Reading Saedi's Ahl-e Hava: pattern and significance in spirit possession beliefs on the southern coasts of Iran.

On the southern coasts of Iran, people who experience spirit possession distinguish their possessing spirits, called 'Winds,' using culturally and psychologically meaningful categories. These categories shape relationships among the spirits, the possessed, ritual specialists, possession symptoms, and negotiations during exorcism rituals. The paper analyzes from a semiotic perspective how both the spirit and the host are transformed in what the People of the Air consider therapy. It identifies areas needing further research.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Based on Saedi's description of spirit possession beliefs and practices on the southern coasts of Iran, this paper attempts to isolate the culturally and psychologically significant categories through which the possessed define and differentiate their possessing spirits or "Winds." It examines the play of these categories in the complex of relationships between the possessing spirits, the possessed, ritual specialists, "symptoms" of possession, and their "negotiations" in rituals of possession or exorcism. It examines from a semiotic perspective the double transformations of spirit and host which in the beliefs and practices of the People of the Air constitute "therapy." It points out areas for further research and analysis.