The Intellectual

Abstract

Abstract The person most responsible for the Valley’s theology and, arguably, its success as a religious movement was Mário Sassi, nicknamed the “Intellectual.” Sassi’s first meeting with Aunt Neiva convinced him that she was a “superbeing” whose “fundamental mission is to prepare us for the future.” Sassi subsequently left his family and career to “bear witness to the Spirit of the Truth” by synthesizing Aunt Neiva’s visionary experiences and forging a comprehensive doctrinal system from the revelations that she claimed to receive from highly evolved entities. To do so, he drew on his own deep knowledge of Spiritist and esoteric literature. Working together as prophetic visionary and interpreter/theologian, the two institutionalized the Valley’s distinctive beliefs and practices and established a gendered model of spiritual labor that continues to structure the ritual work of the community today.