Maria Alice Campos Freire

Member of the 13 Grandmothers Council

“In the last year of his life, an old shaman did not eat anything, not even a drink of water. All the time he was listening to sounds, divine sounds. He called one of our sisters who was older than us and asked her to write down messages he received for the women. He said the women would transmute first and then the men. So women be courageous. Never doubt this task, but take it in your hands.”
—Maria Alice Campos Freire, member of the 13 Grandmothers Council

Maria Alice Campos Freire is one of the 13 grandmothers of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers, a global alliance that teaches ancestral ways of prayer, education, and healing. She has been recognized as one of the godmothers (madrinhas) of the Santo Daime community, Céu do Mapiá, for her contribution as a medium and healer of the Afro-Brazilian Umbanda religious tradition.

Maria Alice Campos Freire founded the Centro Medicina do Floresta (Forest Medicine Center) in 1989, where she has developed research and healing methods with plants of the Amazon, as well as education programs for children about the preservation of nature and sustainable development. Also a member of the Alliance of Peoples of the Rainforest, she is an activist in the defense of their traditions and patrimony.