New PDF release: Summoning the Spirits: Possession and Invocation in

By Andrew Dawson

ISBN-10: 1848851618

ISBN-13: 9781848851610

Charismatic visions and the position of mediums; ownership ceremonies and ecstatic trance; the social contexts and practices of invocation: those are many of the interesting issues addressed by means of this complete undergraduate textbook, the 1st of its variety to provide an intensive review of the interesting and multifaceted topic of spirit ownership. the topic is now greatly studied in a couple of fields -- together with faith, sociology, anthropology and cultural stories -- and for your time, there was a necessity for a e-book which bargains a multicultural, multi-thematic remedy which may fulfill growing to be call for and shape the foundation of concentrated classes within the sector. Summoning the Spirits meets that requirement. averting technical jargon and abstruse theorizing, the e-book bargains a consultant image of ways the subject is being handled via lecturers the world over. Its topic diversity, too, is worldwide, protecting such issues as Venda ownership in South Africa; the Cuban perform of espiritismo (or mediumship) in Cuba; spirit ownership within the Brazilian new faith of Santo Daime; invocation and divine ownership among Wiccans; and diverse expressions of spirit domination in Charismatic Christianity. studying topics which recur from context to context (such as company and that means, strength and gender, cultural hybridism, and globalization), a world workforce of participants offers various novel and hard techniques. this can be the proper starting-point for college kids searching for a fashion into the subject.

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Extra info for Summoning the Spirits: Possession and Invocation in Contemporary Religion

Sample text

Female moun tain spirits also distribute natural products to the disciples, such as fruit and betel nut, in contrast to the packaged food and drink distributed by other spirits, thus emphasising the connections between female moun tain spirits and nature. The Xa melodies, then, along with the behav iour and dress of the female mountain spirits, promote a feminised pan-ethnic minority stereotype of natural, happy, simple, colourful, and lively ethnic minorities. (2000: 10–11) Imagination plays a role in how mediums understand place and ethnicity.

During the New Year, for example, she asked to perform a cleansing ritual to rid the temple of negative energy. ’ Nevertheless, permission (xin phep) would need to be asked of the spirits. The New Year ritual involved the use of myrrh, dried flowers and cinnamon that were placed in various locations throughout the temple. It was to be practised every day for three consecu tive days but because Elise could only perform the rites for one day, she asked the temple medium to do it for her. The temple medium, however, was ‘too tired’ to carry out the ritual and asked Elise to do it herself.

The number of spirits is not fixed but depends upon region and individual temple variation. Generally, there are nine hierarchical ranks of spirits including four mother goddesses, one Saint Father with his three royal ladies and a young boy, ten mandarins, twelve ladies, ten princes, twelve princesses, ten or twelve young princes, and two kinds of animal spirit. In addition, the pantheon includes the Taoist Jade Emperor and two Star Spirits, the Buddha, and the bodhisattva Quan Am. There is a possible total of seventy or seventytwo spirits, but only thirty-nine of these spirits actually possess mediums.

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