U.S. Latinas embrace spiritual practices outside traditional religion

Alicia Contreras has held sound healing sessions in the Arizona desert, in green and grassy parks, amid the stained glass of a church sanctuary and in a coffee shop. Everywhere she holds them, her chrystal sing bowls produce ringing tones that reverberate over people as they lie relaxed on mats on the ground, each bowl’s note aimed at connecting with a particular chakra, or physical and spiritual energy center in her listeners.

And each time, before her guests arrive, Contreras prays the rosary.

A parishioner at St. Francis Xavier and community organizer in Phoenix, Contreras became interested in sound healing early in the COVID-19 pandemic while she was unable to attend Mass. She searched for a spiritual routine she could practice in isolation instead.

Contreras is one of many U.S. Latinas who have turned to sound healing and other forms of spiritual self-care, despite their roots outside of traditional religion.

Emma Olmedo, a Reiki master and sound healer in Northern Virginia, said she doesn’t identify as a religious “none,” a catchall term that demographers use to group together atheists, agnostics and people who are “nothing in particular.” Instead, Olmedo sees herself as “all of the above.”

Vladi Peña, whose parents are from Nicaragua, is among the 22% of U.S.-born Latinos who no longer identify as Catholic. U.S.-born Latinos are slightly more likely to be unaffiliated (39%) than Catholic (36%).

“I think it was too structured in certain ways,” said Peña of Catholicism. “And so I kind of branched out and branched away as I grew up and found my own way to spirit and to divinity through a more connected practice that was more individualized with and for myself.”

Peña’s current spiritual practice is a mixture of connecting to nature, music, Reiki, Hindu concepts of reincarnation and karma and more.

https://religionnews.com/2024/08/29/u-s-latinas-embrace-spiritual-practices-outside-traditional-religion/?utm_source=RNS+Updates&utm_campaign=828b3806f6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_08_30_02_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c5356cb657-828b3806f6-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

[TBC: None of this should be surprising, for though the Roman Catholic Church denies any connection to the pagan nature of its beliefs, Catholicism covers up its pagan beliefs under a theology that includes church tradition with no biblical support. Concerning Catholicism, Dave Hunt wrote in Occult Invasion, “One finds every shade of New Age, occult and mystical belief inside the Roman Catholic Church itself. Catholic World had an entire issue affirming the New Age movement as a “genuine spiritual awakening,” without a word of reproof. The articles were all sympathetic, including favorable quotes from the Pope. Another issue was dedicated to Buddhism, with one article titled “The Buddha Revered As a Christian Saint.”]