Speaking with spirits and the dead
Mediumship, ancestor rites, possession and the offerings made to the unseen.
Speaking with spirits and the dead is the aim of mediumship, ancestor rites, possession and necromancy. It runs from the spirit mediums of Korea and Brazil to Vodou possession, Chinese ancestor offerings, the Mexican Day of the Dead, Victorian spiritualism and the Witch of Endor of the Bible. It is a central practice in some living religions and a frequent target of fraud in others. This page covers who speaks to the dead and how they are judged.
Ways of contact
Methods differ. In possession, a spirit or deity is said to speak through the body of a medium, as in Vodou, Candombl茅, Haitian and Brazilian rites, and in Korean gut. In trance or dream, a shaman travels to the spirit world. In offerings and festivals, families feed and talk to ancestors, as in the Hungry Ghost month in China and the ofrenda in Mexico. Spiritualism added the seance and the table-rapping of the 1840s.
Who may
In many societies, women lead: Korean mudang, Okinawan yuta, Brazilian m茫es de santo and the Western spiritualist mediums of the nineteenth century, who found in mediumship a public role denied elsewhere. Elsewhere, the role is for elders and ancestors' descendants. Some traditions require initiation, and some say contact with the dead is not for outsiders to attempt. Spirits and ancestors are not always friendly: mediums report angry, hungry or lost beings, and rites exist for settling them, such as offerings for neglected ancestors in China and Vietnam.
Authority and fear
Religions disagree. Christianity, Judaism and Islam each forbid certain contact with the dead while honouring prayer for them. Spiritist movements around Kardec in Brazil and France treat communication as a doctrine. Colonial authorities banned possession cults in many places, often labelling them devil worship, and some Pentecostal churches today condemn them in the same terms. The rites are widely found in Africa too, where ancestors are consulted at the family shrine and are held to watch over the living.
Fraud, grief and study
Grieving people are vulnerable. Fraudulent mediums, from the Fox sisters, who confessed in 1888, to modern cold readers, have taken money by exploiting loss. Researchers point to cold reading and to the ideomotor effect behind the Ouija board. Many bereaved people also report real comfort from rites that keep a bond with the dead, and counsellors acknowledge that continuing bonds are common. Doctors and psychologists note that a grief reaction can include hearing or sensing the dead, which is common and not in itself a sign of illness.
Speaking with spirits and the dead on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
馃嚪馃嚭 Russia and 4 moreBaba Yaga
A complex Slavic witch figure who lives in a moving hut and flies in a mortar.Figure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Legendary
馃嚚馃嚤 Chile and 1 moreMachi
Mapuche spiritual authorities and healers who bridge herbal knowledge and spirit realmsTradition 路 Healing 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚠馃嚬 Italy and 2 moreHaruspex
A diviner who read the will of gods by inspecting animal entrailsFigure 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚚馃嚦 China and 1 moreDongyue Dadi鏉卞督澶у笣
The Chinese mountain god of Mount Tai who rules lifespans and underworld recordsBeing 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚥馃嚱 Mexico and 5 morePersonifications of death
Figures from many cultures that embody the end of life and guide soulsFigure 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚚馃嚦 ChinaPanhu鐩ょ摖
A dragon-dog origin myth of the Yao and She peoples in ChinaFigure 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary
馃嚛馃嚳 AlgeriaTassili Mushroom Figure
Neolithic cave art in Algeria interpreted by some as depicting psychedelic mushroom use.Belief 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Wonder and entertainment Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 2 moreFlying Africans
A legend of enslaved people returning to Africa by magic flightFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptSoul Collector
A mythical figure said to gather, guide, or judge the spirits of those who have passed away.Being 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Legendary
馃嚘馃嚬 Austria and 3 moreSalige Frau
A blissful Alpine spirit who guides farmers and guards mountain gameFigure 路 Protection 路 Healing Legendary
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Baba Yaga: Ivan Bilibin, Public domain, source
- Flying Africans: Matthew T Rader, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Machi: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Haruspicy: Lokilech, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Personifications of death: No machine-readable author provided. Kirtap assumed (based on copyrigh, CC BY 2.5, source
- Tassili Mushroom Figure: I redrawn the rock art written by ancient people., Public domain, source
- Salige Frau: various, Public domain, source
- Dongyue Dadi: H2v5o68z, CC0, source