Neiva Chavez Zelaya

(1926-1985)

Neiva Chavez Zelaya, later known as Tia Nieva, was born 1926 in Propriá, the state of Sergipe, Brazil. 1959, she was 33 had not manifested any public mediunic tendencies and was a truck driver after her husband died and left her with four children to raise. 

According to her memoirs the first mediunic manifestations bothered her a lot, since she was Catholic.  As soon as she was able to dominate the technique of projecting her body, she began to visit other spiritual plains, where she received instructions that she applied among her community of mediums.

The first community she founded as Tia Neiva was in the Alexânia, Goiás, and was called "União Espiritualista Seta Branca". Seta Branca was the alleged spirit of an Incan who appeared to her and was her mentor.

Today he is the central figure of the cult, which includes elements from Christianity, Candomblé, Spiritism, extraterrestrials, and Egyptology. From there she moved to Taguatinga, Federal District, and in 1969 to the place known today as Vale do Amanhecer in the rural zone of Planaltina, Federal District.

In her last years, she was always with her companion Mário Sassi, known as Trino Tumuchy. Her children continued her work and are part of the hierarchy of the sect. The most important, Gilberto Zelaya, or Trino Ajarâ in the spirit world, is the First Doctrinator of the Dawn and Coordinator of the Temples of the Dawn. [cited Wikipedia]