Hmong
Spirituality - HMONG Traditional Beliefs
Summary
 As
with other animistic [link to glossary] traditions, the traditional
Hmong universe consists of both the every day physical world (yaj ceeb)
and the unseen spirit world (yeeb ceeb). Though the events in one world
often have a direct impact in the other, human beings have a limited
capacity to enter the spiritual world or to affect what happens there.
Special intermediaries known as Shaman, play a vital role in the Hmong
worldview: they have the ability to transcend both the spiritual and
temporal worlds.
 In
the traditional Hmong worldview, the spirit world is the home of those
who, through death, have departed to live in an unseen world of
spirit—the world of the dab. But ordinary spirits (dab) are not the only
beings living in the spirit world. Great Spirits or gods, those who
watch over the souls living in the physical world, also reside in the
spirit world
Unlike Western religions, the Hmong believe that individuals have
multiple spirits or souls (either three or five souls depending on the
person). When in harmony, these spirits contribute to a happy, healthy
life for the individual. However, when one or more of these souls
exhibits a lack of harmony with the others or is “lost,” the person may
become unhappy, unpleasant, or even deathly ill. In serious cases, only
a Shaman can transcend the physical world to correct the spiritual
imbalance
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