Santo Daime - Urban Communities
José Murilo C. Carvalho Jr.

The Hymns are the currents

Whenever I think of the Santo Daime doctrine, I feel a special emotion for being around such a living and ever increasing experience. Actually, the cultural movement we are dealing with is deeply concerned with the late century’s current urgencies, and bears significant specifications deserving highlighting. I refer here to the Santo Daime hymns, or "Daime Songs", as they are already known, even in Internet. A constant personal and group revelation instrument, the hymn plays the role of spreading the doctrinal message and widens the search for harmony by means of the chanting, the music, and the rhythm during the sessions’ performance.
Like anything else regarding the Daime, everything about the hymns started with Raimundo Irineu Serra. Without any musical knowledge or skill, Master Irineu was assigned to introduce the chanting as a communion tool within the framework of the special state of consciousness the beverage brings about. In fact, the chanting of spiritually inspired songs in ayahuasca sessions is not something new, but the all-participant democratized performance is a trademark of the movement from Rio Branco.
On his early days with the ayahuasca, Master Irineu used to hear some singing murmurs along with the sacred assignment of sharing these messages with those who followed him and preparing the songs to be solemnly and vibrantly sung while consecrating the beverage in the spiritual sessions. Thus, by the Daime’s power, the messages he heard, from seemingly naive lines, gradually grew into a vigorous doctrinal guidance, and the vibration of ideas and symbols contained in the hymns revealed their unifying power.
In the course of the sessions, Master Irineu’s followers began to access that same revelation channel and to form their own hymnals. In this way, as the chanting goes on in the sessions, hymns are channeled by the members and the group is constantly fed with new relevant instructions. Revelation is democratized, thus making the members’ identification with the doctrine’s mission a direct experience, for a personal revelation is involved. The hymns are a fantastic means of fostering the group’s cohesion and restating the doctrine’s values.
Several concepts may be raised in an attempt to explain the inspiration process which gives rise to the hymns: one may speak of psycho-musicographic messages, or of musical-poetic messages from the spiritual dimension, or even of pure and simple personal spiritual inspiration. But only through the experience of "receiveing a hymn" can one bear a closer testimony of the phenomenon. Those who get in touch with the doctrine and realize it backs up their process of self-realization immediately feel a special attraction for the message in the hymns, and they may even begin to hear their own singing murmurs.
The experience of "receiving hymns," according to some, is similar to an "insight," as it is known in psychotherapy terminology. Generally, it condenses a kind of vision or approach to a certain subject, invariably invoking positive forces through the Daime specific symbols. It may bear transforming messages both for the repository and the group. In short, the message received through the hymn can mean route corrections, greetings, invocations, teachings, or simply celebration, but it always highlights how valuable union is - and such union is actually represented in the communion of voices.
As from Padrinho Sebastião’s hymnal, and after some communities were founded on the basis of his application of the doctrine, a new practice was incorporated as regards the hymn channeling - now, when some hymns were received during the sessions, the repository was guided to dedicate them to a certain group member. Besides, it became a common occurrence for the repository to realize the relationship between the message and the person to whom it was dedicated. This mechanism has helped deepen the fraternal loving understanding among the group members.
When members from different churches travel to take part in national and international doctrine meetings, they interchange hymnals and listen to the "latest hymns" from more or less prominent brothers and sisters. Some are famous for the beauty of their hymns, while others collect tens of hymns offered by other people. Within the Daime culture, the hymns form a transcendental language whereby a number of liturgical, social and identity functions are naturally performed for the doctrine’s sake.
Then, in the communities as a whole there are "rehearsals", when hymnals from prominent doctrine masters are sung so as to be perfectly performed in traditional festivities. This also enables each of the members to share the messages they receive and to see their hymns approved by the community and transformed into official doctrine hymns. Thus, a personal hymnal is like a banner to be unfurled, and that is a feature of the Daime doctrine which deserves special consideration.
In this process, several aspects of the individual self and the interpersonal relations are worked out by making use of the special state of consciousness provided by the Daime. For the hymn repository, singing it before the group while the beverage is being consecrated encompasses several purports: (1) the personal accomplishment of giving something out to the group, something which came from that very context and serves as a strengthening device; (2) the loving acceptance of the new hymn by the members, who sing it along; (3) the spreading of personal issues so that they may be immediately absorbed as a message to the group, something with a cathartic effect for the repository; and some other broader dimensions characteristic of the doctrine itself.
It is worth further analyzing the three above mentioned aspects. (1) The moment of showing the community a new received hymn implies a disclosure, when the "fardado" (initiate) shows the others the "flowers from his garden." That is when the Daime teachings manifest themselves in the format of the doctrine, being expressed in hymns and portraying personal moments sythesized into symbols (generally pertaining to the Daime pantheon) that project personal issues powdered into positive solutions to the group. (2) As the other participants endeavor to align their voices to the melody and understand the message contained in the hymn, they are lovingly accepting the "gift" dedicated to them, being aware that the time will come when they will also face this situation of showing the group a hymn and that they will also be counting on the support from the group for the task of "confirming" the hymn. (3) In this process, the hymn message, at first focused on the repository’s viewpoint, acquires new nuances as it reaches other minds. The hymn’s "owner" thus gets a feedback on his contribution, and much of the energy from the situation which gave rise to the hymn is transmuted.
Generally speaking and exploring the well-known therapeutical functions of music and singing, we know there are several dimensions to a melodic structure: rhythm, cadency, melody, and specific dynamics, besides the very textual message. The quest for harmony among those who hold a musical performance involves a precision feature which permeates these dimensions. This process, taking place within the framework of a special state of mind provided by the Daime, helps the integration and absorption of experiences involving inner personal contents into the session’s flow. Apart from that, the hymn can be read, heard and felt, making use of the senses as integration tools here and now and emphasizing down-to-earth aspects. Reality and structure features take advantage of music as a valuable therapeutical and collective referential means within the Santo Daime spiritual work.
Rhythm is also highlighted, since several participants play "maracás," metallic percussion instruments which determine the march, waltz, and mazurka (traditional Daime music styles) cadency. The several "maracás" have to get harmonized around the hymn’s pace, which may vary according the very peak the hymn reaches at certain moments of the sessions. But this always takes place by the guidance of the session leaders or the "puxadoras" (woman singers who first introduce the hymns for the rest of the group to follow). There are moments during the sessions when a certain disharmony is detected in the voices, "maracás", and other instruments. Since each session participant is able to realize these changes, this will certainly show them some personal nuance they should work on in order to bring harmony back into the group work. In situations such as these the session’s "firmness" is requested so that disharmony may be transmuted into perfection and the work stream may effect, within the various individual dimensions, the necessary transmutations for those specific moments.
Therefore, the basic commandment is that each participant should seek their adequacy within the rite, or, as the hymns say, that they should "keep the stream up" by doing their best. As the Daime spiritual sessions are characteriscally long, dealing with things such as fatigue, discouragement, and their respective symbolic corollaries is an important task. That is when one can realize that, within a Daime session, "the Master grants whatever is requested." The word "Daime" actually derives from verb to give ("dar" in Portuguese; whereas dai-me means "give me"). So a request, an invocation is made: give me light, give me strength, give me love. Once one realizes the energetic exchange mechanism permanently taking place during a session with the beverage, it is easier to take advantage of such a situation for the cleansing and transmutation process to take effect. With fatigue and discouragement being thus conquered and transmuted by the aid of the session’s special state of mind, there is a great possibility that the same thing is also going to happen in every day life. However, the neophyte must be aware of the many stages he has to go through before attaining the perception of this mechanism, which demands a good deal of concentration, discipline, and willingness to work.
This has been a brief report on how the Santo Daime doctrine is practiced in its spiritual sessions, particularly as regards the hymns. Although the whole doctrine experience is too unique and broad to be covered in words, I have tried to present a few of its basic concepts for the reader’s appreciation. I should also mention that so many other features are worth discussing, and that nothing replaces a direct experience with the beverage for those who are seriously interested in understanding the Santo Daime doctrine. But, as I said above, we are not supposed to invite anyone. Please be free to contact our Internet site for clarifying any doubts or obtaining any further information.

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