a shaman’s cure - the relationship between altered statres of consciousness and shamanic healing

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8/11/2019 A Shaman’s Cure - The Relationship Between Altered Statres of Consciousness and Shamanic Healing http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/a-shamans-cure-the-relationship-between-altered-statres-of-consciousness 1/27 A Shaman’s Cure: The Relationship Between Altered States of Consciousness and Shamanic Healing 1 h. sidky Miami University Oxford OH, USA [email protected] abstract This study, which is based upon ethnographic data collected between 1999 and 2008 in Nepal, examines the connection between the shaman’s altered states of consciousness (ASC; i.e., what goes on inside the healer’s mind/brain) and therapeutic changes that take place in the patient’s mind/body. Unlike other studies that primarily emphasize the shaman’s internal psychological state, this article attempts to explain the role of the healer’s ASC and elucidate how desired therapeutic changes depend upon patient–healer interactions. This question is explored in the context of a healing ritual highlighting various aspects of the cosmology of Nepalese shamans. keywords: symbolic healing, altered states of consciousness, spirit possession, nepal, shamanism & introduction Since 1999 (Figure 1), I have investigated shamanic practices among various ethnic groups and Hindu castes in Nepal (Chhetri, Jirel, Sherpa, R ai, Gurung, and Tamang). What specifically caught my attention while observing numer- ous shamanic healing rituals were the dynamic interactions that take place between the entranced shaman, the invisible supernatural beings called upon, Anthropology of Consciousness , Vol. 20, Issue 2, pp. 171–197, ISSN 1053-4202, & 2009 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1111/j.1556-3537.2009.01016.x 171

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Page 1: A Shaman’s Cure - The Relationship Between Altered Statres of Consciousness and Shamanic Healing

8/11/2019 A Shaman’s Cure - The Relationship Between Altered Statres of Consciousness and Shamanic Healing

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A Shaman’s Cure: TheRelationship Between AlteredStates of Consciousness andShamanic Healing1

h . s i d k y Miami UniversityOxfordOH, [email protected]

a b s t r a c t

This study, which is based upon ethnographic data collected between 1999 and 2008 in Nepal, examines the connection between the shaman’s altered states of consciousness (ASC; i.e., what goes on inside the healer’s mind/brain) andtherapeutic changes that take place in the patient’s mind/body. Unlike other studies that primarily emphasize the shaman’s internal psychological state, thisarticle attempts to explain the role of the healer’s ASC and elucidate how desiredtherapeutic changes depend upon patient–healer interactions. This question isexplored in the context of a healing ritual highlighting various aspects of thecosmology of Nepalese shamans.k e y w o r d s : symbolic healing, altered states of consciousness, spirit possession,nepal, shamanism

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i n t r o d u c t i o n

Since 1999 (Figure 1), I have investigated shamanic practices among variousethnic groups and Hindu castes in Nepal (Chhetri, Jirel, Sherpa, R ai, Gurung,and Tamang). What specifically caught my attention while observing numer-ous shamanic healing rituals were the dynamic interactions that take placebetween the entranced shaman, the invisible supernatural beings called upon,

Anthropology of Consciousness, Vol. 20, Issue 2, pp. 171–197, ISSN 1053-4202,& 2009 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved.DOI: 10.1111/j.1556-3537.2009.01016.x

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them, give advice for the future and clarify present events in terms of their relationship to the past. He is therefore both a privileged intermediary be-tween spirits (who cause and cure illness) and men; between the past,present and future; between life and death, and most importantly between

the individual and a certain social mythology. [1976:310]

As an interpreter of the world, the jha kri’s main task is to remedy crises anddeect anxieties and stresses that arise in the context of day-to-day interpersonalinteractions which are frequently attributed to angry divinities or the malice of witches and evil spirits. The jha kri has command of a body of specialized sacredknowledge that has been verbally transmitted from teacher to pupil that forms thetheoretical underpinnings of his practices (Maskarinec 1989, 1995, 1998, 2008).Jha kris possess a distinctive specialized costume, headdress, bell bandoleers, and

various magical paraphernalia, the most important of which is a double-sideddrum (Jha kris in the western part of Nepal use a single-sided drum).

In order to perform as a healer, the jha krienters into states of mind described inthe earlier literature as ‘‘trance,’’ or ‘‘ecstasy,’’ and more recently as ‘‘altered statesof consciousness’’ (ASC), ‘‘shamanic state of consciousness’’ (SSC), and ‘‘tran-scendental consciousness’’ (Harner 1982:20–30, 1999:1–5; Townsend 1997:442– 443; Winkelman 2000:6, 124–126) to access supernatural powers (Figure 2).

g u r e 2 . j h a ˜ k r i e a t i n g b u r n i n g w i c k a s a d e m o n s t r a t i o n o f h i ss u p e r h u m a n p o w e r s

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The jha kri’s methods for inducing ASC are nearly identical to those used byTungus shamans, as described by the Russian ethnographer SergeiShirokogoroff:

In almost all forms of shamanic performances, when the ecstasy of the sha-man and the excitation of the audience are needed . . . several technicalmethods for bringing up a necessary psychic condition of the shaman andaudience are used. These are rhythmic effects, music of the performance,particularly rhythmic movements, dancing, drumming and production of various noises with the costume, also singing or reciting, and the contentsof the texts of the performance, i.e., descriptions in words of the relationsbetween the shaman and the spirits, the people and the spirits. [1935:325]

The jha kri engages in all-night healing ceremonies called cinta, which aredramatic performances that involve theatrical devices, drumming, singing,dancing, and the manipulation of numerous culturally powerful symbols. Thejha kri enters into altered states of consciousness to harness the power of numi-nous beings for the task at hand. The term altered states of consciousness, or ASC, was rst used by Ludwig (1990) to denote alterations in the perception of self and the surroundings that are different from everyday waking consciousness(see Tart 1969; Ludwig 1990; Beyerstein 1996). During ASC, psychological po-tentials that are not accessible during ordinary waking consciousness are

thought to become available (Winkelman 2000:101). These potentials are saidto be the basis of shamanic healing. Much of the literature on shamanism,however, focuses upon the shaman’s mental conditions, and less is written onexactly how the inner potentials accessed by the entranced shaman bring abouttherapeutic changes in patients. Thus, as Dow (1986:57) put it, the experiencesof the healer and those of his client are erroneously conated.

Through most of the 20th century, one question that occupied researcherswas whether or not the shaman’s ‘‘trance state’’ (i.e., ASC) is genuine or con-trived (Eliade 1964:33–36). Some were sure of the authenticity of this

phenomenon, while others characterized shamans as actors who were role-playing (Shirokogoroff 1935:362; Nadel 1965). Surprisingly, this still remains atopic of discussion. For example, Bahn (2001:55) states that ‘‘the shaman is ashowman.’’ Others assert that shamanism has nothing to do with ‘‘trance’’ and ismerely the acting out of culturally dened roles (Hamayon 1998:177; Francfort2001:31; Le Quellec 2001:150). Hamayon (1993, 1998:177, 181–185) says that as-sessments of the shaman’s trance are nothing more than the ethnographer’ssubjective impressions and that it is the shaman’s dynamic and dramatic socialperformances that are central to the understanding of shamanic healing.

This disagreement, as Peters and Price-Williams (1980:400) pointed out, is inpart due to a lack of agreement as to what constitutes an ‘‘authentic’’ ASC.During observations of Nepalese jha kris over the course of many years, I was

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able to document these practitioners engaging in extraordinary feats, such aslicking red-hot iron rods, eating burning wicks, stepping on hot coals, and con-suming massive amounts of distilled liquor without ill effects, to demonstratethe superhuman powers at their disposal (cf. Peters and Price-Williams

1980:401; see photos in Sidky 2008:102–104). Jha kris themselves have told me onnumerous occasions that they would never attempt such feats without harness-ing divine powers (i.e., ASC). There is more than simple play acting involvedhere. This, however, does not elucidate the connection between the jha kris in-ner psychological state and the client’s physiological responses.

I shall explore this connection by examining a Nepalese shamanic healingritual that brings together many aspects of the jha kri’s broader cosmology,which he shares with members of his community.

The data upon which this article is based were collected in 2007, during ahealing ceremony in a village in Nagarkot, approximately 20 miles fromKathmandu, and involved three Tamang shamans. The Tamang compriseone of the larger ethnic groups in Nepal. They are Buddhist and speak a lan-guage belonging to the Tibeto-Burman family. Jha kris gain their ritualknowledge from a number of gurus, or teachers, irrespective of their ethnicity orreligious afliations (cf. Peters 1981:65–66). This has resulted in a diffusion of similar skills, techniques, and ritual paraphernalia, making shamanism a trulypan-Nepalese phenomenon (see Macdonald 1975:113; Allen 1976; Hitchcock

1976:171; Peters 1981:68; Miller 1997:20; Townsend 1997:44; Sidky 2008:24).Thus, the healing ceremony describe here is fairly representative of Nepaleseshamanism in general.

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t h e c i n t a: t h e j h A ˜ k r i ’s h e a l i n g c e r e m o n y

The objective for conducting the ritual described in this article is to avert ill fatethat has befallen the client. It should be noted here, as Maskarinec (1995:118)

pointed out in general that while each jha kri performance represents a distinctand one of a kind event, the underlying cosmological parameters are always thesame. The ritual is called, khar

˙ go kat

˙aunu , literally ‘‘to cut ill fate.’’ Peters

(1995:53), who has provided an insightful account of this ritual based on hiseld research, refers to it as the karga puja. The proceedings often last between15 and 20 hours, and only certain highlights are presented here. The client, a 43–year-old man, suffers from stomach and chest pains and tingling sensationsthroughout his body. Having found no relief from his symptoms after many tripsto the hospital in Kathmandu, he has decided to resort to the help of the jha krisin his village.

In shamanic healing, therapy is a public affair in which not only the shamanand patient take part, but also involves the participation of relatives, friends, and

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neighbors (cf. Berglie 1976:103; Riboli 2000:159; Sidky et al. 2000). AsShirokogoroff (1935:325) stated regarding shamanic healing among the Tungus,the public nature of the Siberian shaman’s enactments are significant to theoutcome of the healing ceremony. Similarly, the public or collective dimen-

sion of the cinta is important in the healing process (cf. Sagant 1988). Those inattendance are not merely observers but actively discuss the proceedings, offeropinions about the illness and prognosis, interact with and interrogate the sha-man, assess his procedures, and evaluate the ceremony by comparing it tonumerous other such sessions they may have attended in the past (cf. Mask-arinec 1995:127–128). Although the patient does not take active part in thesediscussions, he can draw upon the subtext that develops through these interac-tions. This seems to be crucial in producing therapeutic effects (cf. Sagant1988:23; Ho¨fer 1994:41; Samuel 1995:255). Such verbal exchanges continuethroughout the night until the shaman calls on the patient to sit before the altarduring the last stages of the ritual. The cinta is above all a negotiated intersub-jective communicative process, sometimes subtle and sometimes overt. Eachelement of the performance must be seen in terms of its communicativedimensions (Figure 3).

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Before a jha kri decides on a course of action, he resorts to divination (jokhanahernu) to make a diagnosis. He does this either by looking at patterns of rice onhis drumhead or by feeling the client’s pulse. It is at this point that the shaman’sskills as ‘‘interpreter of the world’’ are brought into play as he claries the source

of the client’s malady in a culturally meaningful way, thereby activating whatKleinman (1988:108–141) refers to as a ‘‘symbolic bridge’’ that connects experi-ence, social relations, and cosmology. In the present case, the divination revealsthat destructive cosmic forces are at work against the client because of an in-auspicious alignment of the planets (das a garah), or evil fortune from planets,which have made him susceptible to dangerous spells caste by an enemy,identied only as ‘‘a known person who lives east of the patient’s house.’’

By deciding to conduct the khago ritual, the jha kris are in effect communi-cating two things: (1) that the patient is in mortal danger and (2) that there is apossibility of saving his life. This would be a daunting task that requires nothingless than summoning and negotiating with Yamaraja, ‘‘the God of Death,’’ whodecides the fate of humans and exercises inuence over planetary alignmentsthat results in illness and death (cf. Hofer 1994:193; cf. Riboli 1995:79). Theshamans either have to placate the divinity to avert the danger confronting thepatient or engage him in battle if he refuses to let their patient live.

With an air of great condence and authority, the shamans begin lengthypreparations to create the essential ambiance and mind-set (cf. Shirokogoroff

1935:325; Tart 1975; Walsh 1990:165). Cintas are almost always conducted in themain room of client’s house. The smoke-lled dimly lit room is often packed withrelatives and friends of the sick person. The shamans start by donning their ritualoutts, headdresses, necklaces, and bandoleers of bells, and begin heating theirdouble-sided drums over the household hearth to make the skins taut. Incense is littopurify the room. This is the beginning of a long process during which the jha kriscreate a ritual space centered upon an altar containing images of gods and othermagical paraphernalia. Within this sacred space, a metaphorical reality which issubject to the ontological parameters of the jha kris’ cosmology, the shamans will

interpret and dene the patient’s condition, express them in a culturally mean-ingful way, explore their underlying causes, and take measures to address them.

The metaphorical reality thus created becomes the battleground between theforces of good and evil and underscores the contrast between the ordinary real-ity of day-to-day life and the highly charged reality of the sacred space (cf. Claus1997:199). Jha kris wage their battle against the forces of evil by using symbols,theatricality, and the subtle psychological manipulation of the patient and au-dience, like the enactments of their Tungus counterparts, as described byShirokogoroff (1935:325) (Figures 4 and 5).

Numerous protective mantras are uttered while the jha kris construct the al-tar, which is a cosmogram infused with numinous potency and laden withsacred symbols and divine powers. Mantras consist of directive, protective, and

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and to be capable of acting on persons and groups coming into contact withthem in such a way as to change them for the better or in a desired direction.. . . [Symbols] elicit emotion and express and mobilize desire. [1967: 54]

A striking feature of the cinta is the fact that initially the patient, for whom allthese efforts are being exerted, is not the focus of the shamans’ activities. Instead,the recitals address deities, ghosts, and other spirits. Uninvolved in what mightbe termed the shamans’ psychodrama, the patient does not become spirit pos-sessed, does not act out symbolic gestures, makes no confession, does not expresswords of reconciliation, or experiences abreaction (Ho¨fer 1994:40). Passive andquiet, he sits in the back of the room. Situated inside the symbolically createdsacred space, he assumes what could be described as a liminal status, between

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two x points, not well and not healed, and his status for the moment is highlyambiguous (cf. Turner 1967:274; 1969:96) (Figure 6).

The rst of a series of moments of high drama and theatricality in the ritualoccurs when the jha kris start drumming and chanting to summon the gods,

goddesses, and other supernatural beings whose presence is required for the taskat hand (cf. Maskarinec (1995:118). The incessant sound of the shaman’s drumwill continue, with only brief stoppages, for the next 15–20 hours or more, andsymbolizes the jha kris’ control over the sacred space. As Walter put it:

The drum, in more than one sense of the term, resonates with meaning. . . . Itis rst and foremost an instrument that sounds. The drum rhythms that arebeaten out on its surface support and structure much of the ritual activitythat takes place during the cinta. The percussive rhythm captures the at-

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tention of deities and spirits from elsewhere, and summons them to attend.Control of rhythm indicates mastery over the ritual space and, by implica-tion, mastery of encounters with gods and ghosts alike. [2001:117]

Soon, full arrays of different types of invisible supernatural beings manifestthemselves inside the room. Pounding his drum, the senior shaman embodiesand controls these numinous entities, shaking and trembling violently as hedoes so.3 With a contorted face, the jha kri forcefully bounces up and down, attimes his body springing up several inches off the oor where he is sitting in across-legged position. Some of the spirits enter the jha kri’s body, others he car-ries on his back and shoulders, and some he calls merely to interrogate. Theeffects of this performance are impressive, and it is such moments of high dra-ma that Eliade (1964:51) described as a ‘‘spectacle unequalled in the world of daily experience . . . [during which] the ‘laws of nature’ are abolished.’’ As theshaman absorbs the spirits into his body and brings them under control, hisshaking abates and he resumes chanting and rhythmic drumming.

The shaman thus brings everyone present in contact with the sacred. AsPandian (1991:89) observed, ‘‘to be in contact with or merged with the sacredother is the ultimate source of integration or coherence for the symbolic self.’’Such spectacular spirit embodiments take place throughout the course of theperformance and it is for this reason that Mastromattei (1989:228) aptly refers to

the jha kri’s experience as ‘‘polymorphous possession.’’ The multiple possessionevents are followed by chanting and uttering of mantras beseeching the aid of tutelary spirits, with periodic breaks, when the shamans imbibe large quantitiesof alcohol and smoke cigarettes. This sequence of activities continues for manyhours.

As the senior jha kri is thus engaged in summoning and controlling the para-normal beings, an assistant, using twigs and leaves, makes a model of the nineplanets, called a ‘‘das a garah plate,’’ and places it near the altar for later use. Atthis point the senior jha kri projects or sends his own soul to the supernatural

world to determine what forces are arrayed against his unfortunate client. As hedoes this, his drumming and singing abruptly stop, and he throws his head back,with eyes closed, and remains motionless. His soul is now in Yama Lok, theabode of Yamaraja. He discloses that he sees the patient’s death ag by Ya-maraja’s palace, which is a conrmation of the gravity of the situation. Then,suddenly, eyes wide open, he shouts ‘‘hheyy’’ and resumes vigorous drumming.He points out that his soul journey has reconrmed the initial diagnosis. Thepatient listens intently but remains seated in the background without anychanges in expression.

It is now, nearly 12 hours since the beginning of the ceremony, when theaudience has diminished and household children have fallen asleep, that thevisibly sleep-deprived patient, in a transitional state between sleep and wake-

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fulness, begins to experience the full force of the jha kri’s powers. Appearingsubdued and contemplative, he has had plenty of time to think about his state of being based on what he has seen and heard during the previous 12 hours. Somewriters speculate that it is at this point that the patient may experience altera-

tions of consciousness or, as Ho¨fer (1994:41) has put it, ‘‘some psychosensoryexperience in the shape of a hallucinatory appearance [i.e., some form of ASC]that may lead to sudden ‘insights’ or produce a ‘missing link’ in the anamnesis.’’Peters (1995:53, 60) suggests that this produces a ‘‘transpersonal experience,’’ inwhich the patient’s sense of self broadens to wider dimensions of the psyche andcosmos.

For the rst time since the start of the proceedings, the jha kri addresses theailing man directly and asks him to move up and sit on the oor before the altar.The shaman walks around him, drumming, whistling, and making incoherentmumbling sounds. Narrative now gives way to theatricality as the jha kri beginsto tremble and shake intensely, indicating a major spirit possession event. Hisface contorted, as if lifting a very heavy weight, he circles the patient, pointingto his chest with the tip of his drum handle. The shaman shakes more violentlyas he absorbs into his own body numerous evil spirits that have converged uponthe client, either through the neighbor’s sorcery or randomly attracted by thesounds of the shamans’ drums, and runs out of the house and expels them. Hedoes this by trembling vigorously, as if he is shedding the noxious beings off his

body, like a swimmer shakes off droplets of water after swimming.Having cleared the room of the noxious entities, he returns to ght for thepatient’s life. He begins chants that elaborate upon the sick man’s condition,when and why he became ill, the nature of his symptoms, how he has suffered,the causes of his afiction, and the perils facing him. These are themes that arereiterated throughout the remainder of the ritual.

He declares that to avert his client’s impending doom he must ‘‘summon andconfront Yamaraja.’’ To accomplish this, an assistant brings a small banana treesapling, which will serve as a physical link between the realm of humans and

the supernatural world. After sprinkling holy water on the clay oor of the room,the tree is placed upright before the altar, with the das a garah plate positionednext to it. Meanwhile another jha kri begins creating a representation of Ya-maraja by sprinkling red and white powdered paints on the oor that is vaguelyreminiscent of the way Tibetan monks produce sand mandalas. 4 The deity willmanifest himself in the image once the jha kris utter invocation mantras. Thepatient is now directed to sit on a mat placed near the gure of Yamaraja andthen the senior jha kri, using a thick cotton thread, connects him to the bananatree. Patient and god are thus symbolically linked.

A brief analysis of the proceedings thus far illustrates that the shamans,through their dramatic constructions and enactments during the precedinghours have, bit by bit, analyzed, redened, and symbolically expressed the pa-

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tient’s problem in terms of the group’s cosmology in the context of the ritualspace under their control (cf. Levi-Strauss 1967:188). These activities now reacha climax as the patient sits in a precisely dened position, his relationship to thegodhead menacing him symbolically represented by the thread connecting

them.Now, once again, the senior jha kri, begins chanting, pounding his drum, and

dancing around the patient, addressing Yamaraja saying,

Yamar aja come! I have betel nut, food, incense, and a chicken for you.Come! I have betel nut, food, incense, and a chicken for you. Yamar ajacome!

The process of clarication continues in the shaman’s song. Drawing uponextensive oral narratives from memory, the jha kri, like his Tungus counterpart,reiterates the patient’s critical situation, details the reasons for das a garah, why Yamaraja and the other gods intervene in the affairs of people, and how eonsago, jha kris were mandated by the gods to solve such problems. After chantingsome more, the shaman announces that Yamaraja has rejected the offerings hehas made as a substitute for the patient’s life. If the ailing man is to be saved, theshaman must ght and defeat the god. Tension and anxiety increase in theroom as the inevitable confrontation between the shaman and his numinousadversary begins.

The senior jha kri sits cross legged on the ground in front of the banana tree,facing his client, and once again begins chanting and drumming. An intensepossession event follows, as he absorbs into his body his supernatural ally in thiseffort, a powerful tutelary deity he refers to as Bhimsen Guru, for a showdownwith Yamaraja. Once Bhimsen is absorbed and the shaking subsides, the jha krihands his drum to one of the junior shamans. It is now the assistants who poundtheir drums, while the senior shaman braces himself to battle the deity. Withdetermination and an air of great condence in his magical abilities, he picksup a khukuri knife (a traditional curved Nepalese blade) and a phurba (phur-pa,

the Tibetan ritual knife with a three-sided blade) from the altar and assumes aghting stance. Moving around the patient, he chants:

Yamar aja, I have come to ght you! With sword, khukuri, and ags in myhand, I have come to ght you! Yamar aja, I have come! With BhimsenGuru, I have come.

He continues dancing around his patient, making cutting motions throughthe air with his knife, and moves as if engaged in actual combat with an invisi-ble foe. The intensity of the performance heightens, as the jha kri once againbegins shaking violently, and his expression becomes frighteningly contorted.He powerfully slashes the air with his knife, shouting om ma hum, om ma hum.Whistling, and sweating profusely, he moves around the seated patient, as the

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discarding a contaminated substance, a metaphor of cleansing and discarding,which is a familiar feature of shamanic healing (cf. Madsen 1955:51; Moerman1979:60). One by one, the patient’s wife and other family members are called tosit before the altar and receive similar treatment. Finally, the jha kri uses the

leaves to sprinkle everyone else present in the room, including my lm crewand their equipment, as well as the animals in the buffalo shed adjacent to thehouse. One could say that a sense of connection, or unity, Turner’s communi-tas, is thus symbolically established among all those present, feelings that areessential to well-being.

The next procedure is more dramatic. While the assistant jha kris beat theirdrums and chant, the senior jha kri picks up a bundle of dried wheat stalks andsets one end on re, creating a smoking torch. Brandishing the torch in onehand over the patient’s head, he takes a handful of nely ground powderedsal-dhup incense5 in the other hand and approaches the patient whose head andshoulders are draped by a blanket. Extending the aming torch over him, andchanting om ma hum phhhet, the jha kri blows the powder at the re, producinga spectacular are. The patient, eyes closed and grimacing, shakes the blanket,throwing off the embers. Everyone in the room is startled by these pyrotechniceffects. Reciting mantras, the jha kri repeats the procedure three more times.

The nal dramatic act is when the jha kri sets re to the das a garah plate,representing the nine planets. Assistants then take the burning contraption

outside and discard it in the river near the patient’s house. With re, the jha krissymbolically destroys the nal linkage between his patient and the planets. Nowthe altar is disassembled, all the food offerings (prasad) collected, and a meal isprepared and shared by all those in attendance. This marks the conclusion of the cinta.

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s y m b o l i c h e a l i n g , t h e s h a m a n ’s a s c , a n d i t st h e r a p e u t i c e f f e c t s

The cinta, described here, is a multifarious dramatic and structured perfor-mance, involving the manipulation of numerous powerful cultural symbols,words, gestures, and intense theatrical devices. Through these proce-duresF stage by stageF the jha kris take the patient from the status of ‘‘a sickperson,’’ through a stage of liminality, to ritual liberation from the impingingevil forces, and nally cleansing, reincorporation, and transformation. The pa-tient emerges from the experience with a new course in life and a new fatebefore him. At the conclusion of the ritual he does appear relieved, and seemshappier, and more condent than he had been at the start of the proceedingsthe afternoon before.

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mythic world contains the symbols that couple the social system to the self system of the patient. [1986:63]

The khago kaaunu ritual is a performance that makes use of such codes to

transmit messages in the form of a nonverbal symbolic language. Cognitivereinterpretation of symptoms that these procedures bring about can makethe symptoms easier to endure and is a technique also used in pain clinics inthe West (see Smith et al. 1980). The patient comes out of the ritual with a vividunderstanding of why he became ill and how he has been cured (cf. Kleinman1980:372).

It is inconsequential if the patient does not fully understands the elaboratesymbols and the sometimes arcane mystical language used by the shaman,6

because ritual symbols are multivocalic (Turner 1977:44, 50), that is they possess

multiple meanings, out of which the patient synthesizes an understanding rel-evant to his or her own conditions (Samuel 1995:255). Such understanding of the symbolic codes and imagery occurs at various levels of consciousness. AsLaughlin et al. speculate:

Symbolic penetration does not . . . require mediation of conscious networks.Symbols penetrate directly to unconscious intentionalities, and far from be-ing impossible or unlikely, this process is common and characteristic of theongoing functioning of the nervous system. [1992:191]

At the start of this article I noted that the jha kri’s performance is a type of communication. One aspect of this communication is theatricality and themanipulation of symbols, as discussed above. Another type of communicationis the emergence of a subtext between the shaman and his interlocutors, theparticipants who attend the cinta (cf. Brown 1988). One might think of this as aform of verbal symbolic healing. This differs from the private one-on-one in-teractions that take place between patient and healer, and family and grouptherapy, as is the case in Western psychotherapy. Instead, it takes place through

the interchanges that occur throughout the night between the jha kri and theaudience, which includes the patient’s family, friends, and members of his vil-lage, when a consensus may arise among those present regarding the shaman’sdiagnosis in the case at hand. The client may consciously or unconsciouslydraw upon this subtext delving into his own previous knowledge of other jha k-ri’s performances, looking for what is meaningful in the association of hisparticular condition to his social surroundings, and the particular supernaturalagencies identied by the shaman as the forces operating against him (cf. Sag-ant 1988:23). This is the phase in which the shaman particularized the mythicworld7 (see Dow 1986).

We may say, therefore, as noted before, that what the jha kri does is to createlinkages between the patient’s body, society, and the spirit world (Sagant

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1988:29; Peters 1995:53, 60; Samuel 1995:256; Walsh 1996:101). Dow (1986)showed that the linkages between the somatic, psychological, social, andmythic systems represent the basis of shamanic healing, a process that transcendthe purely symbolic. Hofer surmises that:

The [patient] is drawn into a discourse (with and about him) which is not free from paradoxes and imponderabilities, and which thus provides himwith a chance of stepping out, again and again, from the entrenchment of his own subjectivity. . . . the staged and unstaged, said and unsaid, the pri-vate and the public interact in such a way that the patient comes to perceivehimself from different angles and with the eyes of the others so as to relati-vize his own self by experiencing his present as something already past or asthe others’ present. [1994:41]

The analysis of symbolic healing presented here represents the conventionalexplanation anthropologists have provided regarding the shaman’s therapeuticprocedures.

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t h e e f c a c y o f s h a m a n i c h e a l i n g

Most anthropologists who have written on the subject take the efcacy of sym-bolic healing for granted in the sense that in its proper cultural setting the

procedures involved seem to work. There are, however, significant questionsthat have not been addressed. Various anthropologists, having documentedparticular healing sessions, may report that the outcome was positive and thepatient was healed. For example, in 29 of the 47 jha kri healing ceremonies Iwitnessed, including the one described here, patients afterwards reported somepositive effects. There has been a tendency in the shamanic studies literature togeneralize from individual cases and personal testimonials to make emphaticconclusions that shamanism has powerful therapeutic and perhaps even realmiraculous effects (e.g., Muller-Ebeling et al. 2002:194).

Here a more critical analytical framework is required to avoid unnecessarilymystifying the ethnographic picture and how shamanic healing takes place.Determining whether or not a cure has taken place requires systematic objec-tive assessments using double-blind testing (Beyerstein 1997). Also, a number of issues have to be addressed before making any such assessment. First, one mustdistinguish between what is meant by ‘‘disease and illness’’ (Eisenberg 1977;Helman 1981; Beyerstein 1997). Disease applies to organic physiological condi-tions caused by viruses and bacterial infections, tissue damage, cancerousgrowths, etc. Illness refers to how the patient perceives the physiological expe-rience of things not being quite right organically. We are looking at onecondition that is organic and the other that is psychological in nature (Beyer-stein 1997). It has been well established that psychological and cultural factors,

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such as expectations, folk explanatory models, subjective biases, and even self-delusion, shape the experience of illness (Kleinman and Sung 1979; Kleinman1988; Beyerstein 1997; Green et al. 2002). Also, as Dow pointed out, there isalways the possibility that the ethnographer has overlooked physiological and

pharmaceutical treatments outside the context of the shamanic healing ritual.8This is certainly a possibility; however, I found no such evidence in the caseunder discussion.

The literature on symbolic healing suggests that cases in which suchtherapies are effectively employed are primarily psychosomatic in nature(Bourguignon 1976b:18; McClenon 2002:64–67). Psychosomatic illnesses tendto respond well to social support, attention, and the sense of inclusion andcomfort that the shaman’s healing rituals can provide (Eisenberg 1977). Thepatient described in this article certainly appeared to experience such socialsupport and sense of inclusion as the jha kris created linkages between the pa-tient, his family, kinfolk, community, and the spirit world. He afterwardsexpressed that he felt like himself again and stated that he was fortunate becauseso many family members, friends, and villagers expressed concern for his well-being.

There are a number of other factors that seem to contribute to the efcacy of shamanic healing. The human body tends to heal itself because many diseasesare self-limiting (Kehoe 2000:28; Klein 1997). Cyclical in nature, are-ups are

followed by remissions when the symptoms will abate, whether or not a healer isconsulted. Since patients resort to healers when their condition has aredup and symptoms are at their worst, the inevitable improvement is erroneouslyattributed to the efcacy of the healer’s magic (Beyerstein 1997).

There is no question that shamanic healing is effective in reducing stress andanxiety and allows the patient to reinterpret his or her condition and thus psy-chologically better cope with an illness, without necessarily affecting thedisease itself (Beyerstein 1997). Clinical studies have shown that stress reduc-tion can have positive effect on the immune system and the body’s natural

ability to recuperate (cf. Mestel 1994). Reviewing the video footage of numerouscintas, and interviews with the patients afterward, clearly show that the patientsare in a much better psychological state of mind in comparison to their de-meanor before receiving therapy. In the case described here, the patientseemed happier, smiled a lot, and engaged in gregarious conversation with theindividuals around him.

While all of these factors may contribute to a positive therapeutic outcomefor the shaman’s patient, one dimension stands out. The shaman’s therapy isbased upon the tendency for humans to respond positively to any seeminglycredible treatment (cf. Klein 1997). This is an extremely important factor that isoften overlooked by researchers and is one part of the answer to the complexquestion of how the entranced shaman’s performance brings about therapeutic

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boiling water, walking on hot coals, or eating burning wick without beingharmed (see photos in Sidky 2008:102–104). These feats persuade the patientand those in attendances that truly extraordinary and superhuman forces areoperative. It also convinces the jha kri himself that the magical powers he has

harnessed are real. These factors altogether represent the linkage between theshaman’s ASC and the therapeutic effects generated in patients by the shaman’sritual performances. An enthusiastic healer and a believing audience canobtain positive results from practically any plausible therapy.9

There are no mysterious supernatural forces at work here (contra Mu¨ller-Ebeling et al. 2002), although they may be at work, but no one has yet providedscientic evidence to support this position. The genius of the shaman’s therapyis based on his ability to evoke innate psycho-physiological or activate psycho-neuroimmunological triggers (see Ader 2007) through the use of powerfulsymbolic procedures and dramatic performances, pejoratively dismissed as the‘‘placebo effect’’ in Western medicine, that activate pathways connecting men-tal states and physiological processes to achieve positive biochemical andphysiological changes. It is interesting to note that in more recent years the pe-jorative connotations attached to the placebo effect have been replaced, in theview of some members of the biomedical establishment, from one that consid-ered it a sham or a control agent in clinical trials, to a perspective that sees it as a‘‘therapeutic ally’’ (Kleinman et al. 2002:1).

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n o t e s

1. I would like express my sincere thanks to Dr. James Dow, Department of Anthro-pology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, and Dr. Larry Peters, TheCalifornia Graduate Institute of Professional Psychology & Psychoanalysis, Los An-geles, for reviewing this manuscript and for their insightful comments and

suggestions. I also wish to express my gratitude to Dr. Alice Kehoe, Marquette Uni-versity, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for reviewing an earlier version on this study and forher many astute comments. I alone assume responsibility for errors, if any, and theviews expressed in this paper.

2. This article elaborates upon issues rst raised in Sidky (2008).

3. Jones (1976) characterizes this form of spirit possession as tutelary possession, inwhich the jha kri, calls spirits at will and embodies those spirit at a time of his ownchoosing. A distinguishing attribute of this form of possession is that there are nosignificant discontinuities in memory or recall of the possession event by the jhakri.This form of spirit possession is voluntary in nature and is distinct from whatBourguignon (1976a) refers to as ‘‘possession trance,’’ which is involuntary andafterwards the individual cannot recall what transpired during the possession event.

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4. This similarity is probably due to the fact that the Tamang practice Tibetan Bud-dhism.

5. Incense made from the gum of the Vateria indica tree (Larry Peters personal com-munication, January 2008).

6. Sherzer (1989) has criticized Le´vi-Strauss’s (1967:181–201) explanation of shamanichealing by pointing out that the patients may not understand the shaman’s mysticaland arcane language word for word.

7. James Dow, personal communication, January 2008.

8. James Dow, personal communication, January 2008.

9. Larry Peters, personal communication, January 2008, interprets this in psychoana-lytical terms as ‘‘transference,’’ that is, faith in the therapist/shaman and his/her

methods.

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