of shamanic tradition, specific traditions vary by region. Furthermore, much depends on who the novice learned from, the god she follows, and her own individual character.
Musok is very practical, as it is used as way of solving people’s problems via communication with the spirit world. The musok-in is a go-between, mediating between ordinary Koreans and this other world, linking the person seeking advice or an understanding of their future or remediation of some sort with the spirits that can provide it. Hyun-ju, for instance, tells this author to avoid the color blue and, more specifically, not to buy a blue car at the age of thirty-four, based on the advice of spirits. But she does not impart the sort of moral counsel a pastor or priest might, for instance. There is no Musok Ten Commandments. (Hyun-ju does have her own personal rules, however, such as the need to refrain from lying and thoughtless speech. Her chosen name means “Be careful with your words.”)
Followers do not describe themselves as adherents of Musok. In Korea, one simply visits a musok-in for advice with a big decision or dilemma, or when faced with illness or tragedy. Those who go for counsel are not typically aware of the specific character of the gods followed by the musok-in or the meaning of the rituals employed. They approach the musok-in in the way a Westerner may approach a psychiatrist: as a consultant, as and when required.
Musok is considered “feminine”—a legacy of Korean history and not simply due to the fact that most practitioners are women. During the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897), neo-Confucianism was the state ideology. This philosophical tradition was paternalistic and encouraged the marginalization of women in public life. Concerned with rationalism and the promotion of an orderly society, neo-Confucians considered Musok emotional and metaphysical and conflated it with the feminine, which may in fact have coincided with a tradition of shamans being mainly women. Consequently, they suppressed it, and relegated musok-in to the lowest social class, the cheonmin. Even so, practitioners continued to receive business from customers of all kinds, from humble farmers to royalty. In an era of male-dominated, non-spiritual formality, people demanded an outlet for the opposite side of their character—and Musok provided that. Queen Min of the late Joseon period herself employed two musok-in as advisors.
In the modern era, despite the advent of scientific rationalism and the rapid growth of Christianity in Korea, Musok has flourished. The New York Times reports there to be around 300,000 musok-in working in contemporary Korea. Many are drawn to the practice by the fact that it has become a very profitable business. A sought-after musok-in who pushes expensive ceremonies on her clients can become wealthy. Some are able to advertise in major newspapers, employ several apprentices and assistants, and buy multiple properties. The fact that millions of Koreans are prepared to pay for this sort of spiritual counsel does, of course, encourage fakes and frauds. This, according to Hyun-ju, has set the Musok world “at war with itself.” A real musok-in is not rich, she says.
The Making of a Musok-in
The process of becoming a musok-in can start in one of two ways. The first is seseupmu, the inheritance of shaman status from one’s family, with an older relative conferring the status on a younger one. Of such musok-in, there are two types, both traditionally found south of the Han River: shimbang and tangol. Shimbang are not considered to be in direct contact with spirits, but they have the ability to draw spirits into communion with others. A tangol may not believe in a particular god as her guide. Neither will maintain a personal shrine.
The second type of initiation, gangshinmu, occurs with no such hereditary connection. It begins with a kind of “spiritual sickness” known as a shinbyeong. The shinbyeong manifests itself in a variety of symptoms, such as loss of energy, hallucinations, the hearing of voices, and insomnia, which indicate that the woman who is stricken by them is possessed of the ability to communicate with spirits. This ability is considered a curse rather than a blessing—but it is also a matter of destiny: Hyun-ju states that she would not be a musok-in if she felt she had a choice. Her life is lonely, she says, and at least for her, incompatible with having a family. She remains unmarried and laments that she expects no one to turn up to her funeral, a consequence of people’s superstition about the presence of hostile spirits at a musok-in’s wake and her lack of a family.
Those judged to be proper candidates for gangshinmu induction into the ranks of musok-in are initiated by way of a special kind of gut, the naerim gut. Naerim refers to the physical entrance of a spirit into a new initiate; a particular god (for example, Hyun-ju’s Chinese monk), will take possession of the new musok-in, and from then on be her spirit leader. This naerim ceremony cures the illness and signals the initiate’s transformation from ordinary person to musok-in.
The conductor of the naerim gut will then likely serve as the new musok-in’s master. Though the novice keeps her own god, she also forms a kind of spirit mother–spirit daughter apprentice relationship with the elder musok-in, learning her incantations and songs and working as a junior participant in her ceremonies. This period may last several years, and depending upon the strictness of the master, the trainee may also have to spend some of this time performing basic household chores.
The world of Musok is not uniform, however. Hyun-ju claims never to have suffered from any of the physical symptoms of shinbyeong, though she was visited by several spirits during her naerim stage. Her story is unusual: at the age of thirty-two, she was visited first by Jesus Christ, then the spirit of a Japanese samurai, then a Chinese monk. Each wanted her to accept naerim from him, and, following her instincts, she chose the monk. After this, the monk subjected her to a series of trials, such as having to repeatedly leap in the air, for six hours at a time. During this stage, which lasted several weeks, she also had to ward off the relentless entreaties of the samurai: in order to placate him, she spent another six hours per day bowing.
Because Hyun-ju never manifested shinbyeong symptoms, it was difficult for her to find an older shaman to perform her naerim gut. Those around her felt she had simply gone insane. She recounts becoming the subject of neighborhood gossip as a result of her unusual behavior. However, after she had approached several musok-in with her story, one established practitioner accepted her as an apprentice, thus beginning her initiation into Korea’s oldest tradition.
Life as a Musok-in
Today, musok-in are not ostracized on class grounds, as they were during the Joseon era, for the social structures of old have disappeared. However, because of their perceived spiritual power, many people fear them and, as a result, refrain from socializing with them. For the ordinary person, the musok-in is someone to be visited in times of trouble and avoided at other times. A writer or anthropologist planning to visit one is likely be warned by friends to be careful.
The musok-in is called on to provide gut, dancing and singing to communicate with the spirits while dressed in the multicolored robes that denote her profession. She might “ride the blades” during such a ceremony. This is the most famously sensational musok-in act, performed in a state of deep entrancement or ecstasy, when the musok-in dances barefoot on the edge of a knife without cutting herself, to show her power and intimidate malign spirits. Other musok-in have different calling cards. Hyun-ju is said to have the ability to lift a cow off the ground and place it on a spike, in demonstration of the physical strength provided to her by her gods.
A musok-in will also perform smaller rituals at the home or place of business of a client. Those opening new enterprises, for example, may call upon the spirit world by inviting a musok-in to perform a ceremony for good luck. Practices include putting banknotes between the trotters of a dead pig (pigs symbolize money and fortune) and the ritual placement of a dried pollack on the premises. One sometimes sees such fish long after the ceremony is over, as it is supposed to bring good luck as long as it remains in place.
The most common service is jeom, which is a form of one-on-one spiritual counseling. If one has a particular query—for example, “When will I get married?” or “Should I start my own business?”—one may consult a musok-in for advice from the spirit world. For many musok-in, jeom is the starting point for subsequent services recommended to the client: for example, a follow-up gut. For Hyun-ju, however, gut is “only for rich people.” Since it can be astonishingly expensive—a single ceremony may cost around 8 million won (about $7,500 U.S. dollars) or more—she never recommends it for people of ordinary means,