Shaman

Shamanism X V

noreply@fubar.com (DarkLady) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:36:15 -0700

Criticism of the term “shaman” or “shamanism”

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.
A tableau presenting figures of various cultures filling in mediator-like roles, often being termed as "shaman" in the literature. The tableau presents the diversity of this concept.

Kehoe is highly critical of Mircea Eliade's work. Eliade, being a philosopher and historian of religions rather than an anthropologist, had never done any field work or made any direct contact with 'shamans' or cultures practicing 'shamanism', though he did spend four years studying at the University of Calcutta in India where he received his doctorate based on his Yoga thesis and was acquainted with Mahatma Gandhi. According to Kehoe, Eliade's 'shamanism' is an invention synthesized from various sources unsupported by more direct research. To Kehoe, what some 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.

Mih�ly Hopp�l also discusses whether the term “shamanism” is appropriate. He recommends using the term “shamanhood”� or “shamanship” 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 20th century. He believes that this term is less general and places more stress on the local variations, and it emphasizes also that shamanism is not a religion of sacred dogmas, but linked to the everyday life in a practical way.� Following similar thoughts, he also conjectures a contemporary paradigm shift.� Also Piers Vitebsky mentions, that despite really astonishing similarities, there is no unity in shamanism. The various, fragmented shamanistic practices and beliefs coexist with other beliefs everywhere. There is no record of pure shamanistic societies (although, as for the past, their existence is not impossible).

�Shamanism and New Age movement

The New Age movement has appropriated some ideas from shamanism as well as beliefs and practices from Eastern religions and Native American cultures. As with other such appropriations, the original practitioners of these traditions frequently condemn New Age use as misunderstood, sensationalized, or superficially understood and/or applied.� Some Nanai shamans experienced performances on the stage as dangerous: inappropriate (untimely, superfluous) invocation of the helping spirits can raise their anger.

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 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'�� 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 v�lva or seidkona (seid-woman) of the sagas being an example� .

Many New Age spiritual seekers travel to Peru to work with ayahuasqueros, shamans who engage in the ritual use of ayahuasca, a psychedelic tea which has been documented to cure everything from depression to addiction. When taking ayahuasca, participants frequently report meeting spirits and receiving divine revelations. Shamanism has also been used in New Age therapies which use enactment and association with other realities as an intervention

Shamanism X I V

noreply@fubar.com (DarkLady) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:35:20 -0700

Shamanism among the Yąnomam� (of the Venezolano Amazonas and the Brazilian Roraima) is described in Tales of the Yanomami by Jacques Lizot.

There is Asurin� shamanism of Par�, Brazil.

Harakmbut shamanism (of Peru) involves curing by dream-interpretion.

Among other literature on South American tropical forest shamanism are:-

�� * In Darkness and Secrecy. (for various tribes north of the Amazon)

�Mapuche

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.

� Fuegians

Although Fuegians (the indigenous peoples of Tierra del Fuego) were all hunter-gatherers,� 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 Y�mana 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 Y�mana /jekamuʃ/� corresponds to the Selknam /xon/.

�Oceania

On the island of Papua New Guinea, indigenous tribes believe that illness and calamity are caused by dark spirits, or masalai, which cling to a person's body and "poison" them. Shamans, such as the one pictured to the right, are summoned in order to "purge" the unwholesome spirits from a person. Shamans also perform rain-making ceremonies and can allegedly improve a hunter's ability to catch animals.

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 is believed to give them their purported magical powers. 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".

Shamanism X I I I

noreply@fubar.com (DarkLady) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:31:44 -0700

Parades in San Miguel de Allende's San Miguel Archangel ceremony are really linked to the most ancient Mesoamerican traditions, and have grown in participation, including participants who may be unaware of the original reasons for the events or who the real keepers are for the ceremony. People watching parades may be unaware that the leaders often did not sleep at all the night before and that there is a poignant reverence for the Divine that gives them uncanny vitality and stamina for the arduous preparations, dancing, and serving meals late into the day's conclusions, all without having slept the night before.
Marcela Andre ConchMaya

Marcela Andre Lopez de la Cerda, reinitiating conchsounding after 800 years on the round Quetzalcoatl adoratory which is newly excavated, called the rain on 3 May 2008. Rainfall increased threefold.

In San Miguel Allende, Marcela Andre Lopez de la Cerda is the Lord Keeper of the Sacred Conch and was named Malinche Mayor by Don Felix Luna Romero in 2006, these are renewed ceremonies in the oldest descendants of Chichimeca royalty who founded San Miguel Allende and is the author of the preceding text on the Northern Boundary of Mesoamerica.

Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland
�

Shamanic practices are also present in tribes in northern Canada, such the animism and shamanism of the Chipewyan and of the Cree.

�Amazonia

In the Peruvian Amazon Basin and north coastal regions of the country, the healer shamans are known as curanderos. Ayahuasqueros are Peruvian shamans who specialize in the plant medicine ayahuasca, a psychedelic tea used for physical and psychological healing and divine revelation. Ayahuasqueros have become popular among Western spiritual seekers, who claim that the shamans and their ayahuasca brews have cured them of everything from depression to addiction to cancer.

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” .

In the Amazon Rainforest, at several Indian groups the shaman acts also as a manager of scarce ecological resources� . The rich symbolism behind Tukano shamanism has been documented in some in-depth field works even in the last decades of the 20th century.�

The yaskomo of the Waiwai is believed to be able to perform a soul flight. The soul flight can serve several functions:

�� * healing
�� * flying to the sky to consult cosmological beings (the moon or the brother of the moon) to get a name for a new-born baby
�� * flying to the cave of peccaries' mountains to ask the father of peccaries for abundance of game
�� * flying deep down in a river, to achieve the help of other beings.

Thus, a yaskomo is believed to be able to reach sky, earth, water, in short, every element.

Shamanism X I I

noreply@fubar.com (DarkLady) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:30:27 -0700

�Americas
Native American "conjuror"�

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 of 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 do not, 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.

Santo Daime and Uni�o do Vegetal ( abbreviated to UDV) are syncretic religions with elements of shamanism. They use an entheogen called Ayahuasca to connect with the spirit realm and receive divine guidance.
� Meso-American shamanism

The Maya people of Guatemala, Belize, and Southern Mexico practice a highly sophisticated form of shamanism based upon astrology and a form of divination known as "the blood speaking", in which the shaman is guided in divination and healing by pulses in the veins of his arms and legs.

In contemporary Nahuatl, shamanism is known as cualli ohtli ('the good path') leading (during dreaming by 'friends of the night') to Tlaloc�n.

� Mesoamerica's Northern Boundaries

Mesoamerica was defined by the culture of corn cultivation which allowed a food independence that provided the time and stability to create great urban and ceremonial cultures.

The Mayans were influenced by the Toltecs, a more legendary culture that left its mark in Guanajuato, Mexico, where the mystical, rather than the (Aztec) administrative priorites defined the preHispanic cultures.

Throughout Mesoamerica there was an agrarian calendar that worked, the more successfully managed, the better the crops, giving rise to bigger working populations to erect the pyramids.

The calendar's effectiveness was not going to be abandoned by natives, and evangelizing Christian colonists had to mesh the native agrarian calendar with their Christian holidays: this is where the key ceremonies continue alive and well in Mexico, with a gilded veneer of Catholicism that is inseparable from millennial traditions, i.e., the cult of Quetzalcoatl in Guanajuato, Tula in Hidalgo, Teotihuacan's old culture in the State of Mexico and Chichen Itza in Yucatan.

There are ancient ceremonies that revere caves, the source of the ancient pilgrimages to found Tenochtitlan, and it is in the night-long vigils that one lives timeless moments, and walks through a threshold that destroys time barriers, where one walks out a very strong and wise noble, to serve others, and is liberated from pain and duality.

The pyramids were buried intentionally and abandoned, and are soon to be open to visitors in Guanajuato. There are horizontal lines on the murals of the temple burial newly discovered.

The magic was in the sky, it turns out. And to this day the real ceremony is with offerings, offrendas, with candles used to light the way, prayers to powerful protective ancestors, and purification with the aid of the chief or his designated compadre. It takes years to really figure out what is going on, as it is not really explained directly within the authentic groups.

Shamanism X I

noreply@fubar.com (DarkLady) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:29:22 -0700

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. Also the /aˈliɣnalʁi/ of the Asian Eskimos is translated as “shaman” in the Russian� and English� literature.

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 motivation of force: becoming a shaman is usually a result of deliberate consideration, not a necessity forced by the spirits.

�Diversity, with some similarities

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 differed more or less, often forming language continuums� .

There are some similarities in the cultures of the Eskimo groups together with diversity, far from homogeneity.

The Russian linguist Меновщиков, an expert of Siberian Yupik and Sireniki Eskimo languages (while admitting that he is not a specialist in ethnology ) mentions, that the shamanistic seances of those Siberian Yupik and Sireniki groups he has seen have many similarities to those of Greenland Inuit groups described by Fridtjof Nansen,� although a large distance separates Siberia and Greenland. There may be certain similarities also in Asiatic groups with some North American ones. Also the usage of a specific shaman's language is documented among several Eskimo groups, used mostly for talking to spirits.� Also the Ungazighmiit (belonging to Siberian Yupiks) had a special allegoric usage of some expressions.

The local cultures showed great diversity. The myths concerning the role of shaman had several variants, and also the name of their protagonists varied from culture to culture. For example, a mythological figure, usually referred to in the literature by the collective term Sea Woman, has factually many local names: Nerrivik “meat dish” among Polar Inuit, Nuliayuk “lubricous” among Netsilingmiut, Sedna “the nether one” among Baffin Land Inuit.� Also the soul conceptions, e.g. the details of the soul dualism showed great variability, ranging from guardianship to a kind of reincarnation. Conceptions of spirits or other beings had also many variants.

�Africa
� African traditional religion

Some forms of African traditional religion are sometimes also subumed under "shamanism".� In central Mali, Dogon sorcerers (both male and female) claim to have communication with a head deity named Ama, who advises them on healing and divinatory practices.

In the early 19th century traditional healers in parts of Africa were often referred to in a derogatory manner as "witch doctors" practising Juju by early European settlers and explorers.The San or Bushmen ancestors who were primarily scattered in Southern Africa before the 19th century, are reported to have practiced a practice similar to shamanism. In areas in Eastern Free State and Lesotho, where they co-existed with the early Sotho tribes, local folklore describes them to have lived in caves where they drew pictures on cave walls during a trance and were also reputed to be good rain makers.

�� * The term "sangoma", as employed in Zulu and congeneric languages, is effectively equivalent to 'shaman'.
�� * The term "nganga" is equivalent to 'shaman'� as used by the Karanga, among whom remedies for ailments are discovered by the nganga being informed in a dream, by a deity, of the herb able to effect the cure and also of where that herb is to be found.

Shamanism X

noreply@fubar.com (DarkLady) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:28:10 -0700

Shamanism I X

noreply@fubar.com (DarkLady) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:26:40 -0700

Other Asian traditions

There is a strong shamanistic influence in the B�n 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 Mongolian Yuan dynasty and the Manchurian 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.
Kipchak stone statues of Pontic steppes. The nomadic Kipchak Turks followed a Shamanist religion.

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 Ch�dpa and Ngakpa culture and the more conservative religious monastic system.

Shamanism is still widely practiced in the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa), where shamans are known as 'Noro' (all women) and 'Yuta'. 'Noro' generally administer public or communal ceremonies while 'Yuta' focus on civil and private matters. Shamanism is also practiced in a few rural areas in Japan proper. It is commonly believed that the Shinto religion is the result of the transformation of a shamanistic tradition into a religion. Forms of practice vary somewhat in the several Ryukyu islands, so that there is, e.g., a distinct Miyako shamanism.

Some practices also seem to have been preserved in the Catholic religious traditions of aborigines in Taiwan� and some Kazakhs.

In Vietnam, shamans conduct rituals in many of the religious traditions that co-mingle in the majority and minority populations. In their rituals, music, dance, special garments and offerings are part of the performance that surround the spirit journey.

�Inuit and Eskimo cultures
Yup'ik shaman exorcising evil spirits from a sick boy, Nushagak, Alaska, 1890s.� Nushagak, located on Nushagak Bay of the Bering Sea in southwest Alaska, is part of the territory of the Yup'ik, speakers of the Central Alaskan Yup'ik language
� 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.

As for terminology used in the article: the term Eskimo has fallen out of favour in Canada and Greenland, where it is considered pejorative and the term Inuit has become more common. However, Eskimo is still considered acceptable among Alaska Natives of Yupik and Inupiaq (Inuit) heritage, and is preferred over Inuit as a collective reference. To date, no replacement term for Eskimo inclusive of all Inuit and Yupik people has achieved acceptance across the geographical area inhabited by the Inuit and Yupik peoples. The Inuit and Yupik languages together constitute one branch within the Eskimo-Aleut language family alongside the Aleut branch. (The Sireniki Eskimo language is sometimes proposed to form a third branch of the Eskimo,� but sometimes it is regarded as belonging to the Yupik languages. ) The languages of the Eskimo branch have certain common characteristics (compared to Aleut) which justifies "splitting off" the Eskimo branch inside the Eskimo-Aleut family.

Shamanism VIII

noreply@fubar.com (DarkLady) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:24:54 -0700

Some areas could enjoy a prolonged resistance due to their remoteness.

�� * Variants of shamanism among Eskimo peoples were once a widespread (and very diverse) phenomenon, but today are rarely practiced, and they were already in the decline among many groups even in the times when the first major ethnological researches were done, e.g. among Polar Eskimos, in the end of 19th century, Sagloq died, the last shaman who was believed to be able to travel to the sky and under the sea — and many other former shamanic capacities were lost in that time as well, like ventriloquism and sleight-of-hand.
�� * The isolated location of Nganasan people allowed shamanism to be a living phenomenon among them even in the beginning of 20th century, the last notable Nganasan shaman's s�ances could be recorded on film in the 1970s.

After exemplifying the general decline even in the most remote areas, let us mention that there are some revitalization or tradition-preserving efforts as a response. Besides collecting the memories, there are also some tradition-preserving and even revitalization efforts, sometimes led by authentic former shamans (for example among Sakha people and Tuvans). However, according to Richard L. Allen, Research & Policy Analyst for the Cherokee Nation, they are overwhelmed with fraudulent Shaman. "One may assume that anyone claiming to be a Cherokee "shaman, spiritual healer, or pipe- carrier," is equivalent to a modern day medicine show and snake-oil vendor."In fact, there is no Cherokee word for Shaman or Medicine Man. The Cherokee word for "medicine" or is Nvowti which means "power".

Besides tradition-preserving efforts, there are also neoshamansistic movements, these may differ from many tradtitional shamanistic practice and beliefs in several points. Admittedly, several traditional beliefs systems indeed have ecological considerations (for example, many Eskimo peoples), and among Tukano people, the shaman indeed has directly resource-protecting roles, see details in section Ecological aspect.

Today, shamanism survives primarily among indigenous peoples. Shamanic practices continue today in the tundras, jungles, deserts, and other rural areas, and even in cities, towns, suburbs, and shantytowns all over the world. This is especially true for Africa and South America, where "mestizo shamanism" is widespread.

�Regional variation
.

While shamanism had a strong tradition in Europe before the rise of monotheism, shamanism remains as a traditional, organized religion in Uralic, Altaic people and Huns; and also in Mari-El and Udmurtia, two semi-autonomous provinces of Russia with large Finno-Ugric minority populations. Shamanism in Scandinavia may be represented in rock art dating to the Neolithic era and was practiced throughout the Iron Age by the various Teutonic tribes and the Fino-Baltic peoples. Some peoples, which used to live in Siberia, have wandered to their present locations since then. For example, many Uralic peoples live now outside Siberia, however the original location of the Proto-Uralic peoples (and its extent) is debated. Combined phytogeographical and linguistic considerations (distribution of various tree species and the presence of their names in various Uralic languages) suggest that this area was north of Central Ural Mountains and on lower and middle parts of Ob River. The ancestors of Hungarian people or Magyars have wandered from their ancestral proto-Uralic area to the Pannonian Basin. There are currently no historically verifiable accounts that compare the practices of the Druids of Britain to Shamanistic practices. Shamanism is no more a living practice among Hungarians, but some remnants have been reserved as fragments of folklore, in folktales, customs.

�Siberia

Siberia is regarded as the locus classicus of shamanism. It is inhabited by many different ethnic groups. Many of its Uralic, Altaic, and Paleosiberian peoples observe shamanistic practices even in modern times. Many classical ethnographic sources of “shamanism” were recorded among Siberian peoples.

Among several Samoyedic peoples shamanism was a living tradition also in modern times, especially at groups living in isolation until recent times (Nganasans). The last notable Nganasan shaman's seances could be recorded on film in the 1970s.

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 20th century (Selkups).

�Korea

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 mushroom of the Russula genus was renamed as the Shaman's mushroom, "Mu-dang-beo-seot". Korean shamans are also reputed to use spiders over the subject's skin. Colorful robes, dancing, drums and ritual weapons are also features.

Shamanism VII

noreply@fubar.com (DarkLady) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:23:26 -0700

History

Hypotheses on origins

Shamanistic practices are sometimes claimed to predate all organized religions, dating back to the Paleolithic, and certainly to the Neolithic period.

Archaeological evidence exists for Mesolithic shamanism. In November 2008, researchers announced the discovery of a 12,000-year-old site in Israel that they regard as one of the earliest known shaman burials. The elderly woman had been arranged on her side, with her legs apart and folded inward at the knee. Ten large stones were placed on the head, pelvis and arms. Among her unusual grave goods were 50 complete tortoise shells, a human foot, and certain body parts from animals such as a cow tail and eagle wings. Other animal remains came from a boar, leopard, and two martens. "It seems that the woman … was perceived as being in a close relationship with these animal spirits," researchers noted. The grave was one of at least 28 at the site, located in a cave in lower Galilee and belonging to the Natufian culture, but is said to be unlike any other among the Natufians or in the Paleolithic period.

Historical times

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, institutional Christianity 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. 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

Decline and revitalization / tradition-preserving movements
�Attempts are being made to preserve and revitalize Tuvan shamanism:some former authentic shamans have begun to practice again, and young apprentices are being educated in an organized way.
In many areas, former shamans ceased to fill the functions in the community they used to, as they felt mocked by their own community, or regarded their own past as a deprecated thing, sometimes even unwilling to talk about it to an ethnographer.

Moreover, besides personal communications of former shamans, even some folklore texts narrate directly about a deterioration process. For example, a Buryat epic text details the wonderful deeds of the ancient “first shaman” Kara-G�rg�n: he could even compete with God, create life, steal back the soul of the sick from God without his consent. A subsequent text laments that shamans of older times were stronger, possessing capabilities like omnividence, fortune-telling even for decades in the future, moving as fast as bullet; the texts contrast them to the recent heartless, unknowing, greedy shamans.

In most affected areas, shamanistic practices ceased to exist, with authentic shamans died and their personal experiences following. The loss of memories is not always lessened by the fact the shaman is not always the only person in a community who knows the beliefs and motifs related to the local shamanhood (laics know myths as well, among Barasana, even though less;[ there are former shaman apprentices unable to complete the learning among some Greenlandic Inuit peoples, moreover, even laics can have trance-like experiences among Eskimos; the assistant of a shaman can be extremely knowledgeable among Oroqen). Although the shaman is often believed and trusted exactly because he/she "accommodates" to the "grammar" of the beliefs of the community, but several parts of the knowledge related to the local shamanhood consist of personal experiences of the shaman (illness), or root in his/her family life (the interpretation of the symbolics of his/her drum), thus, these are lost with his/her death. Besides of this, in many cultures, the entire traditional belief system has become endangered (often together with a partial or total language shift), the other people of the community remembering the associated beliefs and practices (or the language at all) became old or died, many folklore memories (songs, texts) went forgotten — this may threaten even such peoples which could preserve their isolation until the middle of the 20th centrury, like the Nganasan.

Shamanism VI

noreply@fubar.com (DarkLady) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:22:13 -0700

Gender and sexuality

While some cultures have had higher numbers of male shamans, others such as native Korean and some African Nguni cultures 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, attributes, role or function of the opposite sex, gender fluidity and/or same-sex sexual orientation. This practice is common, and found among the Chukchi, Sea Dayak, 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.� 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." They are highly respected and sought out in their tribes, as they will bring high status to their mates.

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 Som�, a writer who was born and initiated there.

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 recognized 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.

Similar can be observed among some Eskimo peoples. Many laic people have felt experiences that are usually attributed to the shamans of those Eskimo groups: experiencing daydreaming, reverie, trance is not restricted to shamans. It is the control over helping spirits that is characteristic mainly to shamans, the laic people use amulets, spells, formulae, songs. In Greenland among some Inuit, there are laic people who may have the capability to have closer relationships with beings of the belief system than others. These people are apprentice shamans who failed to accomplish their learning process.

The assistant of an Oroqen shaman (called jardalanin, or "second spirit") knows many things about the associated beliefs: he/she accompanies the rituals, interprets the behavior of the shaman. In spite of this, the jardalanin is not a shaman. For his/her interpretative, accompanying role, it would be even unwelcome to fall into trance.

The way shamans get sustenance and take part in everyday life varies among cultures. In many Eskimo groups, they provide services for the community and get a “due payment” (some cultures believe the payment is given to the helping spirits), but these goods are only “welcome addenda.” They are not enough to enable shamanizing as a full-time activity. Shamans live like any other member of the group, as hunter or housewife.