Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Volume 6, Number 2, 2005

Magic monks and spirit mediums in the politics of Thai popular

religion
Pattana KITIARSA
aripk@nus.edu.sg
Asia
Research
InstituteNational
University of SingaporeBlock AS7, Level 4, 5 Arts LinkSingapore117570
Inter-Asia
10.1080/14649370500065920
RIAC106575.sgm
1464-9373
Original
Taylor
6202005
PattanaKITIARSA
00000June
and
&
Article
Francis
Cultural
Print/1469-8447
Francis
2005
Group
Ltd
Studies
Ltd Online

In this article, I read the politics of popular religion in Thailand through the case studies
of magic monks and spirit mediums, which have been traditional key actors in the popular religious
domain and have maintained their lasting popularity in the country in the 1990s and 2000s.
Positioning my argument in the context of the much-criticized commercialization of Buddhism, I
accentuate that magic monkhood and spirit mediumship have exhibited themselves as culturally
defined channels of, and strategies for, individuals religious self-empowerment. In the politics of
negotiating and contesting for their religious identities and selfhood, the continued popularity of
magic monk and spirit medium has exposed the conventional practices and ideologies of class and
gender relations, which apparently favour men over women and, thus, countered attempts by ordinary disciples and followers to move out of their socially marginalized positions in both religious and
socioeconomic worlds. In other words, the politics of Thai popular religion point to the affirmation or
negotiation of existing religious and socioeconomic structures, but never the resistance against them.
The consensus voice in this terrain of everyday lifes religious practices emphasizes strong desire and
a quest for material wealth and mundane success more than anything else.

ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS: Thailand, popular Buddhism, popular religion, magic monk, spirit medium

Introduction
The cults of the famous magic monk (kechi achan),1 urban spirit medium (rang song/khon
song)2 and other widely-acclaimed royal spirits in Thailands popular historiography3 have
become highly noticeable, if not phenomenal, in the contemporary Thai religious landscape,
especially during the countrys economic boom between the mid 1980s and mid 1990s.
Generally speaking, students of Thai religion and society have responded adequately well
to these religious confluences (see for example, Jackson 1999a, 1999b; Morris 2000, 2002;
Pattana Kitiarsa 1999, 2002; Suriya Smutkupt et al. 1996; Taylor 1993, 1999; Yagi 1988), which
have been widely known in Thailand as parts of the much-criticized commercialization of
Buddhism (see Nidhi Auesriwongse 2001; Phaisan Visalo 2003). Early studies tend to interpret the Thai public faith in supernaturalism and craze for supernatural power from magic
monk and spirit medium as examples of a new religious movement (Yagi 1988) and prosperity religion or the enchanting spirit of Thai capitalism (Jackson 1997, 1999a, 1999b),
signifying the spiritual aspect of crises of modernity (Tanabe 2002; Morris 2000, 2002; Suriya
Smutkupt et al. 1996) as well as the postmodernization (Jackson 1999a; Pattana Kitiarsa
1999) and hybridization of Thai Buddhism (Taylor 1999). Perhaps, it is safe to say that,
baring works by few scholars, such as Jackson (1999a, 1999b) and Tanabe (2002), too little
attention is devoted to a thorough analysis of the magic monk and urban-based spirit
medium as key actors in the ongoing development of Thai religious beliefs and practices, let

ISSN 14649373 Print/ISSN 14698447 Online/05/02020918 2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/14649370500065920

210 Pattana Kitiarsa

alone attempts to fully situate the linkage between these two agents of Thai popular
religion4 within the context of the changing world of Thai culture and society.
Both magic monk and spirit medium are no strangers in the studies of Thai religion.
They have been well documented by students of Thai religion since the post World War II
era. In the 1950s and 1960s, they had been recognized as instrumental players and performers in the beliefs and practices of what Anuman Rajadhon (1986) calls popular Buddhism,
as opposed to the canonical or official version of state-sponsored Buddhism. In the late 1960s
and 1970s, they were included in the well-framed model of religious syncretism, which
describes Thai religion as composing Theravada Buddhism, folk Brahmanism, and animism
(see Kirsch 1967, 1977; Terwiel 1976, 1979, 1994). In the 1980s, a considerable amount of
scholarship was focused on the structuralism and functionalism of spirit cults in the regions
like the North and Northeast. Rapid urbanization and rural transformation in Thailand have
witnessed the decline of matrilineal, village spirit cults, while rural-to-urban movements of
spirit mediums had been captured and reported (see for example Anan Ganjanapan 1984;
Cohen 1984; Irvine 1984; Mougne 1984; Turton 1984; Wijeyewardene 1984).
However, the current place and position of magic monk and urban spirit medium in the
studies of Thai popular Buddhism still remain awkward and problematic. They seemingly
do not fit into the traditionalized and modernized Buddhist institution and structure,
since they are key actors dealing more with worldly matters and emphasizing less on the
Tripitaka-based Dhammic teachings. They practice mantra, magic, and amulets aiming to
bless or sustain the spirit of capitalism (Jackson 1999a, Kendall 1996). What does their
immensely popular presence possibly mean to the Thai popular religious scenes and
beyond? What are their meaningful contributions to the scholarship body of the Thai
religious system? How could their increasingly prominent roles and significations to the
overall outlooks of Thai popular Buddhism be accounted for?
This article presents an alternative way to interpret the emerging voices and roles of the
magic monk and urban-based spirit medium in contemporary Thai popular religion. While
existing literature points to encompassing interpretations of Thai prosperity, faith and spirit
cults as the rupture of modernity or postmodernization or hybridization of Buddhism, I
propose that, through a close look at the cases of the magic monk and spirit medium in
works, the cults may be brought into view by focusing on these religious agents active and
down-to-earth performances. Reading prosperity and spirit cults as signifiers of religious
postmodernity or hybridity is not complete without a careful consideration of lived experiences of their agents, their performing faiths and ritual processes. It is my argument that the
magic monk and spirit medium have rendered themselves as signifiers to understand the
politics of popular religion in contemporary Thailand, where conventional practices of class
and gender religions are reconstructed and reaffirmed. Popular religious movements and
lower class individual actors can have much influence to shape the beliefs and practices of
Thai Buddhism as officials, elites, and intellectuals. Moving away from some Thai official
and intellectual stances, which have been very critical to and negative of magic monks and
the spirit medium, I believe that they have commanded their own culturally and cosmologically-structured agencies and authorities to make sense of the ground that move beneath
their feet (Kendall 1996: 512). For generations, they have spoken in sacred voices on behalf
of ordinary people and class.
I love performing magic: the ironies of a forest-dwelling Buddhist monk from
Chaiyaphum, North-eastern Thailand
Who is a magic monk? What distinguishes them from ordinary monks? Why do they
become key actors in Thai Buddhism nowadays? These questions are complicated ones. As
Terwiel (1994) points out, magic and monks are deeply intermingled in the practices of Thai

Magic monks and spirit mediums 211

popular Buddhism, even though they are not compatible in principle. A magic monk refers
to any monk who has acquired knowledge and skill pertaining to magic, superstition, or
supernatural power and puts them into practice, which includes providing magical services
to those in need. A magic monk is a monk widely regarded for his charisma and magical or
supernatural potency. He at least must be widely recognized and revered by his followers
through events that define his supernatural potencies such as his amulets saving lives of
disciples or followers, giving winning lottery numbers, or providing healing magic etc.
Apparently, magic monks are engaged in the material worlds and many of them have
become controversial in the Thai media when they are involved in the accumulation of
wealth and some other mundane matters including women. Nowadays most famous magic
monks have been popularized through the power of the mass media (see Jackson 1999a,
1999b, Tambiah 1984).
Not every Buddhist monk can be considered a magic monk. Nor can we identify them
by their official sectarian affiliations, namely, Dhammayuti or Mahanikai, because most
Buddhist monks from both sects have the potential to become magic monks, given their
training, motivations, and personal interests. The most cited and celebrated example of a
magic monk in contemporary Thailand is perhaps Luang Pho Khun from Wat Ban Rai,
Nakhon Ratchasima, North-eastern Thailand, who has become a familiar personality in the
Thai media and academic world, especially in 1990s and 2000s (see Jackson 1999a). Studies
of much revered forest monks in northern and north-eastern Thailand by Taylor (1993) and
Kamala Tiyavanich (1997) depict a number of what the populace called magic monks due to
their charismatic and supernatural powers, which had been acquired and accumulated
during extended periods of forest wandering and dwelling away from the mundane.
I would like to focus my attention on the case of Phra Achan Somsak (a pseudonym)
from a forest temple (Dhammayuti sect) in Khonsan district, Chaiyaphum province. Born
on 4 June 1956 in Tha Li district, Loei province, Somsak was a third son in his family. His
parents are rural villagers working on their own farmland. His family was average by the
standards of Thai rural villages. Prior to entering monkhood, he had been doing well in
school. He went to local primary and secondary schools and ended up with a certificate in
education from Loei Teachers College (currently, the Rajabhat University, Loei), which is
located not very far from his home village. Somsak had no intention in becoming a rural
schoolteacher, so he made his living by opening grocery stores and traded agricultural
produces such as maize, soy bean, and cotton in his local areas.
Somsak told me in an interview that I was interested in magic (saiyasat) even before I
was ordained as a monk in 1986. Saiyasat can help people if you practised it properly. I
basically studied only white magic (sai khao), not black magic (sai dam), because I want to
help people. When they get caught in problems concerning their everyday life, they come to
you. Saiyasat helps relieve peoples stress and tension. Yes, we are Buddhists, but Buddhism
and magic are inseparable. The Lord Buddha did not prohibit the beliefs in and practices of
magic.5 Somsak was ordained into the Buddhist Sangha in the mid 1980s. He chose to
become a Thammayukti monk, who are famous for their strict discipline and forest dwelling
tradition. He had a strong desire to attain Buddhas teachings through the self-disciplining
meditation away from the world, in the forest wandering and enduring challenges. Being
alone for an extended period in the jungle is an ideal situation for a forest monk to face and
cope with both physical and spiritual hardships. For him, it is also an ideal situation to learn
and practise magical incantations.
Phon, a lay disciple of Somsak and local businessman in Chumpae district, Khon Kaen
province, who has been a close aide to this monk since late 1980s, told me a story of how
Somsak came to Chumpae and Khonsan areas and eventually established his present
monastery in the early 1990s. I came to know Achan Somsak around the years 1988 or 1989.
I ran a gas station and a construction business then. Achan came to set up a tent to practise

212 Pattana Kitiarsa

his meditation and magic at the village graveyard in Ban Nong Muang Temple, which is
located along the highway between Chumpae and Muang Loei. One of his supporters came
to me and asked for a donation of construction material to build Achan Somsaks residence
and temple halls. That was the beginning of myself and my familys connections to Achan
Somsak.6
When I asked why Achan Somsak became so popular among villagers in the Chumpae
and Khonsan areas, Phon replied that he is famous because of his magical practices, which
are efficacious and helpful, especially his tips on winning lottery numbers. His principal
magic is known as wicha duangtham (Dhammic crystal), which he learned from a lay mo
tham7 in Erawan district, Loei province. With this magic, he showed no fear at all in places
like village cemeteries, sharp-curve sections of the highway where a large number of people
were killed in car accidents, or spots where people have just committed suicide. He uses his
magic to revoke the spirits and talks to them, especially requesting winning lottery
numbers.8 In our subsequent interview, Achan Somsak confirmed Phons story by adding
that I have no fear of spirits (phi), especially the unnatural, untimely dead one (phi tai
hong). I have wicha duangtham to guide me, but I do not force the spirits. I just talk to them
nicely. If they give me some winning lottery numbers, I will make merit for them so that
they may have a better place in the next life. If they say no, I cannot do anything. It is like a
negotiation for a business deal.9
Achan Somsak came to establish his present monastery deep in the forest of Khonsan
areas in early 1990 when one of his supporters donated a 40-rai10 plot of land for him. With
financial assistance from Phon and other lay disciples, a main worship hall and a number of
small monk residents in his forest temple were completed in 19931994. Somsaks reputation
as a forest monk and magic master has grown over the years, especially during the countrys
economic boom in the late 1980s and mid 1990s. His disciples not only came from local
villages and towns like Khonsan and Chumpae, but also from places around the country. He
has been invited to perform both merit-making and magic rituals at disciples business
establishments and homes in the provinces like Ayutthaya, Bangkok, Chachengsao, Chiang
Mai, Chiang Rai, Khon Kaen and Nakhon Ratchasima. The zenith of his fame as a magic
monk was assisted by a serial publication of his biographical and miracle stories in Lok Thip
(literally, the magical world) in 19961997 (Phanthakan Kimthong 1996, 1997a, 1997b). This
journal is a mass-circulated Bangkok-based monthly periodical devoted to popularizing and
sensationalizing magic monks, simplified Buddhist teachings, merit-making activities, and
personal ascetic or spiritual experiences. Lok Thip has both domestic and international
readerships. It is widely read by Thai people overseas and some of them even extended an
invitation to Achan Somsak to travel overseas to countries like the US (San Francisco),
Malaysia, and Singapore.
Achan Suwan, one of Samsaks disciples and now an abbot of a forest temple branch in
Erawan district, Loei province, provides me an idea of the magical stock under Somsaks
command. He points out that wicha duangtham is the hallmark of Achan Somsak magical
knowledge. From this base, he can perform a series of rituals and magical services. The most
often requested magical services include (1) eliminating bad omens/strengthening good
fate (sado khrao); (2) fortune-telling (du duang); (3) bathing or spraying sacralized holy water
to ward off bad luck and provide protection to individuals from bad spirits (rot nam mon);
(4) enhancing or renewing ones life span and well-being (to ayu/suep chata); (5) expelling or
exorcising bad spirits (lai phi/khub pop); (6) setting up a guardian spirit house/altar (yok san
phra phum); (7) blessing a new car or other properties, e.g. house, office, or business
establishment (cheom rot/ban/samnak ngan); and (8) providing tips for winning lottery
numbers (bai huai/hai chok hai lap). These are the activities, which have kept Achan Somsak
busy throughout his career for two decades. According to one anonymous source close to
the monk, they also earned him close to 100 million baht, estimated from the temples

Magic monks and spirit mediums 213

construction projects, vans, trucks, and other assets belonging to the temple, all of which
have been single-handedly managed by Somsak himself.11
Achan Somsak insists that wicha duangtham is a benevolent magic and does not have
any conflict with mainstream Buddhist Sangha. When I was ordained as a monk in 1986, I
learned wicha duangtham from my teacher, who is a senior mo tham, named Khru Tham
(Dhammic master) Fun at Ban Na Dok Mai, Erawan district, Loei province. My teacher told
me that wicha duangtham has its origin in India and was brought to our country through a
group of monks in Southern Thailand. In the initiation rite for all beginners (phithi yok
khru), one must prepare three pairs of flower, three pairs of incenses and candles, a piece of
plain, white cotton cloth, and a fee of one-baht to propitiate the spirit of teachers. Learning
wicha duangthams lesson is quite simple. Under a masters guidance, each novice or beginner of wicha duangtham starts the lesson by reciting standard Buddhist blessings, then in a
group chanting they proceed to invite deities and teachers spirits to witness the event. The
key point is to invite ones superagency called ong tham (Dhammic entity/calling) to
possess each of them while they are deep in trance. While the ritual proceeds, one must
recite the word phutto (Buddho) repeatedly, continuously and never stopped throughout
the ritual process.12 When the practitioners of wicha duangtham are deeply in trance, they
begin to speak-in-tongues, which is known among them as phasa tham (Dhammic
language). This is an unconscious state of mind, which each practitioner believes is an
initial magical moment in which a human agent can intimately communicate with their
superagency.
Taking a close look at Achan Somsaks magical practices as a Thammayukti monk and
as an abbot of a forest Buddhist monastery, one way to make sense of the whole event is
to read his structuring agency. He is an agent who has demonstrated that his religious practices are a means of apprehending, of attempting to exert some control over the seemingly
arbitrary motions of the political economy (Kendall 1996: 522).
Every magic monk needs what I call here a superagency. One cannot become a magic
monk without their being cosmologically or culturally framed to, and legitimated by, the
supreme source of religious authority. By superagency, it refers to a culturally-defined abstraction with the supreme power and authority. A superagency may be referred to as a principal,
designator, or creator. In the case of wicha duangtham practitioners, their superagency is called
ong tham. When I press for an explanation, both Achan Somsak and Achan Suwan point out
that ong tham refers to spirits of Buddhist arahant (arahat) existing during the life-time of
Buddha. It is believed that there were 524 arahants dwelling in heaven. The practitioner of
wicha duangtham could locate one of arahants as his/her calling.13 With the power of ong tham,
the practitioner could be blessed with magical capabilities which could be used to help their
layperson disciples and followers through a series of magical performances and services as
mentioned earlier.
Magic monks like Achan Somsak, Achan Suwan, and many more throughout the
country indeed act as human agents to their superagency. In wicha duangtham and other
spirit cults in north-eastern Thailand, human agents are not necessarily monks. They could
be laypersons both male and female. However, in the contexts of Thai Buddhist monastery,
the human agents are Buddhist monks who are keen on magic and supernatural power.
These human agents must follow certain sets of rules and moral codes of professional
conduct. For lay practitioners, they must abstain from drinking alcohol, eating raw meat,
consuming food, drink, or anything offered to worship spirits, eating or drinking food
served at a funeral, or sexual misconduct.14 For monk practitioners, some of these restrictions are already subsumed under their 227 codes of moral conducts. In addition, these
human agents also have other functions and roles of their own. Their lives do not belong to
their superagency for 24-hours a day. They have their own lives as individuals and as
members of their society. For example, both Achan Somsak and Achan Suwan recently

214 Pattana Kitiarsa

finished their college degrees in Buddhist Science and English, respectively, from
Mahamakut Buddhist University, Sri Lanchang Campus, Loei province.
It is apparent that magic monks operate within the existing social institutions of Thai
Buddhism. They have performed their required works as Buddhist monks and follow rules
and regulations laid out for them by the Sangha. An additional convention for magic monks
is that they perform or provide magical services for their disciples and followers. They use
various forms of magic, superstition, or supernaturalism as an instrument to obtain wealth,
fame, and reputation, which are not necessarily expected by the Sangha. In the case of
Achan Somsak, his temple could purchase another 40-rai plot of land, upgrade his temples
worship hall and monks residents, own six vehicles (as of 2004), and many more assets in
cash and kind through daily and annually merit making and donations from disciples,
followers, and the general public.
Agents always require patients or clients; otherwise they cannot perform their moral or
divine assignments. As his reputation concerning supernatural power has grown in the
1990s and 2000s, Achan Somsak has acquired a large number of lay followers throughout
the country. His magical services have been in high demand. Like many superstar monks in
contemporary Thailand, he has been busy year in and year out coping with invitations from
his followers from the north-east and other regions. However, his favourite followers seem
to be the groups of rich business people with a Sino-Thai ethno-cultural background living
in Ayutthaya, Bangkok, Chonburi, and Chachengsao. These followers could be called VIP
clients with a large sums to donate. I once talked to Ek, who has been Achan Somsaks
driver for years. He told me that almost a hundred percent of Achans disciples (luksit) are
rich people in a variety of business, high-ranking government officials, and local politicians.
Very few and exceptional cases of Achan disciples are ordinary villagers. We do not talk
about poor people here. I knew only two cases of an old man and an old woman in their
seventies, who came to help Achan working in the temple for months. Achan has
performed magic for only these two disciples at their respective houses. Besides that, they
all are millionaires, such as shrimp farm or chicken farm owners, car and truck dealers, rice
mill operators/traders, owners of construction material business, local mayors and other
government officials.15
What do these patients or clients expect from a magic monk like Achan Somsak? The
answer seems to be apparent. They yearn for psychological, moral, and spiritual assurances
to their existing material and symbolic wealth and power. They seek advice and assurance
from a magic monk, who they believe possesses supernatural power and is situated in a
cosmologically- and culturally-superior position. On June 24, 2004, I accompanied Achan
Somsak and two of his fellow monks on their trip to set up a guardian spirit house at a
business establishment owned by the mayor of Sri Bunruang district, Nongbua Lamphu
province, just two hours by private car from his temple. Our host and his wife also run rice
dealing and construction businesses. They took this opportunity to make merit and housewarm their office. After the breakfast and regular Buddhist chanting, Achan Somsak and his
fellows performed a rite to set up a spirit house. He gave advice to his clients that every
business or residential grounds need to have at least one spirit house. Spirits, whether they
are guardian, wandering, and other kinds of spirits need a house to stay and proper
worship, otherwise they might cause damage, bad fortune, and a decline of ones life,
family members, or business output. I learned that Achan Somsak not only went there to set
up a spirit house, but performed a series of magical services and performances along the
whole process. He blessed a new car, delivered sets of amulets, sprayed his holy water to
everyone joining the ritual, and gave advice regarding what, where, when, how, and why
the hosts should make important decisions to invest money, expand the business, or sell
their products. Achan Somsak told me later that with his wicha duangtham expertise, he can
foresee the future and simply know how to provide some logically-sounded and believable

Magic monks and spirit mediums 215

advice to all kinds of problems raised by his clients. The most common requests for his
services are fortune-telling, business decision-making, occasional merit-making, health, and
of course, lottery numbers.
Later, on the same day, Achan Somsak was also invited by at least five people to
provide magical services. They all run businesses and live in the market town. Their
businesses range from restaurants, furniture and construction material retailing, agricultural produce dealing, and some are currently local politicians with affiliations at subdistrict
and district administration offices. Everywhere he went, his visit usually ended with the
hosts giving him, his fellow monks, and the driver, envelopes containing money. His driver
told me later that each envelope contains different amounts of money, ranging from 1,000
baht and more for Achan Somsak, lesser amounts for other monks, and around 100200
baht for the driver. Sometimes money for the petrol expense was also donated. The amount
of money is dependent on the socioeconomic status of the host and their willingness to
make merit, but the money is always there for Achan.16
Religious agency sometimes does not abide by the rules, regulations, and acceptable
codes of conducts. Many times, it runs through the thin line separating right and the wrong.
Achan Somsaks religious agency, based on his passionate skills in using magic and supernatural power to earn a large sum of money and donations for his temple by all means, has
earned him a degree of this worldly-engaged Buddhist monk. He may run against the
Sanghas laws and regulations prohibiting monks from soliciting or collecting money and
behaving like a lay spirit medium or a fortune-teller. However, he forcefully argues that his
agency has had a firm ground in the existing structure of Thai syncretized religious
traditions. Monks practising magic and dealing with the temples mundane businesses have
becoming increasingly common in Thai Buddhism. Achan Somsak firmly validates his
career as a Buddhist monk specializing in magic and supernaturalism by asserting that he
simply uses his knowledge and skills to provide some spiritual assurance and sanctuary to
those in need. In other words, he has exhibited that the relationship between material
wealth, family well-being and spirits could channel new experiences and sentiments into
religious practices of lay people living in his local proximity and beyond.
Ordinary voices in everyday life religion: a case of a spirit medium in Khorat
In Thailand, there are varieties of spirit mediumship. I focus in this section only on a
representation of female-dominated, home-based professional spirit mediums and their
shrines in urban areas. The main idea of spirit mediumship is centred on beliefs and rituals
concentrating on the roles of a human serving as an agent on behalf of his/her superagency.
The human medium is the agent between superagency in the spirit world and ordinary
people who are seen as patients or clients. A growing number of works have reported the
popularity of spirit-medium cults in Thailand since 1980s (see Morris 2000; Pattana Kitiarsa
1999; Suriya Smutkupt et al. 1996; Tanabe 1991, 2002; Wijeyewardene 1986; Yagi 1988). I
certainly see them as another representation of structuring agency with some prominent
roles in understanding contemporary Thai popular culture.
I begin with a biographical sketch of Aunt Toi, my key informant and senior spirit
medium in Khorat, whom my colleagues at Suranaree University and myself studied intensively in 1996 and 1997. On 19 August 1996, I visited a well-known spirit shrine in downtown
Khorat, which belongs to Aunt Toi,17 the medium of Pu Khao Khiao and a highly-respected
medium in that area. . It was one of numerous visits to her shrine in that summer. I was quite
anxious, since her name and reputation had been repeatedly mentioned by other mediums
whom I had previously interviewed. As widely respected and highly regarded as she was, I
decided that this medium would be a key to understanding both the overall picture and the
in-depth practices of Khorat spirit-medium cults.

216 Pattana Kitiarsa

Aunt Tois house-cum-spirit shrine is located in the middle of the Hua Thale community,
on the west side of Khorat town centre. Surrounded by a poor scattered neighbourhood, the
house is a two-storey wooden structure with a cement floor on the ground floor. She once
told me that her house was given to her by her deity. With some help from the deitys
supernatural power through Aunt Tois mediumship, one of her lottery-winning disciples
bought the house for her many years ago. Aunt Toi devotes the whole second floor to a spirit
shrine. Her daughters and nieces share the ground floor with her.
In 1996, Aunt Toi was in her late 50s and has been a spirit medium since 1968. She was
born in 1938 in Yang Talat district, Kalasin province. She completed compulsory education
(Grade Four) from the village school. She came from a poor family. Her father worked as a
landless labourer, who always moved around and had many wives. Aunt Toi remembered
that she met her father only once when she was very young. She has two older brothers (60
and 58 years old). When Aunt Toi was 14 years old, she went to Bangkok and landed a job
as a domestic worker in the household of a high-ranking military man. She stayed there
until she turned 18. Her mothers younger sister, who married and settled down in Khorat,
adopted Aunt Toi as her own child. Aunt Toi helped with the domestic work while staying
with the family of her mothers sister in Khorat.
In 1957, when she was 19, Aunt Toi married a Khorat native. Soon after their marriage,
they set out to work in the charcoal mills in Ko Khanun, Phanomsarakham district,
Chachengsao province. It was during this time that Aunt Toi encountered spirit-medium
cults for the first time. She was hired as a babysitter by one of her husbands female
relatives, who happened to be a medium of Chao Mae Sumali. At that time, Aunt Toi did not
believe in spirit mediumship at all. Getting annoyed when the baby was irritable, she once
commented, If there was a true spirit, why is it unable to calm the crying baby. If I were a
spirit, I would never bother anyone. During her days in Ko Khanun, Aunt Toi seemed to be
familiar with spirit mediumship, but was very sceptical about it. She returned to Khorat in
1961, where she was a housewife and earned some extra income by raising ducks. Her
husband earned a living by driving a pedicab in downtown Khorat. When the American air
base was established in Khorat during the early days of the Vietnam War, Aunt Toi did
laundry for American servicemen. She still remembered her Farang18 boss and his Filipina
wife, who taught her simple English words. My bosss name was William. He was a nice
guy. His Filipina wife taught me simple English words like eat, drink, coconut,
mangoes, and my name is Well, it was more than thirty years ago. I can remember
very little.
Aunt Tois family life was quite rough. She did not have a child of her own after years
of marriage. Later she was sick but the cause and symptoms of her illness were unclear. She
felt that she did not want her husband to stay around.19 Since she did not allow her
husband to sleep with her, her husband took this as an excuse to find another woman, i.e. a
new wife. The most severe sickness occurred when Aunt Toi became faint and lost
consciousness after learning that her husband had a minor wife. She did not learn about
this affair until she encountered her husband and his new wife quarrelling. Aunt Toi
recalled this incident as follows: I was shocked when I saw my husband and his new wife
fight. I suddenly passed out. After I regained consciousness, all my folks thought I was
mad. I behaved strangely, like telling the winning lottery numbers, or simply asking if
people wanted money and promising I would give them money.
Her husband believed that Aunt Toi was possessed by a spirit, and brought in the
exorcist and monk, who did nothing but spank her with holy sticks. People thought Aunt
Toi was abnormal. Her husband locked her in the house because she was angry and aggressive all the time. She even cursed and fought vendors around the neighbourhood. Aunt Toi
became a heavy drinker. Her abnormal behaviour, e.g. climbing big trees and jumping
down without fear, continued. She was once jailed by the police for staying out in public at

Magic monks and spirit mediums 217

night during curfew.20 Recalling her mad time, Aunt Toi said that, Some days when I was
bored, I ran away at night and slept in the Chinese cemetery. Finally, the worst thing
happened to her. She was admitted as a patient in Maharat Hospitals psychiatric ward
(Khorats provincial hospital), and was locked up there for a while.
Aunt Tois sickness deteriorated. Her relatives from Kalasin province brought her
home. Everybody believed that a spirit was the main cause of Aunt Tois illness, and that
her illness should be cured through the traditional healing by the medium of the phi fa (the
divine spirit from the sky). After performing a healing and spirit possession ritual, the phi fa
medium figured out that Aunt Toi was possessed by the spirit of a pilot whose plane had
crashed in the deep forest. But Aunt Tois response was stunning. She strongly rejected the
phi fa mediumship. She fought the medium by spitting on him and by abusing him verbally.
When her husband applied the holy water, given by the medium, to her, she fought all the
way. She recalled that, I stood up and was ready to fight. I was so high, craving both [rice]
whisky and cigarettes. My husband was so angry. He slapped me and kicked me. But I hit
back and knocked him down the stairs of the house. I knew it was violent, but was not
conscious enough to realize what I was doing.
Despite drinking and smoking heavily, Aunt Toi felt that she had a calling from a
divine deity (chao or thep) from heaven, who wanted to use her body. In the language of Thai
mediums, the divine calling is known as mi ong (literally having an entity) and is usually
signified by mental and physical illness as experienced by Aunt Toi. Another common sign
of divine calling is the experience of losing ones appetite for beef and raw food. It is believed
in the cults that cattle are benevolent to human beings. Their labour is crucial in traditional
rice cultivation. In addition, a prohibition against eating beef is strictly practised in Hinduism, to which the major figures of deities, e.g. Shiva, Ganesh, and Laksmi, in Thailands
spirit-medium cults belong. The same prohibition is also applied in cults worshipping
Chinese gods and goddess, especially Kuan Yin. Aunt Toi felt there was a divine force telling
her not to eat beef and raw food, even if those used to be her favourite dishes.
Aunt Tois divine calling continued for a decade (from 1957 to 1967). She finally
accepted the belief in and practice pertaining to thep and mediumship in 1968. She said she
did not want to endure her long mental and physical sufferings any longer. Her first possession as a spirit medium was full of miracles and danger. Once possessed by a thep, Aunt Toi
climbed up a jackfruit tree and threw down the fruits, drank a huge amount of rice whisky,
then ran along Khorat-Dan Kwian Highway for a distance of 20 km. Aunt Toi said she had
to do these things because the thep was highly powerful and active. Her thep was identified
as Pu Khao Khiao. Aunt Toi became a medium without undergoing an initiation rite by a
senior medium. This is quite unusual, since usually all mediums have to go through an
initiation rite under a senior mediums guidance, who is regarded as a teacher. Aunt Toi
insisted that all her instructions and practices came to her from the thep. She was among the
pioneer mediums in downtown Khorat. She had to learn things on her own.
Aunt Tois husband died in 1984, and she has continued her spirit medium career until
the present. She earns a living by operating a spirit shrine (using the entire second floor of
her own house) and by providing services to people. Since she has no children, she adopted
three daughters from her younger sister to help work in the shrines and do general housework.
Nowadays, Aunt Toi is among the most noted of senior mediums in Khorat spirit-medium
cults. The wooden board advertising her spirit-mediumship business hanging in front of her
house reads as follows.
The Pu Khao Khiaos Spirit Shrine (Achan Toi). No spirit possession on Buddhist days of
worship. Specialization and services: fortune-telling, life-enhancing ritual, setting up spirit
shrine, and organizing the ritual of paying homage to teachers spirits. Providing services for
all types of soul-calling ceremonies and misfortune reduction rituals. A paying-homage-toteacher fee: 49 Baht. Thank you everyone.

218 Pattana Kitiarsa

Aunt Toi mentioned that most of the visitors to her shrine are women rather than men. Most
of them are working class people, who live in downtown Khorat and nearby areas such as
Chokchai, Pakthongchai, and Si Khiew. Their occupations include market vendor, factory
labourer, and pedicab drivers. Sometimes there are civil servants, college students and business people as well. With over 30 years of experience, Aunt Toi characterizes her clients or
followers/disciples as follows:
The Sino-Thai seek advice on their business matters. The native Thai (Khorat)21 have problems
with major and minor wives, and ask questions pertaining to their respective jobs and
fortunes. Civil servants, soldiers, and police officers are concerned with their annual promotions and bosses preferences. Students are serious about their examinations. Sometimes
young men also wish to learn about their upcoming military conscription, since they do not
want to spend a period of two years in the military.

In Aunt Tois opinion, serving as a spirit-medium has both advantages and disadvantages.
She believes that she can help her disciples and visitors in dealing with their daily problems
and sufferings through her deities supernatural power and magical manipulation. She can
listen to their problems and provide advice to them by conveying messages from divine
deities and spirits. She knows that deities supernatural power and her magic cannot help
all her disciples at all times. Her disciples tend not to blame the medium or the deities in
any case, but always come back to the medium whenever they felt their problems required
addressing.
However, Aunt Toi mentioned that being a spirit-medium means one cannot live a
normal life or lead a life as one prefers. A spirit-medium, according to Aunt Toi, is a relatively
public figure in the sense that anyone can visit the shrine and gain access to the mediums
services. The spirit-medium has to be strict in professional ethics and the Buddhas teachings.
The spirit-medium is required to practise meditation regularly in order to improve his or her
concentration and mind power, and to gain respect from followers. Aunt Toi said that sometimes she wished she could earn a living by opening a small grocery in her neighbourhood,
but her deity has never allowed her to do so.
In 1990, five years after her husbands death, Aunt Toi fell in love with Uncle Than,
another spirit-medium from Bangkok. They believed this was part of the divine calling from
their respective deities. They first met in an annual paying homage to teachers ritual in
Sung Noen district, and lived as husband and wife until they broke up in 1996. Uncle Than
is almost 20 years younger than Aunt Toi.
Aunt Tois biography is quite similar to those other female spirit mediums (see
Mahalap 1995). Her life entails difficulties and struggles among a group of people I call the
urban marginal population. She was from a rural poor family and grew up as a domestic
worker in Bangkok. Her life after marriage continued to be a struggle among the Khorat
urban working class. When I listened to her story, I felt that her life had hit rock bottom
when her husband left her for another woman and she went insane. People including her
husband and relatives judged her a mental/abnormal person. But Aunt Toi knew that a
deity wanted to possess her body and used her as a human medium. She understood that
her mental inconsistency resulted from the work of a deity. Her life has gradually improved
and returned to normalcy as she accepted her new identity as a female spirit medium. In the
meantime, Aunt Toi has learned that she could no longer depend on her husband. She had
to step up and lead her own life as a woman and as a spirit medium. For Aunt Toi, spirit
mediumship can be seen as her new gender and self identities (identity) were born out of
life crises and suffering. Experiences of encountering the deity provide her with an
organized framework to contemplate her past and present existence.
Based on her biographical story, Aunt Toi has her superagency in a deity called Pu
Khao Khiao (Grandpa of the Green Mountain), who has owned supreme authority over

Magic monks and spirit mediums 219

Aunt Toi as an old and poor woman. A gross term to identify deities in urban spirit medium
cult is ong thep, which, according to popular Buddhist myths, dwell in heaven. Deities
come to possess human mediums in order to help safeguard the religion of Buddha from
deteriorating and vanishing after the year BE 2500 (AD 1957). While human agency in magical Buddhism belongs to monks, deity and spirit can make use of either men or women as
their mouthpieces. It is common knowledge in Thailand that most spirit mediums are
predominantly women and they have to endure both psychological and physical hardships
before they become a true spirit medium.
As Buddhism has prohibited women from becoming monks and limited womens
places in the Sangha and other institutional structures (see Chatsuman Kabilsingh 1991; Van
Esterik 2000), this could encourage more women to participate actively in spirit cults, which
have been traditional domains for womens religiosity for centuries. Besides, women are
associated with magical power that is believed to be diametrically opposed to that of the
monk. Women are linked to this magical power, which reportedly can destroy some of the
beneficial force of members of the Sangha, because of the feminine capacity to menstruate;
menstrual blood is considered highly charged with magical power and can be used in some
of the strongest forms of love magic (Terwiel 1994: 397).
The agency of female spirit mediums as shown in the case of Aunt Toi has primarily
taken place in the private world of home-based shrines and through networks of mediums
and followers. In contrast to the magic monks, spirit mediums do not own formally-organized public spaces. In both cosmological and practical Buddhist worlds, female as well as
male spirit mediums occupied an inferior status compared to the monk.
However, spirit mediums share some similar functions with magic monks in their
spiritual and psychological services to their clients. They both practice magic and claim to
have gained magical or supernatural powers in the name of their superagency, with the
assistance of various kinds of magic and superstition. They both receive money and some
other rewards from their clients. In 1996, I recorded Aunt Tois conversation with one of her
clients at her spirit shrine. The client is a 35 year old market vendor in the downtown
Khorat market. She needed help and moral support from the deity in dealing with her
health and family affairs. After accepting the worship tray from the client, the medium
(Aunt Toi) initiated the conversation.
Medium: Why do you come to Grandpa today?
Disciple: I have not been feeling well lately, and want to know if my ailing legs are going to
be cured.
Medium: Why dont you tell me your birth date?
Disciple: On a Saturday, the fifth month, the year of goat.22
Medium: Oh, this year your fate is not good. It is the year that brings in sickness and suffering. Youd better make merit. If you made vows somewhere earlier, you should go there and
fulfil them at once.
Disciple: In which month will my suffering be gone?
Medium: In the fifth month (April in the Thai traditional calendar), but you will encounter
additional sufferings for the remainder of the year. You may either lose lots of money or get
sick.
Disciple: Will my legs be healed?
Medium: Did you pay homage to Rahu with eight auspicious black objects?
Disciple: Yes. I did it yesterday.
Medium: What about the age-extending rite? Are you going to do it today?
Disciple: No.
Medium: Your fate will be improved when you make merit by releasing fish and birds from
their capture. Releasing oysters would help relieve your headache. Releasing eels would
make your body more fluid and fresh. When you go to the market, you should pay homage
to the guardian shrine over there. Tell the guardian spirit, that My name is. Please allow

220 Pattana Kitiarsa

me to be your subordinate. Let me sell things in your place (the market). I will offer you
bananas, young coconut, and garlands regularly. Your legs are painful because you sit too
long and because your fate is not too good this year.
Disciple: This year, my legs are getting worse. I have experienced more pain.
Medium: No one has placed a black magic spell on your legs, as far as I can tell When was
your husband born?
Disciple: On a Tuesday, the year of rabbit. He is an army sergeant.
Medium: A man who was born on Tuesday has many wives or lovers. A man who was born
on Wednesday loves attentive girls. A man who was born on Monday loves extending his
charms. A woman, who was born on Tuesday, always ends up with another womans
husband.
Disciple: My husband now has a minor wife, who is much older (more than 50 years old)
and has three children from a previous marriage. I know that there is nothing I can do. I am
depressed and have difficulties with my 15-year-old son.
Medium: Have you ever gone through an abortion?
Disciple: No. But, I think all my bad luck and illness is caused by black magic from my
enemies, especially my husbands new wife.
Medium: No. It is absolutely not because of black magic. Its just some bad luck. You will be
fine soon.
Disciple: I underwent physical therapy for four days in order to heal my legs, but it didnt
help at all.
Medium: Youd better prepare for the ritual of relieving bad-luck.23

This conversation establishes some noticeable patterns. First, there is no doubt that the
medium dominates, and sometime dictates, the direction of verbal exchanges. The medium
has more experience in handling people who are in trouble or frustrated. Second, the
medium offers universal explanations, which are applicable to all sorts of sufferings and
problems. These explanations include blaming problems on bad fate, bad luck, or unidentified magic. The disciple is therefore encouraged to correct or improve their fate or luck by
making more merit to Buddhist temples, and by accepting more magical spells from the
medium. The disciple has to pay more fees in the end. Finally, the medium is a psychological expert, reading the disciples basic personal wishes and mental make-up. The medium
well understands that every normal human being wishes to be rich, to have good luck, to be
healthy, and to be happy in work and with his or her family. However, no one is satisfied
with what he or she has at the time of the shrine visit and conversation. The medium therefore interprets the disciples problems and worldly sufferings as bad luck or bad karma,
which is considered a very general explanation from a Thai Buddhist perspective. With this
kind of analysis, the only solution left for both the medium and the disciple is to invoke the
supernatural power of the deity.
Implications and discussions: class, gender, and the politics of Thai popular religion
The case studies of Achan Somsak and Aunt Toi exemplify a much larger picture of highly
dynamic religious beliefs and practices in Thailand in the 1990s and 2000s, which I call the
politics of Thai popular religion. A certain form of popular religious practices has become
everyday politics in which the religious actors involved negotiate or re-negotiate, claim or
re-claim, possess or dispossess their faiths in order to construct and express their religious
identities and selfhood.
The two cases showed significant similarities and contrasts. Although they occupy
opposite positions in the formal structure of Thai religious hierarchy (Achan Somsak is a
male, magic monk in his prime, while Aunt Toi is an old, struggling female spirit medium),
they are very similar in social origin. Both came from rural, poor families and had worked
extraordinarily hard to find their ways in their respective religious careers. Achan Somsak

Magic monks and spirit mediums 221

has obviously been more successful in his profession as a rising star magic monk from an
upcountry temple. Aunt Toi, in contrast, has been struggling to cope with her day-to-day
earnings as a widow living with her daughters family in the heart of a Khorat slum area,
despite being one of the respectable senior spirit mediums in the provincial town. Achan
Somsak enjoys social privileges and spiritual authorities among his well-to-do clients
around the country. Aunt Tois spirit shrine is rarely visited by wealthy clients as it is
hidden deep in the crowded slum. Most of her disciples are ordinary housewives and
working-class women from her neighbourhood and close vicinity. Aunt Tois limited access
to communication and transportation tools and other resources pale in comparison to
Achan Somsaks two brand-new hand phones, one four-wheel sports utility car and five
vans and trucks plus cash and other assets worth several million baht, which belong to the
monastery he has established and managed.
Central to my reading of the politics of Thai popular religion is an understanding that
popular religion has emerged as a dynamic and complex terrain for certain groups of
individuals to employ specific religious channels (i.e. monkhood, spirit mediumship) to
empower themselves in order to be active in the rapidly-changing socioeconomic environments. In other words, one key feature in the politics of popular religion is the question of
how marginalized individuals use popular religion to strategically empower themselves.24
In Thailand especially, most highly revered monks and most female spirit mediums
traditionally come from rural backgrounds. Buddhist monkhood has become one of traditional channels of social mobility and aspiration for young men to get themselves out of their
socially and economically marginal positions (see Kirsch 1966: 370378; Kamala Tiyavanich
1997; Taylor 1993). Spirit mediumship, especially in the Northern and North-eastern Thai
villages, has been the traditional strongholds for women to express their religious authoritative voices and identities. For generations, spirit mediumship has been retained as a religious
sanctuary for womens religious empowerment (see Kirsch 1977, 1982; Cohen and
Wijeyewardene 1984).
The religiously empowering strategies articulated and employed by magic monks and
spirit mediums are conditioned and characterized by at least two central components of
Thai social structure, namely, class and gender. In other words, popular religion offers itself
as an open-ended mirror to understand the dialectical relationships between class and
gender, on the one hand, and common religious beliefs and practices, on the other, in the
following manner.
First, there is no doubt that Thai society is hierarchically organized and some of its
structuring cultures have played crucial roles in the religious arena away from the attention
of the official Buddhist organizations. The fact that the majority of monks and spirit
mediums have emerged out of lower social ranks is common knowledge in the Thai
Buddhist culture. However, the fact that both have undertaken different self-training and
self-disciplining paths in order to gain authority and acceptance in their professions
remains subtle. In many respects, both Achan Somsak and Aunt Toi had started their
respective careers when they were socially marginalized (Weller 1999: 271290) and
alienated in the lowest social spectrum.
Achan Somsak began his career as a novice monk learning a series of white magic,
which is known as wicha duangtham (literally, knowledge of Dhammic crystal) with a
layman master and he put it into practice in self-isolation for years. His reputation as a
magic monk is considered dubious by many in the Sangha and the Buddhist officials, let
alone some middle class religious critics and mass media in Thailand. Aunt Tois socially
marginalized position is even more obvious. She was a widow and had mentally broken
down when her husband left her for another woman. She came back from what might be
suitably described as the schizophrenic stage of her mind to become a normal and
ordinary old woman with assistance from her spiritual calling. By attaching themselves to,

222 Pattana Kitiarsa

and speaking through, the voices of their supernatural agency, people around them finally
had some sympathy and welcomed them back to their real worlds. As the mouthpieces of
their sacred deities, they are able to express their authoritative voices and demonstrate their
magical skills to win support from their followers. At the same time, both have gradually
moved up their religio-social ladders and gained more recognition.
Sulak Sivaraksa (2004: 2930), an internationally renowned Siamese social critic, once
argued that contemporary Thai society has been governed by those who have money, political power and technologies to put other people under their control. While magic monks
and spirit mediums do not gain some access to power and technologies, their aspirations
to earn as much money as possible are just like anybody else living in the country. I believe
magic monks and spirit mediums are well aware that possessing money is the most crucial
factor determining to which social class one belongs. Their desirous will to have rich clients
and a large sum of donations is strongly felt in their ritual performances and conversations
with clients or disciples. Achan Somsak and his colleagues repeatedly and admiringly
mentioned how lucky a lady in Sri Bunruang district was, when she won the first prize in a
lucky draw organized by a department store in Udon Thani province. It was a brand-new
Honda Jazz worthy more than 600,000 baht. Who else would refuse this kind of luck. I really
wish it could be mine.25 This could be part of the reason why most, if not all, of his clients
are rich entrepreneurs living in the market towns throughout Thailand.
Aunt Toi also shares a similar wish as a professional spirit medium. She is a faithful fan
of both government-operated and underground lotteries. Each month she spends up to a
thousand baht to buy her lucky numbers, some of which were given to her by her deities,
fortunate dreams, and ritual sessions. The biggest wish in her life is to hit the first-prize
jackpot and become a millionaire.
Second, popular religion is engendered, framed and practised along the existing gender
divisions. The cases of Achan Somsak and Aunt Toi indicate that popular religion is never
gender-less. Instead, it reflects the pattern of gender construction widely adopted and practised in Thai society, where most active roles in the Buddhist Sangha have been traditionally
reserved for men, and women have long been conventionally engaged in the spirit cult. Aunt
Toi mentioned to me that the spirits tend to prefer to have a female medium, because women
are more gentle and generous than men. Men are also prone to commit wrongdoings (e.g.
drinking, womanizing) against the will of the sacred spirit.26 One wonders if she realized
that Buddhism as practised in Thailand does not offer women much space, especially privileged ones. Women cannot be ordained as monks and their status as nuns is not considered
as having gained a field of merit like a monk; many studies have focused on aspects of
religious and spiritual disadvantages faced by Thai women (see Chatsuman Kabilsingh 1991).
Religious beliefs and practices in both the Buddhist monastery and the spirit medium
cult have never confronted the existing gender structure, let alone contributed to new
gender ideology and values. Popular religion, therefore, widely accepts the common knowledge that men have greater roles than women in Buddhist institutions and public religious
organizations while Thai women are particularly active in the domestic religion domains,
such as spirit cults and the family spiritual sphere.
In both Achan Somsaks temple and Aunt Tois spirit shrine, female followers outnumber male counterparts. Among the most common problems that female followers bring to
their attention include personal health, business and financial matters, and their families
well-being, such as childrens disobediences, husbands having affairs, or desires for wining
lotteries and other forms of good fortune. Achan Suwan, a close aide to Achan Somsak,
explains that perhaps men are allowed to go out and have fun to temporarily escape from
their day-to-day realities. They are more extrovert than women. They can enjoy themselves
in the party and other entertainment establishments, while most married women keep
things to themselves. It is common to see married women visiting someone they can rely

Magic monks and spirit mediums 223

on like spirit mediums when they want to consult or gain spiritual or psychological
assurance.27
Finally, the politics of popular religion in contemporary Thai society have been notably
intense and contagious during what Jackson (1999b) defines as the boom-time prior to the
collapse of the Thai economy in July 1997 and during the economic crisis years. Jackson
explains that supernaturalism and its agents are on the rise because the break down of the
village-based sense of community among the many recent rural immigrants to Bangkok
[and] The individualistic focus of saiyaasaat may provide a more meaningful and immediately accessible means of expressing and dealing with the anxieties of life among the anonymous competitive masses of Bangkok than more collective religious forms and rituals of
Buddhism (Jackson 1989: 6061). Most supernatural agents, including magic monks and
spirit mediums, apparently help their clients morally or spiritually as well as giving
material assurances in modern life, where money has established itself as a distinctive
religion (Suwanna Satha-anand 1994: 17). That people frequent magic monks and spirit
mediums more than Dhammic-oriented conventional Buddhist temples appears to validate
the presence of popular Thai Buddhism and its re-shaping of the politics of everyday life, in
light of capitalist desires for this-worldly assurance and sanctuary.
Acknowledgements
The original version of this paper was presented in the International Conference on Exploring
Theravada Studies: Intellectual Trends and the Future of a Field of Study, organized by Asia
Research Institute, National University of Singapore at the Faculty Lounge, Level 1, The
Shaw Foundation Building AS7, 1214 August 2004. I would like to thank the conference
organizers, Dr Guillaume Rozenberg and Dr Jason Cabine, for their warm invitation. I also
benefit from the discussion and comments generated by the conference participants,
especially those from Dr Louis Gabaude and Dr Hiroko Kawanami. I am always grateful to
Inter-Asia Cultural Studies anonymous referees for their valuable comment and suggestion.
Through the works of revision, I have rethought over the drafts and negotiated with their
constructive criticisms. Therefore, I alone am responsible to any shortcomings and mistakes
existing in this article.
Notes
1.

Jackson (1999a) defines magic monk (phra saksit) as those famous and highly charismatic monks who are
believed to have been manifested with magical and supernatural qualities. They have drawn a large
number of disciples and followers (luksit). Most famed magic monks have built their reputation by
spending years of strict meditation in the forest and shown evidence of supernatural power to help their
followers. Magic monks supernatural qualities and ritual specialties include providing mantra and
amulets for good luck and profitable business or giving protective power to ward off dangers. With the
assistance of national and international mass media, their fame and reputation has risen. Most magic
monks are able to mobilize a large sum of money and other assets to build their monumental monasteries
and some civic development projects for the benefit of the public. See examples of studies of Thailands
leading forest-dwelling and magic monks in Kamala Tiyavanich (1997) and Taylor (1993). For the
Romanization of Thai names and terms, I adopt the transcription guideline sanctioned by the Royal Institute (Ratcha Bandittayasathan) (see http://www.royin.go.th/roman-translate01.html) with an exception
to some personal names such as, Chulalongkorn, Taksin, Naresuan, etc.
2. I use the term urban spirit medium cult (latthi phithi song chao khao phi) to distinguish this type of spirit
cult from its traditional, rural-based ancestral or kin village spirit cult, which have been a prototype of
spirit possession practices in urban areas. Basically, both urban and village spirit cults have retained
similar sets of core beliefs and practices, except that the rural one deals more with the spirit of the mostly
female-side ancestors and worldly matters within the family neighbourhood and local village, while the
urban cult is more complex and sophisticated. In urban-based spirit medium cults, matters of family

224 Pattana Kitiarsa

3.

4.

5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.

22.

23.
24.
25.
26.
27.

well-being, economic interests, health problem, and some other social issues are brought to the attention
of the sacred voices through the mouthpiece of the medium. The differences between village and urban
spirit cults may stem from their setting and socioeconomic and cultural grounds where each of them
belong, the origins of the spirits being worshipped, and demographic characters of people involved.
Some of most popular spirits worshiped in the urban cults include Kuan Yin, Hindu gods and goddesses,
spirits of Buddhist saints, and traditional local guardian spirits (see Mahalap 1995; Suriya Smutkupt et al.
1996).
The most famous cults of royal spirits in Thailand include those that worship King Chulalongkorn (r.
19681910), King Naresuan (r. 15901605), King Taksin (r. 17671782), and some charismatic princes and
princesses whose life histories have been reproduced through modern nationalist and popular media
(see Mahalap 1995; Nidhi Auesriwongse 2003).
There is virtually no Thai term corresponding to the equivalent meaning of popular religion. The closest
term is satsana baep chaoban ran talat (folk religion/the religion of the commoners/the masses). However,
the popular religious phenomena under consideration in this article deal more with the commercialization of Buddhism (phuttha phanit) and the popularity of magical and supernatural practices in contemporary Thailand. In this article, I take popular religion as broader religious beliefs and practices, which
include popular Buddhism and spirit cults.
An Interview with Phra Achan Somsak, Khonsan, Chaiyaphum, 23 June 2004.
An Interview with Phon, Chumpae, Khon Kaen, 23 June 2004.
For more details on the cult of mo tham in north-eastern Thailand, see Hayashi (2003) and Somchai SriHla (1992).
An Interview with Phon, Chumpae, Khon Kaen, 23 June 2004.
An Interview with Phon, Chumpae, Khon Kaen, 24 June 2004.
Rai is a traditional Thai area measurement unit. One rai is equivalent to 1600 m2 or 2.25 acres.
Interview with Achan Suwan. Khonsan, Chaiyaphum, 23 June 2004. Unlike most temples in Thailand,
this is an exceptional case, where financial management and worldly affairs have been handled by the
abbot alone from the very beginning.
Interview with Achan Somsak. Khonsan, Chaiyaphum, 23 June 2004.
Interview with Achan Somsak and Achan Suwan. Khonsan, Chaiyaphum, 24 June 2004.
Interview with Achan Suwan. Khonsan, Chaiyaphum, 23 June 2004.
Interview with Ek. Khonsan, Chaiyaphum, 24 June 2004.
Interview with Ek. Khonsan, Chaiyaphum, 24 June 2004.
The names of mediums and followers are all pseudonyms.
Farang is a Thai term referring to Westerners in general.
This was probably a polite, indirect way of saying that she did not want to have sex with her husband
anymore.
I suspect that the curfew to which Aunt Toi referred was the one that was widely applied, especially in
big cities, during the military regime of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat in the early 1960s.
I did not ask Aunt Toi how she distinguishes the ethnic identities of her disciples. However, it is common
knowledge in Khorat and elsewhere in Thailand that the Sino-Thai and other indigenous Thai (i.e. Thai
Khorat) are loosely identified by skin complexion, appearance, and language dialect.
In the traditional Thai calendar, the years are grouped into a 12-year cycle, and are represented by the
twelve animal signs. This calendar system is still popular, in parallel with the international one, in
contemporary Thailand.
This dialogue was recorded by Silapakit Teekhantikul and Chanthana Suraphinit on 23 November 1995.
Both were research assistants to the Khorat Spirit-medium Cults Project during that time.
I owe this point to Professor Chua Beng Huat, Department of Sociology and Asia Research Institute,
National University of Singapore.
Pattana Kitiarsa, Fieldnote on Achan Somsaks Trip to Sri Bunruang, 23 June 2004.
Pattana Kitiara, Fieldnote on Aunt Toi and Khorat Spirit Mediums, 12 August 1996.
Interview Achan Suwan, Magic Monks in Khonsan, Chaiyaphum, 23 June 2004.

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Authors biography
Pattana Kitiarsa holds his doctoral degree in sociocultural anthropology from the University of Washington.
He has been conducting ethnographic research intensively in Northeastern Thailand and taught in Suranaree
University of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima until December 2003. He is currently postdoctoral research
fellow in Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore.
Contact address: Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Block AS7, Level 4, 5 Arts Link,
Singapore 117570. E-mail: aripk@nus.edu.sg