Excerpts

From Volume 9: Hands of Faith: Faith Healers of Brazil

Brazil is filled with healers of every imaginable orientation, practice, size, and shape. Two elders, however, rise above the crowd. Meet Otavia and João, country healers who have never charged anything for their services. Both have led remarkable lives, surrounded by magical events that can not be explained. Yet each believes that prayer, faith, and love are the only ingredients of their healing practice.

Of all the healers I have met in the world, João and Otavia stand out by the purity and strength of their faith and the love they are given by their families. I have never seen more love than that expressed in their families. That love alone is worthy of a story. While neither person claims to be anything special, their lives are filled with remarkable stories and testimonies.

Otavia Alves Pimental Barbosa

I am 96 years old and I have spent all of my life trying to make people's lives a little better. I have given my soul to this task, and if I had more soul to give, I would do so without hesitation.

I grew up on a farm in the north of São Paulo, State in Brazil. I had five siblings and i was the oldest. My brother passed waya years ago, but his spirit has always been on my side. He was younger than me. My brother had 10 children, and now they are all married and happy. After my brother died, he became one of my spirit guides. He helps me and he's always with me. He didn't leave me alone. He is right here this very moment. He helps me when I bless people. And he goes to other people to help them when I ask him.There is a woman in town who is a psychologist. When she had surgery, I asked my brother's spirit to follow her to São Paulo, so he could assist her during the operation. He is able to go wherever we need him. It does not matter where the person lives.

João Fernandes de Carvalho

As a child, I was only able to go to school for 11 months. That was the total amount of time given to my classroom education. Everything else I had to learn on my own. When my father became sick, I took over the family responsibilities. It was at that time that I dreamed of being a doctor and curing people of sickness. Since it was not possible for me to be educated as a physician, it seems that Providence turned me into a healer, enabling me to help thousands of people.

I have given prescriptions and medical advice to multitudes of patients, and early-on, physicians were surprised that my instructions worked and the prescriptions were powerful medicines for treating illness. They were curious about the doctor who was making these prescriptions.

I aquired informal medical knowledge by reading medical books and pharmacology catalogues. I also maintained some contact with traditional medical laboratories while I practiced my healing. Most importantly, I was helped in my work by a meditative state where I received technical medical knowledge and deepened faith in God's help and goodness. This special state of mind allowed medical information to pass through me. Those who came to me with faith were helped in this simple way.