aside from martial arts, gracie was also interested in alternative medicine and occultism due to the death because of illness of his first girlfriend. he started working as a spiritual consultant to bank of brazil executive oscar santa maria, a member of the brazilian rosacrucian society, in which carlos was deemed as having "strong mediumnic powers." in exchange for funding his academy and other ventures, carlos would put santa maria in contact with a supposedly peruvian spirit named egidio lasjovino. gracie was also a follower of helena blavatsky's theosophy.