Wellerson Santos (photo), was born in Campo da Mata, in Minas Gerais. He lives now in the provincial capital, Belo Horizonte. He follows the Doctrine’s principles and appreciates the basic works by Allan Kardec. Wellerson, who’s a medium, and a spiritist writer, has been travelling the country giving lectures to publicise the Doctrine. Wellerson is only 33, but is an experienced and accomplished speaker, having begun addressing spiritist audiences as a teenager. In this interview, he talks about his work and other subjects: O  Consolador:  You’re  young,  but

have been making speeches around the country for quite a while. When did you begin your work as a public speaker?

I was blessed with being born in a spiritist home. I was brought up by grandfather, Ulisses dos Santos, who encouraged me from a very early age to read The Spirits Book and the pocket editions by Emmanuel. When I was 12 years old, I was often asked to read and make comments on short messages at a spiritist centre my family helped founding, called Paulo de Tarso, in my hometown, Carmo da Mata. I used to speak for about 15 minutes, in our open meetings. At the age of 15, I moved to the capital of Minas Gerais and soon after joined the Youth Movement Joanna de Angelis, which was part of the spiritist group I still work with, Fraternidade Espirita Irmao Glacus. I now get invitations for public talks, conferences and seminars from several institutions in Minas Gerais and other Brazilian states. I’ve been trying to remain faithful to the commitment I’ve made with the Spiritist Doctrine: to take the Gospel of Jesus to those who want to hear it, whenever asked. 

O Consolador: As you’ve just mentioned, you travel extensively and visits spiritist centres across the country. What are your views on spiritist activities in Brazil? 

Thanks to the endless work carried out by so many enthusiastic followers of our beloved Doctrine, spiritist ideas have been subject to bigger exposure lately. Spiritism is a new Doctrine, it’s only 153 years old and we have a long way to go. As Allan Kardec once said, under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth, good people are shy. We, the Christians, need to break the communication barriers and take the message of consolation to all of those who suffer. I was once told by our dear Richard Simonetti, during the celebrations of the 150^th anniversary of the publication of The Spiritists Book, that we have an excellent product, but very bad marketing. I agree with Simonetti, a renowned spiritist author and researcher. The Brazilian spiritist movement is growing, but a lot more could be done if we were to unite. In each and every town I visit, I notice they face very similar challenges. What I can say is everyone is trying to do their best. I believe we need to get stronger, to speak in one language, that of the works of Kardec. Kardec’s Pentateuch is the fundamental base. It provides the backing, the safe guidance to avoid dissent, personal opinions and fanaticism.  

O Consolador: What is the situation like in the capital of Minas Gerais? Are the spiritist centres working together in Belo Horizonte?

The spiritist movement has always been particularly active in Minas Gerais. The best example is perhaps the unforgettable work of the venerable medium, Francisco Candido Xavier. The Spiritist Union of Minas Gerais (Uniao Espirita Mineira) is the Doctrine’s official institution in the state. It has tried to guide all the associated institutions and Regional Councils through meetings and seminars in their home towns. There are more than 100 spiritist organisations in Belo Horizonte alone, and what I can see unfortunately is most of them working in isolation. Each individual spiritist centre does its own work, and they do it as well as they can, but very few get together in order to produce big events. I believe the spiritist movement not only in Minas, but right through Brazil, will only get stronger if it operates under a more consistent and unified set of values and principles. We shouldn’t forget here the endless efforts towards unification carried out by the memorable Adolfo Bezerra de Menezes.

O Consolador – How and when did your medium capacities first became evident? 

When I was very young. I remember that at the age of four or five I was already having visions of spirits at home, in a small town of Minas Gerais. My grandfather and several other people picked me up more than once teaching in improvised classrooms children who were invisible to their eyes. I admit that at first I had trouble dealing with such phenomena, I was scared, as not all spirits that appear to me were in a balanced state of mind. Much later, when I was a teenager, living in Belo Horizontd, psycophonic mediunity emerged in a very painful manner, through spirits who were obsessing me. At the time, I pursued a different path, Umbanda (based on African rituals), even though I continued to go regularly to my old spiritist centre. I believe that period was one of great development for me, at spiritual level. And for a long time I received the support from spirits linked to the African religion. I even worked as a medium with them. The spirit of Manoel Philomeno de Miranda, in a book written by Divaldo Pereira Franco – Madness and Obsession (Loucura e Obsessao) – brings us beautiful lessons on the Afro-Brazilian religious traditions. Eventually I cut all my links with Umbanda and began to work as a medium in regular meetings at the Spiritist Centre Oriente, in Belo Horizonte. I had been invited to help in the meetings, initially as “magnetic vibrations” medium. But in a few weeks, once I sat at the table, I became to communicate with the spirits. After a few months, I had to leave, for work reasons. In another occasion, I went to look for spiritual assistance at a different spiritist centre, Brother Glacus, and was asked to join a group of Mediunic Education, where I learned a great deal. I had already written a few pages before, in other meetings, but that’s really when my psycography mediunity emerged more clearly. But I eventually began to work more on public talks, and that, added to my busy working schedule – from 13h to 22h – mean I had to stop attending those meetings. I now do psycography at home, sided by a support group, in particular times set up by the spiritual world. I’ve received several messages, which I submit to the supervision of more experienced spiritists. Some of them are ready for publication, having received the final approval from the spiritual world.  

O Consolador – You have been doing a project about the lives of the apostles. Tell us a bit more about that. 

I was invited by the Doctrination Department of the Spiritist Fraternity Brother Glacus (Fraternidade Espirita Irmao Glacus) to give a series of lectures at their open meetings, throughout the year 2000. I decided to speak about the lives of the twelve apostles, one a month. At the end of meetings, several people came to me asking for information and inquiring whether there was anything published on that subject. Two very dear friends of mine, Andreia and Samuel, one day asked to record a DVD about the life of Jesus and his apostles. I agreed, and we eventually launched the first CD of the Apostles Series: Andrew, the Apostle of Joy. The plan is to record twelve CDs – one for each apostle. So far, we’ve released the CD I mentioned, on the life of Andrew, another one on Simon Peter (The Apostle of Leadership) and one focusing on the life of Saint James the Elder (The Apostle of Energy). I compiled the biographies with the help of historic, biblical and spiritist. The task of completing the twelve biographies is like a treasure to me, my precious jewel. I had the joy to research in depth the extraordinary lives of those twelve men who followed the steps of the Master and who rise high as an example to us all, despite not being really well known by Christians in general and spiritists in particular. That was a unique experience, which drenched my spirit with the most valuable teachings.  

O Consolador – Tell us about your partnership with the medium, Wagner Gomes da Paixão. 

I met Wagner when I was a teenager, in the city of Brumadinho, near Belo Horizonte. An uncle of mine was the president of  a spiritist centre and had invited him to give a lecture. After that brief encounter, I bumped into him a few other times in spiritist meetings. In 2008, the Spiritist Union of Minas Gerais (Uniao Espirita Mineira) organised a conference to celebrate its 100^th anniversary. I covered the event for Gospel and Action (Evangelho e Acao), the paper published by the spiritist centre I still work with. I had a long list of potential interviewees and Wagner was among them. Before publication, I sent him the material for revision. Wagner then told me that several people had shown interest in the issues raised in the interviews. I had then the idea of writing a book, focusing on several issues, from the most basic to the most complex ones. Wagner accepted my invitation to work on the project and I began to prepare the questions, with the help of my great friend, Lincoln. We did all the work through the internet, this powerful means of communication that can be so useful in our lives. Once the work was ready, the book was published by the Spiritist Federation of Santa Catarina. Spiritist Dialogue (Dialogo Espirita) is the title of the book. It contains 409 questions, answered with great care by Wagner, following the teachings of the Spiritist Doctrine and based, mainly, on the work of Kardec, Emmanuel and Andre Luiz. 

O Consolador – Spiritism has been given very good access to the media lately. As someone who is dedicated to propagate the Doctrine, have you made the most of the opportunity? 

The media is a powerful means of communication at the disposal of the society. But it’s not often concerned about reporting the true facts and reliable opinion polls. Even though TV channels, newspapers and magazines seem to be working in favour of publicizing spiritualist themes, we, spiritists, must watch and be ready to clarify things. The name of  Chico Xavier was all over the media at the centenary of his birth, but there was plenty of wrong information being published and broadcast. I have not approached the media to publicise spiritism, unless I need to rectify errors or clarify something. I must exclude, of course, the spiritist media, which has done a great job and has grown, widening its horizons. But there’s still a lot to be done in the work with the media, so that the true principles of Kardec are disseminated properly, relieving hearts and enlightening minds. 

O Consolador – It’s clear by your words how much you value reading and studying. What are the works you recommend our readers in order to achieve a sound knowledge of the Doctrine? 

I would advise readers to focus first on the work of Kardec. We still have a long way to go, in the way of studying and learning, before true knowledge reaches our minds. Only then we’ll be able to understand the complementary works. After a thorough study of the basic works of Kardec, I recommend the books by Andre Luiz, in the series Spiritual World; also the work of Emmanuel, and the memorable work by Yvonne do Amaral Pereira and Zilda Gama, forgotten by many. Also, Divaldo Franco and others who’ve been trying to carry out some serious work and who are committed to the truth. That’s what I recommend. But I must say that a dedicated spiritist should be able to read whatever comes to him and do as advised by Saint Paul: “But examine all things; hold fast to what is good.” (I Ts 5:21) 

O Consolador: Please leave your contact for those who wish to find out more about your work. 

You can visit my blog: http://wellersonespiritismo.blogspot.com/ 

O Consolador: What’s your final message to our readers? 

The message I leave you with is the exhortation uttered by the Divine and Beloved Master: “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another”. (Jo 13:34) When one day we love each other as He loves us, our live will acquire a much bigger dimension and we will be happy. The day will come, and it’s neither too far nor too close, when we’ll be all part of a single flock, under the guidance of a single shepherd.