Possession in Two Balinese Trance Ceremonies
Anthropology of Consciousness December 1, 1996 Hoyt Edge 8 citations
Trance behaviors in Bali are neither uniform across the society nor radically individual, but are instead constructed locally, varying from temple to temple. This variety arises from two features of Balinese Hinduism: the importance of adat (local custom) and the conception of deities who possess individuals during trance. The argument challenges the assumption that trance states are either broadly shared within a culture or idiosyncratic to each person, showing instead that they are shaped by specific temple contexts.