What is the Santo Daime?
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Is Santo Daime a religion?
Yes and no.
Please read our complete article about “Is Santo Daime a religion?” and that will answer all of your questions.
What are the denominations or “lines” of Santo Daime?
A line, in this case, is the term that is used for a specific denomination or group. It can also refer to the idea of a lineage, where a specific tradition is traced back.
Traditional Daime – Alto Santo
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The line of Padrinho Sebastião and Céu da Mapiá
[]Heterogony in the line of Padrinho Sebastião
Many churches in this line have a focus that is more like “traditional daime” even though they do work in the line of Padrinho Sebastião. By this, I mean to say that they follow the standards of the rituals according to Céu do Mapiá, but carry on firm standard works that do not address the topics of Umbandaime, Spiritist or other Mediumistic matters.
These “traditional daimistas in the line of Padrinho Sebastião” might reject some or all of the sub-groups that we mention in the following sections as being heretical and having no place in the doctrine – while others simply take the stance that is not their path in the religion.
Some of these churches do not use cannabis at all although they can accept Padrinho Sebastião’s acceptance of it as “Santa Maria”.
On the other hand, some churches in this line (such as Glauco’s Céu de Maria in São Paulo, Brazil; or Céu de Santa Maria in Amsterdam, Netherlands) have a heavy emphasis on the use of “Santa Maria” as Cannabis and people will often be smoking Cannabis before, throughout, and after the work.
It also might make a difference for a Daime church if they are in communion with Mapia as a member of ICEFLU, or doing their own thing completely independently.
Umbandaime
Not necessarily a “line” of its own, but it fits within the framework of Mapiá.
Some centers in this line that are of note are “Flor da Montanha” and “Fraternidade Kayman”.
Paulo Roberto and Céu do Mar
Paulo Roberto worked with Padrinho Sebastião and married his daughter. He founded his own church in Rio de Janeiro which is either the first or second church outside of the Amazon depending on who you ask.
Paulo Roberto’s entire focus of the Daime is mediumship and has devised his own new works such as the “Illumination work”.
Marco Gracie and Rainha do Mar
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Leo Artese and Céu da Lua Cheia
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Rastafari Daime – Céu de Santa Maria de Sião
There exists one church that works in the line of Padrinho Sebastião that is run by Rastafari men.
The line of Luiz Mendes and CEFLI – Fortaleza
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Barquinha
Not always considered Santo Daime – it depends who is asking. The founder of Barquinha, Daniel Pereira de Mattos, was a Daimista who practiced with Mestre Irineu.
Other Daime Centers
Semi-Traditional Independent Daime Centers
There are many centers who do not work in a specific line, and they generally take traits from Traditional Daime combined with some other tradition. Some centers will have hybrid works that are a mix of Trad Daime + Padrinho Sebastião; or of Trad Daime + other changes.
New Age Daime Centers
Some of these centers are very “new age” and engage in all types of commercialized energy healing, and. Many people regard these centers to be a total heresy and an absolute departure from the essence of the Santo Daime religion.
These centers are sometimes compared to “Charasmatic Christianity” or “Pentacostalism”, given that attendees of the centers will behave much like the Christians who will throw up their arms in ecstasy, start speaking in tongues, burst crying into tears in the ceremony, and more other miscellaneous theatrical scenes. Some people believe these all to be authentic phenomena, while other people completely deny the authenticity of this and believe it is all a big charade where someone in an open and sensitive state from drinking ayahuasca will have some egotistic reaction.
There are many stories about how people at these new age centers will claim to “incorporate” Mestre Irineu in the work and proceed to “channel him” to address the crowd and give a lecture to the attendees of the work.
The Line of Sananda Das
Sananda Das is a Brazilian man who has taken the role of appearing to be an Indian mystical figure who has gained a cult following in Brazil and the Daime Diaspora. It is believed that there are between 10-20 centers following the line of Sananda Das, and it is currently spreading throughout North America and Europe.
The line of Sananda Das removes a lot of Catholic aspects and actually even changes the prayers to make them more “universalist” in nature; while also adding in additional works that bring in elements from Native American Indians’ Sun Dance and East Indian Hindu traditions. They wear a different star that actually has the fitas/alegrias/rainbow ribbons that are included on the womens’ uniform, and seem to function entirely as their own independent religion that claims some form of rightful lineage from Mestre Irineu.