JapaneseJapaneseSociety Society ofCulturalof Cultural Anthropology
Adapting Popular Religion
TheS6ancePractices of Spirit Mediums and their Devotees in
Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand
FuKUURA Kazuo
Graduate School of Letters, KYoto UniveTsity
This article focuses on the trance seances of two elderly female spirit mediums in Chiang Mai, northern
Thailand, and their devotees' viewpoints on these s6ances. To shed light on the creatMty and adaptabiiity
of the mediums' practice, the article explores the reasons why this local religious phenemenon i$ being
revived among the middle and ]owerclasses in the contemporary context of urbanization and consumerism,
The seances work to symbolically guarantee the well-being of devotees in their everyday lives in line with
both traditional cosmology and ongoing urbanizatjon processes; this tendency reflects the practical needs
of this contemporery local society. Given that this kind of adaptation has been observed for a few decades,
it is apparent that the mediumship has reactivated its own potential to extend its ritual boundaries and
create new repertoires. This demonstrates its intrinsic ability to adapt itself te the social environment ofthe times.
Key words: Chiang Mai, spirit medium, devotees, trance seance, adaptability, creativity, centemporary
social environment
Acknowledgements:
I am gratefu1 to Professor MATSUDA Motoji and the anonymous JRCA readers for theircritical
readings of earlier versions of this artiele.
Jtu)anese Review ofCulturalAnthmpology, vol, 13, 2012
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62 FuKuuRAKazuo
As globalization has proceeded, various sorts of revival phenomena and religious
revitalizations have been seen in the domain of religion around the world. Thailand, a
Theravada Buddhist eountry in Southeast Asia, has been experiencing similar processes in terms of religion. Since the 1970s, the country has eajoyed economic progress by means of national development focusing mainly in the industrial seetor. The country passed through a
monetary crisis in 1997 and a coup-d'6tat in 2006, and has since carried out neoliberal,
Keynesian, and neo-mercantilist policies (GLAssMAN 2010: 1309'16), ConsequentlM due to the
rapid expansion of urbanization and consumerism, new trends in popular religion have
emerged; these include a renewed enthusiasm for the veneration of meditation monks, the cult
of amulets, Buddhist reform movements, the cult of King Rama Vl and the cult of the goddess
Kuan Im CANAN 2003: 127'36). These are eonsidered to be the result of a lack of contemporary
relevance in Buddhist dogma, which holds emancipation from worldly attachments as its
ultimate purpose, in spite of the fact that more than ninety percent of the population is Buddhist.
As a mueang, or ancient traditional city'state in the northern region, Chiang Mai is regarded
as the second most important city in Thailand due to its unique culture, which has been
nurtured by its histoTy for seven hundred years.i Since the end of the twentieth century the
city has been infiuenced by the influx of Bangkok capital, as well as increased investments and
speculations on real estate. Land prices have soared; more and more concrete buildings, such as condominiums, have been constructed; famous shopping centers have established branches;
and large'scale infrastructure improvements have been conducted by the government (DuONGCHAN 2007: 88'94 and 269-308). The majority of the labor force in the city area is
engaged in the second and the third sectors, while the peri'urban area, where agriculture had been a significant means of subsistence, is elosely connected with the urbanization processes. For example, in a discussion abeut the social changes of four villages situated in the peri-urban and mountainous areas firom 1966 to 2006, BRuNEAu (2011) points out that, as aecess was greatly improved and feeder roads were mostly paved, the importance of agriculture decreased and work in small enterprises inside the vi11ages, as well as factory work outside the vi11ages,
increased. Nowadays, regardless of residential location, basic infrastructure developments
have been made, including water supplM electricitM landline, and paved roads. In addition, it is natural for the local people from every walk of life to utilize liquefied petroleum gas, motorbike, private ca4 mobile phone, or Internet. In 2009, the population of Chiang Mai city numbered 142,970, while that of Chiang Mai district was 238,460 and that of Chiang Mai province was 1,632,548.2
In the midst of such social changes, there are religious phenomena peculiar to Chiang Mai
i In this article, Thai words are transeribed into English by using the Royal Thai General System of Transcription, published by the Royal Institute of Thailand. Though, when the northern Thai pronunciatien prevails in the usage of werds, transliteration is fulfMed according to the sound. 2 http:llchiangrnai.nso.go.thlnsotprojectltablelfilesichmai!O-src-Ol1255XOOOtchmai-O`src-Ol-2552-OOOT40000100.xls, "city;' accessed May 19, 2012. A prDvince normally consists of several districts, The status of or municipality (thesaban nakhon), is bestowed en important eity centers by the government under special conditions.
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Adapting Popular Religion 63
that have tendencies characteristic of social stratMcation: for example, there are folk healers
who are supported mainly by the newly resurrected middle class in the urban and rural areas
(ANAN 2000), lay nuns who mainly come from the lower class and observe eight or ten central Buddhist precepts, including shaved heads and brows (MuEcKE 2004), and spirit mediums,
who have their roots in traditional spirit worship and are influential with the middle and lower
classes in rural areas.3 Since the end of the twentieth centurM the trance s6ances of spirit
mediums have gained popularity as a way to cope with various worries and problems in the
everyday lives of local people, This article focuses on the s6ances of two elderly female mediums who have influenced the people in the middle and lower classes by considering the needs of their devotees within the
rituals that they perform. When it comes to the discussion of the relationship between social changes, such as globalization and neoliberalism, and religion, there is an influential point of
view, which claims that people come to revive religion as a base of resistance, or a way to accumulate wealth, For example, COMAROFF (1985: 260-3) maintains that the nature of today's religious movements is implicitly politieal, and they should be interpreted as resistances of the marginalized of the modern world system. Then, COMARoFF and CommoFF (2001: 19-28) insist
that there is a significant increase of renewed occults and religious movements that aim at
"conjuring' wealth through magical means, and there is a clear causality between their
popularity and the neoliberalism. While these arguments are generally vital, they contain some problems that cannot be ignored. First, it is not always appropriate to regard every religious movement or phenomenon
solely as resistances against disparities in societies. Second, when the influence of the global capitalism on religious phenomena is emphasized, there is an overestimation. In fact, while it is
more important to elucidate regional characteristics in religious phenomena, it is dithcult to
argue that they have a universal feature in common beyond their diversity Thus, when
examining the religious practices of northern Thai mediumship, this article pays attention to
social realities in context of Thailand in Southeast Asia.
In addition, this article also refers to the spirit mediums' ability to catch up with situations,
"human LAvlE et al. (1993: 5) call this ability cneativity, whieh they define as activities that
transform existing cultural practices in a manner that a community or certain of its members find of value," In this article, the creativity of mediumship is to be paid attention to from broader perspective in order to detect traces it has left in the ongoing practices and its potentiality to meet needs of local communities. Focusing mainly on the adaptability to the social environment that can be glimpsed threugh an examination of trance s6ances, this article
elarifies why the spirit mediumship in Chiang Mai, whieh seems at first glance to be merely an indigenous religious phenomenon, has been resurrected in a local society in which urbanization and consumerism have become ordinary parts of life, It specifically considers how these s6ances cope with the local people's everyday worries and problems in the urbanization, After exploring
3 Though, as we will see, these distinctions do not necessarily exclude the possibility that people in various classes will come and ge among the layers of popular religions.
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M FUKUURAKazuo
a general view of the mediumship, this article discusses the cases of two spirit mediums in
order to eonsider the differing and overlapping significance of their respective s6ances and the
objectives of their devotees.
Chiang Mai and Spirit Mediumship
Though a biomedical perspective of the human body has infiltrated northern Thai societM to this day it is still believed that there are 32 khwan, or vital spirits, that exist in the human body
and govern the 32 major elements of a person's well'being,` as well as one wiayan, or personal soul. When a person dies, the vital spirits are supposed to vanish, while the personal soul is
supposed to leave the body and reincarnate within the Buddhist six states of existence.5
Nevertheless, it is believed that there are some cases in which personal souls do not leave this world fbr reincarnation because of their karma; ratheg they stay in this world and possess spirit mediums in order to do good. History tells us that the tradition of spirit mediumship has persisted for a long time. At the
end of the sixteenth centurM spirit worship had already been observed in Chiang Mai, and it is
well known that a princess was in charge of spirit mediums in the Chiang Mai court at the end of the nineteenth century (WvEyEwARDENE 1986: 153-5), The present spirit mediums and their religious activities are rnainly derived from the cult of matrilineal ancestor spirits, the cult of
the guardian spirit of the vi11age, and the cult of the tutelary spirit of the mueatrg, which
encompasses all of the historic Chiang Mai city All of these are closely tied with the traditional
cornmunities created by consanguinity and territorial bonds.
Most of these communities contained ritual activities practiced by spirit mediums; the mediums gradually came to form ritual communities transversallM beyond the then existing
religious framework that they had exclusively served,6 As social development and the
modernization of social life proceeded in the 1970s, traditional spirit worship in rural areas
started to decline and modern mediumship targeting individuals increased (IRvlNE 1984). In
the 1980s, as urbanization and consumerism developed, not only existing traditional spirits but
also newly invented spirits emerged and trance s6ances started to include modern services for
realizing individual desires, such as business consultancy and divination of winning numbers
for the lottery draw; as well as traditional goals, sueh as divination and healing (TANABE 2002: 56). In addition, in the 1990s, as the effects of globalization spread, businessmen frequently utilized the mediumship in order to secure success in their businesses (MORRIS 2000: 318). Now
4 The thirty'two vital spirits include hair, teeth, flesh, bones, marrow, major organs, blood, old and new food, and bodily fluids and tissues, If they are attached to one's body, one is supposed to be happy and capable of developing, If they are expelled from one's body through a bad experience, one is supposed to become miserable, stop develeping, and die. 5 The six states of existence are heaven and hell, together with the realms of beasts, hungry ghosts Ceeta), lirightened ghosts (atsura), and men (ISHII 1986: 13), G In the anthropology of religion, Chiang Mai mediums are classified as shamans-those who practiee eontro11ed L[masterinaf' possession and the of spirits (LEWIS 2003: 57),
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that urbanization and a consumer society have become the norm, these tendencies cotexist, and
there are many cases in which traditional spirit worship also is being revitalized. The number
of spirit mediums tends to increase every year; in my estimation through the results of my observations on their eollective rituals, the number of mediums in Chiang Mai province could
reach one thousand, While some mediums' business is solely spirit mediumship, there are
many who engage in other businesses as well. Most of them are from the middle and lower
classes. Though the majority of them are female,7 there are a considerable number of male
mediums. They range in age from children to elders. GenerallM northern Thai people call spirit
"spirit `Cspirit mediums khao song, meaning enters," ma khi, meaning riding a horse," and other
sueh names.S
Most of these mediums have experienced a mental illness of unknown origin. NormallM those
who sulTer from such a disease visit a spirit medium who diagnoses it not as a disease but as a
"call" from the spirits. The medium then recognizes the patients as new disciples and begins
ritual practices in order for the disciples to begin being willingly possessed. Most possessing spirits are male and range from traditional spirits to tutelary spirits of high rank lphi chaonai). The latter include diverse spirits, sueh as kings and personages from northern Thai historM myth, and legend, Hindu gods, persons in the present Rattanakosin kingdom, and others,9 The mediums' religious practice is twofold, First, they perfbrm a collective ritual almost every day throughout the year, except during Lent Retreat season, and by ehanging the host medium
and the ritual site on a daily basis, they create an informal network of mediumship through
their rituals (FuKUURA 2011). Second, they earry out trance s6ances with devotees on a daily
basis, which is the object of study in this article. When a female medium begins a trance s6ance,
she sits in front of the altar, raises a ritual tray containing the consultation fee, prays to her
possessing spirit, and is gradually possessed. There are khan khu, or trays fbr spirits, on the top
of the altar, which are round trays with legs made of wood and are filled with offbrings such as
dried betel nuts, candles, and so on.iO At the moment of possession, the medium shakes her body convulsively and her expression changes, Then she puts ajacket, wraparound skirt, and
kerchief on top of her clothes, all of whieh are in line with the tastes of the possessing spirit.
The medium then becomes the spirit, sits on the special seat, and listens to the stories of her devotees.
7 This is related to the prohibition of female ordination in Thailand and the close ties of northern Thai women with spirit possession through the matrilineal ancestor spirit cult. See WIJEYEWARDENE (1986: 151). "possessed "spirit 8 There are also rang song, or bodies;' as well as chao song and song chao, or possessions." 9 As to the basic knowledge about this kind of spirit, see SHALARDCHAI (1984: 36-41), "teacher;' ia [Phis tray is not for the possessing spirit, but for the laltu, or transcendent which is the spiritual being `:teacher" whom the spirit worships, The existence of the is supposed to guarantee the authenticity and charisma of the medium's ritual activities. This form of worship is also observed in the domain ef traditional handicrafts and skills, as in the examples of silversmiths and traditional musicians.
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Object of Study and Research Method
The first case study concerns the trance s6ances of Medium X, an elderly woman who lives in Saraphi district, Chiang Mai province. The district is neighbored by Chiang Mai district on the north, and adjoined by Lamphun province on the south, While the number of peasants decreases there, many loeal people work as wage laborers. She turned 93 years old in 2012 and
has worked as spirit medium for 60 years. As she is a prominent figure in the community of
spirit mediums and has devotees with whom she has had a long acquaintance, her s6ances are
one of the most typical examples of orthodox mediumship in Chiang Mai, In addition, through
her s6ances, we can learn how the mediumship has transformed itself in peri'urban settings.
When a s6anee takes place, in most cases, three sorts of spirits possess her: a matrilineal ancestor spirit, a gtiardian spirit of the vi11age, and two tutelary spirits of the traditional
city'state, NormallM her seances take place from about eight o'clock in the morning until around noon. There are no s6ances on Wednesdays or Buddhist holy days (wan phra), because
the spirits will not possess her on those days,ii From Apri] through July of 2002, I lived in her house and engaged in participant observation and interviews about her seanees and her
devotees. After that, until March 2012, I engaged in several subsequent short'term fieldwork 'sesslons.
The second case study conceTns the trance s6ances of Medium Y an elderly woman who lives in the Chiang Mai city area. She turned 87 in 2012 and has worked as medium for 70 years. She is known as one of the most popular mediums in the city and has a wide range of female devotees from both the yeunger and older generations. By observing her we can learn
specifically what the devotees in the middle and lower classes want from a trance s6ance, She
hasjust one possessing spirit, a tutelary spirit of high rank. Her s6ances typically take place in
the afternoon, until around six o'clock in the evening, FLvom January through February of 2003,
I visited her house almost every day in order to conduct participant observation and interviews.
After that, until March 2012, I engaged in several subsequent short'term fieldwork sessions.i2
PrioT to this fieldwork, in 2001 and 2002 respectivelM as a foreign researcher approved by the National Research Council of Thailand, I visited the two mediums in order to ask them for
permission to do participant observation on their religious practice. AccordinglM as I had visited them for a few months, they understood that I studied and paid respect to the northern
Thai tradition, and kindly allowed me to participate in their religious activities.
ii The name for Wednesday is vvan the word is in the same way as the word meaning "dayphut; phut pronounced Buddha, so this phrase means the of Buddha." That is the reason why the spirits cannot possess mediums on Wednesdays. WIJEYEWARDENE (1986: 192) also refers to holy days when mediums cannot be possessed. i2 Throughout my fieldwork, I was able to keep in touch with the devotees from 80 to 90 percent of the s6anees I attended. Nevertheless, as most of the devotees came to the mediums' houses for private reasons and there were some who did not want to be observed or intewiewed, there were oecasional dienculties in conducting the research. Consequently, there are some asymmetries between these two case studies regarding manners ofexplanation and periods of fieldwork. Nevertheless, it is fu11y possib}e to deduce the characteristics of both mediums' s6ances in order to compare and contrast the two types of mediumship.
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Medium X and Her Devotees
Tbeance S6ances
As Medium X is one of the most famous mediums in Chiang Mai, her devotees come from various places in the province, especially from Chiang Mai and Saraphi district. In addition,
there are her matrilineal relatives and vi11agers from her natal vi11age in Chiang Mai district
among them. For this reason, there is always a communal atmosphere in her s6ances, which
could derive from the interpersonal relationship in these traditional communities. While the
majority of the devotees were middle-aged and elderly females and belong to the middle and
lower classes, there are a few who are in the upper class. As an example, when she was in her
forties, in appreciation for her ritual ability she was offered real estate and a car by an owner of
celadon industrM which is counted as one of the most important local industries. Since then, he
and his family have become her patrons until today The s6ances given by Medium X are not great in number because she participates in
collective rituals almost every daM so she tends to be away from home during the daytime.
From April through July of 2002, I confirmed 50 services provided to 40 groups of devotees in
her seances. During my short-term fieldwork sessions from 2005 through 2007, I performed participant observation of 42 s6ances: 28 services fbr 23 groups in February 2005 and 29 services for 19 groups in February 2007 (see Tables 1"3),i3 In this case studM the number of services perfbrmed per day was not numerous there were not more than five cases a day the most. Though the ratio of male to fema]e devotees seems to vary (1:3.4 in 2002, 1:2.5 in 2005, and 1:1 in 2007), this is because in the 2007 fieldwork, the
same two male devotees visited the medium almost every day Taking this into consideration, in
that yeag the ratio of female to male devotees was actually more than 2:1.
Table 1. Number of Ritual Services in the [[lrance S6ances of Medium X from April to July 2002
ServicesSelectedbyDevotees Number o/o Folk[IVeatment 1836.oofo MakingMeritthroughSpiritWorship 1224,O"/o PrayerforSuecessinBusiness 510,oo/o AdviceaboutLifeIssues 510.oo/, PrayerforSuccessinLoveorReturnofLover 12.00/e OtherServices 918,oo/, Total 50loo.oe/,
i3 Those who come alone are each counted as a group.
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Table 2. Number of Ritual Services in the [Erance S6ances of Medium X in February 2005
ServicesSelectedbyDevotees Number o/o Folk[[Yeatment 1242.90/o AdviceaboutLifeIssues 414.30/o MakingMeritthroughSpiritWorship 414.30/o CallingonSpiritsoftheDead 13.60/o PrayerforSuccessinBusiness 13.6"/o PredictionofLuckyLotteryNumbers 13.60/o OtherServices 517.90/o Total 28100.oo/,
Table 3. Number of Ritual Services in the [Erance S6ances of Medium X in February 2007
ServicesSe}ectedbyDevotees Number o/o FolkTreatment 1034.se/, MakingMeritthroughSpiritWorship 517.20/o AdviceaboutLifeIssues 413.80/o Fortune-Telling 13,40/o OtherServices 931,oo/o Total 29100.00/,
Among the services provided by Medium X's spirits, folk treatrnent caaksa roe is the most common. They prescribe folk medicines such as an animal's horn, a tree root, or a rock, relieve bodily pain by wiping one's shoulder and back on betel leaves, utter an incantation, blow on the affbcted body parts, and so on. The medium explained that these had been practieed befbre the modern medieine was introduced in northern Thailand. Some people attend the s6ances because their family members are in poor shape. Some attend not only because they have diseased body parts, but also because they feel il1, while some attend because of incessant
nightmares or suecessive family misfortunes.
Devotees of spirit mediums take it for granted that happiness will be granted to them if they pay a courtesy visit to spirits with spiritual power. This is generally called tham bun, or
"merit-making," and is in line with the Theravada Buddhist way of thinking about happiness,
It is believed that making merit in this world leads to happiness in the rest of life and in the afterlife (ISHII 1986: 13'20). In particular, devotees who have close relationships with a medium
"adopted and are fond of doing this are called luk liang, or children," and they keep company
with the medium as if they were in the same kin group. They also practice mat kho mue, or the ritual act of tying thread around their wrists. Though the original purpose of this act was to keep their vital spirits in their bodies, sometimes they also aim to strengthen their bond with a
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charismatic spirit through this act, thereby trying to achieve happiness.
"help"), Devotees often seek advice about life issues (chuai, which literally means which
include various aspects of the everyday life and work of local people, such as the rebuilding of
houses, coniugal matters between spouses, and the propriety of business abroad. Prayer for success in business lpuekoa thang thurakit) includes a wide range of economic activities, from retailing in the local market to business activities within companies. Prayer for success in love
or return of lover (irya sane) treats various love affairs, and in a case observed in 2002, a young
female devotee consulted the spirit about her exJlover who had returned to the United Kingdom,
his home country Calling up the spirits of the dead (khon kadong) is an extraordinary service
that enables the devotee to communicate with the spirit of a specifie dead person, such as the
one of a deceased family member. In a case observed in February 2005, two female devotees
called up the spirit of their late mother, fbund out her whereabouts, and held a memorial
service for her.
Devotees sometimes ask a spirit to predict their lucky lottery numbers (bai huai), which the spirit either suggests directly or writes down on paper. Fortune'telling (du muea) is one of the
most popular services in the mediumship, and in a case observed in 2007, a 50'year-old woman consulted the spirit about the future of her 14'year-old daughter, who had run away with her
lover. Other services include receipt of holy water, magic candles, and incense sticks, exorcising a new car, praying fbr the success of one's ritual, and praying fbr success in a mayoral election on the part of one's relative.i4 Similar tendencies regarding kinds of sewices as well as the gender ratio and age of devotees were observed during further short'term fieldwork conducted
until March 2012.
The devotees of Medium X include her matrilineal relatives and villagers from her natal
vi11age. wnen the former come, it is mostly the matrilineal ancestor spirit who possesses her to activate the s6ance, and when the latter come, it is mostly the guardian spirit of the village that possesses her and listens to the villagers' stories. In eontrast, when she is possessed by a guardian spirit of the traditional city-state, devotees from various places who have no consanguinity or territorial bond with her attend her seances, These segregations and has juxtapositions concerning different types of devotees suggest how the mediumship creatively transformed itself in peri-urban areas-it seems to have expanded ritual boundaries
in order to meet the needs of local societM whose boundaries have been influenced significantly by the urbanization process. By placing emphasis on traditional values, the seances ofMedium X relate direetly to the everyday lives of her devotees.
The Viewpoints of Medium X's Devotees
[ftaditional Perspectives on Mind, BodM and Buddhist Ethics This section examines how Medium X's devotees view her s6ances and what kinds of motives
lie beneath their religious behavior, Data was collected through interviews with them in March
i` The holy water and incense sticks were imbued with ineantations of the spirit, while papers with the names and birthdays of devotees are rolled in the candles. They are utilized by the devotees when praying at home.
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of 2012. The first devotee is a 65Jyear'old man who lives in Saraphi district. He is a farmer who
grows rice and longan. He has maintained ties with Medium X for about ten years, and it was one of her disciples who convinced him to come to her. He worships her possessing spirit; when he is not in good shape, he always visits her and asks her to do the ritual act of tying thread
around his wrists, which makes him well again. The spirit allows his body to be healthy and
happM and he believes that it is solely the spirit medium who can treat the thirty'two vital
spirits in the human body
The second devotee is a 60'year-old woman who lives in Chiang Mai district. She was a district officer in Saraphi district until she retired two years ago. Though her house is in the
citM she has frequently visited Medium X because her former office was close to X's house, Even
afteT her retirement, she still believes in the spirit of X and has socialized with X for nearly
twenty years. Her main objective in visiting the medium is to worship the spirit, because, she
says, given that the conduct of Medium X is fi11ed with good deeds in the Buddhist sense, the deeds of those who worship her also beeome good. She believes that other mediums fa11 short of Medium X, asserting that there are quite a few mediums who act exclusively for their own profit, but X is tetally different from them. AccordinglM she often asks X whether her conduct in "correct" everyday life is or not.
From the remarks of these two devotees, it is clear that when their mental and physical health becomes unstable, they believe that they can recever by means of trance seances conducted by Medium X. These provide them with rituals concerning the thirty-two vital spirits
and consultations regarding the stabilization of their deeds from the standpoint of spirits who
are in between levels of karma. Folk treatment and merit-making constitute most of the
seances practiced by Medium X. This is because she has maintained longstanding close relationships with e]derly devotees who believe in the traditional ideas about the human body
and the ability of mediums who know how to manage it. Thus, when they or their family
members are not in good shape, they go to see a medium. Moreoveg it is not uncommon for them to bring their children or grandchildren to s6ances, thereby keeping three generations in touch with the medium. Since Medium X is well known as a devout Buddhist in the community
of spirit mediums-where virtue is measured by the depth of one's belief in Buddhism-the
devotees almost always fo11ow her suggestions,
Many people in the younger generation also retain traditional ideas about the human mind and bodM The third devotee is a 31'year'old woman who lives in Lamphun province. Given that the loeal culture in the province also derives from northern Thai tradition, the loeal people also embrace the spirit mediurnship. She is married, has no children, and has run a hair salon for
sixteen years. She usually commutes to her shop, which is next to Medium X's house, by car. She has been to see X twice and does not know any other mediums. She has known X for fifteen
years, as X is famous in her hometown as well. When she suffered from a tumoT on her neck, she went to X's house twice, where she drank holy water mixed with coconut juice and underwent the folk treatment of wiping the affbcted part with betel leaves, after which she
recovered. She thinks that her belief in the vital spirits in the human body is significant.
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NormallM while she will pray fbr a better life in a Buddhist temple, she will see a spirit medium when she is not in good shape.
Cosmology in V/illage Settings
In addition to the traditional view of the human mind and bodM the cosmology of traditional
village eommunities is also a significant factor in mediums' s6ances. The fourth devotee is a
51'year-old man who Iives in Chiang Mai district and has been a village headman for two years.
He has associated with Medium X for about ten years and worships the guardian spirit of his vi11age among her several possessing spirits. Though he has been to other mediums, he said
that he was not as interested in them, According to him, spirit mediums teach him and other
ordinary people what kinds of offbrings they should give to their matrilineal ancestral spirits. Moreover, the guardian spirit of the village not only brings the villagers happiness on ordinary days, but also brings all of them happiness when the annual ritual for the spirit takes place,
which this man discussed from the standpoint of a village chief. He says that while in a
Buddhist temple he prays to Buddha and feels content, the spirit medium is always statiened
outside the temple to protect the villagers. The viewpoint of the fourth devotee clearly indicates that the possessing spirits of Medium X maintain close ties with the traditional village community In fact, not only the chieg but also
the other villagers visit X in order to discuss various matters in their everyday lives, ranging
from family matters to success in business. The spirit of X always gives them earnest advice.
Indeed, Medium X has complained that the demands of villagers concerning their work and
businesses have increased significantly in recent times,
A Local Businessman's Point of View
The s6ances of Medium X sometimes attract local businessmen. The fifth devotee is a
55-year'old man who lives in San Kamphaeng district, Chiang Mai province, The district
borders Chiang Mai district and Saraphi district to the west, He has been the president of a bakery chain in and around Chiang Mai for thirty years and the company has a factory on a
vast stretch of land. He was a devout devotee of another female medium for seventeen years.
After she died, he began to visit Medium X, as the former and the latter had trained under the
same master medium, which means that they were in the same network.i5 He has kept in
touch with Medium X for five years, He is famous for his patronage of the mediumship and the
society of mediums. Theugh his main objectives in visiting Medium X have been to pray for
success in business and to make merit, he says that he consults her about other issues as well.
While in Buddhist temples, he makes merit formally but when in the house of Medium X, he
asks for the opinions of her possessing spirit about diverse subjects concerning his everyday life. Through her seances, he purges his bad luck tsoug kho, or sado kho) and seeks advice about good and bad deeds. The viewpoint of the devotee shows that, in some cases, even upper'class people
i5 Regarding this network of mediums, see FuKuuRA (2011),
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who eajoy a modern way of life seek the b]essings, advice, and counsel of the spirits,
[Erance S6ances with an Emphasis on Tlraditional Concepts
It is clear from the services provided during her s6ances and the viewpoints of her devotees that Medium X's rituals engage in modern aspects of local society Nevertheless, she puts fundamental and signifieant emphasis on traditional concepts in her s6ances. As LEACH (1976: 81'2) explains, generally the purpose of religious performance is to provide a bridge or channel of ¢ ommunication between this world and the next, through which the power of the gods may be made available to otherwise powerless people, It is in this type of function that the medium
takes on the role of maintaining traditional cosmologies-such as northern Thai notions about
the mind and body or the moral authority of vi11age guardian spirits-and is thereby considered
a role model of Buddhism in her community All of these tasks are fu1fi11ed by means of the
unique rules, interpretations, and practices in the seances of mediumship, which sees the social realities differently from the general public. While she has been working in line with these cosmologies, her roles as a medium have been
well beyond mere spirit worship in charge of the maintenance of small-scale communities, such
as a descent group or a vi11age. AetuallM her devotees come from various places, and in
principle, any consultee is welcomed. These facts tell us a lot about the creativity of
mediumship in its historieal transformation. Actually it is eertain that the mediumship has
transformed its practices' for decades in order to catch up with the local communities in social ehanges.
Medium Y and Her Devotees
TYance S6ances
Medium Y is famous for three types of services provided in her seances: the purging of bad luck, mental care (ehuai dulae chitchai), and fortune'telling (In the fo11owing table and the
discussion, mental care is included in the category of advice about lifb issues) , During my fieldwork from January to February 2003, Medium Y spent fourteen days giving seances; the largest number of devotees who visited her in one day was 30, the fewest 9, and an
average of 17.36. The largest number of ritual sewices perfbrmed in one day was 39, the fewest
10, with an average of 20.43. The ratio of male to female devotees was 1 to 4, showing that
Medium Y's devotees are overwhelmingly female. Though some of these devotees were visiting
her for the first time, most of them were frequent visitors. Many have maintained close
relationships with her for 1 to 6 years, and there are some who have had a family commitment with her for 20 or 30 years. Most of the devotees explained that they had heard about Medium
Y's reputation from their friends, while some said she had been recommended by relatives,
Though the medium attracts some of her neighbors who live nearbM most of the devotees, who
are drawn by other people's recommendations, come from other areas in the Chiang Mai city
area or from nearby districts in Chiang Mai province, For this reason, though devotees are
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[Ibble 4. Ritual Services and Devotees in the [Erance Seanees of Medium Y from January to
February 2003
AgeandSex O･10 11-20 21-30,al-4o 41-50orl-60 61-70 TbtEl ofDevotees
ServicesSelectedby MaleFemaleMa]eFemaLeMa]eFemaleMateFema]eMaleFemaleMateFemaleMaleFemaleMaleFemaleTotalofo Devetees
PrayerforSuceess 3oo103163IS23351112179010737.40fo inBusiness Fortune'Telling o1o43IS41127243214476121.301o MakingMeritby WorshippingSpirits1oo112o411212216222S9,80fa FolkTVeatment ooo11624o3oo3361723s,oy. AdviceabeutLife o1ooo413o511o121517s.gefo Issues SearchforLost ooo1ooo111o1oo1451.70fo Property PrayerforSuccess inLeveorReturn oooe12oooooaoo1231.oofo ofLover PredictionofLucky LotteryNumbersoool11oooooooo1231,oo!. Counter'Sorceryoooeoooooo1o1o2o2O.7ofo krgingofBadLuckoooeo1o1.DDoeooo22O.7ova PrayerforEvasion oooo1ooooooeoo1e1O.3ofo ofConscription OtherServices o1o1110143812117273411.904 lbta] 43o19I260114696911211110582282S6lae.oofo
always friendly one another when they are occasionally at the same session, there is an
individualistic atmosphere, which could reflect the social relations in the urbanity
Among the services available in Medium Ys s6ances, the most popular one is the ritual of praying for success in business, which accounts for thirty-seven percent of all of her services and is selected mainly by women over fifteen years old.i6 This sewice involves praying fbr
success in local market retail, fbr success in job changes, and the like, Though most people who request this sewice are retailers, there are others who engage in professions ranging from
relatively small businesseysuch as traditional erafts, pharmacies, traditional massage, and
the entertainment industry-as well as relatively big ones, such as used car sales, local
government, and politics. [[Xwenty'one percent of Medium Y's devotees request the service of fortune'telling. While those who selected it range from O to 70 years of age,i7 it is supported mainly by female devotees who are 21 to 50 years old, In some cases, female devotees in their 50s and 60s ask the
medium about not only their own fortunes, but also about those of their family members. The
subjects of their consultations include the fortunes of their families, the pros and cons of a child's potential to study abroad, the whereabouts of a child who is away from home, and the appropriate job in the near future.
i6 The statistics in Thailand categorize both sexes in this age grvup as members of the labor force. "O iT In spite of the fact that infants cannet visit the mediums by themselves, the category years old" is included here to indicate parents or relatives whe sought services from the mediums on behalfof their infants.
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74 FuKuuRAKazuo
Merit'making through spirit worship is provided to about ten percent of Medium Y's devotees. This involves paying homage to the spirit, offering flowers and fruits to it, demanding that it
sacralize one's incense sticks for daily use by casting a spell, asking it to tie thread around one's
wrists, and so on. Some people come to see the spirit without a specific purpose, saying that they eome in order to obtain energy or to be given merit, It seems that their primary objective is simply to somehow communicate with the spirit.
Folk treatment accounts for eight percent of Medium Y's devotees' requests, These serviees
are selected primarily by women aged 21 to 50 years and 61 to 70 years and include the prescription of medicine, the application of massage therapM the eounseling fbllowing traffic
accidents, or rituals concerning one's family members who are not in good shape. Then, advice about life issues is requested by about six percent of all devotees. This service involves consultations in regard to family matters, love problems, and property trade. Though small in percentage, there are several other serviees provided such as prediction of lucky lottery numbers and prayer for success in love or return of lover. In the observed cases, the spirit was asked to do about search for lost propeTty (ha khong hai), such as newly purchased motorbike, Devotees hurt by traffic accident asked it to fulfi11 the purging of their bad luck,
Afflicted by a stomachaehe, a male devotee in his late fifties asked it to do counter-sorcery
(haksa tu) and received some medicine. The prayer for evasion of conscription (bopen thahan) was
done for a 26-year-old male devotee.
Services other than these account for about twelve percent of Medium Ys activities and
largely involve the receipt of ritual items imbued with incantations of the spirit, such as
incense sticks for daily use in one's everyday life.
Similar tendencies regarding types of services and the sex ratie and age of the devotees were
observed during further short-term fieldwork conducted until March of 2012. The devotees of
Medium Y are generally not tied to her by consanguinity or territorial bonds. This could be due
to the fact that her spirit is categorized as belonging to the ruling class and does not accordingly
possess such ties. The presence of devotees from different places reflects the present social relations in this urban area, while the s6ances mainly focus on providing a breakthrough regarding worries and problems in urbanized settings.
The Viewpoints of Medium Y's Devotees
[[baditional Perspectives on kmd and Body
Now let us examine the viewpoints of several of Medium Y's devotees, which were collected
through interviews in March of 2012. The first devotee is a 42-year-old woman who lives in
Chiang Mai district. After graduating from a university in the citM she worked fbr three
companies over the course of seven years, including a Japanese car retailer. She then quit her job and has run a Thai restaurant for the past six years. She is married and has an 11-year-old
daughter. Given that her family owns a four'wheel'drive car and a notebook computer, she and
her family could be categorized as middle class, She has visited Medium Y only once, in August
2011. When her friend was in sick, her 87'year'old relative recommended that she go to a
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seance conducted by Medium Y and soon after her visit to Y her friend recovered from her
illness. She says that she worships mediums because they know what kind of ritual she should
do when she is unhealthy and can teach her how to practice it. Though she rarely goes to see
them, one of her relatives is a spirit medium.
The second and third devotees are a 49-year-old man and a 54-year'old man who live in
Chiang Mai district, They are friends and work in a nurse's training school as supervisors. The
former man has visited Medium Y twice, while the latter man has only seen her once. The
former has known Y for twenty years. They visited her beeause the wife of the latter man was
having tTouble recovering from insect bites even though she had gone to the hospital fbr
treatment, so they suspected the presence of some kind of magic or sorcery that was causing her suffering. The men asserted that when they go to a Buddhist temple, they are able te find contentment by praying to Buddha, but they are only able to recover their vitality through the
s6ances of spirit mediums.
From the remarks of these devotees of Medium Y it is clear that her s6ances contribute to the stabilization of body and mind as situated in traditional cosmology These examples are similar
to the cases observed in the s6ances of Medium X. Nevertheless, not many devotees exclusively
select traditional services from the repertoire of Medium Y
Dea]ing with Urbanized Secial Environment: S6ance as Buffer Zone As we have seen, many devotees choose to pray for success in business, to have their fortune told, to perform merit'making, and to seek advice about life issues. In accordance with the fieldwork that I conducted in January 2003, let us consider two other devotees' points of view; The fourth devotee is a 20'year'old female student. She has frequently attended Medium Ys s6ances for ten years. Her objective is mainly fortune'telling, as she finds that Y's predictions always eome true, While she, as a Buddhist, always endeavors to make merit, she is also in the
habit of consulting the spirit of Y about individual matters, When the opinions of her teachers
and the spirit diffez she makes a decision on her own, The fifth devotee is a female politician in her forties. She has attended the s6ances of Medium Y for three years. When situations get worse and she has difficulty making decisions about her "reasonable work on her own, she comes to see Medium Y in order to seek decision'making."
She believes that other mediums might be less helpfu1 to her work and would not meet her expectations: the relationship between them might get awkward, adding to her troubles. While she, as a Buddhist, always endeavors to accumulate merit, she is also in the habit of consulting
the spirit ofY about everyday matters, The remarks of these two devotees clearly indicate the interface between the social lifb and the s6ances of the mediumship in Chiang Mai today In February 2007, I had oceasion to interview the mether of the fburth devotee, who works as a retailer in a local market. According
to heg the female student subsequently graduated from university and, with the advice of the spirit of Yl got a job in Bangkok in 2004. Since January 2007, she has been working as a trader of citTus flrruits in the north region. She has engaged in herjob as a dealer with a good command
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of Chinese, English, and Thai for business in Taiwan, and all is going well with her. This is
exactly what the spirit of Y had foreseen. Thus, the seance becomes a kind of buffer zone in
which people can work out strategies creatively to deal with worries and problems in their lives in the urbanization.
Needs of Local Workers
As in the cases of the fourth and fifth devotees, advice about life issues and fortune'telling are often performed to meet the needs of local workers. [Ib address this point, let us consider the
viewpoints of three more devotees, eollected during my intewiews in March of 2012.
The sixth and seventh devotees are a 45'year'old woman and a 40-year'old woman who live
in Doi Saket district, Chiang Mai province. The district borders San Kamphaeng district to the south, and Chiang Rai province and Lampang provinee to the east. The former is a non-medical
staff in a hospital. Her husband is a bus driver, and they have two sons, one of whom is
17'years'old. The latter is a neighbor of the fbrmer and a housewife. She came to the seance
with her 6'year-old daughter. She has visited Medium Y for about five years, and her objective
is mainly mental care. Though there are a lot of mediums in Doi Saket, she believes that
Medium Y is the only true one who deserves to be worshipped,
The eighth devotee is a 23-year-old man who lives in Lamphun province. After graduating from a university in Chiang Mai, he began working at the reception desk of a hotel in the city
He has visited Y fbr four years, beginning when he entered university at his grandmother's recommendation. Medium Y is famous in his hometown as well. In her seances, he often
consults the spirit about various worries and problems in his profession, for example, how to seek solutions when he cannot get along with his bess. He says that Ys conduct is filled with
good deeds in the Buddhist sense, though there are many mediums who behave in contrary ways.
From the remarks of these devotees, it is clear that the trance s6ances of Medium Y function
as a place where devotees can feel free to consult the spirit about their werries, and in which
the spirit is considered to be always ready to hear from them. Thus, the spirit is recognized as a
being with moral authority that is worth consulting.
A Counselor with Supernatural Power
The possessing sphit of Medium Y is also considered trustworthy by devotees who live in the urbanized settings. The ninth and tenth devotees are sisters, ages 52 and 50, who live in San
Sai district, Chiang Mai province. The district borders Doi Saket to the east, The former is a housekeeper and the latter is a retaileT in a local market, Since the husband of the latter died
twenty years ago, she has raised her three sons, who are now all students, by herself, The
sisters often come to Medium Y's house, having had a close relationship with Y and her spirit for about ten years. They first came to consult about their mother's illness and gradually came to seek advice about other various matters. On this day their objeetive was also to consult about
their mother's illness: 8 or 9 years before, when she was sick, the spirit had said that there was
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Adfipting Popular Religion 77
no problem and that sooner or later she would get well. The spirit's prediction came true, so they have believed in the spirit of Y ever since. Similar procedures had taken place when their grandmother was sick. Though there are many mediums in San Sai, they only rely on Medium Y
The sisters believe that the soul of the spirit is equipped with sing saksit, or supernatural powers. Buddhist monks are also provided with such powers, but the monks never provide advice about their everyday worries and problems, Netwithstanding, the medium gives
solutions to these things. Medium Y's consultation fee is moderate and her devotees believe
that the spirit always helps poor people. There are many devotees who praise Medium Y in the same way as them. From the remarks
of these devotees, it is clear that Y's spiTit is considered a good counselor with magical powers,
and that the accessibilitM approachabilitM and ftriendliness of the spirit are the key to
attracting lower'class devotees,
[[rance S6ances with an Emphasis on Modern Concepts
Based on the tendencies that characterize her s6ances, as well as the viewpoints of her
devotees, it is clear that the trance seances of Medium Y fu1ru1 the responsibility of consewing traditional cosmologM given that the medium is sometimes considered a role model of Buddhism. Nevertheless, her seances put rnuch more emphasis on modern concepts, and they interact with various aspects of everyday life in local societM where the progress of urbanization
and capitalism are a reality Her devotees seek positively to sort out individual worries and problems of life in such social change. In these cases, the unique rules, interpretations, and practices of the s6ance go far
beyond the maintenance of traditional cosmologM and are broadly reconfigured and adapted for
their contemporary uses. Dealing with urbanized social environment, the mediumship has
successfu11y exerted the potentiality of its creativity by transforming itself in order to meet the needs of local people,
Differing Significance of the Two Me(liums' S6ances
The Majority of Medium X's devotees consist of her matrilineal relatives, vi11agers from her natal village, and vi11agers from Chiang Mai and Saraphi district. Most of them belong to
middle and lower classes in the vi11age settings, and attach great importance to the communal
ties, such as matrilineal descent group, village, or Chiang Mai as a traditional cityJstate. The beliefs in the traditional cosmologies are not separable from this attachment, hence from the
fact that her spirits represent these communities. ConsequentlM the mediumship in this case
takes a role of realigning the cultural environment, whieh has been blurred by the social
changes, in line with the local tradition, On the other hand, Medium Y depends on the networks of local urban people. Personal communications and personal recommendations are the key to maintain her popularity Most of
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78 Fu}[uuRAKaano
her devotees belong to middle and lower classes, among whom there are many working women.
They live their lives in urban centers, and what they want through Y's s6ances is mainly
solutions to their worries and problems in their everyday lives. ConsequentlM Medium Y's s6ances play a part in reinterpreting the urbanized social environment in accordance with the local tradition.
Overlapping Significance of the Two Mediums' S6ances: Adaptability
In spite of such a difference, the two mediums' s6ances contain something in common. The
devotees' expeetations regarding the spirits concentrate on blessing, decision-making,
communication with charismatic presences, and solutions to worries and problems. Most devotees seek the stabilization of their everyday lives through s6ance rituals presided over by
those who have the special ability to communicate with deceased spirits. Devotees maintain
good relationships with mediums, as if they are family members, because the mediums are
good advisors for them and help them maintain a harmonious everyday life through trance
'seances.
The s6ance generally serves the purpose of stabilizing the lives of devotees, even when it provides modern services. This fact can be understood through the provision of Medium X's
"blessing" s6ances where most cases of prayer for success in business emphasize the of one's
trade without referring exelusively to the direct acquisition of wealth by means of the ritual.
The other services also contribute to solutions and preventions in everyday life, including advice about quarrels between spouses or the purging of bad luck after the purchase of a used
ear. These are indicative of the urbanized realities of Chiang Mai.
Similar tendencies are observed in the seances of Medium Y most of whose services interact with various facets of life in urban settings and transcend the practical abilities of Buddhist
`blessingi' monks. For instance, prayer for success in business also emphasizes the aspect, so
that after achieving merit in their businesses, the devotees endeavor to keep it up in their
everyday lives by praying with incense sticks distributed en a daily basis, Various aspects of
everyday life in a local society under the influence of urbanization are visible when devotees
seek advice about lifb issues and fortune'telling. Most of the female devotees ofY are more than
15 years old, accounting for about 78 percent of all devotees observed in 2003. Given their
objectives in visiting Medium X it appears that she and her trance seances function as a kind of shelter for women of the middle and lower classes.
It is certain that the proportion of traditional and modern services differ between the two
mediums' s6ances. Nevertheless, while both recognize the importance of worldly matters, such
as blessings for the financial benefit of devotees, they tend to guarantee the stability of devotees' minds and bodies through unique rules, interpretations, and practices of the mediumship. This tendency may reflect the needs of local society in which the people are accustomed to living in the midst of ongoing urbanization and consumerism, and therefore need
something stable in their everyday lives,
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If this fact is taken into eonsideration with regard to the realignment and transformation of
the Chiang Mai mediumship since the 1970s, it becomes clear that, in facing the social changes
of the last few decades, religious tradition has extended the boundaries and capacities of the
trance s6ance by utilizing its own potential power to invent new ritual practices, which demonstrates the creativity of mediumship as a potentiality Thus, the popularity of the trance
s6ance in the Chiang Mai mediumship testifies that this religious tradition maintains an
intrinsic ability to adapt to the social environment of the times in local society
Conclusion: Adapting Popular Religion Creatively
In focusing on these two elderly female mediums and their devotees, this article has
considered the trance s6ances of the spirit mediumship in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. In
the midst of urbanization and eonsumerism, their s6ances attempt to meet the various needs of
devotees from different angles. Folk treatment and merit'making were most popular among the devotees of Medium X, who made it clear that they preferred to return to traditional
cosmology in order to stabilize their minds and bodies threugh the traditional communality of
the mediumship. In contrast, prayeT fbr success in business and fortune'telling were the most popular among the devotees of Medium Y who clarified that they were eager to sort out various worries and problems in their everyday lives stemming from urbanization in line with the local tradition,
Thus, though the s6ances of the two mediums are different in their tendencies, they work to guarantee the well'being of devotees in their respective ways. This capacity is a good example of the mediumship's intrinsic ability to adapt to the social environment of the times, and this is
why spirit mediumship in Chiang Mai, which seems at first to be merely an indigenous religious phenomenon, continues to thrive within this ever-changing local society The
resurgence of trance s6ances in Chiang Mai is not merely a Teturn to an old tradition, but is
also an indicator of the relative autonomy and creativity of the traditional popular religion.
Thus, Chiang Mai mediums, embodying the historicity ef the citM continue to relate their work
to various aspects of local society
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