This article was downloaded by: [Temple University Libraries]On: 20 November 2014, At: 17:21Publisher: Taylor & FrancisInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH,UK

Psychological Perspectives: AQuarterly Journal of JungianThoughtPublication details, including instructions forauthors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/upyp20

A Review of “Spirits andScalpels: The Culturalbiologyof Religious Healing inBrazil.” (2008). By Sidney M.GreenfieldErnest Lawrence RossiPublished online: 27 May 2009.

To cite this article: Ernest Lawrence Rossi (2009) A Review of “Spirits and Scalpels:The Culturalbiology of Religious Healing in Brazil.” (2008). By Sidney M. Greenfield,Psychological Perspectives: A Quarterly Journal of Jungian Thought, 52:2, 268-270

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00332920902881265

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all theinformation (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform.However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness,or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and viewsexpressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of theContent should not be relied upon and should be independently verified withprimary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages,and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or

indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of theContent.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes.Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan,sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone isexpressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttp://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

17:

21 2

0 N

ovem

ber

2014

268 PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES � VOLUME 52, ISSUE 2 / 2009

supposed opposites of yin/yang, themasculine feminine tension. The ‘it’being the Sacred Marriage.”

This flippant comment, com-ing late in the book, after he hasreferred to Jung positively through-out, used his concepts freely, andquoted several well-known Jungianpractitioners, all in support of hisargument, reveals perhaps moreabout his own shortcomings thanJung’s.

Fox’s message is that menmust identify their spirituality andthrough it re-envision the world,shaking off old habits of mind.His mission is to inspire men, andwomen as well, and move all of usfrom wherever we are now to newlevels of awareness and action.

As I said earlier, his dream of asacred marriage with which he be-gins The Hidden Spirituality of

Men may be emblematic of his questfor a redeeming vision. But thisbook, which grows out of that vision,is overflowing and almost chaotic inits abundance. It needs culling; theembodied vision needs further re-finement and articulation.

Richard E. Messer, Ph.D., is a poet

and teacher of writing as well as

healing.

SPIRITS AND SCALPELS: THE

CULTURALBIOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS

HEALING IN BRAZIL. (2008). BY

SIDNEY M. GREENFIELD. WALNUT

CREEK, CA: LEFT COAST PRESS.

Reviewed by Ernest Lawrence Rossi

T he author, Sidney M. Green-field, Emeritus Professor of

Anthropology at the Universityof Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has con-ducted ethnographic research inNew Bedford, Massachusetts, theWest Indies, and most famouslysince 1959, in Brazil. Over theyears Greenfield has received nu-merous research grants and fourFulbright awards that have enabledhim to be a visiting professor atthree Brazilian universities. He isthe author and/or editor of sevenscholarly books and has published130 chapters, papers, and reviewsin scientific journals. He currentlylives in New York, where he is aco-chair of the Columbia UniversitySeminar on Brazil.

In his prologue and introductionto this remarkable volume, Profes-sor Greenfield describes the scopeof his lifetime of research of reli-gious and spiritually oriented surg-eries among the indigenous popula-tions of Brazil:

Over a period of two decades inBrazil I witnessed and videotapedscores of “surgeries” in which Spiri-tist healer-mediums, most lackingany professional medical credentials,cut into their patients, sometimes inextraordinary ways, to achieve re-sults that large numbers consideredsuccessful.

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

17:

21 2

0 N

ovem

ber

2014

REVIEWS � 269

I would like to invite the readerto join me on an adventure to a landwhere spirits, incorporated in medi-ums, cut into patients with scalpels,kitchen knives, and even electricsaws to remove, at times with un-washed fingers, infected materialsand growths. Yet the patients aregiven no anesthetic, feel little ifany pain, and develop no infections.They recover without complications.People suffering from physical andemotional symptoms participate inrituals in which specialists enterinto trances, incorporating antago-nists from patients’ previous life-times. The antagonists are talkedinto stopping whatever they are do-ing to cause the problem. When theydo, the suffering party recovers. . . .Some people accept Jesus and join aPentecostal church after being inex-plicably cured of their symptoms bythe Holy Ghost following prayer bypastor speaking in tongues. (p. 9)

The first section of the bookcontains fascinating documenta-tion of surgeries by a number ofnative healers in the Kardecist-Spiritualism tradition of Brazil thatGreenfield videotaped and pho-tographed over 25 years. Many ofhis photographs of famous nativeBrazilian healers and their surgeriesappear throughout the book. PartII covers “Healing by the Spirits inOther Brazilian Popular Religions.”Here are chapters on “Pilgrimageand Healing in ‘Popular’ Catholi-cism” as well as “Evangelicals andHealing by the Holy Ghost.”

Part III of the book dealswith “Spirits, Healing, and a New

Paradigm,” with chapters on “Heal-ing by Spirits and Science” and“Science as a Cultural Process.” Inone final chapter, “Ritual, AlteredStates of Consciousness, and Imple-menting Culturalbiological Healing,”Greenfield attempts to integrate hisanthropological observations withthe history of, and modern scientificresearch on, therapeutic hypnosisas follows:

Brazilian culture teaches, reinforces,and rewards fantasy. Children (andadults) who claim to see the Vir-gin Mary, Saint Francis, some othersaint, or other supernatural beingsnot only are not punished or takento a therapist . . . but are rewardedand held up for praise. Those whoclaim to “receive” a spirit, whethera doctor from the past like AdolphFritz . . . or a deity from Africa such asIemanja, Oxala, etc., in Candomble,Xango or Batuque, or the spirit ofa former slave (a preto velho) oran Indian (a caboclo) as in Um-banda not only are believed, buttheir help is sought by others whotreat them deferentially and withrespect. . . . Brazilian culture’s tradi-tional practice of structuring inter-personal relations in terms of hier-archically ordered patron–client tiesresults in something not unlike therelationship between hypnotist andclient/subject but stronger in that de-pendency and trust are added. Notonly are patients highly motivated tobe helped by healers, but also thehealer and his spirit guide stand inthe structural position from whichpeople have learned that they mayexpect help. (p.184)

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

17:

21 2

0 N

ovem

ber

2014

270 PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES � VOLUME 52, ISSUE 2 / 2009

Greenfield quotes and utilizesa number of my concepts andscientific diagrams about “TheFour-Stage Creative Process” and“A Psychogenomic View of thePsychosomatic Network” in a newparadigm that integrates Brazilianspiritist traditions with currentscientific research on mind–genecommunication and healing (Rossi,2007). Much of the overall flavorof this book is reminiscent ofC. G. Jung’s visits to study thedreams and rituals of the nativepopulations of Africa, which are asource of many of the current-daypractices witnessed by Green-field. This volume is destined tobecome a classical resource ofrich, reliable, and easily accessible

original anthropological culturalobservations that can support thetheory, research, and clinical prac-tice of psychotherapists, Jungiananalysts, and pastoral counselorsalike.

Ernest L. Rossi, Ph.D., is the science

editor of Psychological Perspectivesand a Jungian analyst in private

practice in Los Osos, CA. His most re-

cent book, The Breakout Heuristic: TheNew Neuroscience of Mirror Neurons,Consciousness, and Creativity in Hu-man Relationships: Selected Papers ofErnest Lawrence Rossi, was published

in 2007 by the Milton H. Erickson

Foundation Press (office@erickson-

foundation.org).

Dow

nloa

ded

by [

Tem

ple

Uni

vers

ity L

ibra

ries

] at

17:

21 2

0 N

ovem

ber

2014