Contemporary Healers – between Sacred and Magic
Contemporary Healers – between Sacred and Magic

Summary/Abstract: This text discusses the relationship between magic, religion, and healing practices, in a Bulgarian context, in the early 21st century. On the basis of data, collected by ethnographic field methods, the paper discusses the syncretism of the images of healers in modern times based on ethnographic data collected in the past years. The topic is approached through the prism of personal stories, since the goal is to trace the way in which healers think about themselves. The latter is of importance, since their activity takes place in a reality where modern biomedicine is leading the medical world. Therefore, self-presentation in that case usually produces a desirable and prestigious, but often hypothetical image. The main conclusion is that in the images of modern healers, we find a similarity which places in one symbol plane the carriers of special knowledge – healers, on the one hand, and people who perform spells, on the other. The presence of religious and magical elements in the activity and in the image of healers is inherited from tradition, but this phenomenon is being also modified in modern times under the influence of a large number of social, economic, demographic, etc. factors.This text discusses the relationship between magic, religion, and healing practices, in a Bulgarian context, in the early 21st century. On the basis of data, collected by ethnographic field methods, the paper discusses the syncretism of the images of healers in modern times based on ethnographic data collected in the past years. The topic is approached through the prism of personal stories, since the goal is to trace the way in which healers think about themselves. The latter is of importance, since their activity takes place in a reality where modern biomedicine is leading the medical world. Therefore, self-presentation in that case usually produces a desirable and prestigious, but often hypothetical image. The main conclusion is that in the images of modern healers, we find a similarity which places in one symbol plane the carriers of special knowledge – healers, on the one hand, and people who perform spells, on the other. The presence of religious and magical elements in the activity and in the image of healers is inherited from tradition, but this phenomenon is being also modified in modern times under the influence of a large number of social, economic, demographic, etc. factors.

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