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[Woman possessed during Zar ceremony. Used with permission.]

Healing practices in Zar Possession Cults

Keeping the Zayran satisfied is the most successful way for women to avoid illness and to stay healthy, especially concerning their fertility. Maintaining their health puts women in a place of power within society. It provides them with a bargaining chip. Women's fertility not only provides decedents to their husbands but also decedents to society. Many women don't hesitate to use this power to "enforce their complementarity with men" (Boddy, 1989, p. 319).

Through the embodied experience woman have with their zayran they are also provided a level of insight they would not be privy to otherwise. As a Hofriyat woman, her idea of selfhood is bound up in her cultural significance to society's moral values. So it is only though the eyes of her zayran, a non-Hofriyati being, that a woman is able to look outside of the box. Thus gaining the ability to contextualize her reality and gain a new perspective on her role as the Hofriyat mascot. (Boddy, 1989) She is provided with a fresh interpretation of her life and is opened up to the subjectivity of her selfhood. The embodied experience of such an alternate reality for women acts as a therapy for their cultural subjugation in daily life and allows them to grow. It allows for perceptions of self to change and be cured of social illness that may arise from the imbalance of power, rules, and acceptable behaviors required of women compared to men. (Boddy, 1989)

Zar possession can heal Hofriyat women as quickly as it can harm them. Women who do not acknowledge the presence of their zayran may anger it enough that it inflicts further illness (although never death; an affliction of black jinn spirits not zayran). Spirits may also come back and inflict illness after being dormant for longer periods of time if their host fails to appease and respect them. However, there is only so much women can do to please their spirits, they are ultimately at the whim of the spirit's mood. The biggest illness zayran inflict upon their hosts is sterility. This is a huge problem for Hofriyat women because their role in society is to portray healthy fertility. Without the ability to do so, women's importance to their husbands and society diminishes.

Most of the time however, women are able to build a positive relationship between themselves and their spirit. Over time the zayran gains concern for his host's wellbeing. Public acceptance of the spirit as a part of the host is the key to the healing process. It allows for the spirit in the 'ayana (the possessed women) to coherently learn to communicate with humans. (Boddy, 1989) The spirit can verbally address the issue at hand in a social context where, "The zar's newly revealed identity is like a password: it announces the code in terms of which meaningful negotiation can take place" (Boddy, 1989, p. 161). Meaningful negotiation that hopefully allows the spirit to heal the sick since possession is the last possible option for those who wish to be healed. (Kenyan, 1995)

Website designed by Abigail Franklin, Anthropology 5450, Spring 2007