Although the act of sacralization is often considered specific to the “faraway” peoples and to ancient civilizations, references to the sacred are omnipresent in our modern Western society.
Secularization and the advances of science have not led us to abandon this inaccessible object of devotion and fear, probably because it is a common denominator for human beings in all times and all places.
We are now witnessing the development of a growing interest in shamanic cultures and practices and in their spirituality. As you will discover in an article in this issue, researchers in the cognitive sciences are actively exploring shamanism and the phenomenon of trances, in an attempt to discover the physiological mechanisms linked to the trance state and how it influences the functioning of the cerebral hemispheres.
In these turbulent times, there is no need to be a shaman to recognize that the balance between human beings and nature is extremely fragile, and that it is time to reconnect with nature, to re-establish harmony with it, in order to look at the world in a new way.
Laurence Mattet – Editorial
Sommaire
Editorial
Interviews with:
• Gabriel Barbier-Mueller
• Stéphane Barbier-Mueller
• Thierry Barbier-Mueller
Coming to Terms with the Ancestors
The New Sacred Since André Breton and Édouard Glissant
Shamanism and Rock Art
The Portrait of the Sovereign on Currency, Its Origin and Development during the Reformation in France
The Shaman Was a Woman
The Utensil Possesses Me
“A God Dances within Me”: The Spirituality of the Yaure
Ancestors and Spirits in the Traditions of Gabon
Bird’s-Head Axes, the Secret Society and Initiation Rites
In Southern Madagascar, Fesira, an Antanosy Sculptor
Rediscovering Charles Vignier
An Ode to the Ancestors: Two Chu Culture Artefacts
Sociocultural Conceptions: Representations and Practices among the Garo
Buddhist Rituals and Persian Influences on Display in Two Masks from the Barbier-Mueller Collection
Shamans and Divers Turn Despair Into Hope
Preliminary Note on the Chepang of Nepal and Their Territory
A Tale of Two Doors from the Indonesian Archipelago: Bahau Saa’ and Toraja Sa’dan
Corine Sombrun: The Trance and Science
Museum and Fondation Culturelle Activities
The Watcher on the Bench
