The Trance

INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP:  Myths and Symbols.  Board Review.  Havana, 1996.
TRANCE:  Psychological and Religious Approach of the Yoruba.
AUTHOR:  Dr. Jose Acosta Santos / Awo Oturakaa,
Specialist in Psychiatry
Researcher and Educator in Transcultural Psychiatry and Yoruba Theology

"We dance with our ancestors.  Oh, Mother!  They dance in us!"
De Seiva

Translation by Mary Triola

At this event we will endeavor to approach from a non-specialized position, exactly as is characteristic of the professionals of this theater where we gather today, the changes in conciousness that trance can produce in general. We will concentrate in particular on those changes that occur in religious possession during the ceremonies of Ana, Toque de Bata, de Fundamento, or as it is better known, a Toque de Santo.
In the first place, permit us a digression that is necessary in the field of consciousness. "To be conscious is to live the particularity of one's own existence, transposing it on the universe of that which one knows," remarked Henry Ey, the distinguished European psychiatrist. He called attention to the fact that consciousness cannot be considered only a neurophysical phenomena regulated by the cortex and sub-cortex in the brain. It is more than a matter of sensory equilibrium, or of "being awake." On the psychological level other parameters are at work. These are sometimes difficult to verify and measure by the typical neurophysiological methods that are used in the sophisticated study of the functions of the central nervous system.
The consciousness as a particular and special form of supreme development is characteristic of the cognizant being, man, that not only knows the world around him but is also conscious of his own identity. At the same time he recognizes, from his knowledge, actions and information, that he exists in his own individual history, separate from the world and part of it at the same time.
One cannot speak of the consciousness without recognizing the fundamental role both played and required by an adequately functioning central nervous system. However, to compare one with the other would carry us into an exceedingly hazardous reductionism. With the purpose of describing and understanding ourselves, specialists have divided our consciousness into quantifiable units, although this is, essentially, a practically impossible task. What they have attempted is to study alterations of consciousness in quantities that refer to the neurophysiological level, with qualities that can be measured on the psychological level. In an effort to be more precise we will refer to the level of awareness or neurophysiological conciousness, with the understanding that there are certain expressions, signs and symptoms, that a patient can present in this case, owing to the affectations of this neurophysiological equilibrium. In this way we will properly leave the designation and exploration of the consciousness to the higher or psychological level, in order to describe it in some manner.
The TRANCE is one of these cases. If there exists a disorder on the level of awareness we cannot speak of trance. Presently, so that we can refer to the trance as such, we require a quantative structure of consciousness and its field, at least- a qualitative de-structurization of the field of conciousness. It is a "different" state, alternative to consciousness/conscious awareness. If we are talking of the different types of trance described in psychiatry: hypnosis, sleepwalking and non-epileptic fugues, hysterics, etc.; it is common to use the term "narrowing of conciousness," since it is common to all of these that there is not a total loss of control. The subject's convictions and beliefs exercise what other authors call a "regulating inductor" or a controlling guide, over the psychological phenomena, enough to bring the subject to protect his life and to not do or express attitudes contrary to those imposed by his own "morality or convictions." The control that his conduct and habits ("executive regulator") exercise is even more manifest in these cases.
It is important to indicate that in so much qualitative phenomena "per se", one can determine quantitatively the neurophysiological and neuroendocrine conditions (aptitudes and capacities), to such a degree that in "normal conditions" certain actions would not be possible, that is, as those who witness it say, "they do things impossible to do in a normal state." These new qualities do not arise or appear independantly of previous neurophysiological and neuroendocrine conditions. That is to say, the body itself does not change. The subjects cannot play musical instruments or perform complex mathematical operations without the previous existence of these aptitudes, even in potential form. For example, without the voice or breath support typical of a singer, they could not do perform like a professional.
Much has been written in psychology and psychiatry about the different types of trance and their scientific explanations according to the concepts of each school of thought. There does exist a concensus that, whatever the approach, there must be a scientific explanation. In a scientific-cultural event that took place in Cuba, Professor Wande Abimbola, in an informal visit, commented that it seemed the "official" opinion of the psychiatrists who participated was to consider the Religious Trance as a phenomenon of hysterical dissociation. Giving him my opinion I was catagorical: "Scientific thought cannot explain religion. Psychiatry as science can explain other trances. The Religious Trance has no scientific explanation." Furthermore, I explained to him- and I find it useful to repeat this here- that it is an exaltation of the field of consciousness. It is not a disorder or alteration but a distinct state, different from any other studied in this field. One must make a diagnostic or essential definition to differentiate between the pretender- the person with hysterical traits or hysteria that dissociates and "believes" that he or she is in a trance- and the person experiencing a true, total, exalted, mystical and profound Religious Trance.
For many religions The Religious Trance serves as a form of communication from the super-human forces- (God, deities, spirits, ancestors)- with humans through the possessed. For the Yoruba and Ifaism in particular, the trance is considered- together with oracles and dreams- a medium for communication of the Supreme Being and the gods with man. We feel that these ceremonies are trivialized when people outside Cuba and this religion, approach us, asking us to take them to a "fiesta de Santo" or to a "Toque" as though it were nothing more than a tourist attraction. Some of these people are honestly confused by the irrelevant commercial propaganda, which is so critical of the religion, and fail to recognize that what they believe or have been made to believe is a festival is, essentially, a religious ceremony of the most sacred kind.
In our work "The Presence of Don Fernando Ortiz in Transcultural Cuban Psychology," we let Ortiz explain the Religious Trance that is produced in the ceremony of AN~A or ORU, ceremonies of fundamental importance. He describes the dissociative mechanism of the dancer in the Ilu Bata when the saint "mounts" or posseses the person, denoted by the apparent "intoxication" with the emotional and sensory exaltation and the disintegration of the personality that is produced by "the monotony of the rythms and songs, the noise of the steps, the hand clapping, the sound of the maracas, the bewildering and labyrinthine twists and turns of the dance, the kinesthetic sensations engendered by the incessant repetition, which numbs the attention and the consciousness and all that exalts the subconscious and the automaton."
Seen from the religious angle of the ceremony of the Tambor Bata, An~a or Oru is the use of the sacred drums, Iya, Itotele and Okonkolo, which have previously been consecrated to the deity, A~na, who inhabits them. The drums can only be played by "Omo An~a", (children of An~a), people who are consecrated to this being. The drums are used to praise the deities, to participate together in this undertaking to "call the saint" so that one or more of the orishas may descend and take posession of their "omo" or children.
It is also necessary to explain here how, when this "child" selects his "ori", or destiny, before Olodumare, God, in Orun, (where he was before birth and where he will return after death), the person is from that time related to the deity, part of its energy. He is its child. From among the dancers in the ceremony, the Orisha- as deity or saint- will select one or more of his or her children that will be depositories of the divine energy. These are considered the orisha's "horses," which are "mounted" so the deity may "descend and speak." The signs, indications and tests of the orisha's true presence in the worshipper are in his or her actions and fulfillment of this function as well as their words. The possessed also demonstrates the ability to recognize other children of the orishas, even without external signs such as dances, necklaces or other attributes. Only the living observer-participant in this ceremony, as witness to this presence, is truly capable of describing and feeling this situation.
In referring to the true Trance, posession, in the Toque, there is room for question: is it authentic behavior or simply performance- acting out a part? Of course, the term "personality" already carries with it the idea of acting, the connotation of the mask of the Greek theater. There is a difference between the real me, (how I am), and the public me, (how I want to be seen). We all act- we are and we play the part of a person. It is action, in the possessed, as the expression of the dance, mimicking the movements associated with the orisha in pantomime. There are rules for these actions and they are expected for doctrinal satisfaction- proof of the presence of the orisha. Of course the possessed will endeavor to fulfill that expectancy, but at the same time he is exhibiting an authentic behavior, since the possessed is "the same" god and man, actor and mystic, obliging host and delighted/indulgent physical Saint. Possession is more than acting, although the chosen one plays a role- a convincing one- and is, in essence, theologically speaking, "a being and a presence" sharing with his child and his children as one of them in their "time-space-earth plane," giving his wisdom and advice, taking part in the pleasure and joy of this occasion.
Therefore, the Deity speaks and expresses itself. There is no other option, even though it chooses by inclination the "horse" that it "mounts". One should keep in mind that this in a certain measure continues to be the person yet he or she "offers or lends" their materialality as medium, but the person is real and is also the carrier and the Saint or deity at the same time.
The result that is offered- the speech at times incomprehensible, sometimes extraordinary or at times too histrionic and puerile- is the mystical union between the possessed, their personality and the deity with his Ashe or energy, depending on the characteristics of both. Thus it will be acting a part/behavior or action/performance, what on not a few occasions offers doubts and questions to the inexperienced observer.
By the rhthym and the activation of the Toque is the deity called. He comes according to his will, participates attired in his ceremonial robes and leaves or is retired at the end of the ceremony, pleased with his stay and his participation among his children, who are also left in this same state until the next encounter at another Toque or until they are united to the original source.