Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context: The Umbandization of Santo DaimeAuthor(s): Andrew DawsonReviewed work(s):Source: Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Vol. 15, No. 4 (May2012), pp. 60-84Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/nr.2012.15.4.60 .Accessed: 16/09/2012 09:05

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

University of California Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to NovaReligio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions.

http://www.jstor.org

Spirit Possession in a New ReligiousContext

The Umbandization of Santo Daime

Andrew Dawson

ABSTRACT: With specific reference to the spread of non-traditionalforms of spirit possession, this article explores the growing influence ofthe Afro-Brazilian religion of Umbanda upon the Brazilian new religionof Santo Daime. The following material opens by introducing SantoDaime and plotting the historical trajectory of spirit possession from themovement’s beginnings in 1930s’ Brazil, to its spread to various parts ofthe industrialized world. Subsequent to detailing the contemporary spir-it possession repertoire of Santo Daime, the article offers a typology ofthe most prominent kinds of spirit possession practiced by Santo Daime.The article closes by relating the increasing popularity of Umbanda-inspired possession motifs to the growing influence of a white, urban-professional constituency imbued with typically late-modern concerns.

KEYWORDS: Santo Daime, Brazil, spirit possession, New Era, late-modernity, ritual transformation

INTRODUCTION

Traveling homeward after a period of fieldwork in the Amazonianregion of Brazil, I had opportunity to talk at length with a prominentmember of the Santo Daime movement with whom I was sharing the firstleg of my three day journey.1 During our time together my informant

60

Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Volume 15, Issue 4, pages60–84, ISSN 1092-6690 (print), 1541-8480 (electronic). © 2012 by The Regents of theUniversity of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission tophotocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’sRights and Permissions website, at http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp.DOI: 10.1525/nr.2012.15.4.60.

expressed concern that the spread of his religion was having direct, andfor him unwelcome, consequences for the practice of “incorporation”(incorporação)—Santo Daime’s most popular term for spirit possession.Self-designating as a “medium” (aparelho), he bemoaned the fact thatincorporation is taking place “in every ritual (trabalho), no matter itskind.” Although hyperbolic in nature, this statement reflects a gener-al unease among some long-standing members of Santo Daime inrespect of relatively recent tendencies to practice possession in ritualcontexts not traditionally open to incorporation, and to do so in anincreasingly ostentatious manner. My informant’s perceptions of thechanging place of possession within the ritual repertoire of SantoDaime were two-fold. First, incorporation is held to be growing in itsritual incidence and thereby gaining in practical-symbolic significancerelative to other, more established, components of the Santo Daimerepertoire. Second, the increase in spirit possession across the move-ment is of a particularly theatrical kind. Thus, not only is spirit posses-sion expanding in Santo Daime, it is expanding in a particular way.

Whilst my informant did not identify any particular phenomenon asbeing responsible for the developments which concerned him, otherswith whom I have spoken regard the influence exerted by the Afro-Brazilian religion of Umbanda as playing a key role in the growth ofnon-traditional forms of spirit possession in Santo Daime. Bringingthese two sources together, this article explores the relationship be-tween the growing influence of Umbanda upon Santo Daime and thespread across the movement of non-traditional forms of spirit possession.In so doing, the following material opens by introducing the Braziliannew religion of Santo Daime and plotting the historical trajectory of spiritpossession from themovement’s beginnings in 1930s’ Brazil to its present-day international status as a member of the non-mainstream globalreligious scene. Subsequent to detailing the contemporary spirit posses-sion repertoire of Santo Daime, the article offers a typology of the mostprominent kinds of spirit possession practiced by Santo Daime members(known emically as daimistas). The piece closes by identifying the mostlikely factors behind the increasing popularity of Umbanda-inspiredpossession motifs relative to the more established forms of spirit-orientedactivity traditionally practiced in Santo Daime.2

The central thesis of this article is that the growth of umbandist formsof spirit-oriented activity in Santo Daime is being driven by a white,urban, middle class constituency which has come to dominate the move-ment subsequent to its spread to the urban-industrial heartlands ofBrazil. A far cry from the mixed-race, subsistence life-style of SantoDaime’s original Amazonian demographic, the now dominant urbanmiddle class constituency is progressively refashioning traditional daimistadiscourse and practice in its own image. Imbued by both a late-modern3

ethos and shaped by Brazil’s burgeoning new era (nova era4) religiosity,

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

61

this urban-professional image orchestrates the manner in which selectedelements of umbandist practice are wrested from their traditional religiouscontexts and relocated to the daimista repertoire. Excised from theiroriginal ritual domain and isolated from their customary frame of refer-ence, the appropriated components of Umbanda are remolded, reinte-grated, and re-operationalized relative to the prevailing preoccupationsof white, urban-professional daimistas. While the growing popularity ofUmbanda-inspired possession motifs might suggest a thoroughgoingumbandization of Santo Daime, it is perhaps better understood as more ofan epiphenomenal by-product of the movement’s ongoing insertionwithin the late-modern, new era spectrum populated by Brazil’s urbanmiddle classes.

THE HISTORICAL TRAJECTORY OF SPIRIT POSSESSIONIN SANTO DAIME

Santo Daime emerged in the Amazonian state of Acre among themixed-race, semi-rural subsistence community led by Raimundo IrineuSerra (1892–1971). Known commonly as “Master Irineu,” Irineu Serra isheld by many daimistas to be the reincarnation of the spirit of Jesus.Based at the community of Alto Santo, Santo Daime emerged as a recog-nizably distinct religion in the late-1930s. Subsequent to Irineu Serra’sdeath a breakaway organization known as Cefluris (Eclectic Center ofthe Universal Flowing Light Raimundo Irineu Serra) was founded bySebastião Mota de Melo (1920–1990) and his followers.5 Known as“Padrinho Sebastião,” Mota de Melo is believed to be the reincarnationof the spirit of John the Baptist. Headquartered at Céu do Mapiá in thestate of Amazonas, Cefluris is today led by Alfredo Gregório de Meloand Alex Polari—regarded as the respective reincarnations of Solomonand David. On the back of the organizational expansion of Cefluris,Santo Daime reached Brazil’s major conurbations (e.g. Rio de Janeiroand São Paulo) in the early 1980s before spreading to Europe, NorthAmerica, and Australasia.

Santo Daime is the oldest and most geographically dispersed ofBrazil’s ayahuasca religions (the other two being Barquinha and theVegetable Union).6 When applied to these religions, the generic termayahuasca denotes the combination of the vine Banisteriopsis caapi andthe leaves of the shrub Psychotria viridis.7 Ayahuasca is a psychotropicsubstance traditionally consumed by indigenous inhabitants of theAmazon which passed to non-indigenous cultures through its use amongmixed-race communities and rubber-tappers in the late-nineteenthand early-twentieth centuries. Called “Daime” by daimistas, ayahuascais regarded as an “entheogen,” an agent whose properties facilitate (“cat-alyze”) the interaction of humankind with supernatural agents or forces.8

Nova Religio

62

By virtue of daime’s psychotropic effects, ritual participation in SantoDaime entails learning to work (trabalhar) with an altered state ofconsciousness.

The discursive and ritual repertoires of Santo Daime are an amal-gam of popular Catholic, Esoteric, indigenous, Spiritist, Afro-Brazilian,and New Age beliefs and practices. The five most important ritualsare the feitio (at which Daime is made), bailado (Dance), concentração(Concentration), cura (Cure), and missa (Mass). Both Dance and Con-centration usually commence after sunset, with the former lasting any-thing up to fourteen hours and the latter not normally exceeding five.During these rituals participants (“regimented” relative to sex, age,marital status, seniority, and height9) face inward towards a central,usually star-shaped, table which is commonly laid with a wooden two-sparred cross (cruzeiro) draped by a rosary, statuettes of Mary and Jesus,photographs of the movement’s significant figures, candles, flowers,water, and incense sticks. Some groups may include statuettes ofCatholic saints and a Bible, whilst others might also have crystals, rep-resentations of Afro-Brazilian spirits and deities, and “oriental” icons.Once tied to the lunar cycle, the feitio, which can last from three daysto over a week, is increasingly conducted whenever fresh supplies ofDaime are needed. Like the Dance and Concentration, the three mostimportant rituals of Cure (i.e. Cura, Mesa Branca/White Table and SãoMiguel/Saint Michael) take place in the church and commence afterdark. Lasting between five and eight hours, these rituals are explicitlyoriented to mediumistic possession. The Mass is celebrated on the firstMonday of each month and on the anniversaries of the death of prom-inent members. Excluding the early evening ritual of oração (Prayer),Daime is consumed at these and the vast majority of celebrations(some regular, others intermittent) which populate the ritual calendarof Santo Daime.

Indicative of the meritocratic influences of popular Catholic religiosi-ty, the demanding, if not arduous nature of daimista rituals (known emi-cally as “works” or “trials”) is understood to underwrite their spiritualefficacy. On the one hand, and in addition to the physical demands ofprolonged ritual activity, individual participants are charged with “stayingfirm” (ficar firme) in the face of the psychosomatic challenges of workingin the astral plane whilst under the narcotic influences of Daime. On theother, and whilst managing these individual challenges, participants arerequired to engage in strictly regimented collective activity such as hymnsinging, dancing, and prayer.10 Catalyzed by the consumption of Daime,and generated by the combination of individual discipline and corporateharmony, astral forces are said to be channeled by ritual action to the endof forming a “spiritual current” through which participants are boundvertically with the astral plane and horizontally with each other. Such isthe importance that Santo Daime places upon the relationship between

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

63

individual discipline and collective responsibility that the role of com-plete observer at ritual events is excluded except in the most exceptionalof circumstances.11 Attendance at ritual events is held by daimistas tosignal an acceptance of one’s corporate obligations in respect to makinga personal contribution to the collective generation of the spiritualcurrent.12 As the discursive repertoire of Santo Daime leaves no roomfor ritual bystanders, one has to participate in order to observe.13 Conse-quently, the consumption of Daime (the sine qua non of ritual participa-tion) and the managing of its attendant psychophysical effects assume amethodological significance.14

The history of spirit possession in Santo Daime has three mainphases. The first phase comprises the period of Irineu Serra’s leader-ship from the time of the religion’s birth to the founder’s death in1971. Before the founding of Santo Daime and throughout his time asits leader, Irineu Serra had a reputation as a healer (curandeiro) whosepowers resided both in his knowledge of folk medicine and his ability towork with the spirits. Although the earlier years of Irineu’s life andSanto Daime’s history remain open to a degree of conjecture, there iswide-spread agreement upon the formative influence of what YoshiakiFuruya calls “afro-amazonian” religiosity; a mixture of Afro-Brazilian,popular Catholic, and indigenous components.15 Together, these varie-gated ingredients combined to produce a religious-cultural worldviewinfused by the everyday interaction with and ritualized appropriation ofa relatively diverse range of spiritual agencies.16 A combination of oralhistory, narrative analysis, and anthropological investigation evidencesthe centrality of spirit-oriented activity to the early religious repertoireof Santo Daime.17 Although engagement with the spirits of deceased hu-man beings probably occurred, available (but, self-interested) evidenceindicates that interaction with nature spirits was the most important formof spirit-oriented activity undertaken by the early daimista community.In keeping with existing forms of popular healing (curandeirismo), then,early daimista activities involved, among other things, regular consultationwith spirit guides (e.g. regarding the cause of a particular illness or run ofbad luck), practical engagement with spirits (e.g. in the case of spiritinfestation), and co-optation of spirit intervention (e.g. to treat illness orward off spirit assault).

From the late-1940s onwards, the religious repertoire of SantoDaime was progressively modified as a result of Irineu Serra’s increas-ing attraction to traditional European Esotericism (e.g. Theosophy,Anthroposophy, and Rosicrucianism) as mediated through the publi-cations of the Esoteric Circle of the Communion of Thought (CírculoEsotérico da Comunhão do Pensamento).18 Among other things, tradi-tional Esotericism concerns itself with interior states of mind, experien-ces, and dispositions which are awakened through access to particularforms of knowledge and practice. These interior realities are nurtured

Nova Religio

64

through a range of disciplines and techniques (e.g. meditation, intro-spection, and regression) and provide access to further truths locateddeep within the self.19 Although Irineu Serra severed formal relationswith the Esoteric Circle in the 1960s, by the time of his death, the influ-ence of European Esotericism had played a significant role in reformingthe religious repertoire of Santo Daime. As a result, the spirit-orientedactivity which had once been so important to Santo Daime was margin-alized, if not denigrated, due to the introduction of many of the ratio-nalized and individualistic practices of traditional Esotericism. Ratherthan encouraging personal well-being through the ritualized interac-tion with spirits, the Santo Daime repertoire now promoted the nurtur-ing of the “higher self” through the harnessing of impersonal cosmicenergies. Although never officially repudiating the existence of spirits,by the time of Irineu Serra’s death in 1971, Santo Daime embodied, atmost, a kind of nominal spiritism in which spirits existed in theory butnot in formal ritual practice.20

Like Irineu Serra, Sebastião Mota de Melo enjoyed an establishedreputation as a curandeiro. Unlike Master Irineu, however, and some-what indicative of his different background, the popular spiritism with-in which Sebastião Mota de Melo was raised had little, if anything, byway of Afro-Brazilian influence. By the time of his conversion to SantoDaime in the mid-1960s, Sebastião was a practicing medium in theBrazilian Kardecist tradition—for which the disembodied spirits ofdeceased human beings constitutes the sole supernatural referencepoint.21 Although acting as medium for some of the most exemplaryspirits of Brazilian Kardecism (e.g. Bezerra de Menezes and AntônioJorge), Sebastião continued to employ many of the symbolic compo-nents of the popular spiritism of caboclo (peasant) culture, which in-volved recognition of the supernatural agency of certain animals. Inaddition to both his late-comer and exogamous status, Sebastião’s stillexplicit association with spirit-oriented activity impeded his campaignfor the leadership of Santo Daime subsequent to Irineu Serra’s death.Upon failing to gain control of the movement, Sebastião split from theoriginating daimista community of Alto Santo and, taking a sizeabletranche of established practitioners with him, founded a separatebranch of Santo Daime known today as Cefluris. As “Santo DaimeCefluris” is the primary focus of what follows, unless otherwise statedthe following use of the term Santo Daime refers to this organization.

By the mid-1970s, the community of Padrinho Sebastião had re-established Kardecist-informed mediumistic activity as a formal compo-nent of the Santo Daime ritual repertoire. It did not, though, replacethe Esoteric framework which had become so important to IrineuSerra but rather integrated the two paradigms within a single, andself-consciously eclectic, worldview. Consequently, and while Esotericconcerns with developing the “higher self” remained to the fore,

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

65

interaction with individual spiritual agents (understood now as thedisembodied spirits of deceased humans) represented an increasinglylegitimate mode of daimista activity. As indicated above, the supernaturalagency of certain animals was likewise acknowledged. Interaction withthese animal spirits was, however, and continues to be, regarded bothwith a degree of suspicion and likely to result in some form of illness orbad luck.22 Although the growing influx of New Age backpackers fromthe urban areas of central and southern Brazil brought with it theadoption of a progressive number of alternative spiritual practicesand beliefs, the increasing appropriation of ritual components fromUmbanda hadmost impact upon the increasingly spirit-oriented directionof Santo Daime rituals.

The origins of Umbanda are commonly dated to the 1920s, duringwhich the religion emerged from the fusion of elements drawn fromBrazilian Kardecism and popular Afro-Brazilian religiosity.23 Umbandacomplements Brazilian Kardecism’s traditional concentration uponthe spirits of deceased Caucasians with a focus upon other kinds of spir-its, the most important of which are those of deceased Amerindians(caboclos) and African slaves (pretos-velhos). In addition to having spreadthroughout the Amazonian region by the 1960s, at the time of their ap-propriation by Cefluris, Umbanda practices were establishing them-selves among sectors of the (overwhelmingly white) urban-industrialmiddle classes. Indeed, it was the growing import of urban middle classmembers that most influenced the ingression of Umbanda practiceswithin the increasingly hybrid repertoire of Santo Daime. By the timeof Sebastião’s death in 1990, Umbanda-inspired possession ritualswere being practiced by some of the most important nascent daimistacommunities throughout Brazil. It should be noted, though, thatUmbanda-inspired possession rituals were at this time still considered asmarginal relative to the official daimista calendar; they were not con-ducted in the “church” (igreja), and the appearance of Umbandaspirits was forbidden outside of strictly delimited ritual contexts. All ofthis was to change, however, under the dual leadership of AlfredoGregório de Melo (Sebastião’s son) and Alex Polari (former politicalprisoner and founder of one of Santo Daime’s most importantchurches, Céu da Montanha, in the state of Rio de Janeiro).

Subsequent to Sebastião’s death and the progressive influence ofurban professionals across the ever-expanding Cefluris movement, be-liefs and practices appropriated from Umbanda gradually made theirway from the margins to the core of Santo Daime rituals.24 For approx-imately two decades, the incorporation of spirits appropriated fromUmbanda practice have been part of the official rituals of SantoDaime, the most important of which are those of the Cure (Cura),Saint Michael (São Miguel), and White Table (Mesa Branca). Comple-menting the traditional practices of Concentration, Dance, Feitio, and

Nova Religio

66

the Mass, the growing importance of these rituals represented a funda-mental modification of the Santo Daime religion. Explicitly intendedas cultic arenas for incorporation, the formalization of these rituals notonly cemented spirit possession within the daimista worldview but didso in a way which valorized Umbanda-inspired practices relative to thelonger established, but lower profile, motifs of Brazilian Kardecism. Al-though of a more ad hoc and unofficial nature, I have also witnessedspirit-oriented activity at the long-established daimista rituals of Con-centration, Dance, and the Mass. In addition to the spirits of BrazilianKardecism and Umbanda, and indicative of its progressive appeal tothe urban middle classes,25 a growing number of churches today prac-tice the incorporation of supernatural agents venerated by the tradi-tional Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé.26 In keeping with theCandomblé worldview, these supernatural agents are usually referred toas “gods.” Likewise increasing in ritual incidence, supernatural forcesand cosmic agents appropriated from religious contexts (e.g. Japanesenew religions) and alternative milieus (e.g. Extra-Terrestrialism) aregradually gaining popularity. In practice, however, the incorporatedagents perform the same cultic functions as their Umbanda (“spirit”)counterparts.

THE DAIMISTA POSSESSION REPERTOIRE

The evolution of the daimista possession repertoire is characterizedby the appropriation of successive spirit discourses of a variegated andoften contrasting kind. Catalyzed by rapid geographic and demograph-ic shifts in membership, the trajectory of spirit possession has beenfurther accelerated by Santo Daime’s progressive insertion within thealternative cultic milieu populated by the urban middle classes and suf-fused by the increasingly vertiginous dynamics of late-modern spiritual-ity. Occurring within the relatively compressed framework of sixtyyears, Santo Daime has evolved from the Afro-Amazonian cult of asmall band of impoverished, mixed-race peasants to become a globallydiffused new era religion practiced by the predominantly white, urbanmiddle classes. Over the course of the years between, Santo Daimehad embraced traditional European Esotericism, Kardecist Spiritism,New Age spirituality, and Umbanda. The various “spirit idioms”27 ofCandomblé, Japanese new religions (popular in Brazil for a number ofdecades) are likewise proving influential sources of spirit-orientedpractical knowledge. Albeit as yet on a small scale, extra-terrestrial dis-course and attendant channeling motifs are also beginning to crop up.

Engaging spirit possession on the Pacific atoll of Nukulaelae, NikoBesnier employs Bakhtin’s notion of “heteroglossia” to describe thespirit discourse of Nukulaelae as a variegated phenomenon comprising

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

67

multiple voices which articulate often contrasting if not incompatibleexperiences.28 In comparison with the spirit discourse of Nukulaelae,and a great many other places for that matter, the spirit idiom of SantoDaime might well be termed “hyper-heteroglossic.” Hybrid by birthand self-consciously eclectic in tenor, the Santo Daime repertoireallows for the articulation of a wide range of spirit-oriented experience.For example, and indicative of traditional Afro-Brazilian influences,some daimistas describe possession as a dissociative event involving sup-pression of the conscious self and an inability to remember anythingfrom the point of actual possession to the moment of “dispatch.”Others, however, adopt a typically Kardecist line to describe themselvesas remaining conscious throughout the possession episode. Here,some regard their subjective presence as integral to directing the pos-sessing spirit; whereas others talk of the self as an interested but passivethird-party looking on to what the spirit is doing through their bodies.The daimista spirit idiom also permits the expression of possession asan ecstatic process involving the dislocation of the self from its physicalmoorings. Employing Esoteric notions of astral flight, some daimistastalk of disembodied trips across the globe or of visiting different histor-ical periods to interact with other (usually famous) personalities. Indig-enous shamanistic and popular folk motifs of soul flight are likewiseemployed to describe disincarnate journeys to assorted spiritual realmspopulated by supernatural agents of both human and non-humanprovenance. Others, however, eschew both enstatic and ecstatic con-ceptualizations of spirit-oriented activity. Instead, notions of expandedconsciousness or broadened spiritual vision are employed to articulateinteraction with the world of spirits. In a similar vein, some daimistasdescribe the spirits with whom they interact as astral counterparts ofthe variegated aspects of the material self.

It is important to note that not all of the above modes of expressingspirit possession in Santo Daime are regarded by daimistas as mutuallyexclusive. Indeed, it is commonplace for some daimistas to employ anumber of motifs to describe a single possession episode. Others, how-ever, apply different motifs to articulate what they regard as differentkinds of spirit possession. It should also be noted that not every mem-ber of Santo Daime regards the incorporation of external spiritualagents as a necessary expression of daimista religiosity. While the regu-larity of possession rituals and the incidence of individual possessionevents have increased markedly in recent years, there remain largenumbers of practicing daimistas who do not incorporate spirits.Although spirit possession is accepted by the majority of these individualsas an entirely licit component of the Santo Daime repertoire, the practiceof incorporation is not something they engage in on a personal level.As with the foundational community of Alto Santo, these individuals maybe regarded as “nominal spiritists.” While not gainsaying the legitimacy

Nova Religio

68

of the possession motifs mentioned above, nor regarding their ownpractices as incompatible with the prevailing spirit idiom, those whochoose not to incorporate spirits express themselves religiously by em-ploying alternative components (of a predominantly Esoteric prove-nance) from the Santo Daime repertoire.

The pantheon of spirits lauded by Santo Daime is as hybrid and flu-id as the religious repertoire through which it is manifested. As withmost of the other spiritist religions in Brazil, Santo Daime acknowl-edges the existence of a Creator deity whose absolute status and gener-ative cosmological activity sets the metaphysical backdrop againstwhich spirit possession plays out. Likewise in keeping with establishedspiritist religions, the god of Santo Daime, called “Father” (Pai), is analtogether otiose divinity who remains distant from everyday belief andcultic practice. The highest and most powerful spirits of Santo Daimeare inherited principally from popular Catholic and Esoteric para-digms. In addition to the popular Catholic trinity of Jesus, Mary, andJoseph, the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and George feature promi-nently in the daimista hymnody. The spirits of other biblical characters(e.g. John the Baptist and Solomon) and heavenly beings (e.g. Cosmoand Damien) are also praised. Except for one or two extremely rare in-stances I have come across, these various spirits from the higher eche-lons of the daimista cosmos are not incorporated. Where they doappear in material form, the extensional discourse of reincarnationrather than the punctual language of possession is employed.

The ritual workload of incorporation is overwhelmingly borne byspirits appropriated from Brazilian Kardecism and Umbanda. Alongwith the entity known as Doctor Fritz, the disincarnate spirits of the de-ceased luminaries Antônio Jorge and José Bezerra de Menezes are themost famous historical figures of Brazilian Spiritism regularly calledupon during rituals of incorporation. From the multitudinous range ofthe Umbanda spectrum, the mainstream spirits of deceased indigenes(caboclos), black slaves (pretos velhos), and children (erês) appear mostfrequently and are complemented by representatives of the “oriental”lines (linhas do oriente—e.g. “gypsies,” cowboys, and European aristo-crats), and street people (povo da rua). Although calling upon the su-pernatural agency of the orixás (Umbanda spirits regarded as gods intheir original context of Candomblé), these beings are not traditional-ly incorporated by mainstream Santo Daime. At the lower end of thespiritual hierarchy, spirits in want of charity are known variously as “suf-fering,” “disoriented,” and, “inferior.” Incorporated by trained me-diums as part of ritualized possession practices, these spirits also actin extra-cultic contexts attaching themselves (encostar, literally “to leanon”) to the spiritually unwary, ill-prepared, or careless, thereby causingillness, bad luck, and other unwelcome effects. Although by no meansshared by every community, the term atuação (literally, “action” or

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

69

“performance”) is often used to distinguish involuntary possessionfrom voluntary incorporation (incorporação).

Upon asking a daimista how many mediums her community had, Ireceived the polite, but impassioned, reply—“But Andy, we’re allmediums!” On reflection, of course, I should have enquired as to howmany practicing mediums were present in the (south-Brazilian) commu-nity at which I was then conducting fieldwork. As with KardecistSpiritism, the official narrative of Santo Daime regards everyone as havingmediumistic tendencies. Consequently, and irrespective of age, spiritualmaturity, or formal training, every human being is prone to some form ofinteraction with the spirit world. For many, however, this interaction is sosubtle and humankind’s experience of the spiritual world so dulled thatit goes unnoticed at a conscious level. This is considered unfortunatebecause a lack of awareness of the manner in and extent to which thespirit world impacts upon the material sphere at best undermines humanfreedom (here, self-determination) and at worst leaves the unwary selfopen to spiritual assault. Even for those without the aptitude or desire tobecome a practicing medium, some degree of training in respect to man-aging spirit-interaction is highly recommended. For those with a greaterreceptivity to, and desire of interacting with, the spirit world, formal train-ing is a necessity. To this end, communities affiliated to Santo Daime areexpected to offer regular mediumistic training.

The requisites of successful mediumship in Santo Daime are variedin nature. Among the many issues and technicalities which need to bemastered in the cause of successful mediumistic activity, the followingare worthy of note. Perhaps most importantly, the individual mustlearn to control the physical side-effects of incorporating an otherwisedisincarnate spirit (e.g. shaking, expostulating, and gesticulating). Inaddition to inducing and managing the possession event, the individu-al must also learn to identify and express appropriately the particulartype of spirit by which s/he is being possessed. Given that differentkinds of spirit execute different ritual tasks, a medium’s ability to com-municate the type of spirit incorporated is a vital part of her or his per-formative repertoire. As each of the various rituals of the Santo Daimecalendar performs a very specific function, it is likewise important formediums to know in what contexts and at what juncture a particulartype of possession is permitted. Although spirit possession of mostkinds is allowed or actively encouraged in the rituals of Cura, MesaBranca, and São Miguel, only certain types of possession are qualifiedlypermitted in some, such as Concentration and Dance, while other rit-uals tolerate no kind of possession at all, as in Mass and feitio.

As daimista rituals are tightly regimented events, a particular kind ofincorporation must also occur at the correct point in the ritual and forthe proper duration. The incorporation of the wrong kind of spirit at aninappropriate moment both interrupts the spiritual current generated by

Nova Religio

70

the ritual in question and risks public censure (sometimes administeredduring the ritual itself) from those in authority. At the same time, the me-dium must also pay close attention to existing social hierarchies. Socialstanding determines the order in which individuals get to incorporate, inaddition to influencing the number and cosmological status of the spiritsthey regularly incorporate. In the same vein, daimista ritual spaces arehighly differentiated, with participants occupying a specific place relativeto their sex, age, marital status, and seniority (some communities also useheight as an additional determinant). Consequently, the medium has aresponsibility not only to incorporate the right kind of spirit at the rightmoment, but also to ensure that enactment of the possession event doesnot lead to the transgression of assigned spatial boundaries.

A TYPOLOGY OF SPIRIT POSSESSION IN SANTO DAIME

In view of the above, two points might be made by way of prelimi-nary comment prior to typologizing voluntary sprit possession in SantoDaime. First, spirit possession in Santo Daime exists as both a symbolicand practical expression of the psychotropic experience engenderedby the ritual consumption of ayahuasca (here, “daime”). In effect, theritualized consumption of Daime and the subjective management of itsattendant effects furnish a cultic-template homologous with the practi-cal and symbolic characteristics of possession experienced as an “al-tered state of consciousness.”29 Resisting the rhetorical charm ofdesignating spirit possession in Santo Daime an altered state of an al-ready altered state of consciousness, analytical cogency demands thatspirit possession be classified, albeit more mundanely, as one amonga number of forms of altered states of consciousness at play across thedaimista movement. Second, the possession repertoire of Santo Daimefurnishes both practical and symbolic space for each of the classic typestraditionally discussed in relation to spirit-oriented activity: “shaman-ism,” “mediumship,” “possession trance,” and “trance.”30 As indicatedabove, intentional interface with spirits stretches from the nominalspiritism of those who participate in spirit-oriented rituals but who donot incorporate them, through those who claim to visit, look upon,and/or dialogue with the spirit world without actually claiming to bepossessed by spirits, to those who actively induce and manage a full-blown possession event. Setting aside the uneven appearance and equiv-ocal use of vocabulary across the daimista movement (i.e. xamanismo,mediunidade, incorporação/atuação, and transe), each of the practical-symbolic experiences they express falls into one or more of the classictypes. Yet unlike some other religious-cultural contexts, Santo Daimedoes not regard these idealized types as necessarily different in kind ormutually exclusive of each other.

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

71

By virtue of the practical and symbolic overlap, uneven appearance,equivocal expression, and rapid evolution of the different forms of spiritpossession across the Santo Daime movement, any typology of possession(no matter how “ideal” in the Weberian sense) promises to be both amessy and provisional affair. Holding this point in mind, and in view ofthis article’s principal concerns, I eschew employing the spectrum of clas-sic types mentioned above. Instead I offer a typology of voluntary incorpo-ration which is informed by the nature and degree of interactionexhibited by the mode of possession in question and its relationship tothe ritual context of enactment. The two types of voluntary incorporationto be examined are here labeled “individual” and “interactive.”

Individual Possession

“Individual possession” is so termed because the person being pos-sessed is the principal locus of spirit-oriented activity. There are twokinds of individual possession—“private possession” and “expressivepossession.” “Private possession” is the most traditional form of incorpo-ration practiced in the Santo Daime religion and tends to appear mostfrequently within the movement’s older communities. Most commonlyinvolving discrete interactions with less evolved (e.g. “suffering,” “disori-ented,” and “inferior”) spirits, this form of incorporation accords withestablished daimista notions of “trial” (prova) and “firmness” ( firmeza).In view of the exacting psychophysical effects of consuming Daime, intandem with the numerous strictures regulating ritual participation,daimistas must remain firm (i.e. disciplined, resolute, and focused) inthe face of the resulting trials. In combination with the prevailing spiritidiom, these values engender a two-fold rationale for private possession.First, the act of incorporating spirits is seen as an additional trial to thatprovoked by both the psychotropic effects of Daime and the genericdemands of ritual participation. Consequently, private possession like-wise demands firmness which, in turn, entails restraint on the part of thepossessed. A general rule of thumb regarding this form of possession(whence I take the term “private”) is that the act of incorporationshould be conducted in such a way as not to distract others from remain-ing firm in the face of their own particular trials. Second, private posses-sion comprises an act of “charity” (caridade) in which the lower spiritsincorporated are prayed with, instructed in the ways of Daime, andexhorted to accept their allotted path by the individual who incorpo-rates them. As with themerit earned by staying firm in the face of trial, theperformance of charity towards the incorporated spirit is held to generatecredit or “karma” which is subsequently drawn upon in this life or a futureincarnation. Although each of these elements tends to be present in mostexplanations of private possession, differences in emphasis exist withineach community and across the movement as a whole.

Nova Religio

72

“Expressive possession” is the most recent form of incorporation toestablish itself in Santo Daime and is rapidly on the way to becomingthe most popular. Although typologically distinct by virtue of its out-ward expression, in actuality expressive possession is a modified formof private possession. Perhaps because of its relative novelty within theSanto Daime tradition, expressive possession lacks a well defined ritualfunction. Unlike both private and interactive forms, expressive posses-sion involves only the incorporation of higher spirits appropriatedfrom Umbanda. Though not always the case, the higher spirits incor-porated tend to be the spirit guides of the possessed individual. Giventheir prevalence across the Santo Daime movement, this means thatexpressive possession usually involves the incorporation of caboclo andpreto velho spirits; although the appearance of other kinds of spirits(e.g. children, cowboys, aristocrats, and orixás) is on the rise. The con-tinuing racial stigma attached to blackness, coupled with the exoticismof the idealized Amerindian, however, entails the preponderance ofcaboclo over preto velho spirits. Consequently, the sounds and gesturesmost associated with expressive possession are those of caboclo spirits.

Expressive possession is so designated because of its demonstrativeand theatrical character. Similar in form to charismatic modes of wor-ship (though less ostentatious than neo-Pentecostal forms), expressivepossession appears to have no obvious ritual function other than thedramatic externalization of the incorporating spirit’s presence. Clearly,the onset of the sounds and gestures associated with expressive posses-sion serve to indicate the arrival of the spirits subsequent to having beencalled at the appropriate juncture by the relevant tranche of hymns.Once present, however, the spirits do little more than reassert theirincorporated condition through their respective stereotypical noisesand stylized gesticulations. Perhaps in view of its relative novelty, expres-sive possession lacks the kinds of ritual rationales offered in respect toprivate and interactive forms of incorporation. When asked to explainthe purpose of expressive possession, the responses offered by daimistasmost commonly include reference to: the spirit serving to protectagainst the unwarranted appearance of inferior spirits; the spirit’s desireto enjoy the trappings of physical sensation (e.g. singing, dancing, andDaime); the edifying benefits which the spirit’s presence brings to itshost; and the externalization of particular aspects of the higher self.

Interactive Possession

In contrast to individual possession, interactive possession is predi-cated upon ritualized interface with other human beings. Practiced onlyby those regarded as licensed mediums, interactive possession is therebymore restricted in scope than individualized forms of incorporation. Byno means mutually exclusive, and in no order of priority, interactive

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

73

possession has three principal modes of cultic expression. First, it existsas a form of charity enacted towards lesser spirits, the majority of whomare the suffering souls of deceased human beings. Here, the mediumworks upon lesser spirits whom she has incorporated or upon spirits pos-sessed by others who may or may not be trained mediums. On occasiona skilled medium may relieve a less experienced colleague or untraineddaimista by assuming responsibility for a troublesome spirit by transfer-ring it to her body. The possessed medium then works with othermediums (possibly incorporating higher spirits for assistance) who helpto instruct (doutrinar), enlighten (iluminar), reassure, and guide theincorporated spirit to the end of easing its pains and aiding its passageto the astral plane. The administering of Daime to the troubled spirit iscommonplace in work of this nature.

Second, interactive possession might also be practiced as an act ofcharity towards one’s fellow daimistas. Here, mediums possessed by higherspirits move among their peers to distribute astral energy by way ofthe “pass” (passe) and other forms of gesture. A traditional practice ofKardecist Spiritism, the pass involves the incorporating medium passingher hands around the head, limbs, and torso of another person. In sodoing, the medium helps to reinforce or recalibrate the vibrational fieldof the pass’s recipient. Third, interactive possession exists in oracularform. Restricted to the most senior mediums, this mode of interactive pos-session intends the edification of ritual participants through the imparta-tion of wisdom, instruction, or admonition. Although oracular possessiontends to employ the traditional supernatural agents of Kardecist Spirit-ism, the spirits of deceased daimista celebrities, including Sebastiãohimself, are occasionally incorporated by members of Santo Daime’shigher echelons. As with private possession, interactive possession (in allits forms) constitutes an act of charity said to earn cosmicmerit (“karma”)for its practitioners. Unlike private possession, however, the most popularforms of interactive possession (i.e. those involving the incorporation oflesser spirits and the administration of the pass) tend to be practicedalmost exclusively by women. While the rationale for the virtual femalemonopoly of these interactive forms of possession varies across the move-ment, as with both Kardecist Spiritism and Umbanda, reference to thepreponderance of female mediums commonly alludes to a greater femalesensitivity to the spirit world.

CONCLUSION

As part of his now classic treatment of spirit-oriented activity inurban Brazil, Cândido Camargo formulates what he terms the “medi-umistic continuum.” Comprising the “most orthodox Kardecism” atone end and the “most Africanized forms of Umbanda” at the other,

Nova Religio

74

the mediumistic continuum undertakes the dual functions of therapyand integration.31 On the one hand, and in view of the inaccessibilityof “official medicine” for “the average worker,” the curative focus ofspirit-oriented activity offers a therapeutic outlet which serves toameliorate the worst excesses of an already precarious existence. Onthe other, the beliefs and rituals instantiated by the mediumistic con-tinuum offers an urbanized form of sacralized practical-knowledgeconducive to the “adaptation of personalities to the demands of urbanlife.”32 Remarking upon Santo Daime’s relationship to Camargo’smediumistic continuum, Eduardo MacRae argues that although SantoDaime has many similarities to the Umbanda end of the spectrum, itshould nonetheless be understood as sitting closer to the continuum’sKardecist pole.33

Accurate at the time of writing in the late-1990s, MacRae’s observa-tion has since been rendered obsolete by the increasing prevalence ofUmbanda spirits and the relative growth of mediumistic activity orient-ed to them within Santo Daime, rather than the traditional spiritsof Brazilian Kardecism. Both forms of growth reflect a significantdegree of what, in other contexts, scholars have termed the process of“umbandization” (umbandização).34 Although evidence of umbandistforms of spirit-oriented activity within Santo Daime dates back to theearly-1980s,35 it was not until the movement fully established itself inthe traditional urban-industrial heartlands of Umbanda that theumbandization of its ritual repertoire commenced in earnest. It was atthe beginning of this period of geographic transition that the termumbandaime was coined to describe the fusion of Umbanda and SantoDaime. Commencing in the late-1980s with the staging of para-liturgicalrituals inspired by umbandist possession practices, the umbandization ofthe daimista repertoire was firmly secured by the late-1990s via the inclu-sion of the rituals of Saint Michael (São Miguel) and the White Table(Mesa Branca) within the cultic practices of Santo Daime’s mothercommunity, Céu do Mapiá. Today, the majority of daimistas regard boththe spirits and practices appropriated from Umbanda as integral partsof the Santo Daime religion.

The increased presence of umbandist forms of spirit-oriented activityshould not, however, be equated with a simple lateral shift of SantoDaime from one position to another on the mediumistic continuum.As with MacRae’s observations in respect to Santo Daime’s position onthe mediumistic continuum, the mediumistic continuum itself (or, atleast, the one portrayed by Camargo) is likewise now outdated. I saythis because the growth of umbandist forms of spirit-oriented activity inSanto Daime has been driven by a white, urban middle class constitu-ency unconnected with Umbanda at the time of Camargo’s writing andthereby not treated by his mediumistic continuum. More diverse thanBrazil’s other ayahuasca religions (i.e. Barquinha and the Vegetable

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

75

Union), the demographic profile of Santo Daime is nevertheless over-whelmingly white, urban, and middle class in nature; a far cry from themixed-race, subsistence life-style of its Amazonian origins. Refashion-ing Santo Daime in its own image, this now dominant urban middleclass constituency is the principal driving force behind the umbandizationof the daimista repertoire. Of vital importance, however, is the factthat this urban, middle class constituency—in contrast to a poorerand predominantly mixed-race demographic—was not traditionallyassociated with the Umbanda religion.36 Rather, its historically re-cent association with Umbanda forms part of a rapidly evolvingreligious trajectory which traverses what I have elsewhere termedBrazil’s “new era spectrum.”37 The new era spectrum comprises afluid nexus of relationships involving a highly diverse array of beliefsand practices which articulate a range of dynamics typical of late-modern, urban-industrial existence. By virtue of its late-modernethos, the new era spectrum embodies a typically individualized,pluralistic, consumerist, and technologized worldview.38 In effect, theappropriation of Umbanda discourse and practice by the contemporarydaimista community is undertaken relative to a range of characteristicstypical of the new era spectrum as a whole.

In respect to the particular characteristics of the new era spectrumthrough which these typically late-modern dynamics are mediated,the most relevant for our purposes are: a holistic worldview in whicha universal force underlies and unites every individual component ofexistence—such that particular beliefs and practices are but relative,and thereby interchangeable, expressions of the cosmic whole; an indi-vidualistic emphasis upon the self as the ultimate arbiter of religiousauthority and the primary agent of spiritual transformation; an instru-mentalized religiosity driven by the goal of absolute self-realization—towhich end an eclectic range of spiritual knowledge and mystical tech-niques is employed; an expressive demeanor through which innerstates of being are externalized by verbal and practical means tendingtoward the dramatic; a meritocratic-egalitarianism which is both inher-ently suspicious of religious hierarchy and expectant of just rewards forefforts expended; and, an immanentist spirituality which, alongside theavowal of transcendent transformations and rewards (e.g. reincarna-tion and cosmic merit), valorizes the pragmatic implications of self-realization (e.g. psychological and material well-being).

Together, these factors combine to engender a religious worldviewin which the individual has the right, if not the duty, to pursue herabsolute self-realization through any available means and at any possi-ble opportunity. Such is the self-oriented nature of this pursuit thatprevailing narratives and customary practices are evaluated relative totheir perceived support for, or hindrance of, individual fulfillment. Asa consequence, the traditional daimista repertoire and its established

Nova Religio

76

components are reviewed, revised, and at times rejected, with a view totheir optimal facilitation of individual expression. Subjected to theunremitting assertion of the late-modern self, Santo Daime’s tradition-al spirit possession repertoire is undergoing change in three importantrespects: first, interactive possession is becoming increasingly popular;second, the practice of private possession is being progressively re-placed by its expressive counterpart; and third, Umbanda-inspired dis-course and practice is rapidly gaining ground relative to traditionalrepertorial components.

Although established daimista discourse acknowledges that all hu-mans have mediumistic tendencies, in actuality Santo Daime ritualpractice has traditionally managed both how and by whom particularforms of mediumship are enacted. Whereas the traditional ritual rep-ertoire of Santo Daime has made the practice of private possessionavailable to every daimista, this has not been the case with interactiveforms of possession. First, the regulatory strictures surrounding daimistacultic practice have traditionally limited the performative space affordedto interactive possession. Given its restricted window of ritual opportunity,the cultic enactment of interactive possession is limited and, by virtue ofits performative status, subject to rationing by way of selection, training,and authorization to practice. Second, because the hierarchization of rit-ual space in Santo Daime traditionally reflects prevailing social hierar-chies, the most prestigious roles of the cultic repertoire have tended tobe occupied by those perceived to enjoy the greatest amounts of socialcapital. Third, as noted above, the most popular forms of interactive pos-session are almost exclusively enacted by women. In combination, thesedynamics entail that the relatively limited performance of interactive pos-session is restricted to a small band of ritual elite and their sponsored aco-lytes, the overwhelming majority of whom are female. Whether resultingfrom hierarchy or gender stereotyping, Santo Daime’s rationing ofperformative possession flies in the face of the aforementioned new erapreoccupations of contemporary urban, middle class daimistas.

Within some of these urban-professional daimista communities, thetensions generated by the rationing of interactive possession have beensolved by relaxing traditional restrictions upon both the context andmanner of its enactment. As a result, interactive possession has beendemocratized as rituals dedicated solely to its performance are stagedfor any member, irrespective of status, to practice their mediumship.39

For a growing number of these communities such has become theimportance attached to interactive possession that its ritual valorizationhas resulted in a wholesale rejection of traditional restrictions upon itspractice. This, in turn, has given rise to a move away from the organi-zational auspices of Santo Daime. For other communities wishing toremain loyal to the established daimista repertoire, events dedicatedsolely to interactive possession are regarded as standing outside of the

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

77

formal cultic calendar and thereby practiced in addition to officialrituals such as Concentration, Dance, Saint Michael, and the WhiteTable. As evidenced by ongoing changes to private possession, however,even within these groups, the typical new era preoccupations of contem-porary urban-professional daimistas continue to impact upon the tradi-tional spirit-oriented repertoire.

Most common within older (i.e. non-urban professional) communi-ties of Santo Daime, private possession has a thoroughgoingly inwardfocus. Indeed, such is the intrapersonal nature of private possessionthat the merit acquired through its practice is held to be vitiated byexternal manifestations likely to distract one’s neighbor or attract theattention of others. In view of the aforementioned preoccupations ofurban-professional daimistas, however, the inward focus of private pos-session is increasingly giving way to the outward orientation of expres-sive possession. Various factors contribute to what might be termed the“expressivization” of individual possession within Santo Daime. For ex-ample, when practiced within the impoverished and traditional reli-gious contexts of the originating communities’ subsistence lifestyle,the religious-symbolic celebration of charity and trial had real social-economic resonance. However, as the individualized and relativelyaffluent experience of the urban-middle classes affords no such reso-nance to any significant degree, received understandings of charityand trial undergo ritual-symbolic transformation as they are re-signifiedrelative to the late-modern, new era context within which they are nowsituated. In respect of possession, though, one important dynamic isworthy of emphasis. In tandem with established strictures regulatinghow and by whom interactive possession might be practiced, the meansby which the average urban-professional daimista might both assert herspiritual status and practice his mediumship are further restricted bytraditional demands in respect to the inward focus and inconspicuousenactment of individual possession. Although by no means immune topressure for change, the elite status and ensuing cultic protectionenjoyed by interactive possession imbues it with a somewhat heighteneddegree of resistance. In comparison with interactive possession, how-ever, the greater accessibility of individual possession to the averagedaimista renders it a more fruitful pressure point for repertorial trans-formation. Relatively more amenable to ritual reformulation than itsinteractive counterpart, individual possession is thereby subjected toincremental modification as it is remodeled along expressive ratherthan private lines.

As the established components of the traditional daimista repertoiredo not furnish sufficient practical-symbolic means to articulate these new-ly present expressive concerns, the tried, trusted, and readily availablecomponents of the Umbanda repertoire continue to be appropriated for

Nova Religio

78

the task. Orchestrated by aforementioned characteristics of the new eraspectrum, selected elements of umbandist discourse and practice arewrested from their traditional religious contexts and relocated to thedaimista repertoire. Excised from its original ritual domain and isolatedfrom its customary frame of reference, selected umbandist discourse andpractice is rendered wholly amenable to being remolded, reintegrated,and operationalized relative to the prevailing preoccupations of white,urban-professional daimistas. Whereas the practice of possession inUmbanda has traditionally revolved around the quest for “cure” and heal-ing (predominantly among the poor) or edification (chiefly among thenot-so-poor), this is not the case in Santo Daime. Relocated to the daimistaritual repertoire, the traditional emphases of umbandist possession prac-tices are subsumed within a broader set of concerns centered uponthe self-assertive and expressive preoccupations of the late-modern indi-vidual. Although centered upon the ritualized incorporation of umbandistspirits, expressive possession is not a form of spirit-oriented activity tradi-tionally found inUmbanda, just as interactive possession is of a very differ-ent ilk than its umbandist counterpart. Each is a thoroughgoingly daimistaphenomenon, despite the ostensible centrality of Umbanda spirits, whicharticulates new era preoccupations centered upon the late-modernself.

Although the growing popularity of Umbanda appears to suggestSanto Daime’s movement across the mediumistic continuum, theumbandization of Santo Daime is perhaps better understood as a by-product of its “new-erization” (nova-erização). Wholly symptomatic of themovement’s demographic shift and resulting integration within the newera spectrum, the spread of umbandist discourse and practice responds toa very different range of dynamics than those addressed by Camargo’smediumistic continuum. In effect, the growth of Umbandist discourseand practice across Santo Daime responds to the inability of the tradition-al daimista possession repertoire to mediate the aforementioned new erapreoccupations of the now hegemonic urban middle classes. By funda-mentally altering the social-cultural context in which much of its ritualactivity occurs, the demographic shift experienced by Santo Daime hasresulted in the dominance of an urban-professional membership.A consequence of this dominance is the increasing appearance of ritualpractices and beliefs which more readily reflect the context, aspirations,and concerns of the urban-industrial middle classes. Subjected to theunremitting assertion of the late-modern self, Santo Daime’s possessionrepertoire has thereby assumed an increasingly expressive tenor. Conse-quently, although much of the cast, dialogue, and performance of spiritpossession in Santo Daime appears to be distinctly umbandist, their ritualdirection and dramatic thrust is purely that of the urban-professionaldaimistas.

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

79

ENDNOTES

1 Fieldwork took place in the Amazonian village of Mapiá as part of an ongoingprogramof participant observation in communities belonging to the new religiousmovement of Santo Daime. Funded by the Global Exchange program of ChesterUniversity, Lancaster University, the British Academy, and the Leverhulme Trust,fieldwork commenced in 2005 and was completed in 2010. See Andrew Dawson,Santo Daime: A New World Religion (London: Continuum, 2013).2 Traditionally a mainstay of anthropological studies, spirit possession has, overthe last few decades, become a truly trans-disciplinary subject and is treatedtoday in a broadening range of academic subjects, disciplinary forums, and pop-ular contexts. See, for example, the overviews offered by Janice Boddy “SpiritPossession Revisited: Beyond Instrumentality,” Annual Review of Anthropology 23(1994): 407–34; Andrew Dawson, “Introduction: Possession and Invocation inContemporary Context,” in Summoning the Spirits: Possession and Invocation inContemporary Religion, ed. Andrew Dawson (London: I. B. Tauris, 2011), 1–20; andFrederick M. Smith, “The Current of Possession Studies as a Cross-DisciplinaryProject,” Religious Studies Review 27:3 (2001): 203–12. Both the continued popu-larity of IoanM. Lewis’s Ecstatic Religion: An Anthropological Study of Spirit Possessionand Shamanism, 3rd ed., (London: Routledge, 2003) and the growing number ofmonographs and edited collections treating contemporary spirit possession, fur-ther underscore its increasing academic salience. For example, Andrew Dawson,ed. Summoning the Spirits: Possession and Invocation in Contemporary Religion(London: I. B. Tauris, 2011); Thi Hien Nguyen, ed. Possessed by the Spirits:Mediumship in Contemporary Vietnamese Communities (Ithaca: Cornell UniversityPress, 2006); Susan J. Rasmussen, Spirit Possession and Personhood among the KelEwey Tuareg (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006); and Frederick M.Smith, The Self Possessed: Deity and Spirit Possession in South Asian Literature andCivilization (New York: Colombia University Press, 2006).3 Following the likes of Zygmunt Bauman, Liquid Life (Cambridge: Polity Press,2005); Ulrich Beck, Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity (London: NewburyPark, 1992); and Anthony Giddens, Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society inthe Late Modern Age (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991), my use of the term “late-modern” signals my belief that contemporary urban-industrial society in general,and Brazilian society in particular, are not in radical discontinuity with what hasgone before. They are, rather, constituted by the radicalization of the same kindsof processes (e.g. individualization, detraditionalization, pluralization, commodi-tization, and globalization) responsible for the emergence and consolidation ofmodern (i.e. urban-industrial) society as it has occurred over the course of the last150 years in the Northern hemisphere and the last 80–100 years in the globalSouth. As contemporary (here, late-modern) society is, at least to a meaningfulextent, in continuity with what has gone before, critical analysis of ongoing so-cial-cultural transformations assumes that what we are witnessing is not so mucha fundamental break with established processes of modernity but rather a seriesof variations on the modern theme. Relative to what has gone before, contempo-rary social and cultural transformation is, then, understood to be more a differ-ence in degree than a difference in kind. Of course, the manner in whichthe concepts of modernity in general, and (the European-derived) late-modernity, in

Nova Religio

80

particular, play out in Brazil remains a point of contention. Given the strictures ofspace and focus, however, I can do nomore here than acknowledge the potential-ly contentious nature of my application of late-modernity to the Brazilian contextand signal my familiarity with those who have so far contributed to ongoing de-bates in respect of the manner in which Brazil might be regarded as “modern.”See Renato Ortiz, A Moderna Tradição Brasileira (São Paulo: Editora Brasiliense,1988); 127–147; José de Souza Martins, “The Hesitations of the Modern and theContradictions of Modernity in Brazil,” in Through the Kaleidoscope:The Experience ofModernity in Latin America, ed. Vivian Schelling (London: Verso, 2000), 248–274;Ruben G. Oliven “Cultura e Modernidade no Brasil,” São Paulo em Perspectiva15:2 (2001): 3–12; and Luiz E. W. Wanderley, “Modernidade, pós-modernidadee implicações na questão social latino-americana,” in Ciências Sociais na Atualidade:Realidades e Imaginários, eds. Teresinha Bernardo and Paulo-Edgar A. Resende(São Paulo: Paulus, 2007), 47–85.4 Translated literally as “new age,” the Portuguese nova era is the term mostused by Brazilian scholars when treating the new religious phenomena whichemerged or consolidated themselves during the period from the late-1960sup to the present. See Andrew Dawson, New Era–New Religions: ReligiousTransformation in Contemporary Brazil (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007). Although incontinuity with much of what is elsewhere designated as “New Age,” theBrazilian nova era nevertheless embodies a distinctive configuration of social-cultural processes and spatial-temporal dynamics. So as not to lose sight of thedistinctiveness of Brazil’s nova era, I translate the term as new era rather thanNew Age.5 Fernando de La R. Couto, “Santo Daime: Rito da Ordem,” in O Uso Ritual daAyahuasca, 2nd ed., eds. Biatriz C. Labate and Wladimyr S. Araújo (Campinas:Mercado de Letras, 2004), 385–411.6 A brief English-language overview of Barquinha and the Vegetable Union isavailable in Andrew Dawson, New Era–New Religions, 85–91. More detailed treat-ments in English can be found in “The Light from the Forest: The Ritual Useof Ayahuasca Religion in Brazil,” eds. Biatriz C. Labate and Edward MacRae,Fieldwork in Religion 3:1 (2006), 197–414.7 Dawson, New Era–New Religions, 67–98.8 Alex de A. Polari, Forest of Visions: Ayahuasca, Amazonian Spirituality and the SantoDaime Tradition (Rochester: Park Street Press, 1999), 58.9 For the martial overtones of this regimentation, see Andrew Dawson, “ReligiousIdentity and Millenarian Belief in Santo Daime,” in Religion and the Individual:Belief, Practice, Identity, ed. Abby Day (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), 183–95.10 “Inspectors” ( fiscais) patrol the ritual space to ensure that individual and collec-tive discipline (e.g. corporal protocols and hierarchical order) are maintained.11 For example, the voluntary non-participation of the occasional member ofthe numerous teams of experts (e.g. legal, medical, and anthropological)commissioned by a variety of Brazilian governments to investigate matters per-taining to the legal status of the ritual consumption of ayahuasca.12 The implications of this obligation are further explored in Andrew Dawson,“Positionality and Role-Identity in aNewReligious Context: ParticipantObservationat Céu do Mapiá,” Religion, 40 (2010), 173–81.

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

81

13 Research has included participation in over forty daimista rituals andinvolved each of the main “works” no less than three times.14 Benny Shanon, The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of theAyahuasca Experience (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) offers a detailed“cognitive psychological” phenomenology of ayahuasca-induced experiences invarious religious contexts in Brazil.15 Yoshiaki Furuya, “Umbandização dos Cultos Populares na Amazônia: aIntegração ao Brasil?” in Possessão e Procissão: Religiosidade Popular no Brasil, eds.Hirochika Nakamaki and Américo. P. Filho (Osaka: National Museum ofEthnology, 1994), 11–59.16 See Eduardo E. Galvão, Santos e Visagens: Um Estudo da Vida Religiosa de Itá,Amazonas (São Paulo: Companhia Editôra Nacional, 1955), and RaymundoH. Maués, and Gisela M. Villacorta, “Pajelança e Encantaria Amazônica,” inEncantaria Brasileira: O Livro dos Mestres, Caboclos e Encantados, ed. ReginaldoPrandi (Rio de Janeiro: Pallas, 2004), 11–58.17 Sandra Goulart, “Contrastes e Continuidades em uma Tradição Amazônica:As Religiões da Ayahuasca,” (Ph.D. dissertation: State University of Campinas,2004), 53; and Biatriz C. Labate, and Gustavo Pacheco, “Matrizes Maranhensesdo Santo Daime,” in eds. Labate and Araújo, O Uso Ritual da Ayahuasca, 303–44.18 Eliane Moura da Silva, “Similaridades e Diferenças entre Estilos de EspiritualidadeMetafísica: OCaso doCírculo Esotérico daComunhão do Pensamento (1908-1943),”inOrixás e Espíritos: O Debate Interdisciplinar na Pesquisa Contemporânea, ed. Artur C. Isaia(Uberlândia: EDUFU, 2006), 225–40.19 Antoine Faivre, “Esotericism,” in Encyclopedia of Religions, ed. Mircea Eliade(New York: Macmillan, 1986), 156–63.20 Subsequent to the death of Irineu Serra, the fact that a number of break-away communities were founded in which spirit possession is practiced indi-cates for some a continued preoccupation with possession during the latterperiod of Irineu’s life. See, Goulart, “Contrastes e Continuidades,” 79–83.21 Maria L. V. de C. Cavalcanti, O Mundo Invisível: Cosmologia, Sistema Ritual eNoção de Pessoa no Espiritismo (Rio de Janeiro: Zahar Editores, 1983).22 Carolina Arruda, Fernanda Lapietra, and Ricardo J. Santana, Centro Livre:Ecletismo Cultural no Santo Daime (São Paulo: All Print Editora, 2006), 146.23 Diana D. Brown, Umbanda: Religion and Politics in Urban Brazil (New York:Columbia University Press, 1994), 37–51.24 See Maria B. L. Guimarães, “A ‘Lua Branca’ de Seu Tupinamba e de MestreIrineu: Estudo de Caso de um Terreiro de Umbanda,” (M.A. Thesis: Institutode Filosofia e Ciências Sociais da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro,1992), and Antônio M. A. Junior, “Tambores para a Rainha da Floresta: AInserção da Umbanda no Santo Daime,” (M.A. Thesis: Catholic PontificalUniversity of São Paulo, 2007).25 Among other things, for example, Reginaldo Prandi details the growing popu-larity of Afro-Brazilian religion among Brazil’s urbanmiddle-classes.Os Candomblésde São Paulo: A Velha Magia na Metrópole Nova (São Paulo: Editora Hucitec, 1991).26 The first Candomblé temples (terreiros) were established in Bahia, northeast-ern Brazil, in the early nineteenth century and were dedicated to members of

Nova Religio

82

the African pantheon brought by slaves principally from the Yoruba nations(part of modern day Nigeria and Benin). It was not until the latter part of thetwentieth century, however, that legal, demographic, and cultural changesallowed Candomblé the social space in which to practice freely and subse-quently flourish. Candomblé cultic practice revolves around a mutually advan-tageous exchange between the gods (orixás) and practitioners facilitated byritually trained mediums (“mothers” or “fathers of the saint” and “sons” or“daughters of the saint”). See Robert A. Voeks, Sacred Leaves of Candomblé:African Magic, Medicine, and Religion in Brazil (Austin: University of TexasPress, 1997); and Paul C. Johnson, Secret, Gossip, and Gods: The Transformation ofBrazilian Candomblé (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).27 Vincent Crapanzano, “Introduction,” in Case Studies in Spirit Possession, eds.Vincent Crapanzano and Vivian Garrison (New York: Wiley, 1977), 11.28 Niko Besnier, “Heteroglossic Discourses on Nukulaelae Spirits,” in Spirits inCulture, History and Mind, eds. Jeanette M. Mageo and Alan Howard (New York:Routledge, 1996), 75–98.29 Erika Bourguignon, “Introduction: A Framework for the Comparative Studyof Altered States of Consciousness,” in Religion, Altered States of Consciousness,and Social Change, ed. Erika Bourguignon (Columbus: Ohio State UniversityPress, 1973), 3–35; and Michael Lambek, “From Disease to Discourse: Remarkson the Conceptualization of Trance and Spirit Possession,” in Altered States ofConsciousness and Mental Health: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, ed. Colleen A. Ward(London: Sage, 1989), 36–61.30 For example, Erika Bourguignon, Possession (San Francisco: Chandler andSharp, 1976); Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (Princeton:Princeton University Press, 2004); Raymond Firth, Tipokia Ritual and Belief(London: Allen and Unwin, 1967); Michael Lambek, Human Spirits: A CulturalAccount of Trance in Mayotte (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981);and Ioan M. Lewis, Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Possession. 2nd ed.(London: Routledge, 1989), 78–93.31 Cândido P. F. de Camargo, Kardecismo e Umbanda: Uma Interpretação Sociológica(São Paulo: Livraria Pioneira Editora, 1961), xii.32 Camargo, Kardecismo e Umbanda, 94–97.33 Eduardo MacRae, El Santo Daime y La Espiritualidad Brasileña (Quito: AbyaYala, 2000), 67–8.34 For example, Furuya, “Umbandização dos Cultos Populares,” 11–59.35 Polari, Forest of Visions, 109–117.36 See Roger Bastide, As Religiões Africanas no Brasil: Contribuição a uma Sociologiadas Interpenetrações de Civilizações (Såo Paulo: Pioneira, 1960); Brown, Umbanda,and Camargo, Kardecismo e Umbanda.37 See Dawson, New Era–New Religions.38 In addition to the previous references on modernity, see also Ulrich Beck,Anthony Giddens, and Scott Lash, Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition andAesthetics in the Modern Social Order (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1994); Ulrich Beckand Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim, Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism andits Social and Political Consequences (London: Sage, 2002); and Nestor Canclini,

Dawson: Spirit Possession in a New Religious Context

83

Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity (Minneapolis: Universityof Minnesota Press, 1995).39 Commonly termed “giras” (a word borrowed from Afro-Brazilian traditions), theserituals are not governed by the same regulations which apply to official Santo Daimecultic practice. As such, standard requirements in respect to, for example, “uniform”

(farda), divisions of the sexes, and sundry othermodes of participation (e.g. standing,sitting, and entering/exiting ritual space) do not apply. Consequently, and as borneout by the theatrically expansive use of ritual space and employment of Afro-Braziliancultic paraphernalia (e.g. dresses, headwear, pipes/cigars, necklaces, and walking-sticks), the expressive latitude which they furnish participants is significantly greaterthan that afforded by traditional daimista “works.”

Nova Religio

84