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The Brazilian Spiritualist Christian Order Vale do Amanhecer (Valley of the Dawn) is the place where the worlds of the living and the spirits merge and the boundaries between lives are regularly crossed. Drawing upon over a decade of extensive fieldwork in temples of the Amanhecer in Brazil and Europe, the author explores how mediums understand their experiences and how they learn to establish relationships with their spirit guides. She sheds light on the ways in which mediumistic development in the Vale do Amanhecer is used for therapeutic purposes and informs notions of body and self, of illness and wellbeing.
“Jaguars of the Dawn is, by far, the most comprehensive account of the Vale do Amanhecer in English. …for scholars of new religious movements, anthropologists of religion, or those interested in the phenomenology of religious experience, embodied learning, or the therapeutics of spirit mediumship, Jaguars of the Dawn offers a thoughtful and detailed account of a fascinating—and internationally growing—new religion.” • Nova Religio
“Jaguars of the Dawn is one of the most fascinating ethnographic works recently produced. Detailed and deeply embedded in a variety of theoretical and analytical routes, it covers some of the most current themes in the anthropology of religion…An essential addition to the library of all students and scholars working in the fields of anthropology of religion and medical anthropology. It is bound to engage the interest of anyone eager to learn more about religion, spirituality, mediumship, and healing.” • Religion and Society
“Jaguars of the Dawn is the best publication to date on one of Brazil’s most intriguing and influential new religions, Vale do Amanhecer (Valley of the Dawn). This is an exceptionally rich and valuable work on an important and understudied new religious movement. The focus on embodied experience in the training of mediums makes Jaguars essential reading for students and scholars interested in mediumship and spirit incorporation.” • Numen
“This is an exciting book for several reasons… it contributes original knowledge to theoretical debates on the relationship between humans and spirits and the ways in which spirit possession/mediumship is about a transformation of the self.” • Cristina Rocha, Western Sydney University.
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Note on Translations
Chapter 1. Ways to Embody the Divine in Brazil
Chapter 2. Vale do Amanhecer
Chapter 3. Spirits in Transition: The Multidimensional Self
Chapter 4. Jaguars of the Dawn: The Transhistorical Self
Chapter 5. Disobsessive Healing
Chapter 6. Mediumship
Chapter 7. Learning Spirit Mediumship: Ways of Knowing
Chapter 8. Spiritual Routes
Chapter 9. Therapeutic Trajectories
Conclusion
Appendix
Glossary
References
Index