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Divine messengers : the untold story of Bhutan's female shamans / Stephanie Guyer-Stevens and Françoise Pommaret.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextPublisher: Boulder, Colorado : Shambhala Publications, Inc., [2021]Edition: First editionDescription: xii, 174 pages : illustrations ; 22 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781611809183
  • 1611809185
Subject(s):
Contents:
Those who return from hell -- Inhabiting a human body : modern divine messengers in Bhutan -- A delom biography in translation.
Summary: "In the pristine Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, famous for its peaceful Buddhist religion and monasteries on mountain peaks, female shamans fill an important spiritual role as mystics and healers. These women communicate with local spirits, cure diseases through prayer, and travel to the netherworld to return and communicate their encounters with the dead and the horrors of the hell realms. An award-winning American journalist and a celebrated French anthropologist travel to the Himalayas to meet the famous living female shamans of Bhutan, relate their extraordinary life stories, and reflect on the centrality of the divine feminine in Himalayan Buddhism. This is the first intimate narrative account of the living tradition of female shamanism in Bhutanese culture"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 201.4408 G988 Available 33111010775555
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

As mystics, healers, and travelers to the netherworld, female shamans continue to impact the spiritual lives of the Bhutanese. These divine messengers act as mediums for local spirits, cure diseases through prayer, and travel to the realm of the dead. They are sometimes referred to as "sky-goers," "reincarnations," or "returners from the beyond," and their stories are intimately connected with the Buddhist ideas of karma and rebirth.

Journalist Stephanie Guyer-Stevens and anthropologist Fran oise Pommaret traveled to the Himalayas to meet seven living Bhutanese female shamans and to help make their stories known. Stephanie and Fran oise offer an intimate narrative of these shamans' spiritual experiences and important roles in society. This book also provides an overview of the history of this tradition and a translation of an autobiography of the famous eighteenth-century divine messenger, Sangay Choezom. This insightful and sensitive account is a rare look inside the world of these brave women.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-174).

Those who return from hell -- Inhabiting a human body : modern divine messengers in Bhutan -- A delom biography in translation.

"In the pristine Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, famous for its peaceful Buddhist religion and monasteries on mountain peaks, female shamans fill an important spiritual role as mystics and healers. These women communicate with local spirits, cure diseases through prayer, and travel to the netherworld to return and communicate their encounters with the dead and the horrors of the hell realms. An award-winning American journalist and a celebrated French anthropologist travel to the Himalayas to meet the famous living female shamans of Bhutan, relate their extraordinary life stories, and reflect on the centrality of the divine feminine in Himalayan Buddhism. This is the first intimate narrative account of the living tradition of female shamanism in Bhutanese culture"-- Provided by publisher.

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