Home›Ecstatic Practices›TraditionBrowse ByTraditionThis page groups practices by the culture that gives them their inherited meaning. Wikipedia notes that Roman religious cultus was "an activity fundamental to Roman identity even when Rome as a political center had become fully urbanized." Browsing by tradition lets a visitor read every practice belonging to one culture together, rather than finding them scattered by category.FactsLearn MoreTraditionSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0)FactsOverviewWhat Defines This GroupingWell-attestedPractices that induce or accompany an altered state the tradition treats as religiously significant - possession, trance, prophetic speech - usually through drumming, dance or sustained rhythmic movement. Grouping them by the state they are held to produce is an outsider's criterion: the traditions concerned classify them by who is invoked and on whose authority. 2OriginsWhose Classification This IsWell-attestedThe comparative frame is I. M. Lewis's, from Ecstatic Religion (1971), which treats possession and trance as a single field and reads their social distribution - central cults upholding the established order against peripheral cults of the marginal, women above all. That is Lewis's analysis, not a category the traditions use of themselves. 2DirectoryCategoryWell-attestedPractices 1StatusStanding as a Comparative CategoryWell-attestedUsed, but its validity as a comparative category is disputed 2Learn MoreThe Ecstatic Practices This group gathers ecstatic practices: disciplines that seek altered, heightened or trance states of consciousness through means such as dance, drumming, chanting or whirling, in which the practitioner may feel union with, or possession by, the divine. The browser will find ecstatic practices from various traditions. The entries describe each practice's form and aim, noting the tradition in which it is found.TraditionFilter Results3 entriesBasis of the Membership FigureAllIndependent Survey (1)Scholarly or Demographic Estimate (2)Church FamilyAllPentecostal (1)Date of Separation End YearAll1914 (1)Date of Separation Start YearAll1906 (1)Defining Doctrinal PositionAllAn interior path (tasawwuf) pursued within the schools of law (1)The tzaddik or rebbe as spiritual intermediary and head of the community (1)Trinitarian: one God in three persons (1)GovernanceAllAuthority through a shaykh and an initiatic chain (1)Congregational: each congregation self-governing (1)No central authority (3)How the Expectation Is EnforcedAllPreached Expectation, Not Enforced (1)Liturgical LanguageAllClassical Arabic (1)Hebrew (1)The vernacular (2)Membership Figure As OfAll2000-04-01 (1)2006-01-01 (1)2010-01-01 (1)2012-01-01 (1)2012-01-02 (1)2012-01-03 (1)2020-01-01 (1)OrdinationAllAuthority conferred by initiation rather than by ordination (1)Conferred by appointment from a higher authority (1)Office passes by descent (1)Restricted to men (1)Varies between provinces or member bodies (1)Origin Period End YearAll1200 (1)1772 (1)1906 (1)Origin Period Start YearAll750 (1)1740 (1)1901 (1)Relation to the StateAllVaries by Province (1)Standard Rate ExpectedAllTen percent. (1)Status TodayAllLiving tradition, practised today (3)Show ResultsBrowseCompareHasidic JudaismTradition1 entryPentecostalismTradition1 entrySufismTradition2 entriesSources1. Divinity Atlas Directory Taxonomy, First Edition Category Treetier 12. Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession, 3rd editiontier 1I. M. Lewis, Routledge, 2003View the SourceDivinity Atlas Directory Prose, First Edition Category Descriptionstier 1Comments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.