Critical scholarship on neo-Tantra has underscored how it has distorted Tantric practice into a consumerist pursuit of so-called sacred sex that bears little resemblance to the South Asian traditions it originates from. However, some scholars caution against simply dismissing neo-Tantra as misappropriation. Instead, they call for a nuanced investigation into its creative synthesis of Western...
Abstract Among the rural Punu of Congo-Brazzaville, possession trance is an essential part of the mainly female celebrations dedicated to the bayisi or water spirits. It is a privileged medium through which these spirits reveal their wishes and conditions their willingness to assure the community’s well-being. On the human side, in order to be possessed an ‘opening of the mind’ is requested and...