Explore the living tradition of trance dancing, the practice of connecting with the subtle energies and secret knowledge of spirits through rhythmic movement to music. Written by an expert teacher who has trained and performed with top dancers in Paris, London, and Cairo, this meticulously researched, hands-on book delves into the history and modern practice of ecstatic dance. Discover a range of religious and spiritual trance dance traditions—from Egyptian zar ceremonies to Sufi whirling dervish techniques—and the entities you can contact through them. You’ll also find a detailed how-to section that provides a safe, effective, and fun way to connect with the ethereal realm from within your own home. Praise: “This is a must-read book. Keep Ms. Henkesh’s book in your reference library for the well-researched richness of its information and its understanding of the many types of zar.”—Sahra C. Kent (Saeeda), dance ethnologist and founder of Journey through Egypt “Yasmin writes beautifully and with great joy. She has done impressive research . . . into the mystifying corners of the supernatural and into the remarkable interfaces between body and mind.”—Robert Lebling, author of Legends of the Fire Spirits “Through a deep exploration of myth and science, history and belief, [Henkesh] reveals a compelling insight into these unusual yet ancient practices. Definitely a valuable resource.”—Laura Tempest Zakroff, fusion and sacred dance pioneer, performer, instructor, and author of The Witch's Cauldron

This book is intended to construct a basis for the understanding of the rites and practices associated with exorcism, or jinn eviction as it is performed within the maraboutic institution called zawiya. Jinn eviction as it occurs in the maraboutic institution reproduces ideologies and social hierarchies of traditional society through the use of a variety of healing symbols and rituals. These symbols are delved into for the benefit of understanding the perennial cultural foundations of the discourse and practice of power in Morocco. The result is an ethnography of possession that has combined meticulous ethnographic field work with critical discourse analysis.

Dancing with the Jinn, is an ethnographic exploration of the secret terrain of mediumship in West African ritual. I rely on years of fieldwork in the République de Guinée and document several events that forced me to confront the reality of other-than-human beings as participants in ritual music practices. As a result of these experiences, I seek to answer two essential questions. The first is to better understand the methods and politics of reciprocal exchanges between the djembéfola1 and the various other-than-human entities. The second is determining how percussive phrases operate as sonic keys to unlock portals into this largely unfamiliar world. I argue that percussive rhythms serve as sonic phrases that open portals between humans and non-human realms containing spirits, ancestors, and jinn.

This book is an exploration into the history, aesthetics, social reality, regulation, and transformation of dance and dance music in Egypt. It covers Oriental dance, known as belly dance or danse du ventre, regional or group-specific dances and rituals, sha'bi (lower-class urban music and dance style), mulid (drawing on Sufi tradition and saints' day festivals) and mahraganat (youth-created, primarily electronic music with lively rhythms and biting lyrics). The chapters discuss genres and sub-genres and their evolution, the demeanor of dancers, trends old and new, and social and political criticism that use the imagery of dance or a dancer. Also considered are the globalization of Egyptian dance, the replication or fantasies of raqs sharqi outside of Egypt, as well as the dance as a hobby, competitive dance form, and focus of international dance festivals.

'In this book Chris Allaun provides us with a wonderful road map of the different routes into the places that exist outside of time, space, and the five senses as we know them. He has also given us some valuable tools and techniques for using them. This is a delightful, inspiring, and enjoyable read.' Rev. Angie Buchanan, Senior Clergy of Earth Traditions, Certified Death Midwife Otherworld: Ecstatic Witchcraft for the Spirits of the Land is about establishing relationships with the spirits of the land. Many books talk about Faeries, but this book not only teaches about the Elves and Faery folk, but also how to have a working relationship with the spirits of plants, animals, and the land itself. Otherworld also teaches how to perform animal magick including shapeshifting for magick, healing, and establishing a deeper connection with animal spirits and discusses ecstatic trance techniques that will help practitioners work with the land spirits in a deep and profound way.

Ritual trance has always been closely associated with music—but why, and how? Gilbert Rouget offers and extended analysis of music and trance, concluding that no universal law can explain the relations between music and trance; they vary greatly and depend on the system of meaning of their cultural context. Rouget rigorously examines a worldwide corpus of data from ethnographic literature, but he also draws on the Bible, his own fieldwork in West Africa, and the writings of Plato, Ghazzali, and Rousseau. To organize this immense store of information, he develops a typology of trance based on symbolism and external manifestations. He outlines the fundamental distinctions between trance and ecstasy, shamanism and spirit possession, and communal and emotional trance. Music is analyzed in terms of performers, practices, instruments, and associations with dance. Each kind of trance draws strength from music in different ways at different points in a ritual, Rouget concludes. In possession trance, music induces the adept to identify himself with his deity and allows him to express this identification through dance. Forcefully rejecting pseudo-science and reductionism, Rouget demystifies the so-called theory of the neurophysiological effects of drumming on trance. He concludes that music's physiological and emotional effects are inseparable from patterns of collective representations and behavior, and that music and trance are linked in as many ways as there are cultural structures.

This important textbook provides a critical introduction to the social anthropology of religion, focusing on more recent classical ethnographies. Comprehensive, free of scholastic jargon, engaging, and comparative in approach, it covers all the major religious traditions that have been studied concretely by anthropologists - Shamanism, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Christianity and its relation to African and Melanesian religions and contemporary Neopaganism. Eschewing a thematic approach and treating religion as a social institution and not simply as an ideology or symbolic system, the book follows the dual heritage of social anthropology in combining an interpretative understanding and sociological analysis. The book will appeal to all students of anthropology, whether established scholars or initiates to the discipline, as well as to students of the social sciences and religious studies, and for all those interested in comparative religion.