Twelfth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

In the process of religious rituals, shamans use visual elements such as costumes and masks to form a spatially graphic narrative relationship that generates an ontological experience of sacred perception. To date, studies on shamanism have been more focused on functional attributes such as shamanic spiritual healing and neurotheology. The importance of religious symbols as a bridge between personal and religious perception has been neglected. This study therefore explores the spatial construction of visual symbols in shamanic rituals, including the connections and interactions between visual symbols and behavioral perception. We used a sample group to experience a model of religious rituals constructed from religious symbols, including a semiotic analysis of the most sensory stimulating visual symbols selected by the sample group. We also use a questionnaire to qualitatively analyze the emotional changes of the sample group. The results of the study reveal that visual symbol perception is a semantic transmission through abstract and empathic symbols that produce a perceptual experience of overstep. Through our research and classification of religious symbols, we can achieve the inheritance and protection of shamanism, and provide theoretical support for the visual perception of symbols and the transmission of emotions.