Shamanism

Shamanism is a timeless and ancient style of religion, involving beliefs and practices that predate history, although the word itself comes from the Tungus people of Siberia, Russia₁. Shamans still operate today in North America in some native Indian communities and amongst some Australian aborigines.₂ The oldest evidence of Shamanism comes from European cave paintings, the oldest of which are over 30,000 years old₃. It is based on animism - the belief that spirits are everywhere, indwelling not only all animals, but objects too₄. Shamans are tribal spiritual leaders who are believed to be skilled in harnessing animal spirits as allies in order to look after the local community_5,6 and to be able to act as "mediator between the human world and the world of the spirits"₇. They attempt to ascertain the causes of calamities and to improve the luck and enterprise of the tribe. In trances and altered states of consciousness, often brought about through the use of psychoactive drugs, deprivation and mental illness (or episodes are sometimes simply faked), shamans attest to a world full of animal and ancestor spirits.₈

In the modern, developed world, new forms of shamanism have arisen as part of the general growth of neo-Paganism. Enthusiasts reconstruct, re-read and re-interpret shamanism, turning it into a general spiritual enterprise divorced from its original context and meaning. It "has spawned numerous related books, workshops and training sessions, some of which incorporate practices and paraphernalia from a variety of native traditions"₉, although many are critical of this modern reconstruction and the connection between modern and ancient shamanism can often be described as "tenuous" at best₁₀. Arthur Versluis writes with scorn of "some modern authors who give workshops" but says that "to be a shaman is not merely a weekend of entertainment"₁₁. The pagan scholar Nevil Drury starts his book Shamanism by saying that "it is a fantasy to endeavour to transpose the world of the shaman to our own contemporary setting"₁₂ and despite hundreds of years of shamanic experience, spiritualists nowadays report a completely different spirit world. So someone's making a lot of stuff up. Either way, our knowledge of physiology, delirium, neurology and science is simply too great, and the history of charlatans, cold-readers and other chauvinistic spiritualists is too long, for shamanism to ever seem authentic again.

1. An Ancient Practice
2. The Sociological Causes of the Rise of Modern Shamanism and Other Pagan NRMs
3. The Misunderstanding of Human Psychedelic and Neurological Experiences
4. Souls
5. The Afterlife
6. Page Index Search
7. Links

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1. An Ancient Practice

“Shamanism is a visionary approach to nature and the cosmos. Underlying all forms of shamanism is the belief that the universe is alive with gods and spirits. The oldest paintings in the world are Palaeolithic cave paintings made in about 30,000 BC. In 1940, caves were discovered at Lascaux in France containing many fine pictures of animals. [...] [Shamanism can be found] in many different regions of the world [including] Siberia, [...] North and South America, among the Australian Aborigines, in Indonesia, South-East Asia, China, Tibet and Japan.”

"Shamanism" by Nevill Drury (1996)₁₃

“There can be little doubt that Shamanism is very ancient; the oldest persuasive evidence is cave paintings in Europe and elsewhere that depict real and mythological animals, probably used for initiation ceremonies. These may have been re-enactments of a widespread belief in an underworld inhabited by animals and spirits, to which the shaman's disembodied spirit travelled to obtain healing or information. Some of these cave paintings have been dated to 30,000 BCE. This antiquity is part of the attraction of Shamanism to a growing number of adherents in countries that have not had a native tradition for many centuries.”

Prof. Elizabeth Puttick (2004)₃

2. The Sociological Causes of the Rise of Modern Shamanism and Other Pagan NRMs

“It seems to me that the resurgence of interest in native mythologies, and the mysticism of the East, all reflect a widespread yearning for a religious framework based on deep inner experience. Shamanism can certainly help us here.”

"Shamanism" by Nevill Drury (1996)₁₄

There are a few general causes of the continual growth of unusual, novel, small, untraditional, often magical, seemingly counter-cultural and Earth-centered religious movements. The New Age, the Celtic revival (Druids, et. al.), neo-Paganism and Wicca all seem to share some features and often share actual practices, beliefs and members₁₅, and all are growing in sync. Likewise, there are often similar motivations for people to get involved with these types of movements:

• Some adopt new religious movements and alternative spiritualities as reactions against the complexities of science and of reductionism₁₆ and many members of the New Age in particular maintain attacks upon science, calling it closed-minded and limited in scope_17,18. But the same rhetoric against the modern world can be found in conservative Christian and Muslim groups, so this does not entirely explain the growth of NRMs in particular.
• Anti-consumerism and anti-materialism supply common motives alongside general disillusionment with Western capitalism and globalisation₁₉. Two scholars who have comprehensively examined modern Paganism state that the rise of interest in Paganism is "a response to an increased dissatisfaction with the way the world is going ecologically, spiritually and materially; people are disillusioned by mainstream religion and the realisation that materialism leaves an internal emptiness" (Harvey & Hardman 1995₂₀). But these feelings are also shared by many other traditional and world religions and by secular critics. For example, zany Pentecostal Christianity, also a growth sector in religion, shares these traits. Harvey Cox in his analysis specifically states that Pentecostalism is a response against contemporary materialism, giving expression to "the language of the heart" and supporting "chaotic emotions without suppressing them", and providing people with an "alternative" life, all within a Christian context₂₁. All very similar proclamations to those supporting the New Age and many NRMs.
• Activism. Areas of popular concern are often taken up quickly by small and new religious movements. Activist causes have found accord with neo-pagan groups and bolstered their numbers and popularity, in particular from the 1970s. As liberal Christians have embraced many of these same concerns₂₂ we can see that they are not the reserve of NRMs but of modern religious liberalism and moral conscientiousness.
• Environmentalism is commonly proclaimed by all kinds of pagan, Celt, pseudo-Native and New-Agers, and attracts many people on the basis of their concerns and passions for the world that we live in. A "desperate" reaction to the sad loss of the countryside and rapid urbanisation from 1890 onwards made people turn towards paganism_23,24 as a theoretical solution - and soon enough, neo-pagan religions arose to take on the challenge. Predictably, such people are nature-deprived city folk "as is usually true of those who love nature (the farmers are too busy fighting it)"₂₅. Many alternative spiritualities now sell themselves as representing "green religion"₂₆. Conservationism and sustainability are ubiquitous and this is the case both amongst the emoting of individuals and the doctrine and stance of organised groups.₂₇ In "Shamanism" (1996) Nevil Drury writes that "at a time when we are all becoming increasingly aware of our environment and the fragility of ecological balance, the essential call of shamanism is clear: we should respect the sanctity of Nature"₂₈ and neo-shamanism is a strong trend amongst "individualized Eco-Pagan spiritualities"₂₉.
  

  3. The Misunderstanding of Human Psychedelic and Neurological Experiences

  “Much has been made of the idea that shamanism is born of crisis and disease, and it has also been compared with schizophrenia. Julian Silverman, who is a leading advocate of this view, feels that the main difference between schizophrenics and shamans is that shamans are 'institutionally supported' in their state of mental derangement. [... But] a clear distinction obviously needs to be made at this point. While shamans and schizophrenics share the ability to move in and out of different mental states, the shaman has gradually learned how to integrate the different realms of consciousness.”
  

  "Shamanism" by Nevill Drury (1996)₃₈

  The historian Mircea Eliade come to a similar conclusion, stating that "the primitive magician, the medicine man, or the shaman is not only a sick man; he is, above all, a sick man who has been cured [through his career and often] the shaman's or medicine man's vocation is revealed through an illness or epileptoid attack"₃₉. Such a call to shamanism through spontaneous internally sourced psychedelic neurological incidents marked out the "greater shaman" who had more respect as a spiritualist than other forms of hereditary or initiatory shaman₄₀.
  In What Causes Religion and Superstitions? I lay out the fact that people seek out new religions and faiths during "desperate times", during which people are more likely to try out wild and unlikely faiths and practices. "Waldemar Bogoras, who studied the Chuckcee at first hand" says the same thing: "The shamanistic call may come during some great misfortune, dangerous and protracted illness, sudden loss of family or property. Then the person, having no other services, turns to the spirits and claims their assistance"₄₀.
  Finally, in recognition of the research and writing Drury has done on shamanism, here's a further quote from him that highlights some of the causes of shamanism that scream "I need a neurologist" to any modern doctor: "An unnamed Goldi shaman ... had lengthy discussions with Russian anthropologist Lev Shternberg in the early 1900s. He explained to Shternberg that he had initially been drawn to shamanism after suffering bad headaches. Other shamans were unable to cure him, and so ye yearned to be a shaman himself. One night while he was asleep on his bed, he was visited by a female spirit [who] told him she was an ayami (one of his ancestor spirits)" and she taught him how to be a shaman. "The shaman related to Shternberg how his spirit wife could change form at will, sometimes appearing as an old woman, sometimes as a wolf or winged tiger.₄₁.
  

  4. Souls

  Shamanism embodies the concept of animism - the belief that spirits are everywhere, indwelling not only all animals, but objects too₄. Shamans are tribal spiritual leaders who are believed to be skilled in harnessing animal spirits as allies in order to look after the local community_5,6 and to be able to act as "mediator between the human world and the world of the spirits"₇. Of particular importance are animal spirits, and ancestor spirits. All spirits inhabit a world where they can freely talk to each other in the same language the local shaman also happens to speak.
  A feature of Native American shamanism is the concept of people losing their souls as a result of an antagonistic sorcerer or as a result of illness, "meaning that the psyche, or an element of it, is no longer integrated with the entire being, and the shaman must search for it in the psychic realms and bring it back"₄₈. Many today detect in this the signs of myth-making done in order to explain away the strange effects on the personality that some illnesses and neurological problems can cause. In a pre-scientific world of animistic belief, spiritual warfare was a combination of psychodrama conducted by the shaman simply because it was what was expected of him, and of good old fashion titillating story telling, but, stories which may well have been genuinely believed in by many.
  Spiritualists, psychics and mediums today all report a completely different spiritual world - one awash almost exclusively with the spirits of fellow humans. Shamans were thoroughly convincing and entire culture's embraced their outlook, saw the evidence of the work, and understood the truths of their proclamations about the spirits, their description of their many animal guardian angels and so on. So why is there such a difference between how enthusiasts see the spirit world today? This is a difficult question to answer without coming to the conclusion that several cultures must have it completely wrong, and that their heart-felt and cherished beliefs are, generally speaking, mostly wrong.
  

  5. The Afterlife

  In Siberia the shamans know that the dead enjoy lives in the underworld that are very much like the living: they hunt, they fish, and they chatter to relatives. After people's death, shamans must actually help a spirit get into the underworld, else they become lost spirits, causing problems for the living._49,50. Such a contrast to the deluge of Christian mystics with their heaven and hell - where spirits cannot be guided, and god sends spirits to the right place. At least one of those two groups of people is completely wrong about their culture's entire experience of the spiritworld and of the afterlife.
  Siberian shamans' knowledge of the afterlife also contradicts the experiences of North American shamen. Versluis documents how many North American tribes believed in a sky realm where people lived happily after death (where the seasons were also reversed), and a world below for "those who are punished in the afterlife"₅₁. And in another complete divergence from the spiritual truths known outside of American, Thunder Cloud was a shaman from Winnebago who "maintained that he was able to consciously recall two previous incarnations. In the second he actually watched the people burying him after his death"₅₂. Therefore, reincarnation was the destiny of the dead. It is not the case that we could declare that in reality, some spirits get lost, most go the underworld, and some are reincarnated. That's not what shamanism teaches us. Those who can soul travel and actually talk to spirits are told by the spirits what the score is with afterlife. So why it is that in North America, shamen find themselves reincarnated, but no shamen elsewhere have discovered this? And why do the spirits of the underworld not correct the errors of North American shamans, and tell them that actually spirits need guiding to the underworld, else they get lost? And why do Apache indians think that ghosts return in the form of owls? These contradictions in beliefs teaches us one main thing: these believers are not in touch with any reality except that which their local culture has taught them. A lot of people are simply wrong about the beliefs that they cherish, and beliefs that are backed up with strong personal and cultural testimonies.