Mestre Zé Luiz – 60 years telling the story of his Mestre

| 19 march, 2025

In 1971, in Manaus-AM, after hearing Mestre José Luiz de Oliveira tell the Story of Hoasca (story told in the União do Vegetal that explains the origin of Hoasca Tea), Mestre Gabriel, founder of the União do Vegetal, says “that the Mestre telling his own story is one thing, and the disciple telling the story of the Mestre is another thing”. Today, on the date that we celebrate 60 years of Mestre José Luiz in the União do Vegetal, we, Emanuella* and Juliane Oliveira**, UDV disciples, are thankful for the opportunity to tell a bit about the history of one of the Mestres of the Origin that comes telling his story and that of our Spiritual Guide, Mestre Gabriel.

On a Tuesday in 1965, José Luiz de Oliveira, a 28-year-old young man, arrived at a brickyard in Porto Velho, RO, to pick up a shipment of one thousand bricks from Mr. Gabriel. A partner in a construction company in the city, Zé Luiz was driving the company truck that day in substitution of the normal driver who was absent at that moment. For this reason, he meets with the owner of the brickyard, the Bahian, José Gabriel da Costa. After greeting one another, Zé Luiz observes a group of people gathered in a covered area of the brickyard around that man and some kerosene cans on the fire with vines boiling inside. He approaches and asks: what’s that? With few words, the owner of the brickyard explains that they were preparing a tea. A medicine for the spirit. A tea to get closer to God.

The response calls his attention, and he says afterwards (to get closer to God), that this is what he was after. Zé Luiz already had a spiritual search that stood out. He was part of the Mariana Congregation as a child, he was following the Rosicrucian Order when he met the UDV and he was a scholar of the teachings and mysteries of Jesus. As he himself says, he was a seeker from a young age – “a seeker of pain, no, a seeker of love, of the presence of God”. At the encounter at the brickyard, Mestre Gabriel invites José Luiz to participate in a Session of the União do Vegetal. Wednesday, the 17th, at 1215 Abunã Street at 8pm. He made clear the importance of him being on time. Zé Luiz, very connected to everything he was hearing, presented himself at the agreed upon date and time, and drank the Vegetal for the first time and felt the force of the burracheira and of the União.

The day after his first Session, he noticed that he could help. The dirt floor in the room used for the Sessions was not very easy to clean after the works. And Zé Luiz, considering his ability to work with construction, talks to Mestre Gabriel about installing a floor and that he would be responsible for making it happen. Zé Luiz arrived at the União and dedicated himself to work in a very disciplined manner, with the purpose of contributing to the Sacred Work created by Mestre Gabriel. He sought to work and not give work. And this, in addition of serving as an example, is a constant motto throughout his trajectory over his 60 years in the União do Vegetal.

Among his many contributions, we can highlight his ease of learning and transmitting the teachings of Mestre Gabriel, as a member of the Council of the Recordation of the Teachings of Mestre Gabriel. Today, thanks to him and other Mestres of the Origin, and also other first brothers and sisters, Mestre Gabriel’s teachings are consolidated and preserved. In addition to this – which is already one of the treasures of the UDV – Mestre Zé Luiz, together with Mestre Hilton Pereira Pinho, also wrote, under the supervision of Mestre Gabriel, the first Statutes of the UDV and some of the Bulletins, among them the Bulletin of Consciousness in Firmness – these documents are read in every UDV Escala Session and guide the material and spiritual works of the Beneficent Spiritist Center União do Vegetal. He also wrote the article “Velando Enquanto Dorme” (“Keeping Watch While Sleeping”), published on June 16th, 1971 in the O Guaporé newspaper.

While still in the presence of Mestre Gabriel, Mestre Zé Luiz also contributed to the creation of the first arch that is used in the Salon of the Vegetal and brought chamadas (hymns) that are made in the Sessions to bring the presence and the teachings of Mestre Gabriel and of Jesus. He has also participated in the standardization of the uniform that we use in the Escala Sessions and has made valuable contributions to the constructions of Núcleos and Temples in many cities in Brazil and abroad. He has occupied many roles in the Directorate of the UDV since 1967, having been elected as the first Secretary of the first Directorate. He was the second disciple to arrive to the Body of Counsel and one of the first eight Mestres of the Origin trained by Mestre Gabriel himself – receiving the title of Mestre for Firmness in 1966. And, among these eight, is the one who keeps battling and overcoming with us, raising the symbol of the União do Vegetal, which is Light, Peace and Love, wherever he goes.

He has occupied every place a Mestre of the UDV can occupy (except Central Assistant Mestre, which was created in 2010), among them the place of General Representative Mestre for two consecutive terms. In 2000, while General Representative Mestre, he – together with the North American brothers and sisters – went to the United States Supreme Court to defend the sacred right to take communion of the Hoasca Tea in our religious Sessions in that country. And he, together with the entire União do Vegetal, was victorious. Under his leadership, he worked alongside other valuable brothers and sisters for the integration of the Universal Order of the Temple of Solomon (OTUS) to the Beneficent Spiritist Center União do Vegetal. For 60 years, since his encounter with Mestre Gabriel at the brickyard that Tuesday in March of 1965, Mestre Zé Luiz has helped and continues helping in the training of leaders of the Center in Brazil and in other countries where the União do Vegetal is present today.

In the União do Vegetal we see these Mestres of the Origin that gave their full support to Mestre Gabriel. Mestre Zé Luiz is one of them and his name stands out. We can see this in the chamadas he has brought and in the things that he explains. He did a good job as the General Representative Mestre. He is a person of great value. {M. Jair Gabriel da Costa, current General Representative Mestre}.

Throughout the time I have shared with my friend Mestre Zé Luiz – I was his Assistant for two terms –, it was possible to see him constantly working to validate the word of the Mestre, presenting his doctrine and transmitting his teachings, showing his loyalty. In his memory lies, in addition to his own story, his ability to transmit the teachings of the Mestre and to develop them in such a way that conducts the disciples to a better understanding. I would like to highlight his immense and admirable resilience, which allows us to have him present in the moments of reflection and decision-making within our União. {M. Roberto Evangelista – in memoriam}.

Poet and singer, Mestre Zé Luiz has sought to be a student since he arrived in the presence of Mestre Gabriel. He gave up climbing the ladder in society at-large in order to follow Mestre Gabriel and plant himself in the União do Vegetal. And today, at the height of his 87 years (almost 88 years), he continues to teach us what he learned from his Mestre, compadre and friend. His presence makes us happy and shows us that difficulties can be overcome with strength and courage… The smile on his face and his firm words when transmitting the theme of love for the União do Vegetal comfort us and guide us in this great path of Mestre Gabriel. A path of light that is made by walking, singing and rejoicing in the goodness of God.

To Mestre Zé Luiz, our sincerest thanks for all the love dedicated to Mestre Gabriel and to the União do Vegetal. If today we are happy to find ourselves in this Safe Harbor getting closer to God, we owe it to you, as well as to the other first brothers who understood Mestre Gabriel’s message and engraved the UDV in their heart… And may you continue, by the grace of God and the Virgin Mary, to have the disposition to tell us with firmness your story and the story of your Mestre (and our Mestre too).

–
*Emanuella Gomes de Oliveira is the wife of Mestre Zé Luiz and is a member of the Body of Counsel of Núcleo Convite Aos Encantos (Formosa-GO);

**Juliane Oliveira integra is in the Instructive Body of Núcleo Rei Hoasqueiro (Brasília-DF).