Mestre Glacus, dedication to the Work of Mestre Gabriel

Otávio Castello*

      “If today we travel on an asphalted and well-marked road, it’s because those who came before us opened, by hard blows of the machete and with sacrifice, the first footpath in the dense forest.”

This is how Mestre Glacus Souza Brito demonstrated his recognition for those who came before him on the struggle toward the legalization of the Vegetal. Together with other valuable brothers and sisters, he developed actions in defense of the Beneficent Spiritist Center União do Vegetal, providing the reality that we caianinhos enjoy today: to drink the Vegetal without questions of its legality.

Read Also: Mestre Glacus, arms open towards good, text by Else Piacentini Medeiros Fortunato.

In 1986, with other doctors of the UDV, Mestre Glacus founded the Center for Medical Studies of the UDV – today the Medical and Scientific Department of the General Directorate of the União do Vegetal (DEMEC). Initially to meet and disseminate scientific information regarding the Vegetal, this center articulated the movements that resulted in the “Hoasca Project” – the first study of the effects of the tea in human beings.

In order for this to have occuered, in 1992, he took an unpaid leave from his government job, journeying throughout Brazilian universities so that they might join the project. This resulted in a workforce of scientists from ten institutions from Brazil, the United States and Finland, who met in Manaus (AM) to carry out the study, which is still a global reference today.

In 1999, Mestre Glacus testified in American court with respect to the effects of the Vegetal on human health, having been considered as a field expert by national authorities. During the next two years, other testimonies occurred, in person and by telephone – sometimes in tense and challenging environments. In all of them, he always conducted himself with tranquility, demonstrating confidence in the orientations of our Great Mestre Gabriel, and in the victory of the UDV. It is a victory registered in the decision of the United States Supreme Court, which affirmed that the North-American government was not capable of demonstrating that the ritual use of the Vegetal does harm to the health.

It was also during this period, together with Mestre Edison Saraiva Neves, that they carried out the program “Health and Longevity of our memory” – a proposal for the care of the mestres of antiquity. That initiative assisted the General Directorate in the contracting of the health plan that still assists our first brothers today.

Mestre Glacus worked daily, after attending his patients, on the responsibilities of the DEMEC. He represented the UDV before governmental authorities and in countless events before national and international scientists. His example of dedication and responsibility with the Work of Mestre Gabriel will forever be among us. “It was thanks to him that the first scientific studies in the world were done about ayahuasca,” – as summed up by Professor Dr. Dartiu Xavier da Silveira, Brazilian reference in research with the Vegetal.

*Doctor and member of the Instructive Body of Nucleo Rei Hoasqueiro (Brasilia-DF). Between 1999 and 2003, he was the assistant to Mestre Glacus de Souza Brito in the Medical and Scientific Department of the General Directorate of the Beneficent Spiritist Center União do Vegetal (DEMEC).

Chain of Good

Friends and family of mestre Glacus de Souza Brito organized an online action to assist in the payment of the health treatment costs and to assist the family. Click here and learn how to contribute.