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 5 moreSlavic religion
The pre-Christian beliefs of the Slavic peoples before their conversion to Christianity.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Revived
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 2 moreAstragalomancy
Divination by casting marked bones, carved rods, or numbered diceOracle 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚫馃嚜 SwedenTemple at Uppsala
A Norse religious centre described in medieval texts and debated by modern scholarsTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 ItalySibylline BooksLibri Sibyllini
Ancient Roman oracular texts consulted during state crises and disastersText 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚝馃嚪 France and 1 moreLaying on of hands住诪讬讻讛
A physical gesture used across religions to convey authority, healing, or spiritual presence.Rite 路 Healing 路 Power and authority Living
馃嚞馃嚪 Greece and 5 moreVotive offering
Objects left in sacred places to honor a deity or fulfill a vow, never to be recovered.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚜馃嚞 Egypt and 4 moreAnimal sacrifice
The ritual killing of livestock or wild animals as an offering to deitiesRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Power and authority Historical
馃嚠馃嚬 ItalyLectisternium
An ancient Roman ritual where couches were draped and meals served to gods.Rite 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚞馃嚪 GreeceTrophonius韦蟻慰蠁蠋谓喂慰蟼
A Greek hero turned subterranean oracle god at LebadeaFigure 路 Seeing and foretelling 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚪馃嚧 RomaniaTanacu exorcism
A 2005 Romanian Orthodox ritual that ended in a nun's death and a murder convictionRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Cursing and harm Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Astragalomancy: Roland zh, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Temple at Uppsala: Olaus Magnus, Public domain, source
- Sibylline Books: kladcat, CC BY 2.0, source
- Laying on of hands: User:Lipsio, CC BY 3.0, source
- Votive offering: Walter J. Pilsak, Waldsassen ( W.J.Pilsak at de.wikipedia ), CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Animal sacrifice: Wilfredor, CC0, source
- Lectisternium: Classical Numismatic Group (CNG), Inc., www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Slavic religion: Alphonse Mucha, Public domain, source