Shaman hopes to spellbind tourists

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Lifestyle

Wed, December 6, 2023 | 06:51

Life

Shaman hopes to spellbind tourists

Posted : 2014-08-22 17:25

Updated : 2016-01-13 10:46

By Ko Dong-hwan

Lim Deuk-young during the interview at her home in Pyeongchang-dong, Seoul.
/ Courtesy of Lim Deok-young

Lim Deok-young is already one of Korea's best known shamans, but she still has plenty of goals on her bucket list.

Her top mission may be her most challenging: to attract foreign tourists by promoting Korea's oldest religion.

To do so, the middle-aged woman (who refused to give her exact age), has ambitious ideas. She hopes to stage a play about her path to shamanism and create a park where people can learn about what she does.

"Korea doesn't have a lot to show to tourists," said Lim. "My idea is to build a cultural theme park on Jeju Island which exhibits everything about Korea's national shamanism heritage."

The projects, she hopes, will teach the world about Korean Shamanism and its iconic ritual known as "gut."

After four years of writing, she has completed the script for the play. Titled "Naerida," or Divine Transformation, it focuses on her difficult transition from layman to shaman.

"I focused 80 percent of my energy on reflecting my struggles before I became a shaman and the remaining 20 percent on aesthetics such as lighting," Lim told The Korea Times at her residence in the hills of Pyeongchang-dong, northern Seoul.

During these traditional rituals, or "gut" in Korean, inviting deities from spiritual realms, Lim is less of herself than a persona of different deities, which allows her to wield her given paraphysical power to link the deads and the mortals.

She said she suffered from various maladies as a child, conditions that could not be explained by doctors.

Lim, who grew up in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, says her path to Shamanism was not easy.

Exasperated, her father took her to see a shaman. That's when Lim experienced her first "gut" – a ritual that involves rhythmic movement, chants and prayers. The ritual purports to connect the mundane and spiritual worlds.

Lim said she was given the option to become a shaman. If she spurned the offer, however, she was told she would have live with "incurable spiritual sufferings."

Confronted with this decision, she dedicated herself to becoming a shaman.

Lim says that after her first "gut," she experienced hallucinations and tapped into her spiritual side.

She received her last gut at age 34, this time willingly, and became a shaman for good.

Today, she appreciates her duties and believes that after she dies she will wander the world visiting her relatives.

In this life, however, she sounds more like a bureaucrat with her ideas to promote the country and draw tourists.

Her envisioned park on Jeju would "exhibit everything about Korea's national shamanism heritage. Foreigners could check out photos and videos of ‘gut.' Crafts such as bracelets and mini sculptures, that bestow fortune, would be on display."

Lim thinks Shamanism is loaded with cultural value. Practices include rituals welcoming deities or warding off evil spirits and represent a time when people lacked modern-day facilities such hospitals, she said.

Lim believes that as long as people have problems, shamans will have a role in society.

"My job is to heal people," she said.

aoshima11@koreatimes.co.kr