DOCSLIB.ORG

Participation in New Religious and Healing Movements in the Philippines

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1994 Participation in New Religious and Healing Movements in the Philippines Araceli S. Suzara Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Suzara, Araceli S., "Participation in New Religious and Healing Movements in the Philippines" (1994). Dissertations. 3452. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/3452 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1994 Araceli S. Suzara LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO PARTICIPATION IN NEW RELIGIOUS AND HEALING MOVEMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY BY ARACELI S. SUZARA CHICAGO, ILLINOIS JANUARY 1994 Araceli s. Suzara Loyola University Chicago PARTICIPATION IN NEW RELIGIOUS AND HEALING MOVEMENTS IN THE PHILIPPINES This dissertation investigated the socio-cultural affinities between the participation of middle-class Filipinos in new religious and healing movements (NRHMs) and their experiences in various secular institutions. The methodology included participant observation of healing sessions and group activities, attendance at workshops, interviews, and a survey questionnaire administered to 62 informants gathered through snowball sampling. Using Beckford's model (1984, 1985b) I examined these socio- cultural affinities in two ways. First, I analyzed my informants' socio-economic background and I argued that their experience in education and occupation is reproduced in their healing beliefs and practices. Second, I highlighted the theme of holism that welds together the seemingly divergent aspects of their lives. I argued that their distinctive understanding of the relations between self and community, spiritual progress and material success is nested in holistic imagery, and guided by well-articulated ethical rules of conduct and a challenging expression of new forms of spirituality. Findings indicated that: (1) my informants possessed socio-economic characteristics that place them in relatively advantaged positions compared to the general population of Metro Manila and that of the Philippines; (2) the organization of their own infrastructures mirrors their educational and occupational experiences in such matters as training institutes, workshops and courses, healing centers, sharing of mailing lists, facilities, promotional materials, on-going education via attendance at breakfast forums, the use of popular media of communication, and the ability to utilize existing social infrastructures, such as business and religious networks; ( 3) NRHM adherents placed high premiums on training and certification in a healing career, and the cultivation of the values of diversity, tolerance, and pragmatic orientation in their healing practices; (4) images of holism served as the underlying themes by which NRHM adherents made sense of the apparent contradictions between their aspirations toward spiritual enlightenment and material progress, between individualism and collectivism, and between self and society. Copyright by Araceli s. suzara, 1994 All rights reserved. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was made possible with the invaluable support of many individuals and groups. I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee: Dr. James A. Beckford, Dr. Kirsten Gronbjerg, and Dr. Roger Finke. I thank my family in the Philippines and in the United States who, in memory of our parents, share in this achievement. But above all, I am grateful to the Gentle Spirit Guide, and the women and men of the healing groups in whose name I am privileged to write this dissertation. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . iii LIST OF TABLES . vi Chapter I. INTRODUCTION . 1 Modernization, Secularization, and Alternative Healing . 2 statement of the Problem and Organization of the Study . 6 Review of Literature . 8 Healing, Religion, and Religious Movements 9 Alternative Healing and the Middle Classes 18 Methodological Issues, Problems, and Solutions . 24 Background of the Study 25 Planning the Research 27 In the Field 29 Ethical Issues 42 II. ALTERNATIVE HEALING IN METROPOLITAN MANILA 48 Historical Notes on Indigenous and Folk Healing . 50 Indigenous Healing Beliefs and Practices 51 Healing and Folk Catholicism 58 "Modern" Technologies of Healing . 63 A Conceptual Map 64 Technologies of Healing 92 Case Study: "The Science and Art of Pranic Healing" . 98 The Beginnings Foundations of Pranic Healing 100 Pranic Healing as a Healing Technology 103 III. SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF PARTICIPANTS IN NRHM 113 Metropolitan Manila and the Health Care Delivery System . 114 Participants in New Religious and Healing Movements . 116 Demographic Profile Socio-Economic Characteristics 118 Educational Achievement 124 Occupational Status 130 iv LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Demographic Profile of Informants 290 2. socio-Economic Characteristics 291 2.1 Family Income 2.2 Comparison of Informants with National and NCR Level Data 292 3. Educational Achievement 293 3.1 Level of Education of Informants 3.2 Type of Institution Attended, National and Informants 3.3 Prestige Classification of School Attended by Informants 294 3.4 Educational Background of Informants 4. Occupational Status 295 4.1 Comparison of Occupational Distribution, National and Informants 4.2 Work Status of Informants 296 4.3 Employment Status of Informants 5. Courses and Fees . 297 6. Books on Healing 298 vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The Philippines is the only Christian nation in the orient. Its long history of combined Spanish and American colonization attests to Christians making up 92% of the population, 83% of whom are Roman Catholics (The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1993). If the religious life is measured by attendance at Sunday mass and worship, it offers a stark contrast to the historically Christian countries of Europe. This vibrant religious life ranges from the easily recognizable Roman Catholic worship and devotions to religious forms that blend Christianity and indigenous beliefs. Spiritism is one such powerful force and nowhere is this more evident than in the practices of healing. It is in these practices that the country's rich folk and popular religious culture and the pervasive influences of Western culture find their common grounds. This wide range of healing practices includes the use of medicinal plants ("albularyo"); the manipulation of bones and the body ( "hilot") ; healing by saliva and by blowing or whispering on affected areas; projecting healing thoughts on to the patients (psychic) ; healing by spirit possession, usually with the intervention of saints, the child Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, etc ("sapi", "langkap"); psychic "sur- 2 gery"; healing by prayers and the laying on of hands (charis­ matic) . There are also healing forms associated with new religious and healing movements (NRHMs) with various ways of transmitting healing energy, such as magnetic healing, pranic healing, crystal healing, core energy and eastern practices like shiatsu, acupuncture, acupressure, zen, and other yoga exercises, and western imports, like silva mind control, PSI, inner peace, and science of the mind. This study examines who participates in these healing practices. This Chapter has four main sections. Section 1 sets the scene for the whole study. Section 2 states the intellectual problem on which it is based. Section 3 reviews the relevant literature on healing and religion, new religious movements, and alternative healing. Section 4 discusses the methods of research that I adopted in this study and the methodological problems that I encountered. Modernization, Secularization, and Alternative Healing Changing patterns of religious beliefs and practices have been analyzed in terms of various theories and models. The classic modernization theory speaks for most of them in claiming that the process of rationalization transforms society from traditional to modern forms and pervades all spheres of life. It has been used to explain the lack of development or the need for sustained development in the Third World and has been applied to a wide range of fields from 3 politics to agriculture and to religion (see Bernstein, 1971 and Huntington, 1971 for reviews of this literature). Although this theory has been employed to explain a mixture of sociological, psychological, and economic features in issues of development, most modernization accounts gave "greatest priority to the role played by the values, norms, and beliefs of people in determining the sort of society - traditional or modern - that they create" (Webster, 1990: 53) . The main emphasis for Berger (1977), Eisenstadt (1966), Lerner (1964), McClelland (1961), and Parsons (1966) was modernization as primarily a cultural process which involved the adoption and diffusion of rational ideas and values from the West into all dimensions of life (Webster, 1990). Rationality is associated with goal-oriented behavior, use of reason, belief in science, pragmatism, and utilitarianism. It has been contrasted to dependence on magic, sacred texts,
Recommended publications
  • A Journey to Other Worlds – Artifacts Journal - University of Missouri Page 1 of 5

    A Journey to Other Worlds – Artifacts Journal - University of Missouri Page 1 of 5

    A Journey to Other Worlds – Artifacts Journal - University of Missouri Page 1 of 5 University of Missouri A Journal of Undergraduate Writing A Journey to Other Worlds Daniel Miller Daniel Miller graduated from MU with a bachelor of English in May 2014, and he is a first-year masters’ student now in English at MU. His fiction has appeared in ZONE 3, Puerto del Sol, and Hobart, among other publications. He selected to write about this topic simply because he has always been fascinated with astral projection and lucid dreaming. He tried to achieve this state while researching and writing the paper. The astral body appears in many different cultures throughout time and throughout the world. In Egypt, the “KA was not the soul of man . but its vehicle” (Muldoon & Carrington, 2011, p. xxii). In the Qur’an, Muhammad’s astral body travels in the Isra and Mi’raj story. And, among other sacred and secular texts, the astral body appears in Hindu scripture, Taoist practice, and even Christianity. In his article regarding the afterlife, Woolger (2014) notes that “in such journeys in the world religions and innumerable tribal practices” scholars have “described a common pattern of ‘ascent’, which is to say an ecstatic, mystical or out-of body experience, wherein the spiritual traveler leaves the physical body and travels in his/her subtle body into ‘higher’ realms” (para. 4). Dually, this quotation makes apparent the historical depth of astral projection as well as uses specific terms—spiritual, mystical, and the idea of ‘higher’ realms—that separates astral projection from other types of out-of body experiences (OBEs).
  • Rebirthing: the Transformation of Personhood Through Embodiment and Emotion

    Rebirthing: the Transformation of Personhood Through Embodiment and Emotion

    Rebirthing: the transformation of personhood through embodiment and emotion Elise Carr The University of Adelaide School of Social Sciences Discipline of Anthropology and Development Studies July 2014 Thesis Declaration I certify that this work contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution in my name and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. In addition, I certify that no part of this work will, in the future, be used in a submission for any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution without the prior approval of the University of Adelaide and where applicable, any partner institution responsible for the joint-award of this degree. I give consent to this copy of my thesis, when deposited in the University Library, being made available for loan and photocopying, subject to the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. I also give permission for the digital version of my thesis to be made available on the web, via the University‘s digital research repository, the Library catalogue and also through web search engines, unless permission has been granted by the University to restrict access for a period of time. Elise Carr TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. VI ABSTRACT ...........................................................................................................................
  • Creative Visualization How to Create Whatever You Want in Your Life! by Bryan Kumar

    Creative Visualization How to Create Whatever You Want in Your Life! by Bryan Kumar

    Creative Visualization How To Create Whatever You Want In Your Life! By Bryan Kumar This report includes free resell rights so you can share it with others, provided it is done so without any modifications. Visualization has been given a bad name by many who tried it and didn't get the results they wanted. The problem is not with visualization; it's the lack of understanding of the term, and the process, that is the problem. Visualization works amazingly well when you do it right, and it can be used to create just about anything that you want in your life, including wealth, optimum health and even ideal relationships. Very few people know about visualization. Out of that group, very few believe that it works! And, even fewer know how to do it correctly. In fact, many people who teach visualization to others, and charge ridiculous amounts of money for it, don't have a clue of how to do it correctly themselves. They're simply regurgitating information they either read or heard about somewhere - without ever using them to get measurable results in their own lives! But that's no surprise, is it? That sort of thing happens in almost every field. Sad, but true. The process I'm going to share with you works! I know because I have used it and achieved measurable, consistent results! I have shared it with others who have also gotten verifiable results (at least those who did the process correctly.) After researching, studying, experimenting, and struggling with visualization for many years, I have found and gathered the missing pieces that few people know about.
  • Complementary and Alternative Medicine

    Complementary and Alternative Medicine

    Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy Number: Original Effective Date: MM.12.013 01/01/2014 Line(s) of Business: Current Effective Date: HMO; PPO 11/17/2017 Section: Miscellaneous Place(s) of Service: Outpatient I. Description Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), also called non-traditional medicine, is a group of diverse medical and healthcare systems, practices and products that are not typically considered to be a part of traditional Western medicine (i.e., conventional medicine). This policy addresses services performed by CAM providers such as naturopaths, chiropractors and acupuncturists. Complementary medicine generally refers to using a non-traditional approach together with conventional medicine. Alternative medicine refers to using a non-traditional approach in place of conventional medicine. Various CAM assessments and therapies are supported by some degree of scientific evidence and are intended to reduce disease-based symptoms and to improve health outcomes. However, due to a lack of well-designed scientific studies and/or peer reviewed literature many CAM therapies have not been shown to improve health outcomes over conventional therapies. II. Criteria/Guidelines A CAM service or procedure is covered (subject to Limitations and Administrative Guidelines) when all of the following criteria are met: A. It meets the definition of medical necessity as specified in Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) Section 432: 1. It is for the purpose of treating a medical condition. 2. It is the most appropriate delivery or level of service, considering potential benefits and harms to the patient; 3. It is known to be effective in improving health outcomes; provided that: a. Effectiveness is determined first by scientific evidence; b.
  • Metaphysical Qualities of Stones Agate Chrysocolla Generally Grounding and Stabilizing of Physical Energies

    Metaphysical Qualities of Stones Agate Chrysocolla Generally Grounding and Stabilizing of Physical Energies

    Stargazers Metaphysical Qualities of Stones Agate Chrysocolla Generally grounding and stabilizing of physical energies. Brings peace and harmony to mind and heart. Feminine energy and Strengthening the aura. (*) creativity. Aids spiritual expression. (4th, 5th, 6th) Blue Lace Agate: Soothes emotions, pain. Peaceful, relaxing Chrysoprase energy. Works with throat chakra. Helpful in public speaking. Enhances insight, awakens hidden talents. Helps mental serenity, (5th) imagination. (4th) Fire Agate: Represents the spiritual flame of perfection. Dispels Citrine fear, provides protection. Mental stimulant, opens conscious mind to intuition. Promotes Moss Agate: Emotional balancer, strengthens self-esteem, mental clarity, positive outlook. Enhances creativity. (2nd) prosperity power stone! Danburite Amazonite Shaman stone. Stimulates the intellect, enhances psychic abilities, Soothing to nervous system. Helps perfect personal expression, self-confidence. enhances creativity. (5th) Emerald Amethyst Deva stone. Brings in healing emerald light, promotes divine Increases spirituality, enlightenment. Aids in dropping unwanted qualities. Stone of abundance, good fortune, strength. (4th) habits, addictive behaviors. Heals on all levels. Lifts depression. Fuchsite (6th, 7th) “Stone of Practicality” clarifies issues of basic foundations of one’s Amber life, e.g. money, love, career, talents, health. With Ruby it is Connector; polarizes and harmonizes past/present/future, energizing and grounding. up/down, yin/yang, etc. Warm solar energies, calming to stressed Fluorite nerves and hyperactivity. Helps find humor and joy. (2nd) Travel stone. Transmutes negativity, removes energy blocks. Angelite Increases concentration and memory, helps to see truth behind Stone for raising conscious awareness. Assists angelic connection illusion. (*) and communication. Balancing and protective. (5th) Fossils Apatite Aids in past-life exploration and protection from disharmonious Dissolves negativity, mental confusion, and overwhelm.
  • Organising an EDE - Available to Certified Host Sites

    Organising an EDE - Available to Certified Host Sites

    Fall 08 Ecovillage Design Education A four-week comprehensive course in the fundamentals of Sustainability Design Curriculum conceived and designed by the GEESE—Global Ecovillage Educators for a Sustainable Earth Version 5 © Gaia Education, 2012 www.gaiaeducation.net 1 Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................... 2 The Sustainability Wheel .................................................................................... 5 Why is Gaia Education necessary? .................................................................. 7 Worldview Overview .................................................................................................................................................... 11 Module 1: Holistic Worldview .......................................................................................................... 13 Module 2: Reconnecting with Nature .......................................................................................... 16 Module 3: Transformation of Consciousness ............................................................................ 19 Module 4: Personal Health and Planetary Health ................................................................... 21 Module 5: Socially Engaged Spirituality .................................................................................... 24 Social Overview ...................................................................................................................................................
  • FDA and the Challenge of Alternative Medicine: Realistic Assessments and Regulatory Flexibility

    FDA and the Challenge of Alternative Medicine: Realistic Assessments and Regulatory Flexibility

    FDA and the Challenge of Alternative Medicine: Realistic Assessments and Regulatory Flexibility The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation FDA and the Challenge of Alternative Medicine: Realistic Assessments and Regulatory Flexibility (1997 Third Year Paper) Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:8852106 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA I. Introduction For many people in the United States the idea of alternative or unconventional medicine conjures up visions of snake oil salesmen or crazy crystal-bearing shamen. Such images contribute to the gut reaction that alternative medicine is bunk. Recently, however, Americans have taken increasingly active roles in their own health care and, in the process, have discovered the potentials of alternative medicine. This growing fascination with alternative medicine is evidenced by the recent deluge of books, magazines, web sites, health stores, and clinics dedicated to its practice and development. The perception that alternative medicine cannot be reconciled with conventional medicine and science belies both the enchantment with unconventional therapies as well as the distrust of them. In 1993 Congress, however, decided that America should take a more scientific look
  • Creativity, Theory, and Practice

    Creativity, Theory, and Practice

    NAME Definitions of a Creative Person and a Creative Contribution I have always considered myself a creative person. It is a part of my identity, and it has shaped my path in life. As a young child, as my friends dreamt of becoming baseball players and firefighters, I said I wanted to become an inventor. I was constantly having ideas of inventions that would make people’s lives easier. When I played with Legos, I never used the instructions; instead I would always mix the different sets together to create a car - that could also be a boat - that also had wings that folded out to fly - which had an arsenal of weapons for defense, but also turned into a base for defense. Growing up in school, I never wanted to solve answers the methodological way they taught us. I did not want to fill out the blanks in a worksheet, but to analyze the problem and see different solutions than the one answer in the textbook. I hated when teachers made us use their one method for math, when I would solve it my own way. This creativity is what lead me to the creative path of being a UX Designer. A UX Designer is tasked with analyzing User Research and coming up with innovative solutions to fill the user needs. Throughout my classes at DePaul, I have used facets of creativity to solve problems. In this paper, I will discuss how I approached and solved various situations in my professional, academic, and personal life using creativity. This will be elucidated through analysis and comparison of the facets of creativity and creative works as understood in scholarly works.
  • Themes and Narratives Relating to Faith and Healing in the Area of Durban, South Africa. Natalie Strohmyer SIT Study Abroad

    Themes and Narratives Relating to Faith and Healing in the Area of Durban, South Africa. Natalie Strohmyer SIT Study Abroad

    SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad SIT Digital Collections Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection SIT Study Abroad Spring 2013 Themes and Narratives Relating to Faith and Healing in the Area of Durban, South Africa. Natalie Strohmyer SIT Study Abroad Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection Part of the Medicine and Health Sciences Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Strohmyer, Natalie, "Themes and Narratives Relating to Faith and Healing in the Area of Durban, South Africa." (2013). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 1502. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/1502 This Unpublished Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the SIT Study Abroad at SIT Digital Collections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection by an authorized administrator of SIT Digital Collections. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Strohmyer 1 Themes and Narratives Relating to Faith and Healing in the area of Durban, South Africa. yes I hereby grant permission for World Learning to include my ISP in its permanent library collection. yes I hereby grant permission for World Learning to release my ISP in any format to individuals, organizations, or libraries in the host country for educational purposes as determined by SIT. yes I hereby grant permission for World Learning to publish my ISP on its websites and in any of its digital/electronic collections, and to reproduce and transmit my ISP electronically. I understand that World Learning’s websites and digital collections are publicly available via the Internet. I agree that World Learning is NOT responsible for any unauthorized use of my ISP by any third party who might access it on the Internet or otherwise.
  • Ideal Homes? Social Change and Domestic Life

    Ideal Homes? Social Change and Domestic Life

    IDEAL HOMES? Until now, the ‘home’ as a space within which domestic lives are lived out has been largely ignored by sociologists. Yet the ‘home’ as idea, place and object consumes a large proportion of individuals’ incomes, and occupies their dreams and their leisure time while the absence of a physical home presents a major threat to both society and the homeless themselves. This edited collection provides for the first time an analysis of the space of the ‘home’ and the experiences of home life by writers from a wide range of disciplines, including sociology, criminology, psychology, social policy and anthropology. It covers a range of subjects, including gender roles, different generations’ relationships to home, the changing nature of the family, transition, risk and alternative visions of home. Ideal Homes? provides a fascinating analysis which reveals how both popular images and experiences of home life can produce vital clues as to how society’s members produce and respond to social change. Tony Chapman is Head of Sociology at the University of Teesside. Jenny Hockey is Senior Lecturer in the School of Comparative and Applied Social Sciences, University of Hull. IDEAL HOMES? Social change and domestic life Edited by Tony Chapman and Jenny Hockey London and New York First published 1999 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. © 1999 Selection and editorial matter Tony Chapman and Jenny Hockey; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved.
  • Spirit Guide Contact Through Hypnosis

    Spirit Guide Contact Through Hypnosis

    Spirit Guide Contact Through Hypnosis 111 By Dr. Bruce Goldberg NEW PAGE BOOKS A division of The Career Press, Inc. Franklin Lakes, NJ Copyright © 2005 by Dr. Bruce Goldberg All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press. SPIRIT GUIDE CONTACT THROUGH HYPNOSIS EDITED BY KATE HENCHES TYPESET BY EILEEN DOW MUNSON Cover design by Lu Rossman/Digi Dog Design Cover photo: Leslie Frank Hampton Printed in the U.S.A. by Book-mart Press To order this title, please call toll-free 1-800-CAREER-1 (NJ and Canada: 201-848- 0310) to order using VISA or MasterCard, or for further information on books from Career Press. The Career Press, Inc., 3 Tice Road, PO Box 687, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417 www.careerpress.com www.newpagebooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goldberg, Bruce, 1948- Spirit guide contact through hypnosis / by Bruce Goldberg. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-56414-797-5 (pbk.) 1. Guides (Spiritualism) 2. Autogenic training. I. Title. BF1275.G85G65 2005 133.9’32--dc22 2005041504 This book is dedicated to the thousands of my patients who have been kind enough to share their spirit guide experiences using the techniques presented in this book. Without their demonstrations of the benefits of these metaphysical, yet natural, techniques, this book would not have been possible.
  • Neotrance and the Psychedelic Festival DC

    Neotrance and the Psychedelic Festival DC

    Neotrance and the Psychedelic Festival GRAHAM ST JOHN UNIVERSITY OF REGINA, UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND Abstract !is article explores the religio-spiritual characteristics of psytrance (psychedelic trance), attending speci"cally to the characteristics of what I call neotrance apparent within the contemporary trance event, the countercultural inheritance of the “tribal” psytrance festival, and the dramatizing of participants’ “ultimate concerns” within the festival framework. An exploration of the psychedelic festival offers insights on ecstatic (self- transcendent), performative (self-expressive) and re!exive (conscious alternative) trajectories within psytrance music culture. I address this dynamic with reference to Portugal’s Boom Festival. Keywords psytrance, neotrance, psychedelic festival, trance states, religion, new spirituality, liminality, neotribe Figure 1: Main Floor, Boom Festival 2008, Portugal – Photo by jakob kolar www.jacomedia.net As electronic dance music cultures (EDMCs) flourish in the global present, their relig- ious and/or spiritual character have become common subjects of exploration for scholars of religion, music and culture.1 This article addresses the religio-spiritual Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture 1(1) 2009, 35-64 + Dancecult ISSN 1947-5403 ©2009 Dancecult http://www.dancecult.net/ DC Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture – DOI 10.12801/1947-5403.2009.01.01.03 + D DC –C 36 Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture • vol 1 no 1 characteristics of psytrance (psychedelic trance), attending specifically to the charac- teristics of the contemporary trance event which I call neotrance, the countercultural inheritance of the “tribal” psytrance festival, and the dramatizing of participants’ “ul- timate concerns” within the framework of the “visionary” music festival.