Shaman Healers

In this photo, a shamaness in Kangnung, Korea, dances to invoke a spirit. When the spirit comes to her, she will enter a trance state, which is signaled by repeated leaps into the air. Then, the spirit will speak through her and she will help focus its power to help and to heal her clients.

I’ve talked with people who experienced or witnessed shamanic healings of physical ailments, both by shamans working in their indigenous traditions (Korea, Mongolia, Siberia, Mexico, Brazil), and by shamans in non-indigenous societies drawing their knowledge from the worldwide pool of shamanic knowledge.

In gathering material for my writing, I’ve focused on traditional shamanism in East Asia, because that’s the context of the 10,000 Spirits story. In this part of the world, people think of shamans as the most ancient healers. In 20th century rituals I’ve seen and heard about, the majority were for healing of non-physical problems such as marital conflict, mental illness, financial misfortune, business problems, and so forth. Sometimes a ritual was arranged in combination with medical treatment: many shamans are tolerant and accepting of medical help for their clients and themselves, just as they combined their spiritual work with traditional herbal healing in the past.  

Rupert Isaacson makes an interesting point in his book, Horse Boy: He says we need to distinguish between healing and curing. He brought his autistic 5-year-old boy to several Mongolian shamans. Did they cure the boy of autism? No. He’s still autistic. But did they heal him? By the end of the trip, the boy had made giant steps in his ability to take care of himself, to communicate, and to have friendships, and he continued to improve afterwards. It was a radical change. In many ways, the boy was healed, and has since worked with autistic children to help them improve their lives. (You can find the movie, Horse Boy, online, if you want to know more.)