Shaman secrets

Nepal’s traditional healers were almost wiped out due to modernisation but they are enjoying a revival now, thanks to interest from the developed world.

HER body begins shaking as she mumbles an ancient shaman mantra to the beat of a double-sided drum, coaxing snake spirits out of a young Nepali man who has “lost his soul”. Iron bells around Parvati Rai’s white shirt ring as she jumps and writhes in a trance, her headdress of peacock feathers waving wildly as she flings her arms over her patient.