Assemblages of health and manipulation of the relationships with spirits in a Candomblé healing ritual

Starting with a healing ritual in Candomblé, I analyse how more-than-human beings are entangled in the process of health and illness, as well as how physical and ontological boundaries can become fluid and porous. Relationships with a society of spirits called ẹgbé òrun, in particular, can affect a person’s life and, in the case of an àbíkú (lit. “born to die”), can jeopardise life and compromise health. A “replacement offer,” in which human life is replaced with that of another living being, is part of the healing ritual under investigation. In order to achieve this, the physical and ontological boundaries between humans, and other living beings and objects are ritually altered, and more-than-human assemblages converge to concentrate sacred force and reshape relationships with spirits and the Earth.