Communicating with the Spirits

Published by Central European University Press 2005

Communicating with the Spirits

Edited by: Éva Pócs and Gábor Klaniczay

In the series Demons, Spirits, Witches

https://doi.org/10.1515/9786155053566

Overview
Contents

About this book

Focuses on the problem of communication with the other world: the phenomenon of spirit possession and its changing historical interpretations, the imaginary schemes elaborated for giving accounts of the journeys to the other world, for communicating with the dead, and finally the historical archetypes of this kind of religious manifestation—trance prophecy, divination, and shamanism.Recognized historians and ethnologists analyze the relationship, coexistence and conflicts of popular belief systems, Judeo-Christian mythology and demonology in medieval and modern Europe. The essays address links between rites and beliefs, folklore and literature; the legacy of various pre-Christian mythologies; the syncretic forms of ancient, medieval and modern belief- and rite-systems; "pure" examples from religious-ethnological research outside Europe to elucidate European problems.

Author / Editor information

Pócs Éva :

Éva Pócs is Professor emeritus at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Pécs, Hungary.

Klaniczay Gábor :

Gábor Klaniczay is University Professor of Medieval Studies at the Central European University.

Reviews

"This volume offers essays dealing with demonic possession, visionary experiences, trance states, and shamanism... the volume effectively demonstrates the range of work being undertaken that can usefully brought together on topics of demonology, magic, superstition, and witchcraft."

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
TABLE OF CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Gábor Klaniczay and Éva Pócs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I Discernment of Spirits and Possession
Breath, Heart, Guts: The Body and Spirits in the Middle Ages Nancy Caciola Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
Non sunt nisi phantasiae et imaginationes: a Medieval Attempt at Explaining Demons Renata Mikolajczyk Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	40
Discerning Spirits in Early Modern Europe Moshe Sluhovsky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
Mystics or Visionaries? Discernment of Spirits in the First Part of the Seventeenth Century in France Sophie Houdard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
Possession Phenomena, Possession-systems. Some East-Central European Examples Éva Pócs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	84
Part II Contacts with the Other World
How Waldensians Became Witches: Heretics and Their Journey to the Other World Wolfgang Behringer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
Hosting the Dead: Thanotopic Aspects of the Irish Sidhe Tok Thompson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Visions of the Other World as Narrated in Contemporary Belief Legends from Resia Roberto Dapit Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
Part III Divination, Shamanism
Trance Prophets and Diviners in the Middle Ages Christa Tuczay Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Shamanism in Medieval Scandinavian Literature Peter Buchholz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	234
The King, the Cat, and the Chaplain. King Christian IV’s Encounter with the Sami Shamans of Northern Norway and Northern Russia in 1599 Rune Blix Hagen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	246
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	264
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269

Language: English
Publisher: Central European University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 304
Keywords: Anthropology; Demonology; Folklore; Religion; Witchcraft

eBook

Published: June 15, 2005
ISBN: 9786155053566