L'Auteur de cet article examine divers cas d'emploi de symboles verbaux et non verbaux dans des groupes de guérison alternatifs au sein de la société moderne. Des « mots-rituels » se caractérisent par le fait que leurs usagers les dotent d'un pouvoir et d'une efficacité de guérison qui va au-delà de leur sens littéral. Dans plusieurs des groupes étudiés, on insiste sur l'auto-guérison obtenue de la sorte et, dans ce sens, le rituel de guérison a ten- dance à être relativement individualisé, créatif et fluide.
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