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The union of the plant and the mediumistic trance in Brazil

This article discusses symbolic elaboration of trance at Centro Espírita Beneficente União do Vegetal. Through comparative analysis with Santo Daime, I observe the modes of formation of contact with the supernatural in both groups, linking it to the representations of hierarchically ordered forces at focus that impel the subject to action in the world. I propose to think ayahuasca trance in dialogue with studies of psychic cults in Brasil, calling attention to the dimension of modernity in this field, where a project of self-knowledge goes along with "Master's teaching".

mediunic cults; ayahuasca; high/low spiritualism; modernity; self-knowledge


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