RESEARCH BASE

Search 3,721 documents across 34 fields — every claim tier-rated by evidence

3,721 Documents 34 Sections 43,625 Citations 34,852 Keywords Indexed 4 Evidence Tiers

3,633 are the core, quality-scored corpus (34 lettered sections — see How We Work); the remaining 88 are cross-corpus synthesis documents (68 InterDocs, 12 Connections, 8 Theories) also indexed here.

10 results for "possession"

N_5_11 Verified Secret Societies

N_5_11 — Women's Secret Societies: Sande, Bori, Eleusinian Priestesses

Throughout history and across cultures, women have formed, led, and participated in secret societies and initiatory organizations that served as spaces of female authority, knowledge transmission, spiritual practice, and

women secret society Sande Bundu Bori Eleusinian
U_4_01 Verified Art, Music & Culture

U_4_01 — Sacred Dance — Ritual Movement from Shamanism to Sufi Whirling

Sacred dance represents one of humanity's oldest and most widespread forms of religious expression, predating written language and formal theology. From the Sufi sema (whirling ceremony) of the Mevlevi order to the Lakot

sacred dance Sufi whirling sema Bharatanatyam Sun Dance shamanic dance
W_3_05 Credible World Civilizations

W_3_05 — Haitian Vodou and Afro-Diasporic Syncretic Religions

Afro-Diasporic religions — including Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santería (Regla de Ocha), Brazilian Candomblé, and related traditions — represent one of the most extraordinary examples of cultural survival and creative synthes

Vodou Voodoo Santería Candomblé Umbanda lwa
W_2_08 Verified World Civilizations

W_2_08 — Korean Shamanism (Muism / Musok)

Korean shamanism (Muism or Musok, 무속) is one of the oldest continuous spiritual traditions in East Asia, predating the introduction of Buddhism (4th century CE) and Confucianism to the Korean peninsula. Centered on mudan

Korean shamanism Muism Musok mudang manshin baksu
W_5_05 Verified World Civilizations

W_5_05 — Southeast Asian Spirit Traditions (Thai, Burmese, Khmer)

Southeast Asia presents one of the world's most complex religious landscapes, where Theravada Buddhism has been practiced for over a millennium in deep synthesis with pre-Buddhist animistic traditions rather than displac

phi spirits nat worship neak ta Southeast Asia Thai animism Burmese 37 nats
C_3_13 Verified Global Traditions

C_3_13 — Oracle Traditions — Cross-Cultural Divination Systems

Oracular divination — the practice of seeking knowledge of the unknown or future through systematic ritual procedures — appears in virtually every known civilization, from Mesopotamian extispicy (reading animal entrails,

oracle divination prophecy Delphi Pythia I Ching
B_3_11 Verified Beings & Entities

B_3_11 — Kitsune, Huli Jing, and Fox Spirits in East Asian Tradition

Fox spirits — beings that have cultivated supernatural powers through longevity, meditation, or absorbing celestial energy — represent one of the most richly developed and culturally significant categories of supernatura

kitsune fox spirit huli jing kumiho nine-tailed fox shapeshifting
Y_4_11 Credible Altered States

Y_4_11 — Trance States Across Cultures

Trance — an altered state of consciousness characterized by narrowed or shifted attention, altered sense of self, reduced awareness of external surroundings, and modified responsiveness — is one of the most universal fea

trance ritual trance cross-cultural trance possession trance shamanic trance altered states of consciousness
Y_2_06 Verified Altered States

Y_2_06 — Dissociation, Depersonalization, and Derealization

Dissociation — the disruption of normally integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, emotion, perception, behavior, and sense of self — represents one of the most revealing natural experiments for understan

dissociation depersonalization derealization depersonalization-derealization disorder DDD dissociative identity disorder
N_5_02 Verified Secret Societies

N_5_02 — Voodoo Societies — Haiti, New Orleans, and Hidden Power

Vodou (Haitian Vodou), Vodun (West African), and Voodoo (Louisiana/New Orleans) — related but distinct religious systems of the African diaspora — contain within them powerful secret society structures that have served a

Vodou Voodoo Vodun Haitian Vodou New Orleans Voodoo Hoodoo