7 - Empowerment and Innovation among Saint Trần's Female Mediums

Summary

It is the beginning of a big thunderstorm in mid-summer 2003. The wind whistles through the window and the wooden shutters beat the frame of the casement window of Lan's newly built four-storey house. We sit talking on the tiled floor on the top floor, in front of an altar where there are two incense bowls, one for her ancestors, the other for spirits. Lan turns to me, “You said you want to ask the spirits something, right?”

“Can you invite Saint Trần?”

“Okay, but it can't be long today. I have to pick up my son from kindergarten. And it's going to rain soon.” Closing her eyes, with her fists on knees, Lan sits still and seems to concentrate intensely for a few minutes. Perspiring slightly, she burps and hiccups. “I am Saint Trần here, what do you want to ask?” I do not know how to start. Lan urges me, “Just ask him any question, he is here.”

“Pray to you, Lord [lạy ngài]” I say. “I have a bank note printed in the 1950s in Saigon with your picture on it. Nobody knows your image, since you lived so long ago, in the thirteenth century. Could you please look at this note and tell me if they drew you correctly?”

“Yes, Lord”, says Lan, looking at the banknote, talking to “Saint Trần”, “You possess magical power. You are supernaturally efficacious. Is this image right?”

“This picture approximates my image, but my chin is squarer, my eyes brighter and my eyebrows are sharper,” Saint Trần replies. “Loosely speaking”, Saint Trần concludes, “this photo is ninety percent right. I am very busy, though, and can only appear for a minute.”

“Yes, I pray to you, Lord. Can anyone be incarnated by you?” I ask.

Lan stares at a point on the wall and says in the role of Saint Trần, “In my realm, there is no frequency like in Tứ Phủ (the Four Palaces). Only when there is a spiritual task [việc nhà thánh], and only people who have “duyên” (compatibility) and “căn” (destined aptitude) with nhà Trần (Trần family) can be incarnated as me.”