Power in Belief: A Folkloric Study of the Female Psychic Community & Access to Power

Abstract

The ways in which women are denied access to power by societal and religious organizations serves as a significant focal point in academic research. Entities that seem to evade patriarchal influence offer females the best chance to acquire power. One of these entities includes Spiritualist practices. Some have shown that Spiritualism functions as a way for women to improve their status in society, while others have identified it as limiting them to traditional feminine roles of family, relationships, and household. Through an analysis of thirty-four narratives written by psychics-in-training and five memorates gathered from interviews with clients of psychics, I argue that psychics-in-training are seeking both societal and religious power through their supernatural practices while clients of psychics only receive religious autonomy from Spiritualism. Clients of psychics are not pursuing societal power with Spiritualist practices as they predominately report supernatural messages about living and deceased family members, love, marriage, and children.