Since prehistoric times dating back to the Neolithic period, doctors and ecclesiastic figures were called shamans, individuals of great authority, almost as high ranking as a ruler. Most of the times, the shaman offered his advice to a king or any kind of tribe leader because of his incredibly developed ability to commune with the natural elements and the spirit world.
Shamanism was a strong social construct in many ancient cultures, including the lore-rich Greek paganism, many remarks being found in literature like the stories of Tantalus, Calypso, Medea, Prometheus and plenty more legends.
Etymologically speaking, the shaman is simply translated as the one who knows, and in our days, he who controls the information, controls the world (considers the Vatican).
Any tribe that has ever existed, of any culture, of any level of civilization, had at least one such spiritual leader – man or woman – that was bestowed with healing abilities, energy manipulation techniques, deep insight and a strong communion with the elements; fire was always regarded by the shaman as a tool of transformation.
At the root of their traditional beliefs was the shaman’s bond with the spirits that mitigate the shifting between the planes of existence by astral projection. The shamanist ideology is based on the premise that the surrounding visible universe is driven by invisible, omnipresent and pansophical forces that are deeply interconnected with the living entities of the universe and our visible world.
Keeping a state of unity with the spirits and the elements of nature, they can receive the blessing to control the weather, interpret dreams and even communicate with deities through a state of self-induced trance. This aspect outlines a shaman’s proficiency with herbalism and basic alchemy, which are mastered only after thorough training and perpetual learning, making the shaman very much alike a modern day PhD.
Because of their instinctive ability to diagnose and cure many diseases that to most were a mystery, the term shaman was replaced with “witch-doctor”, which comprises the main skill sets of a shaman: magical knowledge and excellent healing abilities.
In the present, the term medicine-man is preferred in the detriment of witch-doctor because of its pejorative connotation and anthropological inaccuracy. Genuine shamans can be found only in a few places on Earth, especially in tribes that refuse to embrace the modern ways, in order to keep alive a dying tradition.
The shamanic cultures were practically wiped out with the expansion of Christianity. In 400 CE, the Christian church was mostly responsible for the fall of Greek and Roman religions, by systematically destroying their temples and forbidding their ritual ceremonies.
The coup de grace against the remnants of ancient shamanism was delivered by the incredibly violent and irrational campaign aiming to exterminate the witches. Nowadays, the shaman culture survives hidden deep within tundras, jungles, deserts and rarely in remote rural areas across the globe.
Even in our allegedly civilized modern days we can see a strong resemblance to the irrational campaign against shamanism: high ranked government individuals fight every day to keep people out of reach from the psychedelic drugs related to shaman ancient practices, that coud positively impact an individual’s perception and way of thinking. This pretended war on drugs is nothing more but an offshoot of government’s violent campaigns against shamanism.
The shamanist culture is more than a mean of personal enlightenment and today, personal enlightenment is in most parts illegal, as a handful of power-lusting group fights an invisible enemy of theirs, an ally we are not yet worthy of.
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2 comments
While I understand why the article states that “genuine shamans can only be found in a few places on Earth”, I patently disagree. The key is this: while many if not most of our mystical traditions have been broken and rebroken, and very few have unbroken continuity of teachings going back more than a few decades, or at the most a couple of centuries for traditions shrouded in veils of christian symbolism, the power has never died. Every generation has had practitioners. When knowledge was not passed down or acquired by the next generation, then it has to be re-imagined, re-formulated, etc… up to the point of clear contact with the spirits, and enough life experience with them to not be as vulnerable as a toddler who can’t tell friend from.. not friend. If the definition of “genuine shaman” requires unbroken tradition within a recognizable and non-westernized culture, then there are few indeed. If the definition of “genuine shaman” is those who attained enough knowledge and power to get clear and regular contact with the true teachers of humanity, then there are many more of us than most would expect. Interesting read tho, and a good starting point for people who need to be protected from power-hungry charlatans. Blessed be the children, and blessed be the guides, blessed be the peaceful people who need reminders that what they know in their hearts is truth even when the blind try to stop them from seeing. And finally, blessed be the blind, who might yet one day see…
I am Sure That I Was Born to Become a SHAMAN, as I Answered the Call of the SHAMAN in Baby Language sometime After I Was Born. https://plus.google.com/107592574953467436949