Space of Illusion?

Today I'm going to discuss an article I read on spiritualism. The article is called "Enchanted Spaces: The Séance, Affect, and Geographies of Religion" by  Julian Holloway. It's a very interesting article that looks at the space spiritualists would use more so than the spiritualist themselves. I hope you enjoy my little interpretation of the article...

In this informative article by Julian Holloway, she offers a unique insight on how designated locations deemed holy or “sacred” are made and what its atmosphere radiates onto the given audience. She argues that “sacred spaces” and their settings influence how people feel within the area and, in turn, makes the location more sacred. Instead of using any major religion to analyze for her idea, she uses spiritualism as it was seen in the nineteenth century, mostly focusing around a spiritualist’s space; the séance. Her arguments spread across three main topics: the effect of spiritualism in the Victorian Era, the effect séances would have over their audience, and a nonreductionist as well as a nonteleological approach to these phenomena.
            During the Victorian era, spiritualism was a growing interest between the 1840s and the 1890s. Holloway argues that spiritualism and the séance helped imitate and even change some social and cultural discussions during that time frame. She says "One cannot deny how the séance both transgressed and reproduced wider sociocultural discourses, norms, and practices of Christian belief, science, gender, and sexuality" (pg. 183). Through Christian belief, spiritualism was viewed with mixed ideas. Holloway uses information from G.K. Nelson and A. Owen, saying that “spiritualism represented a sort of halfway house between the increasingly separate or separated God (and thus by implication the Church) of "hellfire" religious doctrine and the bare materialism of secularism or atheist” (pg. 183). Through science, spiritualism caused a genuine curiosity in the Victorian era, generating new ideas, ways of analysis, experiments, and even creating facilities to observe these phenomena. Finally, through gender and sexuality, spiritualism opened unique doors for both the spiritualists and the audience. Most leading spiritualists were women and Holloway explains that this allowed women to do something they normally would never do. They could go to several locations and get to talk about ideas without making a disturbance in the community. As for the audience, they would have to physically participate in the séance, usually holding hands with one another, which would be looked down upon in other circumstances (pg. 183).
            From this point of sexuality, the physical touching involved with séances opens the door to Holloway’s next argument. The effects that séances themselves would cause different and unique sensitivity, not just physically, but also internally.  These séances would cause shivering sensations, exhilarating fears, and internal excitement (pg. 184). The lack of light in the room, which was required during a séance, would help heighten these senses and feelings (pg. 185).
            In her final argument, Holloway expresses the need to look at séances, spiritual places or areas, and the feeling within these locations through a nonreductionist and nonteleological way. The nonreductionist will avoid analyzing a complicated topic to make it simpler and will rather let the topic’s evidence speak for itself. She calls A.J. Ivakhiv’s view a nonreductionist approach, quoting him while saying "leave questions as to the cause of these affects 'open, not close them off by way of a reification to some pregiven essence, or of a reduction to ideology, social relations, or some other explanatory principle.'" (pg.186). A nonteleological view is that phenomena has a purpose in life and is best explained through this purpose instead of scientific proof. Through these two approaches, Holloway explains that it is better to leave the question if spiritual areas are, indeed, spiritual alone and let the affects of its practices speak for itself.
            Through her intriguing article, Holloway gives her readers a deep insight on the experiences of being within a spiritual area.  The perspectives she leaves in her article are thorough and enlightening, giving a logical and intuitive view on spiritual areas and locations. The effect and affect of spiritualism and its séances helps her readers to see what all spiritual practices and locations can do to their audiences and how they can define it as being spiritual. Seeing the nonreductionist and nonteleological way of viewing these feelings and phenomena is interesting for Holloway to use as a support of her ideas, leaving her topic open for discussion.  Her article could leave many skeptics unsatisfied, but it could seem plausible to many others. The way she ends her article makes an excellent statement to her own views and why she might believe others need to feel the same; "The cultural politics of belief and religiosity, as well as the sensations that affirm and reiterate them, are for millions of people life-giving, life- fulfilling, and life-affirming-something we must respect and seek to understand" (pg.186).

Well that is it for today! I hope the article was interesting. I found it helpful to look at another side of a seance than just through the people. I have to admit that I'm afriad my quest is coming to a short end. I haven't been able to find much on most of Europe like I wanted to since most of the research done focuses on the US or England, but I have found some, if not most, of my answers and I'm content with that much. If I should find some extra information, I'll be sure to add it soon! If this is one of the last things I give you all, I hope it was worth it all. Thank you for following with me this far!

Holloway, Julian. "Enchanted Spaces: The Séance, Affect, and Geographies of Religion". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Vol. 96, No. 1 (Mar, 2006) pp.182-187. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3694153