Spirit Possession in Brazil

Spirit Possession in Brazil: The Perception of the (Possessed) Body Author(s): Bettina E. Schmidt Source: Anthropos , 2014, Bd. 109, H. 1. (2014), pp. 135-147 Published by: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43861689 JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Anthropos This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:07:52 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms ANTHROPOS 109.2014: 135-147 Spirit Possession in Brazil The Perception of the (Possessed) Body Bettina E. Schmidt Introduction Abstract. - Spirit possession is the core religious practice in most Afro- American religions. It is usually described as "mount- ing"; the spirit "rides" the body of the devotee as a horseman Concepts such as spirits, souls, gods, or demons "cut rides a horse. The description projects the image that a spirit against the grain of our natural expectations about takes control over the body of the medium and "uses" the huhow things work in the real world" (Tremlin 2006: man medium; the body of the person is passive and submissive, while the spirit is active and dominant. However, this view does 87). Things are usually described as "real" when not reflect the highly elaborate discourse about spirit possession we in Brazil. The article is based on fieldwork among communities can touch and measure them, when they have a physical quality or at least when we can repeatedly of Afro-Brazilian and Spiritist traditions in São Paulo, Brazil. test them in a laboratory. But there is "something" Based on subjective narratives about bodily experience and the academic debate about body and mind, the article contributes in possession that escapes our understanding, as van to a wider understanding of the possession experience. [ Brazilde , Port states (2005: 152). Gods, spirits, souls, relispirit possession, trance, candomblé, umbanda, spiritism, body concept, mediumship J gion in general, are products of cognition. While it is possible to describe the phenomenon of posses- and even to classify such experiences accordBettina E. Schmidt, Dr. habil., University of Wales Trinity sion, St ing to their function, etc., it seems difficult to go David; M. A. in cultural anthropology (Marburg 1989); PhD with a thesis about ethnicity and religion in Puerto Rico (Marburg beyond the indigenous understanding of it (see Cra1995); habilitation with a monograph about Caribbean religions panzano 2005: 8687). Anthropologists have collectin New York City (Marburg 2001). - Her academic interests ined numerous accounts of local explanations from clude the anthropology of religion, diaspora identity, religious all over the world, and many have argued for the experience, urban studies, medical anthropology, and gender issues. - Her main fieldworks were conducted in Mexico, Puerto validity of these perceptions (e.g., title of a book Rico, Ecuador, New York City, and, more recently, in São Paulo, chapter "It Is Not for Us to Judge", in Klass 2003, Brazil. - She has published extensively on Caribbean and Latderived from Lewis 2003). This attitude, however, in American religions, identity, cultural theories and migration must not be confused with antiscientific mysticism. and is, e.g., co-editor of "Spirit Possession and Trance. New InPyysiäinen makes an important point when he states terdisciplinary Perspectives" (London 2010). - See also Refer- ences Cited. that "whether a given explanation is valid should be judged on the basis of evidence and logical coherence of the argument, not on the basis of a religious [or anti-religious] agenda" (2008: 3). However, ac- "The whole problem is not quite the phenomenon;cording to Crapanzano (2005: 8693) possession it is the way we look at the phenomenon" confirms "the belief in the spirits" - but that which (José Jorge de Morais Zacharias, interview on is based only on belief is not regarded as scientif- April 15, 2010). ic evidence. On the other side, from the believer's point of view, religious knowledge "cannot be con- This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:07:52 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 136 Bettina E. Schmidt sidered representational fore presenting excerpts from my interviews with tees arguenarratives that kn about the perception oftheir the bodily dimenother supernatural sion of possession experiences from an indigenous being capacities for b perspective. The secondknowing, part will discuss the narraelation" (Pyysiäinen 2003 tives in dialogue with the different areas of scholarly gap between the position debate. The aim is to show how each of the perspecsition of the scholars are tives can contribute to our understanding of the pos- o i session experience. This article considers th session among mediums derstanding of the exper riencing the so-called Trance, Possession, and Mediumship in Brazil spir will be based on subjectiv open-ended i Ethnographic interviews Context I want to explore the indig ian possession religions ade In the 2010 census, 64.6 percent of Brazilians dimension of the possess claimed to belong to the Roman Catholic Church, of this article on but with a declining tendencywill over the last three dec- be transformation. I belong will ades. A growing number of Brazilians to one rep ple from different relig of the numerous Evangelical Churches (22.2 perwhen asked about their f cent in 2010 with a rising tendency). In sum, nearly rience; whether there is 90 percent of Brazilians claim to belong to a Christhe approaching entity; a tian Church. The remaining 10 percent are spread ber physical changes. The between Spiritists (2 percent), adherents to an Afrothe complex issue ho Brazilian religion (0.3 percent), agnostics or atheistsof devotees that pos (8 percent), and membershave of another religion, such a as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism.1 These an academic discourse wi ademic, religiously numbers, however, do not represent all practitioners moti planations. of Spiritist or Afro-Brazilian religions since many In my research, however, I did not follow the people avoid being identified with an Afro-Brazilpath that many anthropologists working on Afroian tradition, despite the fact that the religions have Brazilian religions have taken; I did not attempt been legalised. Chesnut estimates that half of all Brazilians have visited an Umbanda centre at least to experience the incorporation myself. Although I was often told that it is impossible to describe it, once, usually during a personal crisis and that 15and that I need to experience it, I decided to main20 percent of Brazilians (app. 30 million) practise tain my scholarly distance and remain a participant Umbanda or one of the other Afro-Brazilian reli- observer instead of an observing participant. Since gions regularly (2003: 106 f.). Especially Umbanda has the image of being a provider of physical and it is very common for anthropologists studying re- ligions to "go native" and initiate into a religious community, this decision puts me in opposition to many colleagues (see also Capone 2010). Despite my fascination for the deities that emerged during my research among adherents of Afro-Caribbean re- ligions (Schmidt 2008), which are very similar to the deities in Afro-Brazilian religions, I could not overcome my reluctance to commit myself to the religious obligations. Consequently, my research has to rely exclusively on narratives collected from practitioners in Brazil. I can include my own experiences only as an observer who attended numerous rituals. I have no evidence to prove the accurateness spiritual healing services, which leads to the estimation that many more Brazilians attend regularly Um- banda rituals without considering themselves to be members of the religion (Engler 2009b: 556). Experiences with extra-sensual and extra-motoric phenomena go therefore much further than the statistics in the national census suggest and Brazilian culture and society can be characterised by an enormous openness towards so-called paranormal experiences and a willingness to speak about them (Machado 2009: 17 f.). Although this characterisation cannot be substantiated by national data, only by a small survey of students in São Paulo, it is re- of these subjective narratives about a phenomenon that is in the end ineffable. The article is divided into two sections, one ethnographic and another analytical. I will start with a brief introduction into the ethnographic context be- 1 The national census of 2010 can be accessed via the website of the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics): <http://www. sidra.ibge.gov.br > [24.08.2012]. Anthropos 109.2014 This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:07:52 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Spirit Possession markable that in Brazil 137 to most rituals. it occ 82.7 percent of the If respond of with the terreiro (site of p a tioned experiences extra- sensual as a sign that and 55.9 percent regarded with extra-motoric ph (Machado 2009: 232). initiated and join the c the discovery of In the centre of tant this is article are a variet reading by a priest (jog ligions grouped together under the label sacrifices to the orixás and Afro-Brazilian religions. Scholars u ly animals). The devoti scribe this ensemble as a continuum of practices, can with other such as Candomb On the other side imply of th description does not also called Kardecism. It is based on theor ideas of the traditions, however, any sens end. This chy of sivity, since one lifelongon obligations and t Spiritism one end, and rituals. traditions, derived French are schoolteacher Hyppolyte Léonvariations Denizard Rithere many w vail (1804-1869), published numerous books as well aswho countless mixture tradition, under his alias Allanmy Kardec, containing what he de- I will g background to study, of the main traditions of scribed as messages from the spirits. Shortly after the com them. As overview their publication, his books without arrived in Brazil where going I visited in São Paulo, but his teaching gained much attention. It offered those and without pointing towards the many within one tradition.2 living at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century an alternative religions spirituality that lacked Candomblé and the other derive the negative connotationsdeveloped of the Afro-Brazilian reliAfrican traditions have in cer gions. While the practice of Afro-Brazilian religions of Brazil (Harding 2005: 120; Prandi 200 was regarded as black and was legally rebe encountered today inmagic, all major cities The Bahian version oftheCandomblé stricted until 1970s (Maggie 1986), Kardecism becam and its numerous variations underof the label espirieven internationally, because the many were socially and legally tolerated.that discu and nonacademic tismo publications Mediumship is the core practice. Spiritists 2007), and it is often portrayed as bethe mos lieve that everyone has some kind of mediumship of all Afro-Brazilian religions (Capone 2 ability, althoughdescribes it is often undiscovered or underçalves da Silva even Candom developed. It is important to train mediums, there"reinvention of Africa in Brazil" (1994: fore, in order to further their abilities. The termhouses meAlthough the first Candomblé w diumship can refer to the ability to feel the presence established during the 19th century, th of the spirits, to see the them, or hear them, or simply goes back to the time of transatlantic s to have a premonition of something that African will hapand originated in unorganised c based on the customs of enslaved Africans pen or has happened. Mediumship can also refer to the practice of automatic writing,the that is, the birthplac ability These communities became dition we subsume under label cando to write messages that arethe perceived as messages from the spirit world. became Spirits are regarded as being Bahian Candomblé that hegemon in control of one's arm or hand, or even in control of tradition during the 1930s emphasises the the whole body, soWest that this spirit African can deliver a mestion (derived from the ethn to the world ofother the living. The aim is to help group of Yoruba),sage while versions are the living and the dead (the disembodied spirits) to Jêje (derived from the Ewe-Fon), or Ango regarded to of develop toRecently an evolved stage of existence. Mediums Bantu). scholars as ha characterise the the so-called traditio usually have to follow strict rulesBantu that call for a morally upright behaviour, a calm and polite dispositionas "pur Yoruba-derived tradition towards At other people, and abstinence fromof alcohol the bel more powerful. the core and other drugs. of all variations is the worship of the A Umbanda occupies the spectrumspeaking) between these ties {orixás) who (generally ca two poles, Spiritism and Candomblé (seealso Engler human being. This possession, called and ration, is at 2009b). It includes of African elements, as the becentre the such religion, lief in the power of the orixás (though with a slight- the 2 As my focus was my overview does opments sumption such of as an ly different interpretation), but also has a strong on Afro-Brazilian Kardecist influence. Umbanda started inand the 1920sSpiritist not include some of the other and 1930s Daime, in urban Brazil, predominately Santo which among is based middle-class ayahuasca. Kardecists (Gonçalves da Silva 1994: Anthropos 109.2014 This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:07:52 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms on 138 Bettina E. Schmidt Subjectivetheir Narratives of Possession and Trance 106). Despite intentio Experiences of other more visibly "Af devotees became the targ (Concone tised only Before to the interviews, I must address the eturning Negrão 1985 practitioners of controversial matter of terminology. The term "pos- as changed session" (possessão in when Portuguese) has gained such the institutionalisation of a negative connotation in Brazil that religious prac- u thei litically influential (Con titioners avoid it. While the rejection of the term But the influence did not might be connected to the discriminative attitude scholars still describe Umbanda as the true Brazilagainst Afro-Brazilian religions in general, this atian religion, its political influence and membership titude has increased in the last decades due to innumbers are declining. creasing attacks by the Neo-Pentecostal Churches Nonetheless, Umbanda still represents a uniqueagainst Umbanda, Macumba, and other Afro-Brareligious spectrum with a wide range of variations. zilian traditions (Engler 2011). The confrontation A central aspect is the incorporation of supernatu-focuses on animal sacrifice and spiritual agencies, ral beings, although the type of these guías (spirit- which are regarded as inferior spirits (Oliva 1995: ual guides) varies. The Umbanda cosmos embraces99) who constantly disturb "the mental, physical, many types of entities, such as the caboclos (indig- and spiritual order." According to Edir Macedo, the enous spirits), pretos velhos (spirits of old blackfounder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of slaves), boiadeiros (spirits of cowboys), ciganosGod (UCKG), these spirits are responsible for the (spirits of so-called gypsies), marinheiros (spirits of main problems in the world (Oliveria 1998: 1 12). It sailors), and exús (seen as a messenger or tricksteris the duty of everyone to intervene and to "liberspirit as well as an orixá) and pomba giras , the fe-ate" the world - and oneself - from these demons. male counterpart of the male exús. The CandombléAt the centre of the UCKG's theology, therefore, orixás are also part of Umbanda cosmology thoughis the liberation ceremony, during which evil spiron a different position. The deities do not take pos- its are exorcised (see also Almeida 2003). Although session of umbandistas though the mediums canthe gods of ancient Greece, Rome, Egypt, Mesoposometimes become incorporated by the spirits of tamia, and other religions are also regarded as deorixás. (Since the deities are supposed to have beenmons, the main attacks are directed against Afroderived from living beings, they are thought to haveBrazilian religions. As an (indirect) outcome of the spirits as well.) Similar to Kardecism the aim of the hostility, the term "possession" is perceived negaincorporation is usually to help people. tively by religious practitioners of all traditions. In Between these three cornerstones are various my interviews I, therefore, switched to the term "inmixtures, e.g., umbandomblé , umbanda esotéricocorporation" , ( incorporação in Portuguese), which and espiritismo encruzilhada. It is also very com-in the Brazilian literature is commonly used for posmon to move during a lifetime through various relisession. However, even this term has been rejected, gious traditions; sometimes they are even practised particularly by Kardecists, since it does not describe at the same time but for different purposes. Malan-their understanding of the practice. One Spiritist in drino states that 42. 1 percent of Umbanda priests the south of Brazil, the founder and president of a she studied had a Kardecist background (2006: 59). Spiritist centre, was particularly averse to my quesMost of the mães and pais de santo (literally the tions about his spiritual practices and insisted, that mothers and fathers of a saint, a common way to "incorporation does not exist" (interview on May 5, refer to female and male priests) in Umbanda that 2010). His centre attracts over 2,000 patients each I spoke with were initiated into Candomblé, andmonth and offers spiritual treatment of medical consome of the Spiritists also practised Umbanda. But ditions, including cancer, as well as lectures about I also encountered people who were critical of these Spiritism and training for mediums. Eventually he developments and of the subsequent inclusion of acknowledged that his spiritual inspiration derived non-traditional elements. Some Candomblé priests from instructions by his spirit guides via psicograeven reject all non-African elements in their cosfia (automatic writing under the influence of a spirit) mology, while some Kardecists discriminate against but insisted that I should not confuse it with incorAfrican deities and spirits. poration. Each religious tradition has its own way of speaking about the interaction between human beings and spiritual agencies, whether it is possessão , incorporação , mediunidade , inspiração , or visão divino. In this part of the article, I will simply translate Anthropos 109.2014 This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:07:52 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Spirit Possession in Brazil 1 39 terms used by the In th Since she has interviewees. experiences within two distinct part of the article will apply more ge religiousI traditions, Umbanda and Candomblé, I her whether it feels different: (e.g., possession asked experience) in order t common aspects in the discourse. As I the It's different, the and orixá [Candomblé] has a stronger viopen-ended interviews allowed the in bration than an entity [in Umbanda]. It's a vibration; to guide the conversation, I do notit ishave something that from takes you, which has force. interview But the sense to the same questions all is different in Umbanda. There are various kinds of spirit, in the same way that people are also different. In my experience - have you ever had surgery? And were givCase A en an injection of a drug, an anaesthetic before the surgery? You stay well and then you do not remember anyFemale, trained as a medium in a Kardecist centre, thing more because the anaesthesia puts you to sleep? The but does not work as a medium: state is not the same, but it is very similar (Interview on March 16, 2010). I do not remember anything about the first time, except that the sensation was a strong heat, the sensation of heat I responded with the question, "So you can still and sleep at the same time. I felt a huge weight in my back feel something, but have no control?", and she reand neck, and I began to feel my heart. The heart accelerplied, "Yes, that's right, exactly . . . and in Candomated! And it was the sensation of two hearts beating inside blé it is very different because you have the vibrame. There was a kind of force in my throat, a very strong tion, no control, but it is lighter." She described the energy in the throat, and I felt like it was about to speak. But in that moment, at the first time, I was very afraid, befeeling of a Candomblé orixá as "full of energy." cause when it began to happen, I had doubts about wheth"The orixá is a living energy that is in nature ... It er it would be good or bad. I tried to stop it and I was left gives you a new sense of wholeness . . . you are full with the sensation that it would begin the communication of the energy of nature. Each [orixá] has a specific in a trance (Interview on May 27, 2010). vibration with a different meaning, which makes the interpretation very different." This graphic description of the first experience of Then I asked her about the incorporation of the an approaching spiritual entity is an excerpt from an interview I took with a Brazilian woman who under-same orixá in different human bodies, and she re- plied: went training as a medium in a Kardecist centre, but does not practise it. She elaborately describes her It is the same because the energy is in nature. For inrecollection of the feeling when the spiritual entity stance, the orixá Ogun, represents iron, his energy is iron approached her for the first time, a combination ofand the land where the iron comes from. Hence, Ogun is "happiness mixed with fear". She continues: not an individual, but a very large energy. The individual part [during incorporation] is something else that you I felt the voice leaving my body, but unlike other peoneed to study hard in order to incorporate. The ori [intelple who do not have consciousness, I found that only a ligence/consciousness] in the head of each person has an fraction of me was not conscious ... I felt that the person individual connection to Ogun. Thus, a person can have spoke in my head, I heard and spoke. At times, I was afraid an individual connection to the energy [Ogun]. So ... we of not speaking correctly, or that the person speaking was could turn to the same party [both incorporating the same me. As it passed I thought ah, was it only in my imaginaorixá] because they are two different Oguns, because even tion? . . . But as time passed, I had ideas that I never had the very power of Ogun has many variations, which are before. And this was the biggest sensation. I felt an emthe qualities (Interview March 16, 2010). brace. I had no more doubts (Interview on May 27, 2010). For her, it brought creativity into her life and a Case C sense of security. As an artist she connects her spir- itual experience with her artistic visions throughout my interview with her. She describes eloquentlyMale, Umbanda priest, but also attached to the Yoruba religion.3 how her experiences enable her to make sense of the When I asked about the difference between the many turns that her life has taken. experience in Umbanda and in the Yoruba tradition, he replied: Case B 3 The Yoruba tradition is a recent development in Brazil, cen- Female, Umbanda priestess, but also initiated into tred on religious communities founded by Nigerian immi- Candomblé. grants. Anthropos 109.2014 This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:07:52 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 140 Bettina E. Schmidt I feel differences between the deities in Umbanda. When From the deity [orixá], I first feel the tingling of my hands, sometimes, which is not a pleasant feeling. Soon I incorporate some deities, I do not feel anything. And I have other deities that make me feel ecstatic, even afterwards, I initially feel much pain, not at all pleasant. And then it goes away. This is far more unpleasant. This though I did not enter them. The feeling is diiferent from is because I am out of breath, and feel pain in the body. my normal waking state. But when I incorporate an orixá [Yoruba tradition], I usually have no control of my moveAfter I have recovered, I feel very well. ments. In most deities, in the Yoruba tradition, I have no In the case of Umbanda, it depends on the entity, but control of my movements. Often when I am conscious, mostly, I feel good about their approach, and in the case I want to stop, but I cannot (Interview on April 14, 2010). of other entities, it is a similar feeling. Moreover, in the case of Umbanda, I can handle more manifestations than I enquired whether he would be conscious, and in relation to the orixá (Interview on April, 2010). he replied "with some deities, but not all! Oxumarê, for instance, is one of the deities of whom I am not Then he described an event which took place aware." while he incorporated an alcoholic entity who made him jump from a bridge just to get some alcohol (a What I remember is that while I was researching [for a case of "dare" challenge). "At the time, my reacuniversity degree] I was not aware that the priestess was tion was to close my eyes and only open them again Oxumarê. Then I remember that I was outside [the reliwhen I felt that I was on firm ground." gious house] with my tape recorder broken and everyone was outside. With this deity specifically I get this way. Sometimes I feel as if my arms fall asleep, or my legs, and Case D sometimes I even feel as if I'm having a heart attack. With each orixá I have a diiferent feeling. Sometimes it begins with dancing, quite violent, but I'm still conscious. NevMale, Candomblé priest from Salvador da Bahia, ertheless, I can control myself, or stop dancing, and I inliving in São Paulo. tend to stop dancing and stand, but when I least expect it, This Candomblé priest is connected to an oriI lose control again. In my first session, I wanted to stop xá and a caboclo (spirit of an indigenous entity), dancing because my leg had been dislocated. But I could although the latter is often rejected by other Cannot stop and began dancing with the other leg (Interview domblé priests. When I asked him whether the inon April 14, 2010). corporation of a caboclo is different from the incor- poration of Oxum (his orixá), he replied: And then he continued explaining his feeling in Umbanda: It is different for everyone depending on who you are and you are receiving [depending on medium and posIn the case of Umbanda it varies from entity to entity. .who . . agency]. The sensation is the same, the sensation In one case, I have full awareness of what is happening.sessing In other cases, I have full consciousness, but I cannot control of having lost contact with the world. For example, every the movements. There are also others where I can master time I go into the state, it is as if I am leaning over a buildthe moves, but I cannot control the voice. ing of more than twenty floors, looking down. At any giv- en time, somebody might arrive and push me down. There There are some who do not speak, but have a special is panic. It is always this way. As I am in a high place, way to hinder me, one entity, for instance, with drinking. The taste of alcohol leaves me unconscious because of the very high, looking down, and then I turn round and see that somebody is coming in my direction and pushing me alcohol. However, [during the incorporation] I am aware of his attitude when he is drunk, but when he leaves, Iwith do their hands (Interview on May 21, 2010). not have the characteristics of being drunk. In this case, if I could check the percentage of alcohol He confirms that this is how he feels, whether the caboclo or Oxum arrives. in my blood, there would certainly be alcohol there. But I do not have the same feeling when I'm drunk. This is because I did not [remember] that I drank so badly. I haveUntil no today, though I am much older now, it still feels visual distortions, [but] there is a specific entity that does this way. Today I feel as if the earth is turning around and that! It does not allow me to know what the entity is sayopens; just in front of me a big crater opens and someing. As if he [= the spiritual entity] realizes that I'm conbody pushes me into the crater. It is terrifying! Afterwards scious, and makes me, one way or another, unconscious! I do not see or feel anything. Then I hear people say, "It's If I do not get unconscious for good, another less pleasant White Feather [the caboclo] dancing", or "Oxum was way is by alcohol (Interview on April 14, 2010). very pretty today." I do not have any memory, I do not remember anything. And it is the same thing with the ca- Then I asked him how he feels afterwards, boclo. It is the same thing (Interview on May 21, 2010). whether he experiences any pain or joy. He replied that: He avoided answering any questions about his feelings, since he has no memory of them, but he Anthropos 109.2014 This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:07:52 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Spirit Possession elaborated further on the different characters of the in Brazil 141 by putting a hand here at the chest and the back so that four entities, and the language and manner they use she does not lose balance. to convey their messages. He then concluded, "All are distinct, totally distinct from each other." Case E Male, Candomblé Fon priest. When a person first makes contact with the orixá before initiation, the body will fall to the ground and shake tremendously, very hard, because the person does not know anything about the orixá , does not know that the orixá is not yet inside or will not leave. . . . This type of incorporation is a state of torpor. It loses the movement of a [normal] body. She loses the notion of everything and trembles and then falls . . . The ori- This priest represents a form of Candomblé xá that knocks the body down to the ground to show that it has is often considered to be more "traditional,"entered since the person. And then one has to become initiated (Interview April 23, 2010). non- African entities, such as caboclos , are rejected. When I asked him whether there is a difference be- tween the approach of a spirit or an orixá , he replied Initiation for him is the transformation of a perthat the feeling is totally different, "the sensation isson into a sacred being, because during the initiation different, the weight is different, it is a completelyceremony the person will be consecrated with the orixá. The priest does not describe the experience different thing." as incorporation or possession, since in his view it As much as the person learns, the orixá also learns; theyis not an external entity that takes over the human learn how to act, they learn the dances and the rituals. body; rather, the orixá stays with the newly initiated They are taught to make everything according to the traperson and then arises from within the body (at this dition of the house, because each nation, each house, each moment he pointed to his chest). The term "posses- place tends to keep to a specific form. Each house has its sion" would indicate that the orixás are limited entradition, each house has its way to deal with the orixá tities that could overtake a human body. However, and the orixá needs to learn how to carry them out (Interhe insists that this is not the case. When the orixá view on April 23, 2010). takes control of the body, it is a transformation of a human body into a divine entity from within. As a consequence, he said, the experience of the incorporation will change during a lifetime. Seven I have chosen these five cases as a representative years after the initiation, "the incorporation is much sample of the dozens of interviews I took in Brazil stronger, it is then complete." I asked him whethin 2010 with members of different religious tradier the incorporation is always the same and he explained that: tions. Despite the randomness of the selection, they reflect the intensity of the discourse about possession, incorporation, and trance, but also the elaboeach show similar [gender] aspects, but each one also has rate ways to disregard intrusive questions about pera proper personality. There is a moment in which the personal feelings and experiences. They will now be sonality of the orixá is revealed, showing which orixá the confronted with the academic discourse about posperson really is. For example, one moment you can see session and trance. As Bowie states, "anthropologiOgum very calm, but he is the orixá of war. And then, he cal has enough of singing or touching, and the next moment methodology offers the possibility of personal, embodied encounters with the other - with living as you will see the warrior ... he becomes more agitated, but he can also become calmer, depending on the singing (In-well as written texts, and challenges the ethnograterview on April 23, 2010). pher to include embodied experiences as part of the theoretical and analytical matrix of interpretation" I asked him, as someone who has initiated many(Bowie 2002: 19). people, questions about the initiation process. Although he could not go into detail, since most of the rituals are secret and can only be shared with other A Fragmented Body and a Possessed Mind initiated people, he was willing to explain certain aspects of the rituals that I had observed. Possession is at the cutting edge of the debate of the in case of male and female orixás , there are similarities; At the time [of initiation], the orixá is very strong, and as division between body and mind since it involves both the mind as well as the body. Instead of locat- the body [of a new initiate] is not accustomed to it [= the incorporation], it loses balance ... In this moment, youing the possession experience in the mind, and conmaking it a psychological event (Ribeiro can see that it [the body] trembles more than a little . . sequently . 1982: 156-185), I argue for a middle path, for the Then she [we were speaking about the initiation of a female member of his community] has to be given balanceinclusion of the body in the analysis of religious exAnthropos 109.2014 This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:07:52 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 142 Bettina perience. The Culturalist Perspective Schmidt will be sent to hospital where he or she willfirst be given a However, tion of how to deal with the "sacred" from a cultur- alist perspective. E. psychiatric drug. You can create a disruption in the brain chemistry that actually disrupts the ego. On the other hand, and I've seen this happen a lot, a relative or a neighbour of the individual says, "We take her to the centre, she must be seeing spirits." When this in- formation is passed to the person who is living with it, she thinks, "I see spirits." Who are these spirits? Oh, and there In order to emphasise the academic foundation, an- are spirits in the spiritual plane, and appear to some peothropologists of religion emphasise a social scientif- ple who have a gift. "Ah, but I'm seeing it, I'm not going ic approach to the divine. While Rudolf Otto (1936) crazy, even though others do not see them." The new idenfamously declared in "The Idea of the Holy" that tity is reinforced. "I am not going crazy, I see spirits." . . . no one without a religious experience would under- After some training in the spiritual centre, the individual begins to learn the meaning of the phenomenon and bestand his argumentation and should stop reading comes an active member of the group because it becomes his book, scholars today cannot accept his non-aca means of communication. Then a process of indoctriademic presumption because it would take the enterprise outside the academic framework. Following nation begins, where she or he will see the spirits during the sessions, and beyond. The experience becomes strucOtto would indicate that "there is no way to study tured. There is no pathology, but a set of ideas. You think 'religious experience' as such scientifically simply in a set of beliefs and values that make sense of human because what constitutes 'religion' is highly con-experience. When we do not have that, the experience is tested" (Taves 2005: 45). But does not my decimeaningless. If it does not make sense, then something is sion to ground my research in narratives force me threatening. If I see a fireball in the sky, I might say "oh, to include a "sacred dimension" into my analysis?it's an angel, God, and Yahweh," or nowadays, "it's a flying saucer, or an extraterrestrial." Now, if I do not have The anthropological approach requires a respect for the explanations of the practitioners, even explana- those references, I may collapse with fear (Interview on tions that rely on the possessing agencies for their April 15, 2010). interpretation of their experiences; hence, they embrace the divine. When we look at religion, how- While I agree with his culturalist perspective (see ever, as "just" another human construct that can also Klass 2003), it is important to consider the difbe explained in relation to other human constructs ferences within one culture. The opposing interpre(McCutcheon 1997: 11, see also Geertz's [1973]tation of the experience from a neo-Pentecostal perdefinition of religion as part of the wider culture spective is, of course, understandable; however, we and society), the notion of a "sacred" ontologicalneed to look as well at the differences between Afroentity, from which the practitioners' understandingBrazilian and Spiritist traditions in order to underof possession experience derives, has to be rejected. stand the complexity of the discourse. For the Jungian psychotherapist José Jorge de All cases share the wider Brazilian belief in the Morais Zacharias, whom I interviewed about his so-called abnormal phenomena mentioned above; involvement in Afro-Brazilian religions, the interhence, they share the belief in the existence of spiritual entities. One crucial distinction is connected to pretation of trance and possession experiences are culturally embedded. If a person experiences somethe possessing agencies (see Keller 2002 about the thing unusual and is not given an explanation, it willimportance of acknowledging the role of the poscause anxiety and disorder, even mental instability. sessing agency). The orixás are described by CanIt is only when a culturally embedded explanation domblé, as well as by some Umbanda practitioners, as forces of nature in contrast to fixed disembodis delivered that the experience becomes meaningful and structured. The experience becomes part of ied entities. This definition is used to explain why the person: orixás cannot possess a human being because it is believed to be beyond human ability to incorporate Suppose a teenager begins to see figures and people somea divine entity. The priest in "Case E" sees this astimes talk to her. If she is in a very Catholic or Protestant pect as the ultimate distinction between Candom- Church, she's crazy, she's in trouble, because you cannot blé and Umbanda. In Candomblé the orixá does not see such things. The idea that you are seeing something from the outside, but is inside the human body is regarded as a hallucination; it's crazy and will pose come a from the moment of the initiation. When the orixá threat to your identity. As a result her identity is threatened, she feels like she's going crazy. This threat of dis-leaves, something remains in the human body of the initiate. integration of identity generates anxiety. This anxiety accentuates the feeling of disorder and brings fear, and can This description resembles Goldman's explanaeven cause panic. The person can develop a disorder and tion of possession. The anthropologist argues that Anthropos 109.2014 This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2Thu, 01 Jan 1976 12:34:56 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms I Spirit the Possession worlds of in Brazil 143 gods and converg ceptions of an attitude humans to the agency of themselves and others" (2009a: 487). possession; the adept and the orixá alm Hence, being possessed does not mean son transforms into an orixá, but that t The Body a Perspective "almost" becomes divine entity (Go 112-114). Goldman argues that "becom identical with transformation, "becomin Zacharias psychologises the cultural explanation of tive and creative process that possession and locates the experience strictly in the will no ly) result in a mind, with the mind dominating the body. The oritransformed entity, xás become Jungian archetypes and the experience is no longer unique. René Ribeiro, however, chalThe spiritual entities of Umbanda, however, lenges this interpretation. Although he agrees that are considered to be individual entities, and spirits are believed to have had (in a former life) possession a human is an "ethno-psychological problem" (the title of a conference paper given in July 1955 body. But the possession is not a simple process, in asked Salvador da Bahia, published in Ribeiro 1982: as the priestess in "Case B" explains, when about the simultaneous incorporation of a 156-185), spiritualand defines the possession of a caboclo in an Afro-Brazilian religious community as a disentity within numerous human bodies. It is believed, sociative that incorporation is a kind of dialogue and that partpersonality phenomenon (158), he rejects the claim that it is merely a psychological incident of the human being becomes part of the personality (167). This attitude is also reflected in my interof the possessing entity. When I asked mediums generally what they This aspect is even stronger in the case ofviews. Spiritremember from the experience (mediumship, posism, as indicated by the fact that mediums regularly session, or incorporation), they often declared that describe how the spirits have enriched their lives. The woman in "Case A," for instance, stressed how they did not remember anything that happened dur- a movement. inginthe time of the incorporation. On the other hand, the experience has strengthened the creativity her they could life. Spiritists regularly insist that this experience is describe how it affected their body. One similarity, not a possession or incorporation since the medi- for instance, is that nearly all of them declared that they have no control over what they say ums take an active part when the spirits communi- or doreduring the episode. In all cases, the mediums cate their messages to the human world. Engler describe gards the consciousness of Kardecist mediums astheir bodily experience of an approaching spiritual entity in a similar way - how it tick- the main difference between Umbanda and Karde- cism (2009a: 486) les the arm or hand; how they sense something apResembling Zacharias's explanation above, me-proaching; how they can feel their body responding diums in each tradition often rejected the first con- to the approach; and how it then takes over from one tact with spiritual entities. In due course, however, moment to another. Afterwards they usually feel a they learnt how to control this encounter - or, instrong emotion, often they are tired and do not know Zacharias's words, they learnt to structure their ex- why, they feel a resonance of joy or satisfaction but perience - so that it would not affect their ordinary also sadness and a sense of loss when the possesslife but help the community. After they got over theing agency has left. While the bodily feeling is described relatively initial shock of the first approach, mediums embraced the experience freely (see Eliade 1989) aboutsimilarly, the presence of another consciousness is the symbolic death and rebirth of a shaman during perceived in different ways. In the case of Umbanthe initiation process). This willingness is connect-da, where the spirits are described as individual en- ed to their emerging role in the community sincetities, the consciousness of the possessing agency everyone highlighted the importance of helpinghas a distinct individual character and the medium is others with their ability. From a functional perspec-aware of the approaching entity. In Spiritism, a spirtive mediumship serves a wider community, usually it is described as an individual, who is communicatthe members of the religious house, and often, es-ing with the medium, whose consciousness remains pecially in Umbanda, a wider clientele (see Lewis aware of the spirit (at least in most cases). Hence, 2003). The community aspect also enforces the cul-mediumship in Spiritism is a form of active interactural significance of possession experience in thetion between two agencies, while in Umbanda the wider Brazilian society. However, as Engler high- consciousness of the spiritual entity is stronger than lights, possession rituals "do not simply echo or re- the consciousness of the human, and the communiflect broader cultural factors: they also allow ritual cation happens between the client (or the commuparticipants to reimagine and rehearse dynamic con- nity) and the spirit, not between the medium and the Anthropos 109.2014 This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:07:52 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms but 144 Bettina spirit. dle E. Schmidt The demonstrate, mediums in the possession experience is an em- more bo than consc bodied practice (Stollerone 1994). The mediums feel the spiritual one. strong emotions when encountering spiritual entities In Candomblé, however, and express these experiences physically with their t ceived in a different bodies (see also Lambek 1996: 239). This experi- way orixás surpasses individual ence has encouraged the development of highly sonever totally leaves the hu phisticated concepts about the body, not only among tion; hence the human bei Candomblé practitioners, but also among devotees initial merger with the di of the other traditions. Csordas argues that "When sodes the orixá with the body is recognized raises for what it is in experiential head in order to cont terms, not as an object but take as a subject, the mindconsciousness is subdued body distinction becomes much more uncertain" Candomblé medium does not handle two or more (1990: 36). He regards the body not as an object to consciousnesses, but allows a section of it to outbe studied in relation to culture, but as a subject of shine the other. Followers of Jung would perhaps culture. With reference to speaking in tongues in the like to argue that the orixá constitutes part of the Charismatic Christianity in North America, Csordas consciousness of the medium (see Zacharias 1998interprets Pentecostal glossolalia as asserting uniand his interpretation of the orixás ), which justifies ty of body and mind, establishing a shared human the resistance to label this experience as possession. world, and expressing transcendence (1990: 31). InThe experience seems similar to the experience of stead of describing the experience as God inhabitUmbanda and Spiritist mediums because the human ing the "socially informed body," he argues that the consciousness of the medium is suppressed. Howlived body is "an irreducible principle, the existenever, this interpretation risks overlooking the con-tial ground of culture and the sacred" (1990: 23). cept of the body within Candomblé thought. It is This view of the body brings the debate back to crucial to note that the Candomblé ideas go beyond the question of how to include something or somethe division of body and mind, as Barros and Teixeione that cannot be studied in an empiricist way in ra have explained. They argue that the soul also has the analysis. As the narratives above demonstrate, a material aspect and that the body has a spiritual the mediums describe their experience in relation to aspect (2004: 110), since it serves as a connection spiritual entities of different qualities. Their bodies to the divine. They describe the human body as were a affected by the interaction with spirits, or even vehicle for the communication with the deities. Thetransformed due to the merger with a deity. Somebody can receive the orixás , but it is also means ofthing happened in and with their bodies during the personal individuality. It is impossible, therefore, to possession experience that did not leave the body distinguish between body and mind. According to unchanged. Instead of maintaining a sharp distincBarros and Teixeira the deities are not (only) phetion between the identities of spirit and host (e.g., nomena of the mind, and the body is not (only)Lambek a 1980: 319), the body is transformed during material unit. Their explanation is consistent with the possession. However, this intervention cannot be Berkenbrock's statement that in Candomblé thought measured, or scanned, or even documented, but only described. In each of the five Brazilian cases the mea human being consists of different elements. The body, which becomes earth again after death, condiums insist that the experience changes the body sists according to Berkenbrock of emi (breath),because - for a moment or for longer - the medium which provides the body with life, ori (intelligenceembodies the sacred perceived as the ultimate other, or consciousness), and something from Orum (the whether it is a spirit or a divine being.4 divine creator), which means that every person has some elements of his or her orixás inside the human Conclusion body (1998: 285 f.). The trance provides human beings with a moment of harmony, because all frag- ments are temporarily unified. Gods, religions, and cultures in general are often re- The Candomblé perspective on the body asgarded a as products of cognition that create bridges fragmented entity shows the importance of ideas about the body for an understanding of the posses- 4 Van de Port even argues that the construction of possession as sion experience. Theorists on spirit possession often "radically other" supports the quest of Candomblé priests in Bahia for authority. Unsolicited bodily experiences, spontaignore the "centrality of the sentient body in possesneous fainting spells, visions, dreams, and other inexplicable authenticity of their sion" (Stoller 1994: 637) as it is expressed in indig- events help "to convince people of the enous opinions. However, as the narratives above particular convictions" (2005: 164). Anthropos 109.2014 This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:07:52 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Spirit Possession in Brazil 145 between the worlds we conceive and the worlds encounter. These are, of course, only personal imwe make (Tremlin 2006: 169). Or, as Saler writes, pressions during emotionally charged ceremonies (and I did not measure the mediums). But the im"people do not just 'have' beliefs. They frequently pressions confirm the mediums' reports about their use or deploy them in social interactions, in keeping and recollections of how the possession exwith desires and interests, and there is a meaningfeelings in perience affected them physically. that use" (2001: 66, emphasis in the original). AnWhere does this leave me in light of a better unthropological studies of possession experience have, derstanding of possession experience? I am no step until recently, focused on the interpretation of these social interactions, that is, on the functional side further of in recognising whether a spirit of a doctor of medicine treats the patients in a Spiritist centre; the experience for the society and the individual. whether an orixá conveys his or her pleasure about Recently the focus shifted to cognition (see Cohen the presence of so many clients; or whether a cabo2007). My attention, however, was on the percep- clo criticises me tion of the body. Possession, trance, divine inspiraunderstand how tion, visions, and so on, all achieve something indance for hours side the body. For a moment or longer, people lose the sense of their own self (consciousness) and from ex- his trance for an incorrect movement. I do not a woman with a disfigured foot can without pain; why a man wakes up feeling immensely sad about the loss of his orixá ; or why someone who has consumed perience a different self (the Altered State of Conan enormous amount of alcohol exhibits no effects. sciousness - ASC). For a moment, this "category Nonetheless, it happened. that we call the self' is lost, overpowered by anoth- er "self' though still (perhaps subconsciously) pres-Pyysiäinen defines religion as "a concept that the personalistic counter-intuitive repreent. However, any kind of religious experience, identifies in- sentations and the related practices, institutions, etc. cluding spirit possession and its siblings, trance and that divine inspiration, cannot be accomplished without are widely spread, literally believed, and actively used by a group of people in their attempts to uninvolvement of the body because the body is "the locus of the sacred" as Csordas writes, "the existenderstand, explain and control those aspects of life, and reality as a whole, that escape common sense tial ground of culture" (1990: 39). While the recent wave of studies focused on the brain, because and, of more recently, scientific explanation" (2003: 227). In case of explaining possession experience the involvement of circuits in the brain in religious it is evident that the ideas of people experiencing it experience (Pyysiäinen 2003: 124), I am not inter- indeed escape scientific explanation. Nonetheless, ested in brain activities but in the body as a whole, the twisting, itching, erratic movements, how we theshould not ignore their explanations, as they are real for the devotees. It is difficult to find the right perception of body weight and even the measurebetween explaining and experiencing rements (taller-shorter) seem to change. If this maybalance be as Taves (1999) explains. I do not want to a psychological or physiological phenomenon, I ligion am unable to determine. What I want is to find out how promote a theological agenda, quite the opposite. However, I also do not want to reject the ideas of it is interpreted by those to whom it happens. Obvi- people experiencing possession "just" because they ously, something may also happen to the observer, do not corroborate the current academic discourse. but that would be another question. At one Umban- da ceremony, while I waited for the ceremonyAs to Taves highlights, people experiencing acts such as begin, I noticed small stools and very short walk-possession trance do not live in isolation from the surrounding discourses. The boundary between ing sticks, situated around the room. There were no scholars explaining experiences and people living children present so I had no idea for whom they them is increasingly blurred, in particular in Brawere set up. The priestess of this group was a very zil. Not only are practitioners aware of the academtall woman, as were most of the other members. ic research conducted in Brazil, some of them purHowever, at the end of the ceremony, after I had sue university study programmes in order to be able observed (and consulted) several mediums of preto better understand their experiences. Hence, the to vehlo spirits, I suddenly realised that the stools experience itself, as well as the theories developed no longer looked too small for the mediums and about it, are embedded in the cultural context of that the canes were in perfect shape for this situtheir time and are consequently shaped by it. ation. Something similar happened in a Spiritist centre, while I was interviewing a woman who had "worked" in this centre during my first visit some weeks earlier. During the interview, I realised, to my astonishment, that she was even shorter than me and definitely not taller as I had thought after my first Anthropos 109.2014 This content downloaded from 212.219.61.210 on Wed, 25 Aug 2021 08:07:52 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 146 Bettina References Cited E. Schmidt Goldman, Marcio 2007 How to Learn in an Afro-Brazilian Spirit Possession Religion. Ontology and Multiplicity in Candomblé. In: D. Almeida, Ronaldo de 2003 A guerra des possessões. In: A. P. 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