Week 2 - Spirit Healers - Ryan Tong

Spirit mediums are those who can connect with spirits. Those who are on a different level than most people, who can form some sort of connection with the other world. This is why to those who are not in contact with such spirits, they cannot comprehend the mediums who can speak with the spirits. Alternative reasoning is used to explain such phenomena.

In the reading, “Gifts from the Spirits: Spirit Possession and Personal Transformation Among Silicon Valley Spirit Mediums”, Karen Fjelstad and Lisa Maiffret discuss the anecdotal stories of how being in contact of spirits have changed people’s lives. Usually, becoming a medium for spirits occurs due to family reasons or significant events that impact their lives. For some, it can be a voice that is heard in their head. For others, the spirits possess them completely, losing their own control of themselves, although this possession is not always complete. Once a person becomes a medium, they form and maintain a connection with the spirit world and hold possession ceremonies to keep in touch with the spirits. Connections with spirits rearrange and transform the lives of ordinary people dramatically. Although seen as psychotic to most of society, connections with spirits gives mediums an ability to speak to supernatural forces, which cannot be explained with today’s science.

For those that do have their lives completely overturned by the contact of spirits, I would like to know about those who do not believe in the spirit world. Those who do not become mediums and wish to banish the voices in their head with medication, what are their opinions of the spirit world? And for those who wish to bond with the spirits, how close can they get and how much do they comprehend completely?

Works Cited:

Fjelstad, K., & Maiffret, L. (n.d.). Gifts from the Spirits: Spirit Possession and Personal Transformation Among Silicon Valley Spirit Mediums. Retrieved April 8, 2017.