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In Reply to: Re: It IS crazy... posted by Time Traveller on May 20, 2005 at 00:02:31:
OK, I think I know what she was talking about.
"Full trance possesion" refers to (generaly temporary) posession by a God, godess, spirit, demon, or any sort of non-physical entity, be it good, bad, or neutral.
It is a very ancient and still very widespread practive, practiced by millions of people all over the world, and much studied by antropologists. Those who practice it do not, generaly, fear it or see it as a bad thing, and may in fact work very hard to cultivate it under specific, controled conditions.
It is most often used in reference to the African based religions of Nigeria, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti etc, (Known by many names such as Santeria, Vodun, Condumble, and Macumba.)
However, it is by no means limited to this tradition. In fact, anthropologists think of the "holy ghost possetion" practiced my pentacostalists (and TF) as being part of the same phenomena.
A person under full possetion does not just hear the voice of an entity, he or she lends theire body to the entity, who comes down and eats, drinks, talks, and does whatever else he or she is known for doing (again, this is usualy a controled and temporary phenomena.)
Now, it is my belief, as I have written about elsewhere, that Berg studied the African based religions of Brazil, and may have picked up this term from reading about them.
I believe this to be so because of his references to "Godess Macumba," one of the Godesses he suposedly had sex with.
While I don't think there is any "Godess Macumba" worshiped in Brazil, there are other Godesses who fit the general description.
Also, the term "Macumba" is widely used in Brazil, to refer to "The Religion."
Ironicaly, it is used almost completly in a negative context.
People who practice "The Religion" usualy refer to it as Condomble or Umbanda. Those who dislike it call it "Macumba."
I know, because I was there, studying it, myself.
The word "Macumba" is sometimes translated as "harmful witchraft."
So, while not all full trance possesion should be regarded as harmful or demonic, it seems that the stuff Berg was into was.
And, Maria, very likely, picked it up from him.
