kim jung hee

I was born 1974 in a beautiful village near Ilwol mountain in Gyeongsangbuk-Do, South Korea.
This area is very famous for the wonderful scenery and many wondrous ancient legends.
I was the youngest child in the family, so I received much love and attention from everyone around.
My grandmother was a shaman. As a shaman, she did her best to help and heal people, as a result, she became the renowned shaman in the area and people from all over the other villages came for help.
At age of 14, my grandmother passed away, and after that I started to have a vision, seeing spirits and listening to their voices beyond the reality.
For example, I saw a beautiful dragon flew on the river, and the man wearing a big hat passed the mountain's peak, I also had a conversation with all spirits living in mountains and rivers.
After sometimes, I start to see the past, present, and future of those who stay around me, I couldn’t understand what it was, and what was happening to me.
I tried to talk to my family because I wouldn't have known that the spirits and their voices were seen and heard by me alone. But no one believed the little girl’s words.
Meanwhile, I got sick for no reasons, my family and I went to every hospital and any kinds of a medical facility, but nobody was able to name my illness or find Since the cause.
Without any success or improvement, the symptoms have gotten worse and worse day by day with only troubles and no sign of a cure.
It was a spiritual sickness, Korean people called “Shinbyung”
When I was 20 years old, I followed my destiny and received initiation ritual to become a shaman.
Since I became a shaman, I listened to people and souls in pain, I empathize with their delight, prosperity, grief, and misfortunes and guided them through the right path to peace and bliss.
When I have a chance to speak about Korean shamanism or “mudang” or “gut,” I would like to speak this way.
“mu” of the “mudang” means a medium that acts as a bridge between divine beings and humans
“Gut” ritual is a place to face various troubles and understand and harmonize among every dead, alive, individuals, villages, countries, nature and humans.
If people understand each other’s position that would be the beginning of the resolving flights and misunderstandings.
I believe Shamanism is the first existing religion in human history but unfortunately, unlike Christianity or Buddhism as the most primitive religion, shamanism is not as established
No matter of any religion or culture, human’s most truthful state of mind is wishing for betterment in current life rather than their afterlife but most of the religion focused on the afterlife, unlike people’s wish. On the other hand, shamanism focused on improving current life.
I believe if human acknowledge that they are part of nature and not apart from it only then they could harmonize together.

Since my first international shamanic exchange at Tuva 2014, I've been traveling around the world to share my experience and expertise as a shaman and learn from the other.
As my experiences in abroad accumulated I realized my mean in this world, therefore in 2015, I established Korean Traditional Culture and Arts Association for the development and preservation of not only Korean shamanism and culture but of all countries around.