Contemporary spirituality in Turkey: Healing as a medium between the sacred and the profane

In the last two decades, contemporary spirituality has gained increasing visibility, particularly among urban, middle-class women in Turkey. Many of the activities, sessions, and practices offered as part of the contemporary spiritual milieu refer to the notion of healing or underline the therapeutic effects of offered practices. This work probes into the question of what healing means for the participants of the contemporary spiritual milieu in the Turkish context by using ethnographic methods. It is observed that the meaning of healing is much more complex than a simple elimination of an illness or a disorder, and participants attribute an ethical value to therapeutic practices. Healing refers to a process of self-transformation as a result of which one can experience life as a connected whole, consistent, continuous, sacred, and safe. Contemporary spiritual culture posits healing as the primary medium through which an individual can bridge the assumed distance between the actual and the ideal, the profane and the sacred. Throughout the chapters, I discuss how healing as a medium functions by focusing on the particular ways it reorganizes personal and collective memory, drawing new connections and continuities between past and present, old and new.