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.
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 5 moreSacred dance
Movement used in worship to honour deities, heal communities, or connect with the spirit world.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 2 moreLibation
The ritual pouring of liquid as an offering to spirits or the deadRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Living
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptAncient Egyptian afterlife beliefs
A system of rituals and texts guiding the soul through the underworld to eternal rebirthTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚠馃嚦 India and 5 moreAncestor worship
Rites of respect for the dead that maintain family bonds and seek spiritual guidanceTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚜馃嚞 EgyptOpening of the mouth ceremonywpt-r (Egyptian)
An ancient Egyptian rite to restore a deceased person's senses for the afterlifeRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚦馃嚞 Nigeria and 2 more峄寉a
A Yoruba orisha of storms and the dead, worshipped in Africa and the Americas.Being 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚥馃嚤 MaliDogon religion
The traditional spiritual beliefs of the Dogon people of MaliTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚦馃嚳 New Zealand and 5 moreTapu
A Polynesian concept of sacred restriction and spiritual prohibitionTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚞馃嚬 Guatemala and 3 moreMaya religion
The living spiritual practices of the Maya peoples, shaped by centuries of contact with Catholicism.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚡馃嚨 JapanNoro绁濆コ
Ryukyuan village priestesses who tend sacred hearths and utaki shrinesTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Fading
馃嚦馃嚨 Nepal and 3 moreGurung ShamanismTamu Cho
The ancient shamanic beliefs and rituals of the Gurung people in NepalTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚟馃嚬 HaitiChristian-Vodou
The blending of Haitian Vodou and Roman Catholicism into a single spiritual practiceTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Living
馃嚬馃嚪 TurkeyHittite sun disk
An ancient Anatolian bronze symbol used in Hattian and Hittite religious ceremoniesCharm 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Maya mythology: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Libation: Arkady Zarubin ( 袗褉泻邪写懈泄 袟邪褉褍斜懈薪 ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs: Hunefer, Public domain, source
- Ancestor worship: Lyn Gateley, CC BY 2.0, source
- Opening of the mouth ceremony: Hunefer, Public domain, source
- 峄寉a: Picture taken by Eurico Zimbres, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Dogon religion: Unknown author, CC BY 3.0, source
- Folk Catholicism: Calvin Hennick, for WBUR Boston, CC BY 3.0, source
- Hittite sun disk: Noumenon, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Sacred dance: Jorge Barrios, CC BY-SA 3.0, source