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 time, 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.
Many ancient cultures, including the lore-rich Greek paganism, embraced shamanism as a strong social construct, as evidenced by the stories of Tantalus, Calypso, Medea, Prometheus, and numerous other legends.
According to etymology, the shaman simply means “the one who knows,” and in modern times, “he who controls the information controls the world” (consider the Vatican).
Every tribe, regardless of its culture or level of civilization, has at least one spiritual leader—a man or woman—who possessed healing abilities, energy manipulation techniques, deep insight, and a strong communion with the elements. The shaman always regarded fire as a tool of transformation.
The shaman’s bond with the spirits was at the root of their traditional beliefs, which mitigated the shift between the planes of existence through astral projection. The shamanist ideology posits that invisible, omnipresent, and pansophical forces, deeply interconnected with the living entities of the universe and our visible world, drive the surrounding visible universe.
By 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 like a modern-day Ph.D.
Because of their instinctive ability to diagnose and cure many diseases that were a mystery to most, the term shaman was replaced with “witch-doctor,” which comprises the main skill sets of a shaman: magical knowledge and excellent healing abilities.
Nowadays, people prefer the term “medicine man” over “witch doctor” due to its negative connotation and anthropological inaccuracy. Only a few places on Earth, especially in tribes that refuse to embrace modern ways to preserve a dying tradition, are home to genuine shamans.
The expansion of Christianity practically wiped out the shamanic cultures. 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 incredibly violent and irrational campaign to exterminate the witches delivered the decisive blow against the remnants of ancient shamanism. Nowadays, the shaman culture survives hidden deep within tundras, jungles, and deserts, rarely in remote rural areas across the globe.
Even in our supposedly civilized modern days, we can see a strong resemblance to the irrational campaign against shamanism: high-ranking government individuals fight every day to keep people out of reach of psychedelic drugs related to shaman ancient practices, which could positively impact an individual’s perception and way of thinking This pretended war on drugs is nothing more than an offshoot of the government’s violent campaigns against shamanism.
The shamanist culture is more than just a tool for personal enlightenment, and in most parts today, it is illegal as a few power-hungry groups battle an unseen foe, an ally we have yet to prove worthy of.
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