Santo Daime expansion and ayahuasca visions

Record summary

Santo Daime, founded earlier by Raimundo Irineu Serra, expanded through Brazilian communities during the 1970s and 1980s under leaders including Sebastião Mota de Melo. Ritual use of ayahuasca was interpreted within a Christian, Indigenous, and esoteric framework involving hymns, visions, healing, spiritual warfare, and contact with sacred beings. The tradition matters for comparison because visionary testimony is institutionally repeated through liturgy rather than centered on one apparition. Researchers should consult ethnographies and legal records, distinguishing pharmacological effects, religious interpretation, and claims of miraculous healing.