Friends of Santo Daime in Australia

Acochar : Difficulty lived during a spiritual work.

Afilhado : A spiritual protege. In the Santo Daime tradition, when someone has chosen a more experienced member of the community to be his or her Padrinho or Madrinha, that person becomes their afilhado, transforming the realtionship to that of master and disciple.

Agarrube (Rei Agarrube) : An entity quoted by Mestre Irineu in his hymns. One of the three Kings of the Forest, he is also identified as one of the Three Holy Kings, together with Titango and Tintuma.

Alto Santo : A place near the city of Rio Branco where Mestre Irineu formed his first congregation.

Ayahuasca : Drink used by the Incas in mystical ceremonies to contact disincarnated entities and spirits.

Aparelho : The vessel, or medium, who receives and manifests the spirit in the mind and body.

Apuração : The point in the process of the cooking of the sacred plants when the mixture becomes the Daime, the entheogenic drink. It is also used similarly, when in the works our interior journey becomes intense, even hard sometimes, demanding transformation, and purification.

Apuro : Short for apuração.

Arquétipos : Archetypes, primitive mental substrates.

Atuação : A form of spirit manifestation in which, through a medium, spirits are called to manifest both in the mind and in the physical body (especially the latter).

Atuar : To manifest the spirit in the body and mind.

Bailado : Collective dance performed during the ritual that is rhythmically marked by the maracas as the hymns are sung. The dancing is choreographed to generate an energy field and a spiritual current.

Bailar : To dance the bailado.

Bailava, Bailavam : Singular past tense and plural past tense of bailar.

Balançar : To shake, to tremble.

Balanço : The strong trembling or shaking that precedes purification.

Banca Espirita or Banca de Trabalho : Popular healing-spirit work in rural Brazil deeply influenced by the Yoruba culture in Brazil.

Barum (Barum Marum) : ?

Bateção : The ritual "beating" of the caapi vine by a group of twelve men with special hammers to release the fibres in preparation for the cooking process. The bateção can take several hours and happens in a strict rhythm, setting the pace for the hymns being sung.

Batedor : An enchanted being of Amazonian folklore that lives in the water of the igarape. The "batedor" produces a loud clapping sound, hence its name (one who pounds or beats).

Bezerra de Menezes (José) : A homeopathic doctor and 19th century politician, prominent in the Brazilian spiritist movement, whom Padrinho Sebastião was said to have mediumistic contact with.

BG (Begê) : The sociologist Juarez Duarte Bomfim, in his ebook O Jardim de Belas Flores [pdf] commentary on Mestre Irineu's O Cruzeiro hymnbook, has postulated that BG may stand for "Bom Guarda o Bom Guardião", literally "good guard or good guardian" and may be a deity or divine being, possibly Mestre Irineu himself.

Bicho : Negative spiritual beings which sometimes accompany neophytes during work with Santo Daime.

Caapi : The name chosen by the English ethnobotanist Richard Spruce, in the 19th century to designate the type of Banisteriopsis with which the natives of Amazon prepare the entheogenic drink called ayahuasca or Daime.

Caboclo : The more evolved entities of the Yoruba spiritual tradition who are related to the spirit of the natives of the forest.

Caravaca Cross : Also known as the Saint Andre Cross. Traditionally from Northern Spain, it was introduced into Santo Daime by Mestre Irineu. This cross symbolically acknowledges the Second Coming of Christ with a second horizontal cross beam.

Casa da Bateção : The room in the Casa do Feitio where the vine is macerated to the rhythms of the hymns.

Casa de Estrela : House where healing works are performed.

Casa do Feitio : The building where the Daime, the sacred entheogenic drink that is used in the rituals, is prepared. The Feitio is one of the most important celebrations of the calendar.

Cavalo : See Aparelho.

Céu do Mapiá : The Daime community where reside the original church and its people. With a population of about six hundred people, it is characterized by great beauty, cleanliness, education, and a balanced relationship with the surrounding environment. It was founded by Padrinho Sebastião in the 1980s.

Chacrona : One of the names used for Psychotria viridis, an indispensable plant in the preparation of Santo Daime.

Chamada : Call or invocation of a being or group of spiritual beings (phalanges) through hymns or songs.

Circulo Esoterico : A spiritual center created in São Paulo at the beginning of the 20th century, associated with the founding leaders of the Santo Daime doctrine.

Colônia 5000 : The place where Padrinho Sebastião created his first congregation after leaving Alto Santo and where the seeds of the community were planted.

Compadre : A term of friendship used in the interior of Brazil.

Concentração : Mediation works with the use of the Santo Daime. The Concentração occurs twice each month on the 15th and the 30th.

CONAD : Conselho Nacional Antidrogas, the anti-drug council of the institutional security cabinet in the Brazilian presidential office.

CONFEN : Conselho Federal de Entorpecentes, the former Brazilian federal council on narcotics, absorbed by CONAD in 1998.

Correio da má notícia : "The Bad News Post Office," the name given by Mestre Irineu to the circulation of gossip and things said and passed from one to another without knowledge of their source. According to him, this is responsible for many illnesses and afflictions that disturb the world.

Currupipipiraguá : Labate & Pacheco (As Matrizes Maranhenses do Santo Daime) hypothesize it to be a transformation of Curupira, a religious entity from the northeastern Brazilian state of Maranhão, where Mestre Irineu was born.

Daimista : A practitioner of the Santo Daime religion.

DIMED : Divisao de Medicamentos (do Ministerio da Saude), the Brazilian ministry of health, division of controlled substances.

Dona : Popular title for married women; Mrs.

Encosto : The influence of a spirit entitiy in the aura of a living person. It usually referes to a presence that is not benign.

Enteógeno : Entheogen, a neologism created from the Greek entheos or God inside me in scientific circles to describe plants which induce experience of the divine.

Equior : ?

Estado Maior : Word borrowed from the army to define the body of "fardados," who have many responsibilities during the works.

Estrela : See Casa de Estrela.

Eu Sou : "I am", an assertion going back to the response given by God to Moses. In the 18th century, the Comte de Saint Germain produced a book known today in English as The "I AM" Discourses. Padrinho Sebastião much appreciated this assertion that he knew through a book by Jorge Adoum.

Eu Superior : Self with a capital "S", the very high or divine part of the conscience of oneself.

Exu : Eshu, a major entity of Candomblé, an afro-Brazilian religion. It is the messenger between men and the gods (Orixás). In Umbanda , it represents a line of not very advanced spirits which can sometimes help when they are called upon.

Fardado : Those who have officially entered the Santo Daime church, and wear the uniform during ceremonies.

Feitio : The ritual celebration to make the Santo Daime, the sacred drink.

Fiscal : A church member officially designated to see that all rules of the works are complied with, and to help brothers and sisters when needed.

Fontenele de Castro (Manoel) : A governor of Acre, and friend of Mestre Irineu.

Força : "Force", the power of the Daime.

Gira : Umbanda rituals are usually held in a clearing in the bush, or terreiro. There the mediums and the entities are present and under inspiration of drums and special songs in the Gira, a moving ring, where healing works are performed. In the UmbanDaime these rituals are combined with drinking Daime tea.

Hinário : The works that represent the apex celebration of the official calendar, where the sacred drink is ingested, and the hymns are sung and danced to, from dusk to dawn. Also the book of sacred, channeled hymns received by members of the Santo Daime and are sung at every Daime work.

Hymn : Songs received by the initiated direct from the spiritual world, each carrying a teaching. They are sung during the works and belong to the whole community.

Homem Perfeito : "Perfect man", a new Adam, spoken of in the Jewish cabala. The whole man in which the higher "Self" is realized as a result of spiritual practice. The divine prototype of the human creature symbolized by the master Jesus.

Império Juramidam : "Empire of Juramidam" is the name given to the astral empire where the people of Juramidam connect themselves.

Igarapé : Small river in the Amazon forest.

INCRA : Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria. The [Brazilian] government agency in charge of administering and distributing unfertile land to rural workers.

Jaci : ?

Jagube : The name used for Banisteriopsis caapi.

Janaína (Princesa Janaína) : ?

Jura : Third person present tense of Jurar.

Juramidam : The name given by Mestre Irineu to the Divine Being who lives in the spiritual drink. Juramidam presides over the spiritual lineage of the Santo Daime. The hymns speak of Juramidam as being the new manifestation of Christ in the forest.

Jurar : To make an oath, a commitment.

Macumba : A pejorative designation given popularly to all the afro-Brazilian spiritualistic lines. Name usually given to the experts of black magic, mainly those of the line of Quimbanda.

Macumbeire : Black maguan.

Macumbeiro : A practitioner of Macumba.

Madrinha : Literally "grandmother," also the name for the female spiritual leaders in the Santo Daime tradition.

Marachimbé : According to Padrinho Eduardo Salles Freitas, Marachimbé is a divine being, a disciplinarian, who helps God and good, always with a whip in the hand.

Marum (Barum Marum) : ?

Médiunidade : "Mediumship", the spiritual gift well known since the antiquity, which began to be codified in the 19th century in France by Alan Kardec, father of the spiritist doctrines. Mediumship is the capacity to become a channel for disincarnated spirits that can appear in many ways.

Mestre : Master.

Miração : The ecstatic visionary state characteristic of the Santo Daime, wherein each person becomes protagonist of his or her shamanic flight.

Mirando : First person singular past tense of "mirar".

Mirar : To have a miração.

Mirou : Third person singular past tense of "mirar".

Mutuca : Ferocious mosquitoes.

Mysterium tremendum : Awe-inspiring mystery, the inexplicable mystery of the universe and life's existence.

Ogum Beira Mar : The Yoruba deity of war and iron, and in this case also related to the edge of the ocean.

Opéradores : "Operators", a category of spirits appearing during spiritist moments of Santo Daime. When it is still in the physical life, the spirit passes by various tests of training which improve its faculties for the day of separation with the world of the matter (disincarnation).

Padrinho : The male spiritual leaders in the Santo Daime tradition. Literally it means "godfather".

Papai Paxá : An indigenous entity, or spirit.

Passagem : The special moment within the spiritual work, when each person needs to overcome quickly what is being crystallized to attain transformation. Depending on the resistance to the surrender asked by the Daime, the "passagem" is made with some effort and suffering.

Peia : Purgative process starting sometimes with the use of the sacred drink, Daime. It is regarded as a cleaning at the physical level and a discipline necessary to resolve resistances and crystallizations of Ego interior.

Pegado : The fact of being taken by the force of ayahuasca at the time of a ritual.

Pelado : Negative entity, a spirit living in the darkness.

Pomba-Gira : Feminine entity related to the material and sensual dimension.

Professor Antônio-Jorge : A spiritual guide of Padrinho Sebastião prior to beginning his work with Daime.

Puxadoras : Woman singers who lead the hymns for the rest of the group to follow.

Rainha : Short for "Rainha da Floresta" (Forest Queen), guardian of the Daime doctrine. Psychotria viridis is also referred to as "Rainha."

Raspação : A step in the process of making the Daime. Literally it means "to scrape."

Rio de Ouro : Place where Padrinho Sebastião moved in 1980 and remained with his community until the establishment of Céu do Mapia.

Ripi Iaiá : ?

São Irineu : Theologian and one of the first martyrs of Christianity, who lived in the 2nd century and was a disciple of Saint Polycarpe.

São Policarpo : Saint Polycarpe, a direct disciple of St. John the Evangelist.

Serviço : Session, or round, of spiritual work.

Seu : Popular title for married men; Mr.

Soloína (Princesa Soloína) : ?

Star House : See Casa de Estrela.

Star-works : Healing works that are part of the mission of charity of the Santo Daime doctrine.

Tarumim : Spirit entity related to fresh water, waterfalls, and springs. Brought to the Santo Daime through one of Mestre Irineu's hymns.

Tintuma (Rei Tintuma) : See Agarrube.

Titango (Rei Titango) : See Agarrube.

Trabalho : Literally "works"; it is the name for the ritual in the Santo Daime tradition in which the Daime is offered as Eucharist.

Trabalho de Cura : Sessions carried out by Santo Daime for the reception of the patients and needy. Healing hymns are sung on this occasion. This work is also carried out at the time of Star work.

Trancado : Literally "locked", when someone is blocked by a negative entity and the way closes, thus bringing problems and suffering.

Tranca-Rua : Entity from the Afro-Brazilian diaspora. As a messenger between gods and men, they can therefore do good and evil.

Tucum : Name of a caboclo, an entity with a lot of power and knowledge. In the native Brazilian Tupi language, tucum is also a name for the palm, Bactris setosa, from which strong fiber is made.

Tuperci : ?

Umbanda : Spiritual line born at the beginning of the 20th century in Brazil, a syncretic mix of indigenous, African and Christian elements.

Umbandaime : The synthesis of Umbanda and Santo Daime.

União do Vegetal : One of the main groups in Brazil using the ayahuasca in their rituals.

Unio Mystica : Mystical union, communion with the mysterium tremendum.

Works : See trabalhos.

Yagé : Another common name for ayahuasca or Santo Daime.

Sources :

Forest of Visions, by Alex Polari (Park Street Press, 1999)

Glossaire à l'usage des daimistes (Version 2)
http://libertedusantodaime.free.fr/textes/glossaire/glossaire.php