Arnaldo Carvalhais da Silveira Costeira has been a spiritist since 1976. He’s a colonel in the Portuguese Army, with a degree in Military Sciences and two published books – one of them, on Spiritism. He was born in Lamego and lives in Viseu.  He’s also president of the Cultural and Social Spiritist Association of Viseu and director of the Spiritist Newspaper, published by the Portuguese Spiritist Federtion. He’s also a member of another spiritist organisation recognised by the Portuguese government.  In  this  interview,  he talks about how he

became a spiritist and updates us on the spiritist movement in Portugal.

O Consolador: How was your first contact with Spiritism? 

It was in 1970, in Guinea Bissau, during the Colonial Wars. My wife and her mother were both spiritist and mediums. They had been introduced to the doctrine by Commander Isidoro Duarte Santos. They revealed what would happen to me during the war, saying I would be protected by my father, who was already disincarnated. They revealed the contents of a private conversation I had with him eight days before his disincarnation. 

O Consolador: What aspect of the spiritist doctrine draws you attention in particular and why?

I was hooked from the beginning by the phenomena, as I was drawn into Spiritism by the revelation I’ve just mentioned. And I only got really engaged in Spiritism once my elder daughter began to display clear signs of mediunity at the age of a year and a half. Those were unexplainable to e at the time and I was like forced then to study the Doctrine. 

O Consolador: How is the job of president of the Portuguese Spiritist Federation? 

Our organisation went through very difficult times not only during the First Republic, especially between 1910 and 1917, but mainly after 1949, with the creation of Second Republic by Salazar (NT: Antonio Salazar, prime minister of Portugal between 1932 and his death, in 1968). The political changes initiated on April 25^th, 1974 brought us a period of agitation and many disagreements between spiritists, who had been working in clandestinity. The marks from those difficult days are still with us and make the work of the federation particularly difficult. But I’ve always been motivated by new challenges. We have an extremely difficult task ahead of us, but a thrilling one, that of contributing to the propagation of spritism in Europe, so rich culturally and yet so far from spirituality. 

O Consolador: How many spiritist centres are there in Portugal? 

Sixty-four centres affiliated to the federation. There are some eighty other spritist centres which are not officially linked to us. 

O Consolador: How important has been the contact with Brazil to the dissemination of Spiritism in Portugal? 

It’s certainly of great importance to have the link with Brazil, especially through Divaldo Pereira Franco, who has been visiting us since 1967. When he came over for the first time, in 67, Spiritism was still banned in our country. More recently, we have been visited by José Raul Teixeira and other public speakers from Brazil who have contributed to the dissemination of the Doctrine. I would also highlight the relevance of the books published in Brazil, especially those psychographed by Francisco Cândido Xavier and Divaldo Pereira Franco, with the collaboration of FEB (the Brazilian Spiritist Federation) and the Spiritist Centre Caminho da Redenção, in Salvador, Bahia. 

O Consolador: Does the Portuguese Spiritist Federation have its own publishing house? 

No, we don’t publish books in a systematic way. We published three of the basic books of Kardec in our edition five years ago. Recently, we published a book to mark the VII National Spiritist Conference – “Erring Souls”, written in trance by Isidoro Duarte Santos, from the spirit of Maria Gonçalves Duarte Santos, or Lia as she was known as one of our main spiritist leaders. We’ve tried for years to publish the books by André Luiz, but we understand the issues raised by FEB, which owns the copyright. 

O Consolador: What are the main spiritist activities in Lisbon and other Portuguese cities? 

We have a number of conferences, seminars, lectures, meetings for young spiritists, for the children, as well as the regular work carried out by all the spiritist centres – the systematic study of the Doctrine, courses etc. They also carry out important charity work and do healing and assist disincarnated spirits. 

O Consolador: Are the spiritist books published in Brazil available in Portugal too? 

Yes. All the spiritist institutions in Portugal import books from several publishing houses in Brazil. Alongside the Portuguese Spiritist Federation we have the Spiritist Bookshop Publishing House, which imports several books from Brazil and make them available to spiritist centres across Portugal. 

O Consolador: What are the main obstacles faced by the spiritist movement in Portugal? 

We have huge problems in getting our message out there, to the Portuguese population. There are problems in our public relations system, but also a number of restrictions imposed by the Catholic Church, which is the main church in the country. We are suing the Portuguese Government and Casa Pia de Lisboa (Catholic Church) over the closing down of the Portuguese Spiritist Federation (FEP) in the 1950s, by the Salazar regime. This legal suit could help FEP and the spiritist movement in general achieving more credibility in Portugal. 

O Consolador: What have been your major achievements? 

We’ve had a few. We have organised six major conferences, which had good coverage in the Portuguese television. We also managed to have a street in the city of Viseu named after Allan Kardec. And we managed to get formal government approval for the creation of a Spiritist Institution, also in Viseu.  

O Consolador: You have so many nations in Europe, living side by side. Has the spiritist culture managed to reach some of those other nations? 

Despite the great work carried out by Divaldo Franco and, more recently, José Raul Teixeira, spiritism in the rest of Europe is mostly restricted to Portuguese and Brazilian immigrants. Even in France, the home of Kardec, the local population is still too far from the Doctrine. There’s little material available in languages other than Portuguese, and little awareness about spiritism. 

O Consolador: What’s the population of Portugal and Lisbon? And how many spiritist centres are there in the capital? 

Greater Lisbon has between 2.5 and 3 million people, and about 12 spiritist centres. Portugal has just over 10 million inhabitants. 

O Consolador: Anything else to add? 

Most of the spiritist centres are in the central region of Portugal. The biggest organisation is in Viseu, with a theatre for 650 people. It’s normally packed on Monday and Friday nights. Then you have the city of Leiria, with a room for 450 people, and Braga, with similar facilities, and another six or so spiritist centres with room for 200 to 300 people in their lectures. Viseu has its own Spiritist TV (www.tv-espirita.com or www.ascev-ipss.org), which has been expanding and creating new programmes. In Viseu, there’s also a audio and video studio and a hostel for victims of domestic violence and young pregnant women. They also have a home for the elderly. 

O Consolador: Your final words, please. 

I’d like to thank for the opportunity of sharing with you the reality of spiritism in Portugal. There should be no frontiers between countries for the spiritist movement. Portugal has undeniably the possibility of carrying the caravel boats with the spiritist light across the rest of Europe. All we need is for those who embrace this Doctrine with so much love to be aware of their role. It’s not about being more important than  anyone else within the spiritist movement, it’s about working hard to get the spiritist message out there. The Truth must be available for all so we can all be free. 

We live in Europe, we know Europe well. If we could count with the the help of all who have the expertise, our best minds, things would be very different, and the Message of Christ would gain. We believe the Spiritual world is aware of all that and we count on the help of Brazil to have a more pro-active role in the rest of Europe.  I salute my companions in Brazil and send them all my best, in the name of the Spiritist Movement of Portugal.