Ecstatic Religion A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession

I.M. Lewis's wide-ranging comparative study looks at the psychological, medical, aesthetic, religious, and cultural aspects of possession, and covers themes including soul-loss, ecstatic trance, divination, erotic passion, and exorcism. Probing the mysteries of spirit possession through the critical lens of anthropological and sociological theory, this fully revised and expanded third edition is of crucial importance for students of psychology, sociology, religious mysticism and shamanism.