Happiness is not only your right, it’s your duty : the new age spiritism of Salto Quântico

Abstract

Salto Quântico is a rapidly growing religious movement based in Aracaju, Brazil. Syncretising New Age, Spiritist and Christian precepts, the group exposes followers to spiritual discourse and ideology imparted by enlightened spirit guides through leader and medium, Benjamin Teixeira de Aguiar Machado.

The group encourages its followers to embrace the adage, “Happiness is not only your right; it’s your duty!” This paper will draw on ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviews conducted in Aracaju in 2012, and will critically consider and explore the ways in which the group encourages adherents to seek happiness in the midst of the challenges of late modern life in Brazil; namely through participation in the group’s spiritual community, progressive interpretations of sexual identity and sexuality, and spiritual discourse around happiness and the combating of depression.