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Facilitating pura medicina

Tero Heinonen

Approaching Religion December 18, 2023 DOI: 10.30664/ar.131084 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Qualitative study Peer reviewed
Population Finnish mystical tourists
Intervention sacred tobacco
Topics Mysticism
Keywords Aesthetics Indigenous Animism Individualism Singing Cultural appropriation Spirituality Spiritual practice Anthropology
Citations 3
Key findings Appropriated South American religious elements are given therapeutic functions in Finnish ritual spaces, reinforcing racial privilege and commercializing indigenous practices for individual spiritual well-being.

Abstract

In this article, based on my doctoral research, I discuss the appropriation of religious elements from South America by Finnish ‘mystical tourists’. The plant medicine ceremonies are approached as spiritual commodities. Imagining local beliefs and practices as ancient cultural heritage, essentially and authentically spiritual, Finnish mystical tourists adapt these practices for their own therapeutic uses. They are accompanied by singing prayers to various plant spirits. Among the appropriated elements are the ceremonial ingestion of imported organic cacao, sacred tobacco and ayahuasca, as well as praying by singing to plant spirits understood in terms of animism. My findings indicate how the appropriated cultural elements are given therapeutic functions in collectively created musical and ritual spaces for individual well-being. I analyse appropriation in categories introduced by Richard A. Rogers (2006) and understand the ceremonies to provide ‘mystical tourists’ with a role as a racially privileged group over the subaltern indigenous peoples through processes of commercialization, where reimagined cultural elements become spiritual commodities to be bought and sold in commercial networks on the basis of access. I argue that the associated forms of cultural appropriation align with the individualistic spiritual well-being needs of the Finnish participants and are related to the theme of ‘sacralization of the self’.

Comparable studies

Other qualitative studies on mysticism, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Qualitative and Quantitative Features of Music Reported to Support Peak Mystical Experiences during Psychedelic Therapy Sessions Individuals with extensive experience administering psilocybin or psilocybin-containing... 2017 Survey and qualitative/quantitative analysis n = 10
Common Core Thesis and Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Mysticism in Chinese Buddhist Monks and Nuns Chinese Pure Land and Chan Buddhist monks and nuns 2011 Mixed-methods study n = 139
Do Drugs Have Religious Import? A 40-Year Retrospective 2004 Interview
Narratives of the mystical among users of psychedelics Psychedelic drug users 2021 Qualitative study n = 50
Auras in mysticism and synaesthesia: a comparison. Synaesthetes who experience colors in response to human faces and figures 2012 Qualitative study n = 4

Citations in the library

Cited by 2

Cites 4

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Mysticism Ayahuasca