The ngangkari Healing Power: Conversation with Lance Sullivan, Yalarrnga Healer
Barbara Glowczewski
December 31, 2019 DOI: 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474450300.003.0015 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Interview transcript |
|---|---|
| Key points | Sullivan explains that he was initiated as a child into the ngangkari 'cleverman' healing tradition of desert tribes, and his accounts of drawing out the source of physical or spiritual pain in men and women illustrate his contention that people's health is connected with the care of the land. He also comments on love magic and sorcery. |
Abstract
This chapter is based on the transcript of a one hour filmed conversation with an Indigenous healer, a Yalarrnga ritual leader who grew up in the desert community of Boulia and studied archaeology and anthropology at James Cook University: Lance Sullivan was invited to France in 2017 by the festival of Shamanism and Ancient Traditions that gathered 200 healers from around the world. He then agreed to share publicly his knowledge and experience to explain how he was initiated as a child to heal according to the ngangkari ‘cleverman’ tradition practiced by different desert tribes. His examples of the way he operates to pull out the source of pain from men and women, who suffer physically or spiritually, demonstrate that people’s health is connected with the care of the land. He also comments on different forms of magic love and sorcery.