Thai Mrs and two friends took me to a house where they make religious items out of banana leaves and sunflowers. Upstairs they have a shrine with just about every religious item I've ever seen and a lot more. A guy wrote down our names. He performed a powerful and intense sermon/blessing. Head shaking, arms waving about and tucking his feet behind his head then rubbing his heels upon his forehead. Open mouth making wind/gales noises. Assistant brewed him a cup of tea but wasn't sure if this was part of the act. Can't speak Thai but got such as “Oh Yes’and ‘It’s True’ via his body language. Our names twice repeated during the performance. Surprisingly, we all felt great afterwards. The two others booked in again for the next day. They day after that they went again, taking other people with them! They don’t accept money, we took religious items and sunflowers.

 

Any idea what it is? Has to be a mind game (think seance) I suppose. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Could one become addicted?
 

This sounds like your classic village Shaman. We encountered one in Udon Thani and although they called him 'the Buddha Man' They originate in Animism and have little to do with classic Buddhist teachings and traditions.

 

Shamanism has been around for centuries in Thailand and is still practiced in the rural areas. Here's an interesting article in the Phuket News.

 

An exploration of shamanic practices in Phuket

 

 

papa wants some.

I agree with Moonlover, it's a village Shaman thing.  I went to one many years ago in Bangkok somewhere, same thing, upstairs, all kinds of statues around, incenses burning my eyes, the Shaman doing all kinds of weird stuff, sitting on a mat in a Buddha pose, I swear I saw him levitate off the ground.  Scared the hell out of me.  

There was a shaman in the capitol building in Washington DC not long ago.

13 hours ago, Moonlover said:

This sounds like your classic village Shaman. We encountered one in Udon Thani and although they called him 'the Buddha Man' They originate in Animism and have little to do with classic Buddhist teachings and traditions.

 

Shamanism has been around for centuries in Thailand and is still practiced in the rural areas. Here's an interesting article in the Phuket News.

 

An exploration of shamanic practices in Phuket

 

 

Thanks very much! Interesting. Can't see any harm in it myself.