Shamanic Solitudes- Ecstasy, Madness and Spirit Possession in the Nepal Himalayas

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About the Book An itinerary-only apparently circular-furrows the universe of Kulunge Rai shamanism in Nepal. A nomadic religion, generated within the space of a double geography that weaves vivid visionary foreshortenings into the flat weft of reality. An extraordinary journey through the principal places composing the universe of shamanic reality: the "call" by the spirits of the wood. The dreams and initiatic visions; the vocational sickness and flight into the forest - mandatory steps on the path to obtaining powers; the praxis of healing and funerary rituals, centred on the experience of a "magic journey" accomplished by crossing different regions of the cosmos; the body's function and corporeity within the choreutic-musical world of shamanism: a body acting as temple and simulacrum for a divine epiphany. As a frontier between worlds. A vocal and sonorous body capable of starting up the great shamanic machine.

About the Author Martino Nicoletti (Perugia - Italy, 1968) has for over ten years been a specialist in the ethnography of the Himalayas and history of religions of southern Asia.

In the autumn of 2000, after an absence of nearly five years, he decided to revisit the Kulunge Rai of Nepal, an ethnic group amongst whom he had lived, carrying out research on mythology and rituality.

The experience of his return to the field provides an opportunity for a reflection on his own experience as a researcher, opening the way to self-criticism and to the choice of abdication. A sole snapshot portrays the author of this volume together with the reality of which he is a witness.

**Contents and Sample Pages**