornaments
and decorations populate various parts of the building. In addition to the seemingly ubiquitous
portraits of Weor, there are, for example, pictures of Vishnu, a Christian crucifix, the Hindu
Om symbol, a Masonic Tetragrammaton, and a miscellany of candles, crystals, incense sticks,
and oil burners.
According to Carlos Bunn (Interview, 2 May, 2003), the four aims of the Foundation
are: i) ‘to preserve, without adulteration, the heritage of Samael Aun Weor’. The preservation
of this heritage includes making Portuguese translations of Weor’s 76 books, obtaining and
preserving as many as possible of his (over 300) recorded seminars, and storing hundreds of
photographs and other relevant materials; ii) ‘to practice the principles of Weor’s doctrines’.
Here Bunn draws a distinction between the general practical knowledge (e.g. history,
metaphysics, meditation, and astral flying) open to all who are interested in learning more
about the initiatory way and the specific ‘rituals’ (e.g. Gnostic mass) reserved for those of the
Second Chamber (Temple) who have undergone initiation; iii) ‘to form and educate
instructors’ responsible for teaching others who might go on to establish further centres in
other cities; iv) ‘to spread the doctrines of Weor, first to Brazil and then to the rest of the
world’. Although FUNDASAW hosts day and weekend conferences both in Curitiba and
beyond (e.g. Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo), face-to-face interaction between instructors and
interested individuals is, however, limited by the vastness of Brazil and the relative costs and
difficulties associated with travel in this country. Given the relative facility of contemporary
IT media, it is through the internet that the overwhelming bulk of FUNDASAW’s contacts are
made and sustained.
The internet-based ‘Course in New Gnosis’ (Curso de Nova Gnose) provides the
central pillar to FUNDASAW’s task of disseminating the New Gnosis of Samael Aun Weor
as interpreted and practised by the IGB. Developed from a pre-existing correspondence
course inherited from the Universal Christian Gnostic Church, the Course in New Gnosis was
reworked and launched on the internet in November, 1983 (the same time at which
FUNDASAW was created). According to its manager, Carlos Bunn, the Course in New
Gnosis has had approximately 14,000 completions since its inception in 1983, has 3,000
current students (as of April 04), and approximately 500 subscriptions commencing and an
equal number terminating per month. Although pedagogical support for students of this
course has undergone a number of revisions since its commencement, the principal medium
of clarification and guidance today is an email-based ‘support group’ (grupo de apoio) which
recipients of the course can join through an ISP subscription system. The email group is
managed by a FUNDASAW/IGB representative to whom most messages are addressed in
search of clarification and further technical detail, and through whom all emails pass before
being posted to list members. As part of my research engagement with the IGB and its
adherents, I have been a member of this internet-based group since April 2003 and engaged
its participants through electronically administered self-completion questionnaires (author,
2005, pp).
The Course in New Gnosis covers the gamut of esoteric and mystical teaching as
espoused by Samael Aun Weor and augmented by IGB instructors. It is over nine-hundred
pages in length and comprises nine ‘Arcanes’ (arcanos), each of which is divided into varying
numbers of chapters. In addition to introducing Samael Aun Weor and FUNDASAW, Arcane
One links historical Gnosticism with Jung, describes human being as a ‘microcosm’ of the
cosmos with different ‘bodies’ (e.g. mental, astral, ethereal and physical) and levels of
personality, and offers a number of practical exercises designed to aid meditation. Entitled
‘Cosmogenesis and Anthropogenesis’, Arcane Two delineates the cyclical context of cosmic
origins and the emergence of humankind as a sub-category of the Arian Race; a fifth race
following on from, among others, Lemurians and Atlantidans. A number of cosmic ‘laws’
(e.g. ‘life and death’ and ‘reincarnation and return’) impacting upon humankind and its
evolution are then introduced. Arcane Three revisits in much greater detail the place of the
individual as a microcosmic reflection of macrocosmic realities. Here, interior (‘atomic’)
forces are introduced, along with seven chakra points and their corresponding mantras.
Potential extrasensory powers (e.g. clairvoyance, clarividence, telepathy, levitation and
ecstasy) are then outlined before a detailed treatment of the ‘world of dreams’ and the practice
of ‘astral flight’. Further practical exercises and technical definitions close the Arcane.
The ‘Path of Initiation’ is the subject of Arcane Four, with its opening chapters offering
a chronological overview of the development of religion and the evolutionary migration of its
epicentre from East to West. The place of ‘occult religions’ in this development and migration
is then discussed along with the ‘mysteries’ that each articulated. The initiatory way and its
component (nine) degrees and corresponding tests is then engaged in great detail. The seven
‘greater initiations’ (Iniciações Maiores) are also treated, along with the following seven
initiations of Venus and three of the Logos. An outline of the twelve works of Hercules closes
the Arcane. ‘White Magic’ is the subject of Arcane Five. Subsequent to a definition of white
magic, its origins and place in the world’s religions (exoteric and esoteric) are then treated. A
programmatic description of the preparation and commandments of the Magus are followed
by a number of conjuring, invocatory and exorcising rituals. The ‘planetary Gods’ are then
introduced along with the contribution of ‘astrotheurgy’ in the development of a Magus. The
Arcane closes by introducing relevant sounds and mantras and describing the esoteric
pentagram. Arcane Six offers a detailed engagement with ‘Gnostic Psychology’, in which ‘the
human machine’ and its ‘five psychophysical centres’ (intellectual, motor, emotional,
instinctive, and sexual) and their functions are detailed. The ‘anatomy of the pluralized self’,
the nature and contribution of Tibetan psychology and the education of the conscience are
also treated.
Entitled ‘Alchemy’, Arcane Seven outlines a ‘sexual metaphysics’ by drawing, it is
claimed, upon such ‘pearls of sexual alchemy’ as Jorge Adoum, Eliphas Levi, Arnold
Krumm-Heller, Sivananda, and Gopi Krishna. Here, Samael Aun Weor builds upon, but
ultimately eclipses their contributions. After claiming sexual alchemy as the contemporary
manifestation of the traditional Hermetic art, the awakening of the serpent Kundalini and its
contribution to the practice of ‘super-Sexuality’ is detailed along with specific technical
information (e.g. positions and mantras) concerning the act of copulation and the avoidance of
orgasm (‘fatality’). Arcane Eight treats ‘Universal Charity’ by situating it within prevailing
economic, social, scientific, philosophical, cultural, and religious systems. By and large
critical of contemporary dynamics (e.g. taxation, modern education, organ transplantation and
contraception, homosexuality, rock music, and organised religion), Arcane Eight closes by
arguing that the transformation of society depends upon the prior transformation of the self.
Under the heading ‘The Future of Humankind’, Arcane Nine deals with a number of themes
and issues related to the forthcoming ‘final catastrophe’ of 2043 predicted by Samael Aun
Weor. In addition to delineating the ‘third war’ and natural disasters leading up to the
catastrophic events of 2043, Arcane Nine notes that extraterrestrial ‘beings from the Pleiades’
will support post-2043 survivors (i.e. those deemed worthy enough to do so) by
communicating valuable scientific and cultural information that will aid in reconstruction,
contributing genetically to humankind’s regeneration and moving survivors to safer places
either on earth or other planets. The arcane concludes by detailing the post-catastrophe ‘Age
of Gold’, complete with renewed economic, social, scientific, philosophical, cultural, and
religious systems.
Although FUNDASAW representatives claim the Course in New Gnosis to be an
extended explication of Weor’s teaching, there is much here that evidences independent
sourcing used to augment the work of Weor. Referred to only as ‘HB’ throughout the course,
the prominence given to Helena Blavatsky and her brand of theosophy reflects her importance
to the New Gnosis of Weor. Referred to only as ‘G’, however, the prominence given to
Gurdjieff at various points in the course does not accurately reflect the relatively lesser
influence he had upon Weor and his formulation of the New Gnosis (see, Zoccatelli, 2005, for
an alternative take upon Gurdjieff’s influence upon Weor). Likewise, although Weor did
make occasional reference throughout his life to extraterrestrials, nowhere did he accord them
the importance that FUNDASAW’s Course in New Gnosis does. The additional prominence
given by the course to assorted new age and environmental themes that receive only passing
or no mention by Weor is further testimony to redactional modifications made by IGB
representatives. Whilst personal predilections understandably play a part in such interpretative
modifications, their purpose is likely to be that of calibrating the contents of the course more
closely with prevailing neo-esoteric characteristics as perceived by the IGB leadership.
In addition to Portuguese translations (e.g. Matrimônio Perfeito, Curso Zodiacal, Rosa
Ignea) and original recordings of Weor’s public talks and lectures, the ‘Course in New
Gnosis’ is supplemented by other materials such as the Course in Astral Projection (Curso de
Projeciologia), Course in Meditation (Curso de Meditação), Course in Esoteric Cabala
(Curso Esotérico de Cabala), Course in Esoteric Anthropology (Curso de Antropologia
Esotérica), and series of yogic exercises (Manancial de Juventude). Catechetical works
written by FUNDASAW instructors (e.g. Passos na Estrada and Pérolas para um Aspirante
ao Caminho Sagrado by Daniel Ruffini) are also available for purchase as hard copy or in
electronic format (http://www.fundasaw.org.br). Organisational representatives claim that
FUNDASAW responded to approximately 40,000 requests for information between 2001-
2002 and continues to send materials to over 8,000 people throughout Brazil and beyond. As
with figures cited above, I have no means of verifying these claims.
Understood as ‘Temple’ (Templo), the Igreja Gnóstica do Brasil (IGB) constitutes the
third component of the organisation’s triadic structure. Reserved for those who have passed
the first stage of initiation (completed on average in nine to twelve months), the Gnostic
Church of Brazil is the ‘Second Chamber’ (Segunda Câmara) complementing the First
Chamber that is FUNDASAW. The IGB regards its raison d’être as ‘a purely spiritual’
endeavour involving the ‘preservation and practise of the rituals of Samael Aun Weor’
(Interview, 2 May, 2003). A good number of these rituals were bequeathed to the Universal
Christian Gnostic Movement by Arnold Krumm-Heller who had arrived in South America
with a liturgical repertoire (including the rituals of initiation, mass and the first three initiatory
grades) comprising an admixture of Masonic and Rosicrucian practices. This repertoire was
subsequently revised (e.g. A Culta Secreta de um Guru written in 1952 whilst in prison for
‘quackery’) and added to (e.g. Santa Iglesia Gnóstica: Libro de Liturgía) by Weor.
The Gnostic Church of Brazil has all of the accoutrements of other more traditional
esoteric schools/initiatory societies. In addition to its established seven rituals (viz. Initiation,
Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, Chrism, Mass, and Burial), the IGB has designated
liturgical functionaries (e.g. Guardian, Priest, Watcher, and Isis) and a set liturgical calendar
(e.g. 6 March – Birthday of SAW, 27 October – Advent of SAW, 25 December – Birth of
Cosmic Christ in SAW). The organisation also holds scheduled religious celebrations (e.g.
weekly Thursday services and a Gnostic Mass on the 27th of each month) which are realised
in a purpose built ‘temple’ modelled along Masonic lines. Usually off-limits to the
uninitiated, the IGB temple was opened to participants of the Easter seminário of 9-11 April,
2004, who were invited to share in a ‘simplified’ Gnostic Mass. This invitation into the inner
sanctum of the IGB was something of a new departure in that the modified Gnostic Mass
celebrated during the seminário of 2003 took place in an ordinary room of the headquarter
complex and not within the temple itself.
The IGB temple is rectangular in shape with a single step-high platform, carpeted in
red, taking up the northern third of the room. Entirely crossing the northern wall and
extending about seven feet along the northern end of the east and west walls, a pleated blue
curtain hangs down two feet from the ceiling. On the platform at the northernmost end of the
temple is a large wooden altar. At the time of the service and in addition to the loaf of bread
and chalice of grape juice used in the Gnostic mass, the altar had upon it an open copy of the
ancient Gnostic text Pistis Sophia, two vases of flowers (representing water), an open wooden
sacristy, a three branched candelabrum (signifying fire), a crucifix with the word Norte
(North) above it, two small bowls containing salt and earth respectively, a feather
(representing air), an incense stick, a pictorial representation of the Masonic Tetragrammaton,
and a steel sword of approximately three feet in length. The western wall at the northern end
of the temple had a large mirror attached to it, whilst on the eastern wall at this end hung a
large flag-like banner with white, red and yellow quarters on which a yellow cross, grey and
yellow crossed keys and a seven pointed yellow star were sown. Picked up and put down at
various points in the service, a large wooden cross (bedecked with flowers and a white
rosette), iron-headed scythe, steel-tipped spear, and two six feet long poles, one topped with
three white cotton pompons and the other with a small metal cross, rested against various
parts of the wall at the platform end of the temple. The remaining two thirds of the room has a
black and white chequered tiled floor on which five rows of seating are laid out. Where the
platform step meets the chequered tiled floor, a set of three unshaded coloured bulbs (blue,
red and yellow) projects from the upper parts of the wall at each side (i.e. east and west) of
the room. The aforementioned pleated blue curtain hangs also at the southern end of the room
and is, apart from a wall-mounted plaque bearing the word Sul (South), the only decoration in
the lower two-thirds of the temple.
The simplified Gnostic Mass celebrated in the temple was an extremely wordy and
cerebral affair, enacted throughout with sweeping, almost theatrical, ritualised gestures. Three
cassocked IGB officials occupied the dais, but only one spoke throughout the seventy minute
long service. Ritualised gestures undertaken by the three IGB officials prefaced and
concluded a great many parts of the service. The aforementioned items propped against the
wall at the northern end of the temple were brandished at different points, as was the sword,
candelabrum and other items laid out on the altar. The four compass points, along with the
traditional elements of earth, air, fire, and water played an important role in the liturgy of the
Gnostic Mass. Apart from the spoken responses, and frequent standing, kneeling and sitting, it
was only when approaching the platform to receive bread and grape juice that congregants
played any active part of the service. The service included no music, singing or chanting,
although a number of call and response sets were used. Mostly in Portuguese, Latin was also
used principally by the IGB officiant and by congregants in certain short responses. Prayers
uttered and led with great repetition by the IGB celebrant constituted the vast majority of the
Gnostic litany. Addressed mainly to the Logos, Divine Mother and various Archangels
(Michael and Gabriel featuring most), but also to the Grand Architect and White Lodge,
prayers for the ‘expansion’ and ‘development’ of the New Gnosis via FUNDASAW and the
internet were complemented by petitions for the success of Santa Clara and understanding,
patience and perseverance for aspirants to and followers of the initiatory way revealed by
Samael Aun Weor. Allowing for the few references to the Cosmic Christ (Cristo Cósmico)
that prefaced the distribution of bread and grape juice, there was extremely little by way of
what might be understood as traditional ‘Christian’ content in the Gnostic Mass.

Conclusion
The complete absence of oriental and new-age iconography within the IGB temple stands in
stark contrast to the hybrid assortment of pictures, statues, symbols, and ornaments spread
throughout the other rooms of the headquarter complex. Likewise, the formally religious
character of the discourse and practices associated with the temple and its rituals are cast in
bold relief when compared with published FUNDASAW course materials that portray the
New Gnosis as a ‘philosophy of life’ or ‘life system’ rather than a religious worldview. In
many respects, the conceptual, practical and evaluative core of IGB/FUNDASAW/Santa
Clara repertoires embodies the central themes of modern esotericism identified by Hammer
(2001: 47-84) and Hanegraaff (1996: 411-481) in their detailed archaeological studies of
esoteric – new age relations. In this respect, the Curitiba-based activities of the IGB resemble
other established esoteric organisations in Brazil (e.g. Eubiose and Círculo Esotérico da
Comunhão do Pensamento) which enact performative repertoires of a more traditional kind,
complete with doctrines, rituals and functionaries. At the same time, however, FUNDASAW
course materials are punctilious in their representation of New Gnosis as a neo-esoteric
alternative to formal religious schemas such as those instantiated by established (e.g.
Christian) and less mainstream (e.g. Spiritualist and African Brazilian) traditions. As such,
FUNDASAW course materials strive hard to appear closer to those produced by Siqueira’s
typological ‘groups of a psychological-spiritual orientation’ than those of a more ‘traditional
esoteric’ nature (1998).
In effect, two organisational ‘repertoires of action’ are in play here; one formally
religious in character, the other self-consciously non-religious (Porta & Diani, 1999: 170-
173). Limited space, the principally descriptive aspirations of this article and the fact that I’ve
engaged them elsewhere (Dawson, 2005; and Dawson, 2007), preclude detailed analysis of
the various dynamics that make possible the concurrent existence of two distinct repertoires
within what is, despite technical legal distinctions, one and the same organisation. Suffice it to
say, the existence of two distinct constituencies is central to the success of this repertorial
dualism. On the one hand, there are those Curitiba-based individuals whose engagement with
New Gnosis is instantiated through their collective constitution as a congregation involved in
highly ritualised, temple-based activity of a formally religious nature. On the other hand, there
are those scattered throughout Brazil whose engagement with New Gnosis is realised through
their discrete constitution as individual ‘clients’ whose relationship with the organisation is
almost entirely mediated through the electronic means of CD Rom, internet and email (Stark
& Bainbridge, 1985: 208-233). Personal choice and relative geographical remoteness mean
that very few of these individuals will become involved in the kind of formalised religious
activity undertaken at the Curitiba-based community. The organisation’s leadership is thereby
relieved of the tensions and conflict that would almost inevitably arise from any attempt to
integrate its two distinct constituencies.
There is much to be said for seeing the development of twin-track repertoires as
comprising an astute ‘supply-side’ strategy on the part of IGB/FUNDASAW leaders, a
number of whom are experienced corporate professionals. In such a way, the logistical
problems (e.g. numbers, reach and finances) attending the organisation’s more traditional and
increasingly unfashionable modes of temple-based expression are mitigated by the
‘mobilisation of resources’ made available by late-modern information technology (Finke,
1997: 45-64). The mediated nature of the client – group relationship enabled by these
resources facilitates the projection of a less-traditional and formally religious repertoire than
that of the Curitiba temple, and one that is more attuned to exploiting the predilections of
Brazil’s contemporary neo-esoteric milieu (Bandeira et al: 1998). The esoteric roots of much
late-modern mystic-spiritual activity entails a lexical common ground shared by
IGB/FUNDASAW and the contemporary neo-esoteric scene in Brazil. This lexical overlap
thereby furnishes a range of discursive and practical hooks upon which FUNDASAW is able
to hang its version of the New Gnosis without recourse to modifications risking doctrinal
deviation from the teachings of Samael Aun Weor. As noted above, course references to
issues and themes prevalent within contemporary neo-esoteric circles (e.g. extraterrestrialism
and environmentalism) serve to facilitate this correlation.
At the same, however, the organisation’s instantiation of twin-track repertoires is more
than a calculated exploitation of the prevailing dynamics of the contemporary neo-esoteric
market place. IGB/FUNDASAW is an organisational scion of a movement spawned by the
post-1950’s radicalisation of esoteric traditions renowned for their conspicuous appropriation
of widely divergent sources. At the hands of Weor and his followers, established hybridising
dynamics were thereby further catalysed through the infusion of assorted indigenous,
westernised-oriental and alternative sources. Subject to the kinds of late-modern dynamics
constitutive of the neo-esoteric family resemblances detailed above, such appropriated
sources were treated to a much looser form of interpretative assimilation than those more
rigorous appropriative regimes associated with traditional modes of religious expression.
Born of these late-modern dynamics, the diffuse integration of hybrid discourses, practices
and values resulting from this loose interpretative assimilation is a congenital characteristic of
the institutional psyche of IGB/FUNDASAW. The operationalization of what to some
organisations would constitute contradictory traditional and late-modern repertoires is thereby
second nature to IGB/FUNDASAW members used to managing at one and the same time
seemingly divergent and disjointed resources. Taken alongside aforementioned
acknowledgements of supply-side strategization, any success arising from an organisational
ability to implement two seemingly exclusive repertoires of action can consequently be said
to owe as much to the late-modern habitus of homo esotericus as it does to the calculating
rationality of homo economicus.
The increasingly unfashionable nature of traditional organisational repertoires such as
that practiced in the IGB temple at its Curitiba headquarters has direct implications for both
short-term recruitment and long-term survival. Certainly, those attracted to the New Gnosis
through FUNDASAW materials may well bring financial and ideological benefits to the
organisation. Both geographical constraints and personal predilections, however, make it
unlikely that course take-up will be translated into any significant numerical increase in those
participating in temple-based activity. The IGB/FUNDASAW leadership is thereby faced
with the real possibility of its IT disseminated and neo-esoterically orientated course materials
increasing in popularity, whilst the aging temple-based community in Curitiba eventually
shrinks to a critical mass below which actual day-to-day collective activity becomes
infeasible. That the IGB/FUNDASAW leadership has already grasped this scenario is, I think,
evidenced by recent attempts to enhance recruitment by diversifying its Curitiba-based
activities through offering daytime and evening classes in subjects ranging from basic English
through Tarot readings to new age crafts. There is, then, a conscious effort on the part of IGB
personnel to adopt a number of approaches already implemented to great success by the kinds
of ‘multi-service centres’ detailed above in Magnani’s neo-esoteric typology (1999: 24-29;
2000: 29-32). Taken alongside the aforementioned ‘psychological-spiritual orientation’
(Siqueira, 1998) increasingly manifest by FUNDASAW course materials, these developments
suggest a possible incremental shift in the IGB away from the ‘traditional esoteric
school/initiatory society’ model. Only time will tell whether this strategy works or is
complemented by a thoroughgoing revision of the more traditional aspects of the
organisation’s repertoire of action.

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