Adorning The Spirit: Clothing as sacred technology for the Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Abstract

This paper explores the intersection of queer embodiment, ritualized dress, and sacred space-making through in-depth qualitative research and a cross-theological study of the Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. This qualitative research paper also includes the beginnings of ethnographic work in this community of Sisters. What was concluded during this time, is that the depth of the community and its individuals deserve much longer and more integrated periods of ethnographic engagement for this single methodology to be the main source of data in a formal study. Therefore, drawing from the fields of anthropology, queer theology, ritual studies, psychology, and mystical philosophy, this research proposes the framework of clothing as sacred technology; a consciously deployed tool for spiritual healing, identity affirmation, and community space-holding. Throughout religious history, garments have functioned as symbols of spiritual authority, ritual initiation, and divine embodiment. Yet for many queer individuals, access to these sacred roles has historically been denied or rendered conditional by religious institutions rooted in binary gender constructs and exclusionary doctrines. This paper argues that queer communities, exemplified by the Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, have not abandoned the sacred, but instead created new forms of spiritual practice outside of institutional religion. Through their embodied ministry of radical visibility, performance, and compassionate service, the Sisters seem to engage in a living theology that offers healing for themselves and sanctuary for others who have experienced spiritual and communal exile. Anchored in Carl Jung’s theories of individuation, Victor Turner’s concept of liminality, James Hillman’s depth psychology, and the mystical understandings of sacred androgyny present across multiple traditions, this paper repositions queer dress as both a site of personal integration and an instrument of communal healing. This is done by addressing and re-addressing these cross-disciplinary viewpoints within the Sisterhood’s unique function as a sacred secular spiritual community. Rather than viewing drag, gender nonconformity, and queer aesthetics as merely performative or political, this research examines these expressions as spiritual acts that align with ancient sacred technologies and anthropological views of transformation.