The spiritist movement in Chile, according to Edmeire Pereira Possanho

Edmeire Pereira Possanho (photo), from the Brazilian city of São Paulo, has lived in the capital of Chile, Santiago, for the past 21 years. She is a member of the board of directors of the Buena Nueva Spiritist Centre. She also works as a volunteer at the Spiritist Federation of Chile, of which she is one of the founders. In this interview she talks about her experience within Spiritism and particularly in Chile’s Spiritist Movement:

How did you become a Spiritist?

I was born in the state capital, São Paulo, but when I was eight we moved to a small town called Tapiratiba, where my maternal grandparents lived. We lived in a house just opposite the local Spiritist Centre, which my mother, my aunts and my grandparents attended. I grew up going to their meetings every Sunday. When I moved back to the capital, I began studying Spiritism and joined a local Spiritist Centre along with my husband. And we carried on when we moved to another Brazilian city, Belo Horizonte, joining a local Spiritist Centre there. 

How was it when you arrived to live in Chile?

When I first came here, I soon made a network of friends. One of my friends took me for the first time to the Buena Nueva Spiritist Centre, and I’m still there. I also used to meet regularly for coffee with a group of friends from Brazil and other countries. Three of them were Spiritists and that gave us the idea of setting up in 2008 a Brazilian Gospel study group, which is still going on. We meet once a week online, as many of those friends have now moved back to Brazil or other countries. 

Tell us a bit about the Spiritist Movement in Chile. 

Chile is a predominantly Catholic country, from a cultural perspective. For that reason, Chileans are very reluctant to talk about religion and it’s even more difficult to discuss Spiritism. But, as a member of the federation, I had to carry out a survey for the International Spiritist Council, and I found out that there were many study groups in the country. Some of them were quite old and coexist, under the radar, with Spiritist Centres that have been formally registered.  

Are Chileans changing their perception of Spiritism?

I think they’re clearly changing their perception. It used to be very difficult to talk openly about Spiritism to Chilean people, who associated it with witchcraft or with the practice of mediums who charged for their services. But the local Spiritist Movement is expanding and there was an important participation of Chileans in a South American Spiritist Congress we hosted in 2015. That was a true watershed in the local Spiritist Movement, even though Spiritism had been known in Chile since 1862.

Are the Spiritist meetings attended only by Brazilians or also by Chileans? Which language is used?

Our Spiritist Centre is attended by people of many nationalities. We have many Chileans, Venezuelans, Peruvians and Brazilians. Some come to us already with prior knowledge of Spiritism from their original countries. Others arrive without knowing anything. That’s why we prioritise our study groups. Spanish is the language we use all the time, not only for our meetings and events, but also for the books and other material we provide. We don’t have here the same diversity and quality of the material produced in Brazil and books in Chile are taxed, which makes them expensive. But after the coronavirus pandemic, there’s been remarkable growth in the digital platforms and people have been able to access a lot more content online. The access to free online magazines and material on the websites of Spiritist federations has really helped spread Spiritism in Chile. 

What would you share from your life experience in Spiritism?

As I often say to those who first come to our Spiritist Centre, Spiritism is about an internal process that each one has to develop, individually, in order to “become a Spiritist.” Each country, each different place has a different form of Spiritism. And that’s exactly what I mean: a different form of Spiritism, according to the needs of the region and to the people who live there, not to mention the influence of those who are in positions of power in the local Spiritist Movement, who naturally help shape it. 

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I would like to highlight once again the importance of the Spiritist Congress we hosted in 2015, which had the presence of Divaldo Franco. That helped us spread the message of Spiritism to many more people. Even with the challenges we had because of the language barrier, it was a momentous event for Chile’s Spiritist Movement, and especially for Spiritism in the capital, Santiago. 

Progress brought us the pandemic, which offered us challenges as well as opportunities, including the possibility of increasing our online presence. Many people have benefited from that and they have been able to access new content online. Like many other Spiritist Centres, we have been able to offer talks and study groups online and we now have hybrid activities. 

I would like to express my gratitude to online publications such as O Consolador, which provides us with the opportunity to access a vast range of material online. And I must thank our Spiritual Benefactors, who have guided the progress of our Spiritist Centre in Santiago. One day, in the near future, I’m sure that  all the seeds that we have been planting will flourish through the works and lessons inside the codification of Allan Kardec.