Halk inançlarında kalıp değiştirme, ruh göçü

The separation of the spirit and the material begins with the development of a consciousness regarding the spiritual. The beliefs regarding what is spiritual have been shaped along with the wish to overcome death. Death is understood as the state where one does not breathe. Shamans believe that air which is exhaled is absorbed by the air; and when air is inhaled by other beings it is transmitted into another being. These assumptions render the idea of transmission of the soul possible for Shamanism as well as the old religions. The belief in Sky God presumes that everyhing under the sky is in a process of tranformation. In this process of transformation, the soul is conceived to pass from one body to another. Little is known on how the soul is envisaged to make this transfer. Such beliefs and ideas on the transmission of the soul are revealed in the belief known as ‘metempsychosis’ or the transmigration of the souls. The Alevi tradition offers significant evidence on the idea of transmigration of the soul. In this paper, first, the perspectives on the ‘metempsychosis’ in various religions will be evaluated; second, interviews on the topic will be exemplified. Lastly, the paper will analyze the transmigration of the soul within the framework of the traditional beliefs of the interviewees covered in the study.