My encounter with a Miao Shaman

Now I know all about my future, predicted by a Miao Shaman and I’ve ensured it is a rosy one – I paid for it!

Spiritually speaking, the Miao people are believers in Shamanism. Shamans, 巫师 or鬼师 – those who are supposedly able to interact with the spirit world, are still active today. They can, supposedly, drive away the evil spirit, predict the future and recall the soul of a sick or dying person. I’ve been staying in a mountain village in Guizhou, populated by Miao people, for my next book project on China’s left-behind children. Several people I planned to feature have visited Shamans for different reasons. So today, I decided to visit one.

This particular Shaman, a friend of the family I got to know in Southeast of Guizhou, is a talkative 70-year-old grandma, wearing a tea-towel on her head, like many Miao grannies. As instructed, I turned up in her house, perched along a mountain side, with a plastic bag, containing one gram of rice, a bit of thread from my shirt and 12 yuan’s consultation fee.

The little stage contained a wooden hod, now filled with the rice, the cash and a lit-up incent and a bowl of water. After we all sat down, she let down her tea-towel to cover her face. In a minute, she let out a few impressively loud hiccups. “See, the ghost is coming,” she declared. As her legs started to shake, she began to chant in a pleasant singing voice (in Miao, of course), mixed with some unworldly noises.

From under the tea towel, she painted a mostly lovely portrait of my life: I am a good person.

I have two daughters.

One of my parents has passed away. and my grandma is very well. (I realized that I accidently disclosed some information over lunch which the Shaman kindly cooked for us)

My current husband is more successful and nicer than my ex-husband.

“Wait, but I am not re-married yet!” I said.

“You will be!” the Shaman said after a brief pause. “But a word of warning. If you get married more than three times, it will be bad for you.”

I let out a sigh of relief: there’s no danger of me to marry more than three times.

But there are things not good about my ‘八字‘，or bazi, my horoscope.

If I don’t change my ‘bazi’, then I may encounter some life-changing disaster at 57 and I will not be able to work. I may die at 70.

But she can alter my ‘bazi’, then the disaster at 57 will be avoided and I can live to the ripe age of 89.

Of course, I need to pay for her service. By then, having sit on the low-stool for an hour, my poor legs were so tired. I just wanted to leave. So I said: “If the disaster strikes at 57, I’ll come to seek your help again.” I stood up to reach my purse. But my friend said there was no need to pay for any extra. But I’ve just eaten her lunch and wasted her one hour. I had to pay for something. Might as well as my bad horoscope altered. “How much is it?” “56 yuan!”

Deal! With the additional cash on top of rice pile, the Shaman started all over again, hiccups and unworldly noises, chanting and shaking legs!

So with US$8, I voided a major disaster at 57 and a premature death and ensured a very bright future, packed with success and happiness.

All smiles. As the Shaman stood at the gate, waving us goodbye, her mobile rang. It was her grandson. She chatted, smiling brightly, a picture of a loving grandma, overflowing with humility. Could she has just been communicating with the ghost and spirit world?

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