THE PRACTICE OF THE POWER OF HEALING BY T HE HMONG SHAMANS AND THE CAMBODIAN TRADITIONAL HEALERS OF INDO-CHINA

The power to heal by simple dissolution of the pain is an ancient ques t of humanity. Among the Hmong of Laos and Thailand, this power is exe rted by the shamans, among the Khmer of Cambodia, by the traditional h ealers. These two cultural groups consider healing and recovery, wheth er from the point of view of the healer or the patient, as a holistic phenomenon and offer us a unique vantage point onto healing. The main contrast between the two systems resides in the inversion of means : i n the case of the Hmong, through the transformation of the Hmong shama n's body image, by which he establishes his power of healing; in the c ase of the Khmer healer, through the transformation of the patient's b ody image. This is perhaps an indication that, whatever is the therape utic system in cause, healing consists fundamentally in the communicat ion that is established between the healer and the patient, and by the healer taking over the sphere of suffering that envelops and separate s the patient.