A shaman's altered state of consciousness (ASC) during healing rituals in Nepal is not merely an internal psychological event but plays a crucial role in therapeutic changes for the patient through patient-healer interactions. Based on ethnographic data from 1999 to 2008, this analysis explains how the healer's ASC, combined with the cosmology of Nepalese shamans, facilitates desired therapeutic outcomes, contrasting with prior studies that focus solely on the shaman's internal state.
Shamanism is an ancient magico-religious, divinatory, medical, and psychotherapeutic tradition found worldwide. Drawing on first-hand ethnographic fieldwork and scientific theories from archaeology, cognitive and evolutionary psychology, and neurotheology, the work explores the origins of shamanism, spirit beliefs, the evolution of human consciousness, and the beginnings of ritual behavior and religiosity.