Spirits of the Space Age: The Imagined World of Brazil's Valley of the Dawn

Since its inauguration in 1960, Brazil's capital city, Brasília, has become an internationally recognized center for eclectic forms of modern mysticism. Among the dozens of New Age, Spiritist, esoteric, and occult communities that have sprouted in the city and its environs, the most spectacular is the Valley of the Dawn (Vale do Amanhecer). Equal parts religious movement, enchanted city, utopian vision, and theatrical spectacle, the Valley of the Dawn is a unique psychic ecosystem. Communit...