Kut:  Korean Shamanic Ritual Dance

Brilliantly colored costumes and a cacophony of traditional music mark the Kut.

It is a powerful, direct process of purification that cuts through fears, conflicts and confusion. Through ecstatic trance, the shaman helps participants to connect with their own sense of freedom so that they can generate sufficient energy to overcome their obstacles.

Fear is transformed into universal love and life is about experiencing rapture - it is also about experiencing rapture. Magnificently colorful, the ceremony is about revealing personal transformation of mind, body, and soul.

Mu-A: Ecstatic Trance

Mu-A, which literally means no-self (ego), the state of no conflict, which is ecstatic trance state, where the Korean shaman becomes one with spirit. It is an experience of equanimity, the dynamic stillness.

This is "breath dance" tells me of itself…of a world of undulations and spirals…my persona disappears into waves of flowing movements, my eyes are swirls of endless circlings…my mouth tingles and moves with tiny flares of subtle tones… my fingers and toes radiate pulsing light…I am no longer a solid human but waves upon waves of endless durations…

Nae-Rim-Kut: Korean Shamanic Initiation

The lecture and slides presentation, explains the process and meaning of Nae-Rim-Kut, Korean shamanic initiation. Focusing on Hiah's personal experiences, the lecture interprets various rituals of Nae-Rim-Kut, Korea's ancient indigenous shamanic practices and the women who were endowed as the caretakers of this rich tradition. A true symbol of women's empowerment, Nae-Rim-Kut is personal rite of passage into spiritual maturity.

Other lecture titles:

• Sacred Art and Spirituality
• Myth, Art and Shamanism
• Women and Healing