Shamanism

This article is about the practice of shamanism; for other uses, see Shaman (disambiguation).

A shaman doctor of Kyzyl.

Shamanism refers to a range of traditional beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spirit world, mostly animal spirits. There are many variations in shamanism throughout the world. Despite cultural differences there are some things that are shared by all forms of shamanism. The spirits can play important roles in human beings. The shamans are to control and cooperate with the spirits for the community’s benefit. The spirits can be either good or bad. Shamans get into a trance by singing, dancing and drumming. The songs and dances describe the spirits journey or the shamans own personal journey to the other world. Many shamans imitate many animals and bird spirits. This happens when the shaman’s spirit leaves the body and enters into the supernatural world. The shamans can treat illnesses or sickness. The main purpose of shamanism is to understand nature and heal the sick. The most important object is the drum. It symbolizes many things to a shaman. Many drums are decorated with rattles, bells or bones, representing different spirits and animals. Not all drums are decorated with these rattles and bells, it just depends on the region and the community. Many shamans sacrifice animals such as lambs. They believed that it would help people in healing and gain support from the spirits.

Its practitioners claim the ability to diagnose and cure human suffering and, in some societies, the ability to cause suffering. This is believed to be accomplished by traversing the axis mundi and forming a special relationship with, or gaining control over, spirits. Shamans have been credited with the ability to control the weather, divination, the interpretation of dreams, astral projection, and traveling to upper and lower worlds. Shamanistic traditions have existed throughout the world since prehistoric times.

Some anthropologists and religious scholars define a shaman as an intermediary between the natural and spiritual world, who travels between worlds in a state of trance. Once in the spirit world, the shaman would commune with the spirits for assistance in healing, hunting or weather management. Ripinsky-Naxon describes shamans as, “People who have a strong interest in their surrounding environment and the society of which they are a part.”

Other anthropologists critique the term "shamanism", arguing that it is a culturally specific word and institution and that by expanding it to fit any healer from any traditional society it produces a false unity between these cultures and creates a false idea of an initial human religion predating all others. However, others say that these anthropologists simply fail to recognize the commonalities between otherwise diverse traditional societies.

Shamanism is based on the premise that the visible world is pervaded by invisible forces or spirits that affect the lives of the living. In contrast to animism and animatism, which any and usually all members of a society practice, shamanism requires specialized knowledge or abilities. It could be said that shamans are the experts employed by animists or animist communities. Shamans are not, however, often organized into full-time ritual or spiritual associations, as are priests.

Etymology

Shaman originally referred to the traditional healers of Turkic-Mongol areas such as Northern Asia (Siberia) and Mongolia, a "shaman" being the Turkic-Tungus word for such a practitioner and literally meaning "he (or she) who knows." In Turkic shamans were called mostly Kam and sometimes Baksı.

The Tungusic word šamán is from Chinese sha men "Buddhist monk," borrowed from Pali śamana, ultimately from Sanskrit śramana "ascetic," from śramati "he fatigues" (see shramana). The word passed through Russian and German before it was adopted into English.

Another explanation analyzes this Tungusic word as containing root “sa-”, this means “to know”. “Shaman” is “he/she who knows”: a person who is an expert in keeping together the multiple codes through which this complex belief system appears, and has a comprehensive view of them in his/her mind with certainty of knowledge.

Accordingly, the only proper plural form of the word is "shamans" and not "shamen", as it is unrelated to the English word "man". Similarly, the feminine form is not "shamaness" but "shamanka".

In its common usage, it has replaced the older English language term witch doctor, a term which unites the two stereotypical functions of the shaman: knowledge of magical and other lore, and the ability to cure a person and mend a situation. However, this term is generally considered to be pejorative and anthropologically inaccurate. Objections to the use of shaman as a generic term have been raised as well, by both academics and traditional healers themselves, given that the word comes from a specific place, people, and set of practices.

Criticism of the term "Shaman"

Certain anthropologists, most notably Alice Kehoe in her book "Shamans and Religion: An Anthropological Exploration in Critical Thinking", are highly critical of the term. Part of this criticism involves the notion of cultural appropriation. This includes criticism of New Age and modern Western forms of Shamanism, which may not only misrepresent or 'dilute' genuine indigenous practices but do so in a way that, according to Kehoe, reinforces racist ideas such as the Noble Savage.

Kehoe is highly critical of Mircea Eliade's work. Eliade, being a historian rather than an anthropologist, had never done any field work or made any direct contact with 'shamans' or cultures practicing 'shamanism'. According to Kehoe, Eliade's 'shamanism' is an invention synthesized from various sources unsupported by more direct research. To Kehoe, what Eliade and other scholars of shamanism treat as being definitive of shamanism, most notably drumming, trance, chanting, entheogens and hallucinogenics, spirit communication and healing, are practices that

• exist outside of what is defined as shamanism and play similar roles even in non-shamanic cultures (such as the role of chanting in Judeo-Christian rituals)
• in their expression are unique to each culture that uses them and cannot be generalized easily, accurately or usefully into a global ‘religion’ such as shamanism.

Because of this, Kehoe is also highly critical of the notion that shamanism is an ancient, unchanged, and surviving religion from the Paleolithic period.

(see also Plastic shaman)

Hoppál also discusses whether the term “shamanism” is appropriate. He recommends using the term “shamanhood” for stressing the diversity and the specific features of the discussed cultures. This is a term used in old Russian and German ethnographic reports at the beginning of the 20^th century (p. 15, par. 3 of). He believes that this term is less general and places more stress on the local variations. Hoppál mentions similar thoughts on ISSR, 2001 Summer (abstract online in 2^nd half of 2^nd paragraph), where he also conjectures a contemporary paradigm shift.

See books and small online materials on this topic .

Function

The shaman may fulfill multiple functions in his or her community, such as healing; leading a sacrifice; preserving the tradition by storytelling and songs, fortune-telling; acting as a psychopomp (literal meaning, “guide of souls”). As a psychopomp, the shaman may accompany the incarnating soul of a newborn baby, or inversely, the departing soul of the newly-dead. They may also serve the community by maintaining the tradition through memorizing long songs and tales.

Mediator

A shaman acts as a "mediator" in his or her culture. The shaman is seen as communicating with the spirits on behalf of the community, including the spirits of the dead. In some cultures, this mediator function of the shaman may be illustrated well by some of the shaman's objects and symbols. E.g. among the Selkups, a report mentions a water fowl species as a spirit-animal: ducks are capable of both flying and diving underwater, thus they are regarded belonging to both the upper world and the world underneath. Somewhat similar remarks apply for the identification of the shaman and the jaguar in some Amazonian cultures: the jaguar is capable of both swimming in the water and climbing trees.

“The shaman's tree” is an image found in several cultures (Yakuts, Dolgans, Evenks) as a symbol for mediation. The tree is seen as a being whose roots belong to the world underneath; its trunk belongs to the middle, human-inhabited word; and its top is related to the upper world.

Distinct types of shamans

In some cultures there may be additional types of shamans, who perform more specialized functions. For example, among the Nanai people, a distinct kind of shaman acts as a psychopomp. Other specialized shamans may be distinguished according to the type of spirits, or realms of the spirit world, with which the shaman most commonly interacts. These roles vary among the Nenets, Enets, and Selkup shamans (paper ; online ).

Ecological aspect

In tropical rainforests, resources for human consumption are easily depletable. In some rainforest cultures, such as the Tucano, a sophisticated system exists for the management of resources, and for avoiding the depletion of these resources through overhunting. This system is conceptualized in a mythological context, involving symbolism and, in some cases, the belief that the breach of hunting restrictions may cause illness. As the primary teacher of tribal symbolism, the shaman may have a leading role in this ecological management, actively restricting hunting and fishing . Not only Tucanos, but also some other rainforest Indians have such ecological concerns related to their shamanism. Besides Tukanos, also many Eskimo groups think that the shaman is able to “release” game animals (or their souls) from their hidden abodes.

Soul concept, spirits

The plethora of functions described in the above section may seem to be rather distinct tasks, but some important underlying concepts join them.

Soul concept

In some cases, at some cultures, the soul concept can explain more, seemingly unassociated phenomena :

Healing

may be based closely on the soul concepts of the belief system of the people served by the shaman (online ). It may consist of the retrieving the lost soul of the ill person . See also the soul dualism concept.

Scarcity of hunted game

can be solved by “releasing” the souls of the animals from their hidden abodes. Besides that, many taboos may prescribe the behavior of people towards game, so that the souls of the animals do not feel angry or hurt, or the pleased soul of the already killed prey can tell the other, still living animals, that they can let themselves to be caught and killed . The ecological aspect of shamanistic practice (and the related beliefs) has already been mentioned above in the article.

Infertility of women

can be cured by obtaining the soul of the expected child to be born .

Spirits

The beliefs related to spirits can explain many phenomena too, for example, the importance of storytelling, or acting as a singer, can be understood better if we examine the whole belief system: a person who is able to memorize long texts or songs (and play an instrument) may be regarded as having achieved his/her ability through contact with the spirits.

Knowledge

The word “shaman” refers to “he/she who knows”: a person who is an expert in keeping together the multiple codes through which this complex belief system appears, and has a comprehensive view on it in his/her mind with certainty of knowledge. The shaman uses (and the audience understands) multiple codes: he/she expresses meanings in many ways (in musical, verbal, choreographic forms, and meanings are manifested also in objects, e.g. amulets).

The shaman knows the culture of his/her community well , and acts accordingly. Thus his/her audience knows the used symbols and meanings — that's why shamanism can be efficient: people in the audience trust it. Such belief system can appear to its members with certainty of knowledge — this explains the above described etymology for the word “shaman”.

Sami shaman with his drum

There are semiotic theoretical approaches to shamanism ( ; online: ):

Juha Pentikäinen, in his introduction to Shamanism and Northern Ecology, explains how the Sámi drum embodies Sámi worldviews. He considers shamanism to be a ‘grammar of mind’ (10), because shamans need to be experts in the folklore of their cultures (11)

.

Such approaches can be related also to hermeneutics (“ethnohermeneutics”, online ).

Other fieldworks use systems theory concepts and ecological considerations to understand the shaman's lore. Desana and Tucano Indians have developed a sophisticated symbolism and concepts of “energy” flowing between people and animals in cyclic paths. Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff relates these concepts to the changes how modern science (systems theory, ecology, some new approaches in anthropology and archeology) treats causality in a less linear way . He suggests also a cooperation of modern science and indigenous lore (online ).

According to Vladimir Basilov and his work Chosen By the Spirits, a shaman is to be in the utmost healthy conditions to perform their duties to the fullest. The belief of the shaman is most popular through the people located in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The traditions of the shamanism is also imbedded in the Tadzhiks and Uzbeks regions. The shaman’s bodies are to be formed in a strong manner, someone having a small build would be turned away at once. Age is a requirement as well, definitely being over the age of fifty would disqualify those that want to be involved in serving the spirits. The shamans are always of the higher intellect and are looked at in a different perspective, they have a way that makes them quick on their feet and at ill will curing those in need.

One of the most significant and relevant qualities that separate a shaman from other spiritual leaders is their communications with the supernatural world. As early as the beginning of the century self-hypnosis was very highly thought of by those who worship. Another characteristic of the shaman is the talent to locate objects and discover thieves, shocking those of their tribe and those others also around to witness. The belief in the spirits or the supernatural is what attracts those to believe in the shamans. Those who have ill children or are in failing health of their own is what draws them to the shaman spiritual healings. Although the shamans are still in existence, the population is surely declining.

Practice

Initiation and learning

In the world's shamanic cultures, the shaman plays a priest-like role; however, there is an essential difference between the two, as Joseph Campbell describes:

"The priest is the socially initiated, ceremonially inducted member of a recognized religious organization, where he holds a certain rank and functions as the tenant of an office that was held by others before him, while the shaman is one who, as a consequence of a personal psychological crisis, has gained a certain power of his own." (1969, p. 231)

A shaman may be initiated via a serious illness, by being struck by lightning and dreaming of thunder to become a Heyoka, or by a near-death experience (e.g., the shaman Black Elk), or one might follow a "calling" to become a shaman. There is usually a set of cultural imagery expected to be experienced during shamanic initiation regardless of the method of induction. According to Mircea Eliade, such imagery often includes being transported to the spirit world and interacting with beings inhabiting the distant world of spirits, meeting a spiritual guide, being devoured by some being and emerging transformed, and/or being "dismantled" and "reassembled" again, often with implanted amulets such as magical crystals. The imagery of initiation generally speaks of transformation and the granting powers to transcend death and rebirth.

In some societies shamanic powers are considered to be inherited, whereas in other places of the world shamans are considered to have been "called" and require lengthy training. Among the Siberian Chukchis one may behave in ways that "Western" bio-medical clinicians would perhaps characterize as psychotic, but which Siberian peoples may interpret as possession by a spirit who demands that one assume the shamanic vocation. Among the South American Tapirape shamans are called in their dreams. In other societies shamans choose their career. In North America, First Nations peoples would seek communion with spirits through a "vision quest"; whereas South American Shuar, seeking the power to defend their family against enemies, apprentice themselves to accomplished shamans. Similarly the Urarina of Peruvian Amazonia have an elaborate cosomoligcal system predicated on the ritual consumption of ayahuasca. Coupled with milleanrian impulses, Urarina ayahuasca shamanism is a key feature of this poorly documented society[1].

Putatively customary shamanic "traditions" can also be noted among indigenous Kuna peoples of Panama, who rely on shamanic powers and sacred talismans to heal. As such, they enjoy a popular position among local peoples.

Note: The Lakota-tradition (with the Heyoka and Black Elk above) are not really shamanic. There is a big difference between the Lakota-culture and shamanic-cultures. In shamanic-cultures there is the use of psycho-active substances (peyote, fly agaric, psylo, etc.) In the Lakota-culture pain is often used instead of psycho-active plants. While a siberian shaman would use fly agaric, a Lakota medicine-man would do a sundance. The Lakota-medicine-people have some bias against the use of psycho-active plants.

Shamanic illness

Shamanic illness, also called shamanistic inititatory crisis, is a psycho-spiritual crisis, or a rite of passage, observed among those becoming shamans. The episode often marks the beginning of a time-limited episode of confusion or disturbing behavior where the shamanic initiate might sing or dance in an unconventional fashion, or have an experience of being "disturbed by spirits". The symptoms are usually not considered to be signs of mental illness by interpreters in the shamanic culture; rather, they are interpreted as introductory signposts for the individual who is meant to take the office of shaman (Lukoff et.al, 1992). The significant role of initiatory illnesses in the calling of a shaman can be found in the detailed case history of Chuonnasuan, the last master shaman among the Tungus peoples in Northeast China (Noo and Shi, 2004).

Practice and method

The shaman plays the role of healer in shamanic societies; shamans gain knowledge and power by traversing the axis mundi and bringing back knowledge from the heavens. Even in western society, this ancient practice of healing is referenced by the use of the caduceus as the symbol of medicine. Often the shaman has, or acquires, one or more familiar helping entities in the spirit world; these are often spirits in animal form, spirits of healing plants, or (sometimes) those of departed shamans. In many shamanic societies, magic, magical force, and knowledge are all denoted by one word, such as the Quechua term "yachay".

While the causes of disease are considered to lie in the spiritual realm, being effected by malicious spirits or witchcraft, both spiritual and physical methods are used to heal. Commonly, a shaman will "enter the body" of the patient to confront the spirit making the patient sick, and heal the patient by banishing the infectious spirit. Many shamans have expert knowledge of the plant life in their area, and an herbal regimen is often prescribed as treatment. In many places shamans claim to learn directly from the plants, and to be capable of harnessing their effects and healing properties only after obtaining permission from its abiding or patron spirit. In South America, individual spirits are summoned by the singing of songs called icaros; before a spirit can be summoned the spirit must teach the shaman its song. The use of totem items such as rocks is common; these items are believed to have special powers and an animating spirit. Such practices are presumably very ancient; in about 368 BCE, Plato wrote in the Phaedrus that the "first prophecies were the words of an oak", and that everyone who lived at that time found it rewarding enough to "listen to an oak or a stone, so long as it was telling the truth".

The belief in witchcraft and sorcery, known as brujeria in South America, is prevalent in many shamanic societies. Some societies distinguish shamans who cure from sorcerers who harm; others believe that all shamans have the power to both cure and kill; that is, shamans are in some societies also thought of as being capable of harm. The shaman usually enjoys great power and prestige in the community, and is renowned for their powers and knowledge; but they may also be suspected of harming others and thus feared.

By engaging in this work, the shaman exposes himself to significant personal risk, from the spirit world, from any enemy shamans, as well as from the means employed to alter his state of consciousness. Certain of the plant materials used can be fatal, and the failure to return from an out-of-body journey can lead to physical death. Spells are commonly used to protect against these dangers, and the use of more dangerous plants is usually very highly ritualized.

Shamanic practice

Generally, the shaman traverses the axis mundi and enters the spirit world by effecting a change of consciousness in himself, entering into an ecstatic trance, either autohypnotically or through the use of entheogens. The methods used are diverse, and are often used together. Some of the methods for effecting such altered states of consciousness are:

• Drumming
• Singing
• Fasting
• Icaros / Medicine Songs
• Listening to music
• Sweat lodge
• Vision quests / vigils
• Dancing
• Mariri
• Use of "power" or "master" plants to induce altered states or aromatics used as incense such as
  • Ayahuasca - Quechua for Vine of the Dead; also called yage
  • Cannabis
  • Cedar
  • Datura
  • Deadly nightshade
  • Fly agaric
  • Iboga
  • Morning glory
  • Peyote
  • Psychedelic mushrooms - alluded to euphemistically as holy children by Mazatec shamans such as Maria Sabina.
  • Sweetgrass
  • Sage
  • Salvia divinorum - sometimes called Diviners' sage
  • San Pedro cactus - named after (St. Peter), guardian and holding the keys to the gates of heaven, by the Andean peoples; Quechua name: Huachuma
  • Tobacco

Shamans will often observe dietary or customary restrictions particular to their tradition. Sometimes these restrictions are more than just cultural. For example, the diet followed by shamans and apprentices prior to participating in an Ayahuasca ceremony includes foods rich in tryptophan (a biosynthetic precursor to serotonin) as well as avoiding foods rich in tyramine, which could induce hypertensive crisis if ingested with MAOIs such as are found in Ayahuasca brews.

Paraphernalia

As mentioned above, cultures termed as shaministic can be very different. Thus, shamans may have various kinds of paraphernalia.

Drum

File:Shamans Drum.jpg

Shaman's drum

In many cultures (lots of peoples in Siberia, many Eskimo groups etc.) a drum is used.

The beating of the drum allows the shaman to achieve an altered state of consciousness or to travel on a journey. The drum is for example referred to as, “‘horse’ or ‘rainbow-bridge’ between the physical and spiritual worlds” . The journey mentioned is one in which the shaman establishes a connection with one or two of the spirit worlds. With the beating of the drum come neurophysiological effects. Much fascination surround the role that the acoustics of the drum play to the shaman.

There are two different worlds, the upper and the lower. In the upper world, images such as “climbing a mountain, tree, cliff, rainbow, or ladder; ascending into the sky on smoke; flying on an animal, carpet, or broom and meeting a teacher or guide”, are typically seen. The lower world consists of images including, “entering into the earth through a cave, hollow tree stump, a water hole, a tunnel, or a tube”. By being able to interact with a different world at an altered and aware state, the Shaman can then exchange information between the world in which he lives and that in which he has traveled to.

Gender and sexuality

While some cultures have had higher numbers of male shamans, others have had a preference for females. Recent archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest known shamans—dating to the Upper Paleolithic era in what is now the Czech Republic—were women.

In some societies, shamans exhibit a two-spirit identity, assuming the dress and attributes of the opposite sex from a young age, for example, a man taking on the role of a wife in an otherwise ordinary marriage. This practice is common, and found among the Chukchi, Sea Dyak, Patagonians, Araucanians, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Navajo, Pawnee, Lakota, and Ute, as well as many other Native American tribes. Indeed, these two spirited shamans were so widespread as to suggest a very ancient origin of the practice. See, for example, Joseph Campbell's map in his The Historical Atlas of World Mythology: [Vol I: The Way of the Animal Powers: Part 2: pg 174] Such two-spirit shamans are thought to be especially powerful, and Shamanism so important to ancestral populations that it may have contributed to the maintenance of genes for transgendered individuals in breeding populations over evolutionary time through the mechanism of "kin selection." [see final chapter of E.O. Wilson's "Sociobiology: The New Synthesis] They are highly respected and sought out in their tribes, as they will bring high status to their mates.

In Korea, almost all of the shamans are female.

Duality and bisexuality are also found in the shamans of the Dogon people of Mali (Africa). References to this can be found in several works of Malidoma Somé, a writer who was born and initiated there.

Tuva is the only region in the world to have shamanism as an official religion. The Tuvans' higher than average syphilis infection rate (according to the Moscow Times, 2.5% of the population) has been blamed on a Shamanist tradition of the Republic, which says a woman is more fertile if she has had a large number of sexual partners before marriage.

Position

In some cultures, the border between the shaman and the lay person is not sharp:

Among the Barasana, there is no absolute difference between those men recognised as shamans and those who are not. At the lowest level, most adult men have some abilities as shamans and will carry out some of the same functions as those men who have a widespread reputation for their powers and knowledge

The difference is that the shaman knows more myths and understands their meaning better, but the majority of adult men knows many myths, too .

Also at many Eskimo groups, many laic people has felt experiances that is usually attributed to shamans: daydreaming, reverie, trance . It is the control over helping spirits that is characteristic mainly to shamans, the laic people use amulets, spells, formulae, songs .

It can vary from culture to culture how the shaman gets his/her sustenance and takes part in the everyday life. At many Eskimo groups, he/she makes services for the community, and gets a “due payment” (it is sometimes said to be given to the helping spirits ) , but these goods are only “welcome addenda”, they are not enough to enable shamanizing a full-time activity: the shaman lives like any other member of the group according to his/her sex, e.g. like a hunter or a housewife .

History

Shamanistic practices are sometimes claimed to predate all organized religions, dating back to the Paleolithic (Shamanism in Prehistory, by Clottes), and certainly to the Neolithic period . Aspects of shamanism are encountered in later, organized religions, generally in their mystic and symbolic practices. Greek paganism was influenced by shamanism, as reflected in the stories of Tantalus, Prometheus, Medea, and Calypso among others, as well as in the Eleusinian Mysteries, and other mysteries. Some of the shamanic practices of the Greek religion later merged into the Roman religion.

The shamanic practices of many cultures were marginalized with the spread of monotheism in Europe and the Middle East. In Europe, starting around 400, the Catholic Church was instrumental in the collapse of the Greek and Roman religions. Temples were systematically destroyed and key ceremonies were outlawed or appropriated. The Early Modern witch trials may have further eliminated lingering remnants of European shamanism (if in fact "shamanism" can even be used to accurately describe the beliefs and practices of those cultures).

The repression of shamanism continued as Catholic influence spread with Spanish colonization. In the Caribbean, and Central and South America, Catholic priests followed in the footsteps of the Conquistadors and were instrumental in the destruction of the local traditions, denouncing practitioners as "devil worshippers" and having them executed. In North America, the English Puritans conducted periodic campaigns against individuals perceived as witches. More recently, attacks on shamanic practitioners have been carried out at the hands of Christian missionaries to third world countries. As recently as the nineteen seventies, historic petroglyphs were being defaced by missionaries in the Amazon. A similarly destructive story can be told of the encounter between Buddhists and shamans, e.g., in Mongolia (See Caroline Humphrey with Urgunge Onon, 1996).

Today, shamanism survives primarily among indigenous peoples. Shamanic practice continues today in the tundras, jungles, deserts, and other rural areas, and also in cities, towns, suburbs, and shantytowns all over the world. This is especially widespread in Africa as well as South America, where "mestizo shamanism" is widespread.

Shamanism and New Age movement

Main article: Neoshamanism

The New Age movement has appropriated some ideas from shamanism as well as beliefs and practices from Eastern religions and a variety of indigenous cultures. As with other such appropriations, the original practitioners of these traditions frequently condemn New Age use as misunderstood or superficially understood and/or applied.[2]

There is an endeavor in some occult and esoteric circles to reinvent shamanism in a modern form, drawing from core shamanism - a set of beliefs and practices synthesized by the controversial Michael Harner - often revolving around the use of ritual drumming and dance, and Harner's interpretations of various indigenous religions. Harner has faced much criticism for implying that pieces of diverse religions can be taken out of context to form some sort of "universal" shamanic tradition. Some of these neoshamans also focus on the ritual use of entheogens, as well as chaos magic. Allegedly, European-based Neoshamanic traditions are focused upon the researched or imagined traditions of ancient Europe, where they believe many mystical practices and belief systems were suppressed by the Christian church. Some of these practitioners express a desire to practice a system that is based upon their own ancestral traditions. Some anthropologists and practitioners have discussed the impact of such "neoshamanism" as 'giving extra pay' (Harvey, 1997 and elsewhere) to indigenous American traditions, particularly as many Pagan- or Heathen-'shamanic practitioners' of legitimate cultural traditions do not call themselves shamans, but instead use specific names derived from the older European traditions - the völva or seidkona (seid-woman) of the sagas being an example (see Blain 2002, Wallis 2003). Shamanism has also been used in New Age therapies which use enactment and association with other realities as an intervention [3][4]

Areal variations

Europe

While shamanism had a strong tradition in Europe before the rise of monotheism, shamanism remains as a traditional, organized religion only in Mari-El and Udmurtia, two semi-autonomous provinces of Russia with large Finno-Ugric minority populations. It was widespread in Europe during the Stone Age.

Asia

Siberia

Main article: Shamanism in Siberia

Siberia is regarded as the locus classicus of shamanism. It is inhabited by many different peoples. Many of its Uralic, Altaic, Paleosiberian (see the main article) peoples had living shamanistic practices even in modern times. Many classical ethnograpical sources of “shamanism” were recoded at Siberian peoples.

Many hunter-gatherer groups, or reindeer breeders practiced shamanism as a living tradition also in modern times (e.g. Samoyedic people), especially those living in isolation until recent times (Nganasans).

When the People's Republic of China was formed in 1949 and the border with Russian Siberia was formally sealed, many nomadic Tungus groups that practiced shamanism were confined in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. These include the Ewenki and the Oroqen. The last shaman of the Oroqen, Chuonnasuan (Meng Jin Fu), died in October 2000.

In many other cases, shamanism was in decline even at the beginning of 20^th century (Selkups).

More detailed discussion (where living shamanistic practices were documented also in modern times) can be found in the main article.

Korea

Main article: Korean shamanism

Shamanism is still practiced in South Korea, where the role of a shaman is most frequently taken by women known as mudangs, while male shamans (rare)are called baksoo mudangs. Korean shamans are considered to be from a low class.

A person can become a shaman through hereditary title or through natural ability. Shamans are consulted in contemporary society for financial and marital decisions.

The Korean shamans use of the Amanita Muscaria in traditional practice is thought to have been suppressed as early as the Choseon dynasty. Another (extremely poisonous) mushroom was renamed as the Shaman's mushroom, "무당버섯". Korean shamans are also reputed to use spiders over the subject's skin. Colourful robes, dancing, drums and ritual weapons are also features.

Other Asian areas

There is a strong shamanistic influence in the Bön religion of some Central Asians, and in Tibetan Buddhism. Buddhism became popular with shamanic peoples such as the Tibetans, Mongols, and Manchu beginning in the eighth century. Forms of shamanistic ritual combined with Tibetan Buddhism became institutionalized as the state religion under the Chinese Yuan dynasty and Qing dynasty. However, in the shamanic cultures still practiced by various ethnic groups in areas such as Nepal and northern India, shamans are not necessarily considered enlightened, and often are even feared for their ability to use their power to carry out malicious intent.

In Tibet, the Nyingma schools in particular, had a Tantric tradition that had married "priests" known as Ngakpas or Ngakmas/mos (fem.). The Ngakpas were often employed or commissioned to rid the villages of demons or disease, creations of protective amulets, the carrying out of religious rites etc. The Ngakpas should however, been grounded in Buddhist philosophy and not simply another form of shaman, but sadly, this was most often not the case. There have always been, however, highly realised and accomplished ngakpas. They were in their own right great lamas who were of equal status as lamas with monastic backgrounds. The monasteries, as in many conventional religious institutions, wished to preserve their own traditions, sometimes at the expense of others. The monasteries depended upon the excesses of patrons for support. This situation often led to a clash between the more grassroots and shamanic character of the travelling Chodpa and Ngakpa culture and the more conservative religious monastic system.

Shamanism is still practiced in the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa), where shamans are known as nuru, and in a few rural areas in Japan proper. Many Korean believed that the Shinto religion is the result of the transformation of a shamanistic tradition into a state religion.

Eskimo cultures

Yup'ik shaman exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy, Nushagak, Alaska, 1890s.

Main article: Shamanism among Eskimo peoples

Eskimo groups comprise a huge area stretching from Eastern Siberia through Alaska and Northern Canada (including Labrador Peninsula) to Greenland. Shamanistic practice and beliefs have been recorded at several parts of this vast area crosscutting continental borders.

Shamanistic features

When speaking of “shamanism” in various Eskimo groups, we must remember that (as mentioned above) the term “shamanism” can cover certain characteristics of various different cultures . Mediation is regarded often as an important aspect of shamanism in general . Also in most Eskimo groups, the role of mediator is known well : the person filling it in is actually believed to be able to contact the beings who populate the belief system. Term “shaman” is used in several English-language publications also in relation to Eskimos (academic ; popular ). Also the /aˈliɣnalʁi/ of the Asian Eskimos is translated as “shaman” in the Russian literature (; another in English ).

The belief system assumes specific links between the living people, the souls of hunted animals, and those of dead people. The soul concepts of several groups are specific examples of soul dualism (showing variability in details in the various cultures).

Like most cultures labelled as “shamanistic”, the Eskimo groups have several special features, or at least ones that are not present in all shamanistic cultures. Unlike in many Siberian cultures, the careers of most Eskimo shamans lack the motivaton of force: becoming a shaman is usually a result of deliberate consideration, not a necessity forced by the spirits.

Certain unity, but far from homogenity

Another possible concern: do the belief systems of various Eskimo groups have such common features at all, that would justify any mentioning them together? There was no political structure above the groups, their languages were relative, but differred more or less, often forming language continuums (online ). There was a certain unity in the culture of the Eskimo groups, together with diversity, far from homogenity.

Although a large distance separated the Asiatic Eskimos and Greenland Eskimos, some groups had certain similarities in their shamanistic seances. Similar remarks apply for comparisons of Asiatic with North American Eskimo shamanisms. Also the usage of a specific shaman's language is documented at several Eskimo groups , including Asian ones (, p. 128 of ). Similar remarks apply for aspects of the belief system not directly linked to shamanism: tattooing (online English ); accepting the killed game as a dear guest visiting the hunter (p. 218 ); usage of amulets (p. 380 of ); lack of totem animals (online Russian ; paper ).

Some examples for the diversity: the myths concerning the role of shaman had several variants, and also the name of their protagonists varied from culture to culture (see the many local names of Sea Woman in the main article). Also the soul conceptions, e.g. the details of the soul dualism showed great variablility, ranging from guardianship to a kind of reincarnation. Conceptions of spirits or other beings had also many variants (see e.g. the tupilak concept).

Africa

In the early century traditonal healers in parts of Africa were often refer in a derogatory manner to as "witch doctors" by early European settlers and explorers.

Americas

Native American "conjuror" in a 1590 engraving

Native American and First Nations cultures have diverse religious beliefs. There was never one universal Native American religion or spiritual system. Though many Native American cultures have traditional healers, ritualists, singers, mystics, lore-keepers and "Medicine People", none of them ever used, or use, the term "shaman" to describe these religious leaders. Rather, like other indigenous cultures the world over, their spiritual functionaries are described by words in their own languages, and in many cases are not taught to outsiders.

Many of these indigenous religions have been grossly misrepresented by outside observers and anthropologists, even to the extent of superficial or seriously mistaken anthropological accounts being taken as "more authentic" than the accounts of actual members of the cultures and religions in question. Often these accounts suffer from "Noble Savage"-type romanticism and racism. Some contribute to the fallacy that Native American cultures and religions are something that only existed in the past, and which can be mined for data despite the opinions of Native communities.

Not all Indigenous communities have roles for specific individuals who mediate with the spirit world on behalf of the community. Among those that do have this sort religious structure, spiritual methods and beliefs may have some commonalities, though many of these commonalities are due to some nations being closely-related, from the same region, or through post-Colonial governmental policies leading to the combining of formerly-independent nations on reservations. This can sometimes lead to the impression that there is more unity among belief systems than there was in antiquity.

Navajo medicine men, known as "Hatałii", use several methods to diagnose the patient's ailments. These may include using special tools such as crystal rocks, and abilities such as hand-trembling and trances, sometimes accompanied by chanting. The Hatałii will select a specific healing chant for that type of ailment. Navajo healers must be able to correctly perform a healing ceremony from beginning to end. If they don't, the ceremony will not work. Training a Hatałii to perform ceremonies is extensive, arduous, and takes many years, and is not unlike priesthood. The apprentice learns everything by watching his teacher, and memorizes the words to all the chants. Many times, a medicine man cannot learn all sixty of the traditional ceremonies, so he will opt to specialize in a select few.

Among the Mapuche people of South America, the community "shaman", usually a woman, is known as the Machi, and serves the community by performing ceremonies to cure diseases, ward off evil, influence the weather and harvest, and by practicing other forms of healing such as herbalism.

Amazonia

Urarina shaman, 1988

In the Peruvian Amazon Basin and north coastal regions of the country, the healer shamans are known as curanderos. In addition to Peruvian shaman’s (curanderos) use of rattles, and their ritualized ingestion of mescaline-bearing San Pedro cactuses (Trichocereus pachanoi) for the divinization and diagnosis of sorcery, north-coastal shamans are famous throughout the region for their intricately complex and symbolically dense healing altars called mesas (tables). Sharon (1993) has argued that the mesas symbolize the dualistic ideology underpinning the practice and experience of north-coastal shamanism. For Sharon, the mesas are the, "physical embodiment of the supernatural opposition between benevolent and malevolent energies” (Dean 1998:61).

In the Amazon Rainforest, at several Indian groups the shaman acts also as a manager of scare ecological resources (paper ; online ). The rich symbolism behind Tukano shamanism has been documented in some in-depth field works even at the last decades of the XX^th century.

Fuegians

Although Fuegians (the indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego) were all hunter-gatherers, but they did not share a common culture. The material culture was not homogenous, either: the big island and the archipelago made two different adaptations possible. Some of the cultures were coast-dwelling, others were land-oriented.

Both Selk'nam and Yámana had persons filling in shaman-like roles. The Selk'nams believed their /xon/s to have supernatural capabilities, e.g. to control weather. The figure of /xon/ appeared in myths, too. The Yámana /jekamuʃ/ corresponds to the Selknam /xon/.

Pacific Region

Australia

In Australia various aboriginal groups refer to their "shamans" as "clever men" and "clever women" also as kadji. These Aboriginal shamans use maban or mabain, the material that gives them their magical powers. The term maban is also cognate with the term "shaman". Besides healing, contact with spiritual beings, involvement in initiation and other secret ceremonies, they are also enforcers of tribal laws, keepers of special knowledge and may "hex" to death, one who breaks a social taboo, by singing a song only known to the "clever men".

Shamans in the Media

• Fire Emblem — In the Fire Emblem series of games, the shaman is a playable character class that uses dark magic.
• Metal Gear Solid — Vulcan Raven is a shaman.
• World of Warcraft — Shamans are a class.
• Warcraft III — the Orcs practiced shamanism, and the Shaman is a spellcaster.
• MMORPGs — Shamans feature in several fantasy themed online games as magic using player classes.
• Brother Bear — A Walt Disney feature length Motion Picture that has a shamanistic theme.
• The Mighty Boosh — The character of Naboo the Shaman, a parody of the traditional shaman appears throughout the shows.
• Shaman King — A manga and anime series about shamans.
• Shamanic Princess — An anime series featuring magic-users with shamanistic powers.
• Mumbo Jumbo — A shaman in the Banjo-Kazooie series who helps them on their quests by transforming them into various creatures. In Banjo Tooie the player takes control of Mumbo to perform various tasks.

See also

• Astral spirits
• Animism
• Ayahuasca
• Core Shamanism
• Entheogen
• Manna
• Machi (Shaman)
• Neuroanthropology
• Neurotheology — speculation regarding the biological basis of spirituality and spiritual practices
• Peyote
• Plastic shaman
• Power Animal
• Psychopomp
• Shaman's Drum Journal
• Technoshamanism
• Thoughtform
• Yatiri

References

• Diószegi, Vilmos: Samanizmus. Gondolat (series: Élet és Tudomány Kiskönyvtár), Budapest, 1962.
• Gusinde, Martin: Nordwind—Südwind. Mythen und Märchen der Feuerlandindianer. E. Röth, Kassel, 1966.
• Hoppál, Mihály: Sámánok Eurázsiában. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 2005. ISBN 963-05-8295-3. (The title means “Shamans in Eurasia”, the book is written in Hungarian, but it is published also in German, Estonian and Finnish.) Site of publisher with short description on the book (in Hungarian).
• Lawlor, Robert (1991). Voices Of The First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal dreamtime. Rochester, Vermont: Inner Traditions International, Ltd. ISBN 0-89281-355-5

Further reading

• Blain, Jenny, Nine Worlds of Seid-Magic: Ecstasy and neo-Shamanism in North European Paganism. 2002. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-25651-8
• Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology. 1959; reprint, New York and London: Penguin Books, 1976. ISBN 0-14-019443-6
• Devereux, George, "Shamans as Neurotics", American Anthropologist, New Series, Vol. 63, No. 5, Part 1. (Oct., 1961), pp. 1088-1090.
• Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. 1964; reprint, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-691-11942-2
• Michael Harner: The Way of the Shaman. 1980, new edition, HarperSanFrancisco, 1990, ISBN 0-06-250373-1
• Åke Hultkrantz (Honorary Editor in Chief): Shaman. Journal of the International Society for Shamanistic Research
• Joan Halifax, ed. Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives. 1979; reprint, New York and London: Penguin, 1991. ISBN 0-14-019348-0
• Graham Harvey, ed. Shamanism: A Reader. New York and London: Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-25330-6.
• Sandra Ingerman. Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self. HarperSanFrancicso, 2006. ISBN 0-06-122786-2 [5]
• Alice Kehoe, Shamans and Religion: An Anthropoligical Exploration in Critical Thinking. 2000. London: Waveland Press. ISBN 1-57766-162-1
• Jeremy Narby and Francis Huxley, eds. Shamans Through Time: 500 Years on the Path to Knowledge. 2001; reprint, New York: Tarcher, 2004. ISBN 0-500-28327-3
• Åke Ohlmarks 1939: Studien zum Problem des Schamanismus. Gleerup, Lund.
• John Perkins. The World Is As You Dream It: Shamanic Teachings from the Amazon and Andes. Rochester, Vt.: Park Street, 1994. ISBN 0-89281-459-4 [6]
• Daniel Pinchbeck, Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism. New York: Broadway Books, 2002. ISBN 0-7679-0742-6
• Piers Vitebsky, The Shaman: Voyages of the Soul - Trance, Ecstasy and Healing from Siberia to the Amazon, Duncan Baird, 2001. ISBN 1-903296-18-8
• Robert J. Wallis, Shamans/neo-Shamans: Ecstasy, Alternative Archaeologies and Contemporary Pagans. London: Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-30203-X
• Andrei Znamenski, ed. Shamanism: Critical Concepts, 3 vols. London: Routledge, 2004. ISBN 0-415-31192-6
• Andrei Znamenski, Shamanism in Siberia: Russian Records of Siberian Spirituality. Dordrech and Boston: Kluwer/Springer, 2003. ISBN 1-4020-1740-5
• Richard de Mille, ed. The Don Juan Papers: Further Castaneda Controversies. Santa Barbara, CA: Ross-Erikson, 1980.
• Daniel C. Noel. Soul Of Shamanism: Western Fantasies, Imaginal Realities.Continuum, 1997. ISBN 0-8264-1081-2
• Jay Courtney Fikes, Carlos Castaneda: Academic Opportunism and the Psychedelic Sixties,Millennia Press, Canada, 1993ISBN 0-9696960-0-0
• Philip Jenkins, Dream Catchers: How Mainstream America Discovered Native Spirituality. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-516115-7
• Winkelman, Michael (2000) Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing. Westport, CT: Bergin & Garvey.
• Hoffman, Kay (1998). The Trance Workbook: understanding & using the power of altered states. Translated by Elfie Homann, Clive Williams, and Dr Christliebe El Mogharbel. Translation edited by Laurel Ornitz. ISBN 0-8069-1765-2

External links

• Buryat-Mongol Shamanism
• Chinese Shamanka - Short documentary about mop-nyit ceremony in Sichuan.
• NAFPS - New Age Frauds and Plastic Shamans is a First Nations (American Indian) group devoted to alerting seekers about fraudulent teachers, and helping them avoid being exploited or participating in exploitation.
• Shamanic Healing Rituals, written by Sem, Tatyana. Russian Museum of Ethnography.
• Shamans of the Amazon documentary video
• A View from the Headwaters written by anthropologist Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff. The Ecologist, Vol. 29 No. 4, July 1999. It discusses the symbolics of shamanism of Amazonian indigenous groups, and also its "ecological" functions: avoiding the depletion of scare resources.