A Kinder Exorcism: Spirit Work in the Ozarks with Brandon Weston

The traditional Ozark view of the spiritual Otherworld has always  surprised outsiders and folklorists because of the general religious  conservatism of the area. Despite this, a worldview that includes the  existence and constant presence of spirits of the dead is common to find  within more traditional communities. These spirits can take many forms,  from helping angels to trickster haints. When ghosts become  troublesome, hillfolk in the old Ozarks knew to call the local Power  Doctor who specialized in folk exorcisms (amongst a wide variety of  other charms and spells.) In the modern world, many healers have changed  their view of spirits and exorcisms, influenced mostly from the  Spiritualist and Spiritist movements of the 19th century, whose  literature and teachings entered the Ozarks in the early 1900’s. This  has created what one of my teachers called “a kinder exorcism,” whereby  spirits are healed rather scared away. In this lecture we’ll be…