CANDOMBLÉ OR UMBANDA : AFRO-BRAZILIAN SHAMANISM

Shamanism in South America can be found in various regions and almost every modern country possesses its own typical form, derived from the specific ethnicity of its particular native culture. However, Afro-Brazilian shamanism differs from other shamanic practices derived more directly from pre-Columbian cultures in the Americas. It can be considered in its denominations of Candomblé, or Umbanda, in Brazil and in some neighboring countries, while similar practices in Central and North America are denominated Santería.
Candomblé is a form of shamanism widely practiced in Brazil that, like the practice of Santería of Central and North America, has maintained, in their purity, traditions originating in Africa. Unlike the other main form of shamanism practiced in Brazil, Umbanda, it has not been heavily influenced by Catholicism. Candomblé is the name given to a variety of African religious traditions in Brazil. Above all, it is a set of precepts, rules, and rites of a highly sophisticated nature, rites whose authentic practice is reserved for initiates. The term also refers to a community of devotees, who dance in sacred spaces that are oriented to Africa.

History and Belief System

It was during the seventeenth century that ships burdened with slaves began arriving in Brazil. These involuntary immigrants of varied ethnicities (Jêjê, Marrin, Iorubá, Angolan, Congo, and Ketu among others) possessed a very ancient metaphysical tradition, a tradition held to precede that of the pharaohs of Egypt, and having in common three characteristics:
• Belief in one God, as Creator and Ordainer
• Belief in a pantheon of deities who, from the beginning of the cosmos, have been the administrators of creation, with everything existing in it, including human beings and their passions
• Belief in two distinct worlds, the visible material world and the spiritual world
These three characteristics are shared by the most diverse religions and philosophies, differing only in the terms used. Thus, for example, the pantheon of orixás (guardian spirits) can be seen as the equivalent of the guardian angels of the Catholic Church and of the spirits of light of other religions.
Chants and rituals held in the main room of the house of Candomblé recall histories and legends of spiritual entities governing each individual human being. Held to the sound of atabaques (small drums), these rituals echo with chants in homage to the diverse orixás, telling the stories of their presence on earth in ancient times.
The chants trace a complete history, replete with details concerning the customs of respective spirits and their relationships to one another, as they prepared the conditions necessary to human existence on this planet. The orixás had the function of preparing for and making possible biological existence on earth after the original creation of the planet. For example, Ossãe had the care of plants; Oxum, of fresh water; Yemanjá, of seawater; Oxumarê, of wisdom; and Xangô, of stones.

Cosmogenesis, the Origin of Spirituality, and Human Life

The synthesis that follows derives from the knowledge of the shaman practitioner of Candomblé, Gilson Souza Ferreira, hierarchical descendent of an important African lineage of Candomblé in the state of Bahia, Brazil.

Before Material Life

Two kinds of habitable worlds exist within the universe: stars and planets. Stars are continually formed by ethereal energies in a process of condensation, while planets are formed by energies already condensed. Every star possesses a nucleus, which is the source of its energy. Spiritual beings, eternal inhabitants of the star, are nourshed by the energy from its nucleus, which sustains their existence effortlessly. Stellar inhabitants are endowed with acute mental faculties and great wisdom, but have always faced the problem of a scarcity of population in their respective worlds.
Considering the vastness of the cosmos and its minute population, even communication among its inhabitants is difficult. Therefore, it was resolved to find a means of increasing their numbers throughout the universe; this resolve ultimately became the motive for the existence of the human race. The task of increasing the numbers of stellar inhabitants was delegated to beings known as stellar gods.
A new star was created for that purpose, combining the energies specific to each of the worlds contributing to it, and on that star the stellar gods convened with their retinues in what proved to be an unsuccessful effort to create new ethereal beings. One among them was chosen to remain as guardian of the new world, in company with his retinue and members of another retinue to assist him. So that he might have the necessary ascendancy over his assistants, the guardian received the diverse powers of every stellar god, which they transmitted to him prior to their return to their respective star worlds.
Thus a new entity evolved, uniting in himself all power and wisdom from the entire universe, and he was acknowledged as Almighty God. It was he who subsequently found the means the stellar inhabitants were seeking to create new ethereal beings for populating all the stellar worlds. As for the star created and inhabited by Almighty God, it is known as heaven. When the stellar gods reconvened with the Almighty in heaven to establish norms for the existence of ethereal beings throughout the entire universe, they encountered a new organization of their species, divided into two hierarchical categories:
• Celestial angels: those most directly linked to God Almighty, among them the two known in our civilization as Christ and Lucifer (also called Lucius Fé in some houses of Candomblé)
• Primordial angels: the rest of the angelic population of the new star called heaven Among the celestial angels, Lucifer (or Lucius) was distinguished by his great dedication to and confidence in God’s plans for the new ethereal beings, the new souls, as they are traditionally called. Lucius’s most important function was to accompany the Almighty in his work of populating the star worlds; as he did so, he observed that the newly created spiritual entities were excessively dependent and ingenuous in their behavior.
Lucius considered them deficient in wisdom and self-confidence, lacking in the mental attitude appropriate to existence in the star worlds to which they were destined. For this reason, on his return to heaven, while expressing his great joy in the divine creation, he also requested the Almighty to create a new star near to heaven. The new spiritual beings would inhabit this star while they were still in a process of evolution, instead of being sent directly to their respective permanent star worlds, as originally planned. God and his aides agreed, and it was done.

The Creation of Material Worlds and Human Beings

Lucius also devised a solution whereby God created new material worlds, or planets, to be populated by his creatures for the purpose of evolution before being presented to the Almighty in heaven. The new beings would need to learn to control their impulses, so that their minds would be filled with knowledge of life values and they would evolve sufficiently to possess free will and to act and react properly. All these characteristics are seen as very important to the conscience/mind of a stellar inhabitant. Thus, after passing through an odyssey of lives in material worlds, or planets, in search of evolution, the spiritual beings would be prepared for presentation before God, after which they would continue onward to their respective stellar worlds, knowing how to make perfect use of their mental faculties.
This proposal by Lucius generated controversy among the stellar gods, since it brought into existence the dualism of good and evil. Egotism and iniquity were foreign to the stellar gods, and they were perplexed. According to the tradition, God concurred with this plan, perceiving that it would provide a way for the new spiritual beings to acquire the needed mental maturity. The stellar gods, however, did not agree immediately, since according to Almighty God’s former promise to them, the newly created spiritual beings would be immediately sent to populate their respective star worlds.
Furthermore, by this plan, it would be necessary to involve nearly all the entities already existing, since when the new beings incarnated they would require nourishment from the energy of their stellar worlds during their material existence; without such protection, the mind in direct contact with the planetary atmosphere would destroy itself. The technology utilized to this end is superficially known to man as pertaining to the energetic field; it is maintained by a specific spiritual entity and his aides, also responsible for the entire task of spiritually protecting the new incarnate beings, until they are considered prepared to inhabit their stellar worlds.
Despite the initial resistance of the stellar beings, Almighty God gave his approval to the plan of the celestial angel Lucifer, who was named god of the star where all new beings must enter to receive those energies that provide the building blocks of an individual human personality, needed for existence in a material world. Thus equipped, the soul begins the process of evolution that will eventually prepare it to re-encounter the angelical mind, good and wise.
To implement the plan one more star was created, and in it the new spiritual beings awaited their guardians, or spiritual stellar energizers, in order to be conducted to the planet deemed appropriate to the prevailing mental evolution of each one. Once they accepted their role in this plan, the stellar beings assumed their proper responsibilities with respect to those who were to populate their star worlds. In such a manner life began for all the new creatures in the universe, including those of every living being on this or any other inhabited planet.

Comprehension of the Processes of Illness and Cure in Afro-Brazilian Shamanism

All religions, whatever their differing tenets concerning the relationship between humans and divinity, offer counseling to those who seek an approach to their own connections to the spiritual life, and who want to increase their understanding of the importance of spirituality to human existence. Beyond these aspects held in common with other religions, Afro-Brazilian shamanism includes unique practices for treatment of physical and mental disturbances, when these are seen to be caused by energetic disequilibria. Practitioners are drawn to this belief system because they understand it as the only method possible for contact and relationship with the orixás, the spiritual entities who are believed to maintain the human energetic field and the equilibrium of mind and body.
The principal objective of setting up the houses of Candomblé, the actual physical centers of Candomblé activity, is the offering of assistance to those who seek spiritual guidance and solutions to problems of health. For example, a census carried out in 1980 by the Federacão Baiana do Culto Afro-Brasiliano registered 1500 Candomblé centers in Bahia. Each house is under the direction of its so-called spiritual caretaker, an ordained member holding the highest degree in the hierarchy of that house.
During a consultation the spiritual caretaker, after casting seashells, establishes voluntary contact with the consulter’s guardian spirit, or orixá, and, depending on the level of communication with the spirit world or extrasensory perception, proceeds to conduct some form of dialogue with the spiritual entity concerning the person under consultation. Good health in the Afro-Brazilian tradition is understood as depending on the correct relationship of the orixás and the individual, a relationship mediated by the energetic field and the mind of the individual.
In some circumstances, the light (energy) emanating from the guardian spirits (orixás) may be deficient, causing problems in the energetic equilibrium of the mind and body of the person asking for help. When such an energy deficiency exists, the individual may present vague and ill-defined symptoms, similar to those of functional disturbances, such as lack of physical energy and motivation, diminished libido, dizziness, headaches, and other physical and mental complaints without a defined pathological correlation. Where a definite clinical pathology already exists, the spiritual caretaker refers the patient to conventional medical treatment.
Thus a harmonious coexistence is possible between those whose practice is based on Afro-Brazilian beliefs and those who practice conventional allopathic medical science. The energy used in the process of revitalization is called axé (force), and its sources lie in the animal, mineral, and vegetable realms of nature.

The rites used are reserved to the initiated and consequently are not performed in the main room of the houses. The rites involve making offerings of energetic essences to be metabolized and retained by the orixás, who thereby recover their capacity to act as protecting entities. Once these procedures have been completed, the individual, now properly sustained by guardian spirits, is expected to enjoy good health, at least with respect to the restoration of equilibrium of energy in mind and body. When indicated, treatment may be complemented by psychospiritual counseling.

By Vinícius Braga Martins da Costa in the book 'Shamanism: An Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices, and Culture', v. 1, edited by Mariko Namba Walter and Eva Jane Neumann Fridman, ABC-CLIO, Inc. Santa Barbara, California USA, 2004, p.371-374. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.