User:Fay.0373/Adorcism

An adorcism is the welcoming of a spiritual entity into a host's body in hopes of rendering positive outcomes such as healing or protection. This is in some ways the antithesis to an exorcism; during which unwanted spirits are intentionally drawn out of the host's body. Adorcists are human practitioners who desire deeper connections to guardian entities, ancestors, and gods; often associated with, but not limited to, shamanic practices.

Adorcism is a term which was primarily used in sociological and anthropological texts prior to its later expansion to include applications in religion, psychology, ethnology, etc. The term originates from the scholarly work of European theoriests whose relevant publications first emerged in the 1960s; the theorists referenced include Luc de Heusch, Ioan Myrddin Lewis, and Jean Michel Oughourlain.

Adorcistic rituals range from harnessing power from sacred objects, engaging in ritual sacrifice, or participating in performative arts. These ritual practices can be found in Pentacostal Christianity, Shamanism, and several Afro-Brazillian religions. Anthropologically, positive practices that involve being "in dialog with spirits" include clairvoyance, spiritual healing, and counseling.

Etymology and academic origins
The term "adorcism" is a specialized term most commonly used by Euro-christian academic scholars.

Luc de Heusch: Trances
Whilst researching trances, Belgian structuralist and professor Luc de Heusch, recognized a pattern or practice that he would later formally call an adorcism. Luc de Heusch, defines the term "adorcism" in reference to practices that appease or accommodate spiritual entities in a possessed person or place. The term first appears in his book La transe et ses entours: la sorcellerie, l’amour fou, saint Jean de la Croix which was first published in 1962. Heusch utilizes the term in the process of describing a psychophysiological state. His work relies on his desire to explore trances in their many forms: sorcery, shamanism, possession, dreams, sleepwalking, hypnosis, drug use, and even out of body experiences such as elation through song and dance.

Jean-Michel Oughourlian: Neuropsychology
Jean-Michel Oughourlian defines adorcisms as "voluntary, desired, and curative possessions" in his work The Puppet of Desire: The Psychology of Hysteria, Possession, and Hypnosis which was published in 1991. Through the lens of neuropsychology, Oughourlain legitimizes the term in scientific roots by relating it to Freud's original theory of neurosis. He argues that desire is a psychological force that can result in dependencies such as the desire for continuous spiritual connections being maintained through adorcisms. He considers this want to be spiritually connected to an icon or personal figure as an extreme example of mimetic behavior through possession, however, he believes that this is not necessarily an unhealthy practice.

Ioan Myrddin Lewis: Gender
Ioan Myrddin Lewis elaborated on the term's meaning in his book The Social Roots and Meaning of Trance and Possession published in 2009. Lewis, a British anthropologist, added to the social contexts surrounding cultures in which adorcisms rose in popularity. Outlining the gender dynamics behind the popularization of adorcisms, Lewis explains how male-dominant religions have historically subjected women to the ailments of being marginalized by patriarchal social systems. He references instances where these women act out in response to societal adversity. He argues that their actions inspire in their husbands to seek therapy for their wives. Many of the more spiritually motivated husbands in cultures that practice spiritual healing encouraged their wives to get adorcisms.

Adorcisms in Practice
The following examples show how the term adorcism would be applied to categorize existing practices in religion based on the current working definition of the scholars listed. It should be noted that these religions have not explicitly used the term adorcism when describing their own practice given the term's primary function as a method of scholarly categorization.

Additionally, the concept of ecstacy versus enstacy is also a defining factor in the categorization of a practice as an adorcism. Ecstacy refers to the practice of sending one's own spirit out into the spirit realm; meanwhile, enstacy is "spirit possesion" or the practice of receiving other spirits within. The following religions/spiritualities utilize both ecstacy and entacy in their ritual practices; for some scholars only the instances of enstacy would be considered adorcisms whilst others might accept both.

Shamanism
The practice of spirit accommodation is used by practitioners of shamanism as a form of initiation into a spirit cult; the purpose of which is to ascend into the realm of spirits. In shamanism, it is common practice to ascend to the gods to recover a soul that was taken. Through harnessing the power of the spirit realm, that individual's physical body outside of the spirit realm is cleansed and restored to their healthy state. In reference to astro-shamanism's astrological spirit guides, de Heusch emphasizes that an adorcist's ascension into the spirit realm is the exact opposite of a possession during which a spirit descends into an incarnation involuntarily.

A key distinction to be made is that shamanism as a method of reaching states of altered consciousness, however, this does not need to be an entirely immersive trance such as possession. "Adorcism" is the larger blanket term for the practice of engaging in intentional possessions - shamanism is one of many methods of by which ritual adorcisms can be conducted.

Pentecostal Christianity
Pentecostal christianity, centered in the worship of the Holy Spirit, involves the ritual process of undergoing a baptism and emerging reborn as a carrier of the Holy Spirit. This implies the baptized follower possesses the spirit within their person. This is an example of an adorcistic practice by definition in which the host is not necessarily in a shamanistic trance.

This process qualifies as an adorcism because it involves the occupying of a willing human host by a spiritual entity, in this case the Holy Spirit. This embodiment serves the purpose of preventing demons from entering that host as long as they possess the Holy Spirit.

Candomblé
Ceremonies of the candomblé conducted in neighborhood temples begin with drums calling on spiritual entities and orixas. The possession begins, often in large worship settings, as the willing human practitioners succumb to the sound of the drums and enter into mass hysteria welcoming the spirit to take a hold of them. As they become possessed they fall to the ground, sometimes experiencing spasms and can no longer maintain control of their bodies. Some believe this process allows individuals to ascend into a higher spiritual realm.

These ritual practices are adorcisms based on the participants' belief in the reciprocal benefits of being possessed are what keep candomblé spirit cults protected. This Afro-Brazilian faith therefore believes that the spirits themselves give them divine protection and axe´ (which is the force that allows life to remain dynamic and makes self-actualization possible).

Umbanda
Umbanda is a Afro-Brazilian animistic-spiritistic religion. Priests meet regularly with large groups of followers to allow spirits to take hold of their body and speak through them for several hours. The Umbanda believe that everyone has spirits who protect and guide them through life, however, training is required to become a medium. The process of training to become a practitioner of witch-healing, or brujeria, is more controlled; the general population admires the brujerias' ability to enter trances without falling or experiencing severe spasms.

The Umbanda also believe that spirits can embody individuals through appearing in reincarnations. However, because this occurs at birth, this is only considered an adorcism if the individual willingly agrees to not have an exorcism performed on their past spiritual self.

Adorcism and hypnotherapy
Psychological implications associated with utilizing an adorcism as a therapeutic technique are rooted in the comparisons made between auto-induced spiritual trances and hypnotherapy. An adorcism would be considered an independent healing movement due to the belief that the practice of spiritual exploration can heal physical ailments; a phenomenon which is not scientifically supported in modern psychotherapy.

The only way an adorcism qualifies as a form of hypnotherapy is if the exploration of spiritual guidance is made with the intention to stimulate personal growth through meaningful explorations of identity towards developing healthy habits for self-soothing/emotion regulation.