ABSTRACT
The chapter looks at ‘spiritual healing’ in Latin America with a special focus on Brazil, which has some of the best-studied examples of spiritual healing. It argues that it is essential to consider healing’s religious framework in order to understand the entanglement of different systems. The first part of the chapter demonstrates the diversity of spiritual healing in Latin America by outlining different forms present in Mexico, Peru, and other countries, derived from indigenous practices, Spiritism, and Christianity. The second part looks in more detail at the range of types of spiritual healing in Brazil. These are divided into three different but overlapping religious frameworks of healing: Christianity, Spiritism, and African-derived Brazilian traditions. By presenting specific healing cosmologies, this section highlights the diversity of the religious frameworks and the differences (and similarities) between healing methods derived from these traditions.
