Western Perception on Possession & Shamanic State of Trance and Why It’s Wrong
Possession and shamanic trance are usually not affiliated with each other in modern Western worldview. Through Hollywood movies as Western Society we have learned to affiliate possession with something demonic and evil. For example, in the popular film The Exorcist possession is portrayed as a demonic entity entering a young girl’s body, which leads her to speak in Latin, which she did not know and levitate over her bed. As a solution, her family summons a priest to release her of the evil spirit.
Shamans, on the other hand, are regarded as healers, that have an ability to enter an altered state of consciousness (ASC) voluntarily, or through consumption of psychoactive herbs, such as ayahuasca. The ayahuasca ceremonies are gaining rapid popularity amongst Western society prompting drug tourism in South America.
What do both of these phenomena have in common? Western society tends to dismiss the state of possession or altered consciousness as a mental disorder associated with cognitive dissonance, or trauma. When we look at all three; possession, shamanic trance, and cognitive dissonance, we see clear similarities, but what makes each different is the context and the society who interprets it. This raises the question: are the ways in which we define possession, shamanic trance, and mental illness determined by nothing other than cultural influence? Let’s compare these two phenomenons, and its interpretation in the modern Western worldview.
To find an answer, I’ve conducted independent research in which I examine a cross-cultural perception of two of the most profound altered states of consciousness: possession and shamanic state of trance. I ask why and how Western society misinterprets them as a malfunction of the brain.
Possession
As previously stated, possession is a state that is often associated with a spirit gaining control over one’s body. However, not every culture regards it as demonic.
During possession, one may experience loss of memory or display behavioral change that might be accompanied by convulsions or seizures. The behavioral change can be spotted as a difference in bodily movement, as well as auditorily. Once the possessed individual regains consciousness, they often do not recall the events that took place. In other words, they are considered having suffered temporary amnesia. Because possession encompasses a wide range of phenomena — including pathological, communicative, and normative behaviors for a transformation of self and others, a wide range of emotions may be expressed during possessed states. (Winkelman, 2016).
In the Western perspective, a state of possession is often referenced as a mental illness that has resulted from significant trauma or stress. Some researchers argue it is a behavioral defensive mechanism that a child adapts as a result of cultural interference. For example, in a clinical case of Colombian Cooperative University researchers have studied a 15-year-old male whose trance-possession behavior was conceived as spiritual. The boy, who engaged in destructive and often violent behavior, was perceived as ‘an enlightened one’ by his family and surrounding social group. The researchers claim that such tolerance of his behavior acted as a foundation on which the boy acted out his impulsivity, uncontrollable emotions and a need for approval. The researchers also argue that because of cultural context the warning signs of mental disease in a child were overseen. (Perez, 2015).
Despite contemporary belief that the act of possession is often thought to be demonic and involuntary, many cultures prove such a claim to be inaccurate. Terence Palmer (2014), a parapsychologist that studied religious mysticism, says, “If we accept the idea that we are merely a spirit that possesses our physical body, how can we regard to spirit possession as something negative? If we embrace the idea that the entity, that is often attributed by Western researchers as a result of trauma, is a soul fragment that exists to protect you in times of trouble, it cannot be perceived as ‘evil’.
In fact, in various esoteric and exoteric practices across the globe, the forces that exert over the human body can be associated with spirits, ancestors and powerful entities; and in some social groups such occurrences could be considered to be sacred and therapeutic. To understand how possession can be therapeutic, we must look at cultures that engage in such practices and what an act of possession means in their cultural context.
Many who practice occultism intentionally engage in possession ceremonies through which they seek out guidance from spirits and deities. One such practices that exists in the U.S. is Santeria which roots from an ancient Yoruba tradition (De La Torre). Miguel De La Torre (2004) in his book Santeria writes, “Mainstream American Culture tends to think of possession in terms of Hollywood films like the Exorcist — in other words, with negative, if not downright demonic connotations. But for believers in Santeria, to be possessed by Orishas (deities, or gods that are honored in the Santeria pratice) is a great honor. Indeed, it is a responsibility, for it is only through possession that the Orishas can manifest themselves to the faith community.”
In such possession ceremonies, the followers of Santeria display common signs of possession: displacement of personality, unnatural or unfamiliar body movements, altered voices. Sometimes an Orisha speaks a different tongue that is not native to the person being possessed. In this case, a possession occurs voluntarily. A Santero who has been initiated opens himself or herself up to being possessed by the deity. After the ceremony is over, those who’ve been possessed might recall segments of what they did while being inhabited by the Orisha, but generally a person experiences a minor ‘black-out’.
It has also been widely suggested that possession ceremonies are often prevalent amongst cultures and societies that have gone through oppressive political conditions (Winkelman, 2016). For example, in the film shot by Jean Rouch Les Maitres Fous, in the African city of Accra, we witness a whole community of Hauka participate in a possession ceremony. In the footage, the young men and women of Hauka were becoming possessed by colonial authorities. In this film, the ritual was performed as a ‘therapeutic’ group activity that was aimed to heal the indigenous people that have been affected by colonization. The possession allows people to release the tensions and oppression that withholds them (Winkelaman, 2016).
Shamanic State of Trance
To identify a shamanic state of trance, let’s begin with identifying Shamanism. Shaman — from Mongolian origin, “the one who shakes,” often referred to as an indigenous healer. Although this description is not entirely far from the truth, it only describes one of the shaman’s duties. Shamanism is an ancient technique that has been practiced before the emergence of religious organizations. Shamans are known for their ability to heal, travel to the realm of spirits via ecstatic trance, psychopomps, and ‘carrying wisdom’. Shamans can also be associated with clairvoyance and are known for receiving divinations through visions or dreams. Some of the key elements of Shamanic ritual are ecstatic trance and manipulation of symbols (Winkelman, 2016).
Shamanic trance is usually provoked by auditory driving (Winkelman, 2016) (such as drumming and chanting), or motor behaviors. In some regions, the shamanic state can be induced by consumption of psilocybin, or other psychoactive substances and herbs. One of the biggest differences between possession and shamanic trance is that a Shaman can retain a memory of his or her altered state of consciousness, unlike many possessed who suffer from temporary amnesia, and they do enter the ASC (Altered State of Consciousness) to help heal or guide an individual or a community.
This ancient practice has been passed to Shamans from generation to generation. Shamans and their rituals vary from culture to culture, and some anthropologists tend to recognize states of altered consciousness that occur to shamans as “trance” and “possession trance”. How a Shaman reaches this state is defined by culture, cosmology, and the region that Shaman inhabits. The cultural context and cosmology determine whether a Shaman speaks to ancestors or spirits, whilst a region determines what resources and symbols a Shaman uses in his ritual (Winkelman, 2016).
In the study of Nepal’s Shamans, jhakris, the Shamanic ASC journey is described as “involving the manipulation of numerous powerful cultural symbols, words, gestures, …Through these procedures, — stage by stage — the jhakris take the patient from the status of “a sick person,” through a stage of liminality, to ritual liberations from the impinging [evil] forces, and finally cleansing, reincorporation, and transformation.” (SIDKY, 2011) This description fits the universally accepted understanding of Shamanism and its healing journey. Although, given the use of cultural symbols, words and gestures, we can see how culture is imperative to the ritual and methods that are used to access an altered state of consciousness.
Some psychoactive plants allow Shamans to enter the realm of spirits, however, not every Shamanic practice uses psychoactive plants for this purpose. In regions of South America, ayahuasca rituals are gaining rapid popularity amongst Western tourists. Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic plant that is used in ceremonial rituals in the Amazonian land. The plant draws the attraction of Western tourists that travel to Peruvian Amazon with a sole purpose of engaging in mind-altering ritual. Prior to the ‘globalization’ of ayahuasca, the plant was used by a variety of indigenous groups in the Amazon region for communal purposes, spiritual rituals and ceremonies, divination by the local Shaman.
In her ethnographic paper, Evgenia Fotiou (2016) notes that finding an indigenous Shaman in the Amazonian forest is not as easy as one would expect, and many who claim to be Shamans come from the Western origin. Fotiou (2016) considers this to be an act of appropriation of indigenous knowledge and “cultural imperialism”. To the indigenous population of Amazon, these plants have a more significant meaning than they do to a tourist who is on a search for a better life or is looking to expand his or her consciousness to become more self-aware. But none of the ethical issues stop drug tourism in Peru and in other South American countries. What makes possession differentiate from a Shamanic state of trance is the retention of memory. During a possession ceremony the possessed might remember seldom segments of their actions, but generally they experience a temporary amnesia for the length of the possession. A shaman is able to retain his or her memory and recall his journey to the spirit realm. A shaman can then use the knowledge he has received in a trance state to heal and guide members of his or her community. It must be noted that not every Shamanic trance possession consists of spirit exerting hold over your body; the type of trance is unique to specific traditions and beliefs associated with the culture. Both of the ceremonies include the manipulation of symbols that are also unique to the specific culture (Winkelman, 2016).
Is the goal in both ceremonies the same? While a Shaman might descend to an ASC with the purpose of healing rituals, divination and to ‘retrieve’ a lost soul, during possession ceremonies people might experience the release of tension, stress, or ask for guidance and divination from spirits.
Hollywood films are to blame for incorporating the wrong ideas into modern society by portraying possession as a demonic heresy. Another idea that is strongly incorporated into a Western mind is that any dissociative cognitive state can be explained by a mental disorder, trauma or learned behavior. Possession ceremonies are considered therapeutic and sacred across different cultures.
To conclude, possession and Shamanic states of trance activate the same region of a brain, serve a similar goal, and both are associated with an altered state of consciousness where one experience cognitive dissonance. The perception and definition of Shamanic state of trance as well as possession are heavily defined by the cultural phenomena. The acceptance of both of the phenomena is also determined by the culture and beliefs of a social group. To furthermore examine the cross-cultural differences and similarities amongst different possession and Shamanic trance we’d have to closely study the indigenous groups and occultism that participate in such ceremonies. The science of Western society rejects the belief in soul, spirit, and deities, and deems them all into a category of mental illness. Yet, for many years and among many groups, both of these phenomena can be part of adaptive behavior and have given healing and created a therapeutic effect on oppressed and lost souls.
References
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Corzo Pérez, Paula Ariadna. “Culture or Psychosis: Social Behavior Inducing Psychopathology or Psychopathology Inducing Social Behavior?” International Journal of Health, Wellness & Society. ( 2015): 1–5.
Fotiou, Evgenia. “The Globalization of Ayahuasca Shamanism and the Erasure of Indigenous Shamanism.” Anthropology of Consciousness. (2016): 151–179.
Les Maitres Fous. Dir. Jean Rouch. 1955.
Michele Stephen, Luh Ketut Suryani. “Shamanism, Psychosis and Autonomous Imagination.” Culture, Medicine & Psychiatry (2000).
Palmer, Terence. “The Science of Spirit Possession.” Cambridge Scholars Publishing (2014).
SIDKY. “A Shaman’s Cure: The Relationship Between Altered States of Consciousness and Shamanic Healing.” Anthropology of Consciousness. (2009): 171–197.
Sidky, Homayun. “The State Oracle of Tibet, Spirit Possession, and Shamanism.” Numen: International Review for the History of Religions. (2011): 71–99.
Torre, Miguel A. De La. Santeria: The Beliefs and Rituals of a Growing Religion in America . Grand Rapids, Michigan / Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company , 2004.
Winkelman, Michael. Supernatural As Natural: A Biocultural Approach To Religion. London: Routledge, 2015.
