Remedial Ritual

The Bhutanese traditional worldview is one of an existence teeming with many species of invisible non-human spirits. These spirits cause harm or spread diseases to the humans for different reasons. The Bhutanese culture is rife with rituals and practices of negotiating with these spirits by way of peaceful propitiation or forced subjugation. When a person falls ill, traditional Bhutanese almost always consult an astrologer or a diviner who may instruct the family to make an offering to a spirit or invoke the spirit through a shaman. They are many types of shamans, who act as mediums for the spirits and would perform the ritual by going into a trance.