Spirituality Between Worlds
This blog was born from a very particular experience: living a Brazilian spiritual tradition outside Brazil. Between cultures, traditions, and different ways of understanding spirituality, I write about Umbanda, spiritual life, and the process of making sense of these experiences while living in Europe.
Who writes this blog
My name is Hugo. I was born in Brazil in the early 1980s and grew up in an evangelical Christian family. My grandfather, who has since passed away, was the pastor of the church we attended, and religion was always very present in our family life.
Over the years my relationship with faith went through different phases. Although I always believed in God, I often felt that I had not yet found a spiritual place where I truly belonged.
In 2008 I encountered Umbanda, a Brazilian religion that emerged from the meeting of several spiritual traditions — particularly African, Indigenous, and European influences. One of its central principles is charity and spiritual assistance to others.
That encounter had a profound impact on my life.
For many years, while still living in Brazil, I had the opportunity to spend time within this tradition, learning from it and participating in spiritual work aimed at helping people who came seeking guidance. It was in this environment that I began to develop a deeper relationship with spirituality and with the entities — spiritual beings who work in Umbanda through mediums — that became part of my experience within the tradition.
Living between two worlds
Some years later I moved with my family to Germany. Today we live in Munich, where I continue my professional and family life.
I am married and a father of two children. Professionally, my path is quite different from the religious world: I hold a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Bioinformatics.
Perhaps because of this background, my way of looking at spirituality has always been influenced not only by faith but also by curiosity, study, and reflection.
For me, faith and critical thinking have never been opposites. They are simply different ways of trying to understand life and the world.
This combination of scientific training and spiritual search also shapes the way I write on this blog: with respect for traditions, but also with a reflective perspective that remains open to questions.
Umbanda in Europe
When I moved to Germany, a new challenge appeared: continuing a spiritual path deeply connected to Brazilian culture in a country where Umbanda and other Afro-Brazilian traditions are still largely unknown.
For some time, that old feeling of not having a clear spiritual place returned. Being far from Brazil also meant being far from many of the cultural and religious elements that had shaped my journey.
Several years passed before I once again found a place where Umbanda was practiced — this time in Europe.
It was there that something that had always been important to me resurfaced: the sincere desire to help others and to continue learning within this spiritual tradition.
Living Umbanda outside Brazil changes the way we see it. Things that in Brazil feel like part of everyday cultural life often require explanation, context, and translation when we are living in another country.
This blog was born precisely from that experience.
What you will find here
This space brings together reflections about:
- spirituality in everyday life
- personal experiences within Umbanda
- Afro-Brazilian spiritual traditions
- mediumship and spiritual development
- what it means to live a Brazilian spiritual tradition outside Brazil
I do not write as someone who has all the answers.
I write as someone who is still learning.
Above all, this blog is a place for reflection on spirituality, tradition, and lived experience.
A commitment to respect
While sharing stories and reflections from this journey, I try to preserve something essential in spiritual traditions: respect.
For that reason I do not mention the names of people, spiritual houses, or specific places that were part of this path.
Many spiritual experiences belong to a space of trust, discretion, and intimacy within religious traditions.
Because of this, the only names that may occasionally appear here are those of the entities who, in one way or another, have walked or continue to walk alongside me on this journey.
Why I write
If these texts help someone look a little more deeply into themselves — or simply inspire an honest reflection about spirituality, Umbanda, and tradition — then this space will have fulfilled its purpose.
This blog is, above all, the record of a spiritual journey that is still unfolding.
Between worlds – Entre Mundos.
And perhaps that is exactly where this conversation begins.