It is no secret to anyone who takes any interest in shamanism that many people hold some pretty potent prejudices about the idea of Western shamans. I think this is an interesting topic because there are some pretty good reasons for these prejudices, but also some good reasons for reconsidering them.
One of the first reasons that many people note when studying extant shamanic societies is how the seriousness of the shamanic vocation in those societies does not match up with the part-time, often rather light, playing around with the idea of being a shaman that occurs in some neo-shamanism. It is pointed out that a shaman is a shaman specifically in relation to who they shamanise for, they must, in short, serve a community. Shamanism for tribal and clan-based societies world-wide was not originally an exercise in navel-gazing and admiring the intricacies of one's inner self in the vast amounts of free time allowed to us by modern living. In fact in some societies, most notably in Siberian shamanism, the shaman would try desperately to evade their vocation because of the vast hardships and dangerous life of service that they knew they would face.
Personally I love Michael Harner's Shamanic Institute, but any organisation that goes out to run workshops is going to, by necessity, have to stress the comfortable, safe side of the practice. And by doing so one has to essentially deny vast amounts of otherworldly experience as known to shamans worldwide. But you just don't get too many people interested in learning or supporting your organisation by saying 'hey do you want to come along and experience visions of dismemberment, be starved of food for a while, stuffed full of peyote, turned out into the desert, dance for hours till you hallocinate etc. And if you don't get destroyed by the evil spirits that consume your flesh during your initiation, hey, you'll be a great healer one day. Well, at least you will if you survive a serious of psychic traumas, each of them potentially more dangerous than the last. But if you're still alive and not mad you'll be stronger than ever, heres the bill for the workshop I think you'll find the price reasonable.'
No, such an approach would not help when dealing with the Western approach to things. We expect things to be pretty easy and comfortable and to enrich us personally. And in my opinion Harner's work has been invaluable in spreading awareness of this valuable and ancient core of human spirituality. But when anything becomes more popular you always get people who embarrass you as a Westerner who sees their experiences in terms of a world-wide shamanic format. And I think this needs to be tackled and discussed. It is natural to be dubious that any Westerner could ever be part of that tradition, to the extent that I have seen a book by Sarangerel, a very well respected shaman who practiced in the Siberian/Mongolian tradition whilst alive, put down because she was born in America. To some it does not matter if you've gone over there an immersed yourself, worked for it, who you learned with, all they can see is the colour of your skin and the fact that you're American. As a knee-jerk response it is understandable, but as a deeper position makes little sense at all.
If one considers the shamanic experience, as outlined in a book such as Mircea Eliade's famous 'Shamanism' there are many aspects of the shaman's calling that go across cultures. If we consider the 'core shamanic' concept, that these similarities point to a core, shared, spiritual root-system of humanity it only makes sense that the visions, sicknesses or ordeals that alert young shamans to their calling might be universal rather than purely cultural. If such a thing is the case this pecularity that has marked out some people in cultures all over the world for a deeper than average interaction with the otherworld, whether we see it in a spiritual or psycological framework, there is no more or less validity to a call received by someone in any society or time.
What distinguishes between shamans, I feel, is not their call but what comes after. In traditional societies the young shaman showing signs of their calling was spotted, watched, nurtured. When the time came they might be taken under the wing of an older shaman, or they might be tutored by a deceased shaman from generations earlier who still wanted to pass their power and their position. And if that occured they would be believed, they would have no reason to lie, because they would be expected to perform as a shaman after all! And if they were ineffectual people would know they had lied. Whereas in the West today many are called, but it appears in terms of managing to not become mentally ill, fall into delusions of grandeur or narcissism, or simply repress what you are experiencing; few are chosen.
Being a spiritual being is a universal phenomena, as is being a spiritual specialist. But what one does when one is a spiritual speciflist is not universal. However, we should not become too despondant in the West, thinking there is no role for those of us who have been so called. Many places from Mongolia to Korea use shamanism in semi-urban settings, call one in like one calls in a doctor, has them deal with things like finding a job and exam results. It is not only in the West that the shamanic practitioner functions in a modernised world. If we are serious about what we do we need to lose our own inferiority complex in relation to tribal peoples. Sure we've lost a lot of knowledge that they may have retained, but many other peoples are rebuilding partially damaged traditions. All we need to do to start deserving to take ourselves seriously is to recognise the shamanic calling in relation to community as it has always been and begin our journey of service, and realising the harsh, dangerous or unsettling powers of the otherworld that don't sit well with the 'white light brigade.'
Being a real shaman isn't 'fun' or diverting, not in the general sense. And I think most of the people interested in it are interested in being shamanists, that is, animistic people who participate in a shamanically experienced universe and make recourse at times to the guidance of shamans. The vast majority of people do not want their whole life consumed by something like this, they don't want a job where you never knock off. And that's okay, that is really, in fact, how it usually is. But for those who are so called to an intense interaction with the otherworld, there is a long road in re-dignifying the image of the 'white shaman', but it will only be through us 'being the change we want to see in the world' that our descendents may one day inherit a little more respect. And unless we walk this road with courage and conviction the soul of our people and ancestor-wise-people will be neglected and many calls peter out into triviality and delusion. The more of us who are shamans or wise-people in such a way as deserve to be taken seriously, and we henceforth take ourselves seriously, the more others will do the same in time.
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5 comments:
Very moving to read, even if I feel no such calling. Well written!
A while back I took a look at the idea of tribal shamanism, from a modern day perspective.
All shamanism is local shamanism, meaning that although the Shamanic Principles are universal, local myths and legends predominate the culture, which the shamanic ritual must embody, as the tribal allegorical references.
For you in Australia, like here in the United States, we have a mixture of cultures. Mist significantly with the local myths and legends of the native peoples of the land proper and the spiritual traditions of the European settlers, which often seem to be greatly at odds.
In the Americas, for one example, the raven is an important part of the shamanic legends. To the Native Americans the raven was the bringer of light to the world. Conversely, in the Europeans, especially those descendents of the Britons and Celts, the raven is a symbol of being the bringer of the Black Death. This makes it pretty difficult to bring the allegorical references of the raven into alignment with the shamanic principles of the people now living on the land.
Therefore, a new collection of myths and legends had to be found in order to have the shamanic stories for the “new” tribes.
I cannot claim this as the result of a shamanic journey, but something did come to light in a “visionary” way.
I was with a group of mediums and a man came up to me and told me that he saw a baseball player following me around. At the time it didn’t really mean anything and it took several years before it hit me what it was about.
In Amercia we have created a common mythos in the game of baseball with all its shamanic legends and stories. It has heroes of epic proportion and it has sinister villains.
It has stories of tragedy and comedy and it has tales of wisdom.
I live in New England and people in New England live and die by the Boston Red Sox. In 2004, when the Red Sox won the world series after an 86 year drought something amazing happened. The next day, instead of wild celebrations in the street, all over New England lines of cars showed up at cemeteries. People went to the graves of Red Sox fans and sat and told them all about the series.
This event was touching these people at such a deep spiritual level that they were literally drawn to sharing it with their ancestors. That is shamanic.
I know that most people outside of Australia do not associate you with the game of baseball, however Australia is developing women’s baseball to a level that eclipses the idea anywhere else in the baseball world. Australia is really bringing connecting with the game of on an almost goddess culture level. That is definitely shamanic.
I have a page on my website about this if you want to look into it a bit more. It is just an idea of how the shamanic rituals may be adapting to the tribes of the modern world.
http://www.spiritwalkministry.com/where
As usual a very incisive and balanced discussion while also taking a definite line of argument forward.
The term 'shamanism' is, as you suggest, difficult because of the casual way it it bandied about by people who like the idea but could never in a million years live up to the responsibilities of being a shaman.
I don't think I would go so far as adopting the term for myself, partly for the reason that it has become meaningless in its western usage (though why not, as you seem to want to do, reclaim the meaning?), but also because I'm not sure I could live up to it, even a more relaxed urban form of it.
'Spirit helper' seems better to my modest (!) temperament. If my own journeyings in the Spirit World have usually been personal journeys of explorations of a devotional nature. Those occasions when they have been on behalf of someone else for a particular purpose were not easy and I wouldn't contemplate making a habit of doing that often.
So I wouldn't adopt 'shaman' and, though I acknowledge that 'shamanic' might be applied in the cultural context in a loose and superficial way to people whose suffering or way of life becomes a sort of vicarious experience of wild or experiental living for others.
I sympathise - even empathise - with your desire to be taken seriously as a 'wise' person and to adopt the shaman persona to do this. But I do wonder if our modern social structures can really allow the emergence of shamans as public servants? Your discussion implies this, though your conclusion suggests otherwise. I, in turn, both appreciate your discussion and respect your conclusion.
Very well written. I have been called to be shaman, and I agree with everything you have said -- in fact, you said it better than I could. Thank you.
Thank you so much everyone. -OnlyEd, you are most welcome I'm glad it spoke to you. -Heron: I guess in a lot of ways it's not so much the word 'shaman' and whether to take it on or not but the spiritual realities it represents. I don't care if someone wants me to use a different word like seer or witch, but it is the seriousness of this near universal vocation that I would like to see as something available to people of all races. I think the re-emergence of shamans in our modern social structure can only happen in alternative communities at this time. Though I do know, out of interest, that two of the people who run the shamanic workshops for Michael Harner's institute here in Australia have become quite strongly connected with their local Aboriginal community. They get people coming to them for healings or clearings saying there hasn't been anyone like that in their community for a while. So some people do manage to find relevance in their community. And I have people from my extended community that come to me for healing and have done for many years as do some of my contemporaries. I tend to be optimistic.
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