Korean Shamanism

[Troll_ov_Grimness]

reiki is such an odd thing because many enthusiasts of this I have spoken to, or read posts from online, are very quick to add spiritism, and channeling from reiki guides to their worldview.

on my youtube channel many of the more interesting videos in my favourites playlist are buried on the second page .

one such video by shazoloo has some concerns about reiki he's a christian and perplexed by this influx of spiritism into it. when enthusiasts of reiki speak to the media they do not mention any of this spiritism

 

[Sylvan]

Reiki has an important but unspoken of counterpart called "kami senzo-kuyo" (care of the spirits of the ancestors), which includes much of this 'spiritism' to which you refer. There are lots of things practitioners will say and do in private but keep out of the public eye for whatever reason. It is an unfortunate fact of marketing, and the ultimate reason one may never say they really know anything about another, particularly in regards to Spirit, without breathing a little of the same air. No matter how many books, etc. That has been proved to me time and time again.

 

[Troll_ov_Grimness]

Reiki is basically a western, branded, Shinto

I just started reading Essence of Shinto by Motohisa Yamakage

like Korean Shamanism there is solitary initiation in there
descent of spirits

it is very much the same purpose as to what they're trying to do

overanalyze the window dressing if you want but for all intents and purposes they are very similar

but Shinto underplays the psychological trauma way more

becoming clairaudient is not an easy thing to deal with especially in western society, and the author of this book doesn't seem to have an adequate understanding even if he experiences that himself how traumatic that can be for others

this is why Korean Shamanism is important to study because it deeply humanizes the whole of the experience

 

[Sylvan]

becoming clairaudient is not an easy thing to deal with especially in western society, and the author of this book doesn't seem to have an adequate understanding even if he experiences that himself how traumatic that can be for others

this is why Korean Shamanism is important to study because it deeply humanizes the whole of the experience

I would agree entirely on both points... but wait, which book are you talking about in that first line? Have you ever read "Six Korean Women: The Socialization of Shamans" by Youngsook Kim Harvey or "The Life and Hard Times of a Korean Shaman" by Laurel Kendall? Both excellent life-histories of Korean shamans which focus heavily on the narrative of their shamanic illnesses.

 

[Troll_ov_Grimness]

I would agree entirely on both points... but wait, which book are you talking about in that first line? Have you ever read "Six Korean Women: The Socialization of Shamans" by Youngsook Kim Harvey or "The Life and Hard Times of a Korean Shaman" by Laurel Kendall? Both excellent life-histories of Korean shamans which focus heavily on the narrative of their shamanic illnesses.

ok that is new to me
I haven't read those

I will put a call for them thank you.

The joys of being a University student..

 

[Troll_ov_Grimness]

I read a review of the book by Laura Kendell and it is said that the book is full of exaggeration and basically a bunch of lies with few introspective observations

 

[Sylvan]

Lies? The book I am referring to is a life history so if there are any lies told it is those of her informant.
Are they referring to the authors other works on Korean Shamanism? Could you post the review link?

 

[Troll_ov_Grimness]

You seem yourself to be really focused on the hereditary style of korean shamanism, the ones who do it for a living and act in roles of priests. The reason the books by Hyun-key Kim Hogarth and Kim Tae-kon are so good is because they get into the discussion of the kangshinmu, charismatic, type of korean shaman. These are people who initiated spontaneously. I have an interest in mediumship, and not shamanism per se

From Publishers Weekly
Following her ethnographic survey of Korean women (Shamans, Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits), Kendall returned to her field notes to quarry this book devoted to a single person. The aging, garrulous shaman whom Kendall calls Yongsu's Mother recounts her life and times in a flock of rehearsed, windy tales, the events now distilled and dramatized. The pattern is not exotic: denied an education by the need to help support her family; given no love by a philandering father; bearing an illegitimate child after her lover left her; pressured into a bad marriage; jailed briefly during the Korean War, etc. Even her description of her religious calling is circumspect (she refers to gods as grandfathers), and the prosaic, familiar complaints of social injustice give this a universal but impersonal air. Kendall tries for something more by acknowledging that, as observer, she has an effect on her subject. So she mixes personal with professional comments and balances her affection for Yongsu's Mother with her doubts about certain tales' truthfulness. Finally, the faithful anthropologist, hanging on the words of a lonely old woman, stands in for the shaman's absent children. The premise is not uninteresting, but nothing in the book comes alive.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

 

[Sylvan]

You seem yourself to be really focused on the hereditary style of korean shamanism, the ones who do it for a living and act in roles of priests. The reason the books by Hyun-key Kim Hogarth and Kim Tae-kon are so good is because they get into the discussion of the kangshinmu, charismatic, type of korean shaman. These are people who initiated spontaneously. I have an interest in mediumship, and not shamanism per se

You misunderstand me. Actually my primary interest is in kangshinmu, as to be recognized as such messages in dreams and visions must be confirmed by a shared mutually understood context by those who believe in and judge the authenticity of shamanism (its clients and practitioners). In all the traditions I am most interested in, a certain set of signs or communications are recognized or accepted as confirmations of the presence of the spirits. In many cases young women in deep stages of the shamanic illness will wander aimlessly guided by voices telling them to go to unfamiliar provinces far away and knock on a certain door, where there will be another mansin waiting for them nearing retirement. Her spirits, knowing they will soon need to find another to serve them, have wandered the earth to find their next servant and bring her to them.

Many hereditary shamans were actually happy to have these women come to them and end their lines, as it were, for passing their spirits to a women of another family would make it more likely that their spirits would avoid bothering their lineal descendants.

Well I disagree with that review*, although the Youngsook Kim Harvey is better. I think it would give you a good context for the practice in the time it was written and researched (mid-1950s). I will see if I can check out those books you mentioned, however. My research focuses on quite a different continent nowadays.

*Also the fact that they don't seem to get the fact that gods and grandfathers are the same thing leads me to think they didn't really read the book, or were looking for some gripping narrative that wasn't there.

 

[Troll_ov_Grimness]

Well I have taken it out of the library so will go get that
Essence Of Shinto is an amazing book I never thought I could be convinced to try using talismans and paper spell servants and this kind of stuff I see in anime but this author convinced me as to how and in what situations to use those .

Sacred & Profane by Mircea Eliade is an extremely good companion book

I forget if I mentioned this or not but Yamakage cites GAIA, 'mother Earth', to be the goddess of Shinto. and he also mentions the ocean and salt water and pays particular attention to the power of water as a catalyst for spiritual rebirth. bathing is really important. he even recommends attunement and the descent of kami in your bathroom. easily, the most private and most sacred place of your home. i knew this intuitively when I initiated myself and was very successful

the proper western word for goddess of the ocean and chaos is of course TIAMAT

Mircea Eliade gets into this idea and it is more correct

Yamakage's western terminology is like all mixed up.
the korean shaman books also mention chaos as the outer-world.. this is what a torii seperates us from. Yamakage calls this heaven, which is completely wrong