Denominational Diversification
The death of Mestre Irineu in 1971 resulted in a diversification within the Santo Daime community. From a global perspective, the most significant of these occurred when Sebastiao Mota de Melo, commonly called Padrinho Sebastiao, left the original center with a large group of his followers, and formed a group known as CEFLURIS. Many of Padrinho Sebastiao's followers were Brazilians from the country's affluent south or citizens of other South American countries who were interested in Daime because of their experience with the middle-class counterculture.
According to church documents, this split also entailed disagreement over the use of cannabis. Followers of Sebastiao Mota de Melo believed marijuana to be a healing plant teacher, and referred to it as Santa Maria, using it in ceremony to help their mediumship (embodying of spirits for the purpose of healing), though in recent years the use of cannabis in church ceremonies has been prohibited. Followers of Mestre Irineu have always regarded the use of cannabis, as well as mediumship generally, as outside the doctrine.
In the early 1980s Padrinho Sebastiao moved the church headquarters to Ceu do Mapia. Control of CEFLURIS was increasingly shared with the southern intellectuals who joined the movement in the 1970s, and in the 1980s CEFLURIS established centers in southern Brazil. The group now has affiliates in North America, Europe, and Japan, as well as throughout Brazil.
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