Ariovaldo César Júnior (photo) is a medium with the gift of automatic writing. He was born in the city of Piracicaba and lives in Araraquara, both in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. He was one of the founders of the Spiritist School Eurípedes Barsanulfo, which aims to protect vulnerable children by giving training that will help them get their first job.   All his life has been around the Spiritist Movement. He met his wife in a study group back in 1972, in Piracicaba. He is now the president of the Spiritist Centre Eurípedes Barsanulfo, named after one of the pioneers of Spiritism in Brazil.

Ariovaldo Júnior has published two books, dictated by spirits through his mediumship. The income from the book sales goes to support his charity work. His social work is one of the subjects discussed in this interview:

Tell us more about the two books you published, their spiritual authors. What was the main theme of those books? 

They are both novels, but telling real stories that actually happened. The first one, A Proposta do Coronel (The Colonel’s Proposal), was dictated by the spirit Fernandes de Almeida de Melo. The second, A Escolha (The Choice), was dictated by the spirit Florisbela de Assis. The first one is the story of a colonel who in 1911, in the golden era of coffee production in Araraquara, makes a proposal to buy the daughter of a rural worker who’d recently joined the farm. The second story is took place in 2002, in the city of São Paulo. A small town girl goes to São Paulo, the state capital and Brazil’s largest city, and influenced by a friend becomes a prostitute. In both stories, the characters change their paths once they meet the Spiritist Doctrine. 

How did psychography, or automatic writing, came into your life? 

It came into my life due to my wife’s insistence. She used to tell me that it was part of my agreed duties in this life to do automatic writing and publish Spiritist books. One day, at five in the morning, I prayed with fervour and concentrated. And, overcome by emotion, I heard the beginning of the novel inside my head. As I was typing, the sentences kept pouring over. As eight in the morning I had the first chapter written. It is difficult to describe how you feel. The Spiritual joy was so great that I didn’t want to stop writing. More than once I came into work late. 

You wrote two books from two different spiritual authors. How does it feel? As a medium, did you feel any different when writing either book? 

I couldn’t feel any difference. I’m not such a refined medium, after all. I believed the same spirits was dictating the second book. Indeed, by the time I’d finished writing both books the spirits hadn’t yet revealed their identity. I eventually received a message by the great Spiritual Benefactor, Bezerra de Menezes, through another medium, revealing the names of both authors. But he said I could say Fernandes de Almeida de Melo was the author of both books, as he was the team leader. As the second book had a different style and I liked the name Florisbela, I decided to name her as the author in A Escolha (The Choice). 

As you went through the chapters, were you able to visualise the scenes or to foresee how the characters felt, what would be their next move? 

I could write a book about writing the book. I used to get extremely curious about the next moves, the next developments. Both are very gripping stories, which made me really anxious. The novels didn’t get out of my mind, the whole day. I thought about how a certain situation would be solved etc. to the point that it began to affect me at work. I couldn’t wait to begin automatic writing again. Sometimes I dreamt about a scene. The spirits allowed me, during my sleep, to see like in a film the lives of the characters. One night I saw a very funny scene from the book A Proposta do Coronel (The Colonel’s Proposal) and woke up roaring in laughter. I had to contain myself not to wake up my wife. I ran straight to the computer and wrote down what I had seen during my sleep. My wife, Cristina, didn’t wake up, but I still laugh when I remember that night.  

We know that the earnings from the book sales go to the Spiritist School Eurípedes Barsanulfo. Tell us a bit more about the school. 

The school is one of the departments of the eponymous Spiritist Centre, a non-profit organisation. Our aim is to assist vulnerable children and to get them out of high-risk situations, in the streets of Araraquara. The best chance they have is to learn a trade, a profession. We offer free of charge vocational courses for youths, to help them find their first job. The courses are also available to adults who want to retrain or get a better qualification. 

What are the courses, how many students do you have? 

For children aged 6 and above we offer the following courses: drama, singing, circus skills, gymnastics, dance, other sports, arts and crafts, painting and extra lessons for pupils during their winter break. At the age of 14, teenagers are allowed to join the vocational courses we offer in several areas, such as information technology (IT), plumbing, electrician training, car mechanics, industrial sewing, brick laying, electronics, painting and decorating etc. We have 80 children enrolled and about 250 people in the vocational courses. Until December 2010, we had trained 1,708 people in vocational courses. 

Tell us about teaching the Spiritist Doctrine. 

We study the main books of Kardec in the Spiritst Centre – The Spirits’ Book, The Mediums’ Book. At the school, as we have people of various religions, we teach everyone what we call Good Values Education. We say one needs to be honest to achieve success in the profession they embrace, we teach everyone ethical values. The teachers and instructors are all Spiritist, but that doesn’t create any embarrassing situation to anyone. We had three evangelical preachers who studied with us and became our friends. Some of them even recommend our school to the people who go to their religious meetings. We have vowed to one day organised a multi-faith meeting, having Jesus as the main theme. 

When were the Spiritist Centre and the School Eurípedes Barsanulfo founded? 

The Spiritist Centre opened in 1994, in the outskirts of Araraquara. We opened our first course – electrician training – in 1999, next to the Spiritist Centre. In 2007 we opened the school, next door to the Centre. 

What are your main income sources? 

Mainly from a group of businessmen. But we need to raise extra resources by selling books, arts and crafts, food and through fund raising events. Those who wish to make a donation can do so via bank account 11365-4, branch 2979-3, Banco do Brasil. 

What results have you achieved in all these years in the Spiritist School? 

We work in partnership with SENAI, a very well known vocational course provider in Brazil, well respected by the industry. Getting a certificate issued by SENAI is an important step in Brazil towards getting a job or progressing in your career. Many of our former students are now in a position of command in Brazilian companies. There is a shortage of well-trained professionals and tradesmen in Brazil. 

Your final thoughts, please. 

I would like to say I am available to advise those who wish to follow our example. Many people from other Spiritist Groups have sought advice. I would love to help. All I can say is that organising a Spiritist School is not as complicated as it looks. All you need, basically, is a bit of determination. I would also like to thank this magazine for helping us publicize our books, reminding you that the money from book sales go straight into our charity work. Thank you very much and may God bless you and keep you forever.