Salto Quântico is a rapidly growing religious movement based in Aracaju, Brazil. Syncretizing New Age, Spiritist and Christian precepts, the group exposes followers to spiritual discourse and ideology imparted by enlightened spirit guides through leader and medium Benjamin Teixeira de Aguiar Machado. Followers are encouraged to embrace the adage, “Happiness is not only your right; it’s your duty!” This article will draw on ethnographic fieldwork and semi-structured interviews conducted in Aracaju in 2012 to depict a profile of the group. It will also critically consider and explore ways in which the group encourages adherents to seek happiness in the midst of the challenges of late-modern life in Brazil, through participation in the group’s spiritual community, progressive interpretations of sexual identity and sexuality, and spiritual discourse around happiness and the combating of depression.
University of California Press