Mestre Gabriel

José Gabriel da Costa, later known as Mestre Gabriel, (1922-1971), is the founder of the União do Vegetal, a religious sect that combines Christianity and indigenous South American religion, utilizing the entheogenic tea ayahuasca as its main sacrament.

Gabriel was born in Coração de Maria, in the state of Bahia, Brazil. He received minimal education and moved to Acre, Brazil, later becoming a rubber tapper in the Amazon region. It was through his work as a rubber tapper that Gabriel first encountered ayahuasca amongst the indigenous of Bolivia; receiving what he believed to be revelations, he formed the UDV in 1961, organizing a coherent belief system and gathering followers. By the time of his death, the religion had spread through the Brazilian Amazon and urban areas of Brazil, and continues to grow today, with chapters in a multitude of countries.