Shamanism :: Spirit Spiritualism Korea Korean Essays

priest-doctorism A shaman is a member of a tribal society who acts as a medium between the indubitable knowledge domain and an invisible spirit world and who practices magic or black art for purposes of healing, divination, and control over natural events. shamanism is the oldest folk belief of the Korean people in which every natural object in the world has a soul. In order to connect with the power of the supernatural the Shaman is taken over by a spirit by liberating their learning ability from natural limitation. This process is achieved through the use of drugs such as tobacco or soma, spinning or dancing, drumming, or singing of deep tones (Haines Brown). premature Shamanistic clans mainly served two different purposes, to invoke supernatural liquor and to carry out priestly and military leadership functions. Korean Shamanism regarded three gods with special reverence and importance the Mountain God, Sanshin (who is usually depicted as an old man with a tiger at his feet), the Toksong, or recluse, and Chilsong (the god of the seven stars, the Big Dipper) (Buddhapia). These roles began to branch out early in the second millennium B.C. Some of these clans began branching out into confederations headed by Shaman kings early in the first millennium A.D. As to a groovyer extent and more religions began to arise such as Buddhism and Tonghak, many Koreans continued practicing the traditional ways of Shamanism. More recently one of the emphasized characteristics of Shamanism is the belief that the souls of the cold are always present. Only the spirits of ancestors and people who died harboring grudges and deep crust and those who died untimely deaths are honored in worship, however, explains Kim Yol-kyu. Ones who have died unfledged or who were murdered are believed to be able to cause great misfortune to the living or even cause diseases. The way to unsex rid of these diseases or misfortunes is by performing a ritual cognise as a gut i n Korean. A Shaman who performs these ceremonies is oft referred to as a mudang and must be a highly ingenious performer in order to conduct the ceremonies properly.