Venturing into the forests of Lorraine… On a number of beneficial and therapeutic properties of woodland
Kessler-Bilthauer, Deborah
Venturing into the forests of Lorraine… On a number of beneficial and therapeutic properties of woodland - 2019.
72
Using a socio-anthropological approach, this article develops practices and representations associated with forests and the therapeutic role that is regularly attributed to them. It is based on two ethnographic studies carried out over the long term in Lorraine. The first is a qualitative survey conducted from 2005 to 2012 among several dozen healers and fifteen or so of their clients. The second study took place in 2016 and focused on the analysis of the relations between farmers in the pays de Bitche area and their rural, forest and mountain environment. Because these informants describe it as natural and sacred, the forest is a space that they regularly spend time in to “recharge their batteries”, “purify themselves”, “relieve” or “heal” the disorders of the body or mind. In the light of excerpts from ethnographic narratives, this article points to the importance and persistence of the idea of a generous and healing nature in therapeutic, spiritual, energetic and symbolic terms.
Venturing into the forests of Lorraine… On a number of beneficial and therapeutic properties of woodland - 2019.
72
Using a socio-anthropological approach, this article develops practices and representations associated with forests and the therapeutic role that is regularly attributed to them. It is based on two ethnographic studies carried out over the long term in Lorraine. The first is a qualitative survey conducted from 2005 to 2012 among several dozen healers and fifteen or so of their clients. The second study took place in 2016 and focused on the analysis of the relations between farmers in the pays de Bitche area and their rural, forest and mountain environment. Because these informants describe it as natural and sacred, the forest is a space that they regularly spend time in to “recharge their batteries”, “purify themselves”, “relieve” or “heal” the disorders of the body or mind. In the light of excerpts from ethnographic narratives, this article points to the importance and persistence of the idea of a generous and healing nature in therapeutic, spiritual, energetic and symbolic terms.
Réseaux sociaux