A Ritual Community: The Religious Practices of Spirit Mediums Who Worship the Spirit of the Chiang Mai City Pillar

This article focuses on the creation of ritual communities through the various collective rituals of the group of spirit mediums who worship the tutelary spirit of the city pillar in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. It explores how these rituals emerge as a manifestation of the group's intrinsic power of accomplishment, adaptation, and invention. Their ritual community demonstrates, in various ways, the diversity of spirit worship in Chiang Mai throughout the year. Moving through ritual spaces at will, these mediums utilize their independent and performative power in order to actively develop their religious practices.