Sometimes Affliction Is the Door: Healing and Transformation in Narratives of Mediumship

Abstract

To become a filho de santo, or possession medium within Candomblé, individuals must undergo an intensive initiation process typically lasting from 21 days to 3 months. This alone makes taking on the role of medium a major commitment. But mediumship also involves a great deal of ongoing responsibility, endless ritual duties and considerable expense, regular entry into an altered state of consciousness, submission of one’s body to powerful spirits and deities, and many other practices and experiences that could be viewed as difficult, dangerous, or burdensome. This is not, therefore, a role that anyone takes on casually. In fact, by the accounts of Candomblé participants at all levels within the spiritual hierarchy, no one seeks out or even desires mediumship.