What Is It and Why?

This article came from a wonderful Shaman named Janfreya.

(OR WHY YOU DON'T WANT TO QUIT YOUR DAY JOB)

Shaman is a Tungis word from the Evenk speaking people of Siberia. It means one who sees in the dark, or one who sees with eyes closed (Harner, 1980). It is currently used to designate people with a particular way of interacting with life regardless of where they reside or what language they speak. Most languages have their own term for this person, which has resulted in some confusion surrounding the job description. Although others in the same society may perform some similar functions and activities, such as healing or divination, they do not have all the same skills. In addition to her shamanic duties, a shaman may also don the robe of priest or herbalist, for example. But that does not imply that all shamans do so, or that all priests are shamans.

Shamans are able to get in touch with spirits by taking a journey in an altered state of consciousness. This state is achieved with the help of repetitive sounds such as drumming or rattling, the ingestion of entheogenic substances, rhythmic movement, chanting, breath work, or forms of sensory depravation. Shamans making this journey retain full control of their trance state, unlike mediums and full body clairvoyants. Shamans are conscious of everything that transpires.

The shaman uses this altered state of consciousness to communicate with and influence the forces of nature and the universe for the benefit of society. She unites the artificial dualities of the inner and outer worlds, the constructs of the individual and society, and the world contained in our corporeal forms and that of the cosmos beyond. *

A shaman journeys with purpose and intent. She is not a private mystic. Her voyage is not one of personal discovery, but serves an expressed need within the community. For the shaman, the community embraces the idea of the individual soul combining with a cyclical view of natural processes. An important part of the shaman's role is to regulate and assist the conservation of the community's soul-force (Vitebsky, 1995). Eliade (1964) refers to this as defending the "psychic integrity" of the community. The shaman unites areas such as religion, psychology, medicine and theology, which in Western life have become separate. Through her experience, she heals and maintains the community.

Shamans are not limited by the ordinary reality constructs of time and space in their quest for ways to help and heal. They journey to the realms of the upper world (sky), underworld (earth) and middle world to seek out spiritual beings who offer wisdom and assistance, and to negotiate with those who might be causing trouble.

The shaman journeys into non ordinary reality, (a term coined by Castaneda in 1968), in order to mediate with the spirits for release of a soul, to bring rain for the crops, to facilitate life passages, or any number of tasks which involve the spirit world. To a shaman, "All that is, is alive" (Cloutier, 1980). All matter has spirit. Everything that exists has spirit or soul and can therefore be communicated with and influenced. The shaman functions as a mediator between the community and the inhabitants of the spirit world. This mediation is considered highly dangerous and is a central part of shamanic ideology (Hoppal, 1987). By bridging the worlds for her people, a shaman negotiates to restore balance within the individual and the community. According to Siikala (1978, in Hoppal, 1987), "…the main task of the shaman is to create a direct and reciprocal state of communication aimed at the spirit world…". The shaman has also been considered as the preserver of cultural identity, through her task as the mediator between the cultural heritage of the past and the present situation (Lewis, 1981, in Hoppal, 1987).

In order to successfully perform these tasks, shamans everywhere must acquire substantial spiritual power. Through discipline, diligence, hard work and sheer stubbornness, shamans develop relationships with spirit allies. These allies may take a variety of forms including animal, plant, light, color, or vibration. Allies are the source of a shaman's knowledge and protect her during dangerous work.

The shaman heals at both the individual and societal level, making her profession as valuable today in modern Western culture as it was to our tribal ancestors. Our culture and the very existence of our planet are in jeopardy. The soul journey of the shaman is a door way to understanding and integrating a world view which can provide a basis for rebalancing our disconnected relationship with all that is.

Shamans are "ritual practitioners in hunting-and-gathering societies who enter altered states of consciousness to achieve a variety of ends that include healing the sick, foretelling the future, meeting spirit animals, changing the weather, and controlling real animals by supernatural means" (Clottes 19). According to H. R. Ellis Davidson: "The shaman acts as intermediary between the world of men and the gods, and has the power to descend into the realms of the dead. His spirit is believed to journey forth from his body, which remains in a state of trance. Sometime the long journey which it takes is described by him in a chant. Sometimes he induces the conditions of ecstasy by beating his drum or by an elaborate and exciting dance" (118).

The cave painting above depicts a human figure with a bird head lying (flying?) beside a bison. This figure is traditionally called "the dead man," but he could just as easily depict a shaman who has fallen into a halucinatory trance. Notice the figure's erect phallus (indicating power, fertility?) and the bird (indicating flight to other worlds?) on a staff below him. Note, too, that while the bison appears to be charging, he has also been pierced by a spear in the groin area and is partially eviscerated. At the left is a fleeing rhinoceros. From the cave of Lascaux, France, 17,000 BC. [Use "Go" button to return to this page.]

Shamans often dress in animal skins and masks, and in the deepest part of their trance-journey to the spirit world, they often imagine meeting or transforming into the local animal of power. The spirit animal is either the animal that is hunted most often and provides the most food, or the animal seen as "master of the beasts"--a being who brings / ensures good hunting. It is thought by some that the pictures of half-animal, half-men figures found in both ancient and modern cave drawings are depictions or recreations of the shamanic trance state. (See the figure called the "Sorcerer" from the cave of the Trois Frères and Clottes 81-99.)

The shaman goes on his spirit-journey in order to bring back benefits from the other worlds--upper or lower. The shaman's journeys to the spirit world are depicted as ascents (by flight, ladder, or tree) or descents (by diving, walking or falling). Davidson writes:

In more complex agricultural societies, shamans are replaced by priests. Instead of going on an individual vision quest, the priest presides over communal rituals. In agricultural societies, a religious trance is usually interpreted as possession by a god or spirit, while in hunter-gatherer societies the trance is vehicle for the shaman's soul or spirit to leave his or her body and go on a spirit-journey (Clottes 26).

• Clottes, Jean, and David Lewis-Williams. The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the Painted Caves. Trans. Sophie Hawkes. New York: Abrams, 1998.
• Davidson, H[ilda] R. Ellis. Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. New York: Penguin, 1964.
• Leeming, David Adams and Jake Page. God: Myths of the Male Divine. New York: Oxford UP, 1996.

Join all the students taking the Shaman Apprenticeship 101 Course and learn how to use the ways of the Shaman to heal yourself and others! Sign up by clicking the Paypal Button now! Only $135.00 for 16 weeks including unlimited dialogue with Shaman Elder Maggie. Start Today!