Shamanism: Spiritual Practice
Shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that has been around since the beginning of mankind. At one point in history, it could be found on every continent in the world. It is classified as an animistic religion, which is more of a belief or perspective than an actual practice. Animism is the belief that all people have souls, and animals and objects have spirits. Shamanism is very similar to the Animism beliefs, but only Shamanism is practiced. The date that Shamanism started isn’t agreed on, there has been rock art in Siberia that have evidence of Shamanistic practices that goes back 5,000 or more years; but others think that it has been around even longer than that. The practice was believed have been started by the Tungus tribe, which
…show more content…
lived in Siberia. After interacting with other tribes in the area, the Shaman’s practice began to diffuse to other countries and tribes. Shamanic practices were common within hunting and gathering tribes such as Native Americans, Incas, Mayans, Aztecs, and Siberian tribes. The individual who created Shamanism is unknown, and the starting place is the only thing we know for sure. The word Shaman came from the Manchu-Tungus word “šaman,” which means he or she who knows. Shamanic practices of healing were often confused as witchcraft acts performed by witch doctors. The two do have many similarities, but there are differences that separate them. Shaman healers use their ability to go into a deep trance to talk, persuade, and fight spirits in order to heal people from negativity or to help spirits get over hardships; but witch doctors heal using methods such as herbalism, or other witchcraft healing practices. Shamanism influenced the making of many religions when it started diffusing.
The Shamans influenced Greek Paganism and other Greek religions. The spread and adoption of Shamanism was continued until Christianity started. In Europe, in 400 CE, Christianity was the major cause of both Greek and Roman religion collapses, including Shamanism. The Shamanic practices of many cultures were swept away when Christianity started. The worst part of this is that Shaman ceremonies were starting to become illegal, and all Shaman temples were being destroyed. Many people were convinced that Shamans were witches and used witchcraft to conduct their trances and healings. This idea caused campaigns made by the Roman Inquisition, and since they were responsible for executing anyone who made it seem like they used sorcery or other types or witchcraft, they killed off all of the remaining Shamans in …show more content…
Europe. Regardless of being overpowered by Christianity, Shamanism continued in parts of Asia and Russia. Today, Shamanism is mostly common among indigenous people who have little connection with modern day societies, such as hunting and gathering tribes in Africa and Europe. Countries that practice Shamanism today make up their own variation of the practice to match with their culture. Those places call Shamanism by a different name, such as in Africa, where they call it Mestizo Shamanism, or in South America where it is called Vegitalismo. As of now, Shamanism has 8,000,000, to 9,000,000 followers. A Shaman is a person who tries to make contact with the spirit world through a deep altered state of trance.
Shamans must all take part in doing trances because without 100% participation, the practices wouldn’t work. In this practice, there is no official leader. Everyone is considered a leader and work together to make the practice the best it can be. Shamans believe that everything has a spirit; people, animals, plants, illnesses, storms, and that these spirits can be contacted to make the quality of life better. This practice has people that have special abilities that allow them to enter the spirit world and contact spirits. The point of Shamanistic practice is to connect people to dimensions of spirits, self-healing by connecting with spirits, and
exploring. To become a Shaman or practice Shamanism, people get a supernatural sign sent to them that tells them they are meant to be a Shaman. They usually get called by spirits when they’re younger, or if they have a serious illness or experienced a Near Death Experience. One of these three scenarios is how they get noticed by an older more experienced Shaman, and then the chosen Shaman studies with a mentor assigned to them for very many years to get taught the basics such as how to go into trance and understand the point of going into one, traditions, name functions of spirits, and sacred chants they should know for the future when they can practice Shamanism individually.
When a Shaman has gone through many years of guidance and lessons, they go into their altered state of trance, which is a very deep meditation that takes them into different dimensions; also called a Journey, and help spirits to allow them be more peaceful, travel to non-ordinary reality, get information, heal themselves, the Shaman organization, the community and the planet. The Shaman Journey to 3 different worlds: Upper, Middle, and Lower. The Upper world is thought of like heaven, and is compared to when Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz is traveling upward, the middle world is present day, and the lower world is thought of as hell, and is compared to Alice from Alice in Wonderland when she falls down the hole in the ground. When a Shaman journeys, there can be multiple challenges and obstacles, go smoothly with no problem, or be extremely frightening. Each individual Shaman also has a personal spirit guide, related to a guardian angel, and a spirit animal that they can communicate with about problems, and how to solve them. Everything a Shaman does while journeying in other dimensions can lead to a good, effective change in their everyday life. A type of Journey that the Shaman do is a Vision Quest, which is basically a Journey that is done in 5 days individually, but with someone guiding you. When doing a Vision Quest, they must focus on a trance state where their soul leaves the body, and go up to the sky or go down into the Earth; but where they go all depends on their spirit animal or guide. The guide will take control of their Journey and take them where they want you to go. This Journey helps Shamans overcome and face fears in order to be able to fight spirits in battles later on. A Shaman healer is someone who can cure illnesses or negativity within a person. Shamans call negative energy spiritual intrusion, and to get rid of it they perform an extraction to take all of the negativity out of the persons’ system. It is usually a very quiet process. The Healer goes into their trance and searches for the bad spirits. After they find them, they tell you what they see, and they have you go into trance with them and a drum is played to attract positive energy. To dispose of the spiritual intrusion, the Shaman Healer puts the bad spirit in water. Something else that Shaman healers do to heal their patients is “suck” the illness out of them. For example, if a patient has a stomach ache, the healer goes into trance and locates the spirit associated with the illness, then, with a straw they go to the affected area and suck the illness out of the person, and spit out a black liquid and show it to the patient and tell them it was the illness was inside of them. The patients believe these rituals are very effective, even if they don’t know what the black liquid was. It is believed that the mind of the person getting the healing done goes into the Placebo Effect, which is if someone believes something will make them feel better, they will feel better.
Shamans can eat basically anything they want. The foods they restrict themselves of is all up to the individual; but there are diets that are different for each culture, and consist mainly of plants. Shamans in the Amazon, who practice Amazonian Shamanism, host a diet called the Shamanic Plant Diet. It allows Shamans to connect with nature and be more exposed to plant’s energies. Each session lasts a year, but if you aren’t very experienced with any types of Shamanic diets and are trying it for the first time, they restrict your time to 3 months, and then allow you to follow up for another session if you feel comfortable. There are many restrictions to this diet, and they are: No fruit should be eaten, only fruit juices such as lemon juice; little to no contact with strong smells such as perfumes or deodorants; you must stay committed to the diet the whole way through your time frame, it is not permitted to interrupt your diet; very little to no salt, sugar, vinegar, sweets, spices, chili, fats, oils, canned food, stimulants, alcohol, red meat, and absolutely no pork; you must maintain yourself a certain distance away from society, or other tribes that are around the area; and have minimal exposure to direct sun or rain because the diet could cause you to be sensitive to these things. The only foods that are allowed in their 3 months to 1 year diet is fish, free range chickens and eggs, green plantains, green bananas, rice, potatoes, spaghetti or noodles, broccoli, onions, garlic, carrots, white or whole meal bread, beans, oats, lemon grass, and Chamomile tea. A traditional Shaman wedding is a very simple ceremony. At the beginning, 2 sacred things are made: a circle and smoke. The circle is made from tobacco and cornmeal, which are usually used to create a sacred space, and the smoke is make from a variety of plants. Before the couple steps into the circle, they will get smudged with the sacred smoke 3 times: The first for a cleansing, the second for dedication, and the third for energy. After this, they step into the sacred circle and are smudged with smoke again, then the circle is completely enclosed with more cornmeal and tobacco. Since the Shaman believe the four cardinal directions are very powerful, they invite them to join the ceremony, and each one is invited by a session of drumming. The people attending the ceremony are to turn to the correct cardinal direction for each one that is announced. After each direction is invited, the couples’ witnesses say what they feel after the direction comes to them. When all of this is done, the ceremony is over, the sacred circle is opened and the married couple is presented to friends and family.
lived in Siberia. After interacting with other tribes in the area, the Shaman’s practice began to diffuse to other countries and tribes. Shamanic practices were common within hunting and gathering tribes such as Native Americans, Incas, Mayans, Aztecs, and Siberian tribes. The individual who created Shamanism is unknown, and the starting place is the only thing we know for sure. The word Shaman came from the Manchu-Tungus word “šaman,” which means he or she who knows. Shamanic practices of healing were often confused as witchcraft acts performed by witch doctors. The two do have many similarities, but there are differences that separate them. Shaman healers use their ability to go into a deep trance to talk, persuade, and fight spirits in order to heal people from negativity or to help spirits get over hardships; but witch doctors heal using methods such as herbalism, or other witchcraft healing practices. Shamanism influenced the making of many religions when it started diffusing.
The Shamans influenced Greek Paganism and other Greek religions. The spread and adoption of Shamanism was continued until Christianity started. In Europe, in 400 CE, Christianity was the major cause of both Greek and Roman religion collapses, including Shamanism. The Shamanic practices of many cultures were swept away when Christianity started. The worst part of this is that Shaman ceremonies were starting to become illegal, and all Shaman temples were being destroyed. Many people were convinced that Shamans were witches and used witchcraft to conduct their trances and healings. This idea caused campaigns made by the Roman Inquisition, and since they were responsible for executing anyone who made it seem like they used sorcery or other types or witchcraft, they killed off all of the remaining Shamans in …show more content…
Europe. Regardless of being overpowered by Christianity, Shamanism continued in parts of Asia and Russia. Today, Shamanism is mostly common among indigenous people who have little connection with modern day societies, such as hunting and gathering tribes in Africa and Europe. Countries that practice Shamanism today make up their own variation of the practice to match with their culture. Those places call Shamanism by a different name, such as in Africa, where they call it Mestizo Shamanism, or in South America where it is called Vegitalismo. As of now, Shamanism has 8,000,000, to 9,000,000 followers. A Shaman is a person who tries to make contact with the spirit world through a deep altered state of trance.
Shamans must all take part in doing trances because without 100% participation, the practices wouldn’t work. In this practice, there is no official leader. Everyone is considered a leader and work together to make the practice the best it can be. Shamans believe that everything has a spirit; people, animals, plants, illnesses, storms, and that these spirits can be contacted to make the quality of life better. This practice has people that have special abilities that allow them to enter the spirit world and contact spirits. The point of Shamanistic practice is to connect people to dimensions of spirits, self-healing by connecting with spirits, and
exploring. To become a Shaman or practice Shamanism, people get a supernatural sign sent to them that tells them they are meant to be a Shaman. They usually get called by spirits when they’re younger, or if they have a serious illness or experienced a Near Death Experience. One of these three scenarios is how they get noticed by an older more experienced Shaman, and then the chosen Shaman studies with a mentor assigned to them for very many years to get taught the basics such as how to go into trance and understand the point of going into one, traditions, name functions of spirits, and sacred chants they should know for the future when they can practice Shamanism individually.
When a Shaman has gone through many years of guidance and lessons, they go into their altered state of trance, which is a very deep meditation that takes them into different dimensions; also called a Journey, and help spirits to allow them be more peaceful, travel to non-ordinary reality, get information, heal themselves, the Shaman organization, the community and the planet. The Shaman Journey to 3 different worlds: Upper, Middle, and Lower. The Upper world is thought of like heaven, and is compared to when Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz is traveling upward, the middle world is present day, and the lower world is thought of as hell, and is compared to Alice from Alice in Wonderland when she falls down the hole in the ground. When a Shaman journeys, there can be multiple challenges and obstacles, go smoothly with no problem, or be extremely frightening. Each individual Shaman also has a personal spirit guide, related to a guardian angel, and a spirit animal that they can communicate with about problems, and how to solve them. Everything a Shaman does while journeying in other dimensions can lead to a good, effective change in their everyday life. A type of Journey that the Shaman do is a Vision Quest, which is basically a Journey that is done in 5 days individually, but with someone guiding you. When doing a Vision Quest, they must focus on a trance state where their soul leaves the body, and go up to the sky or go down into the Earth; but where they go all depends on their spirit animal or guide. The guide will take control of their Journey and take them where they want you to go. This Journey helps Shamans overcome and face fears in order to be able to fight spirits in battles later on. A Shaman healer is someone who can cure illnesses or negativity within a person. Shamans call negative energy spiritual intrusion, and to get rid of it they perform an extraction to take all of the negativity out of the persons’ system. It is usually a very quiet process. The Healer goes into their trance and searches for the bad spirits. After they find them, they tell you what they see, and they have you go into trance with them and a drum is played to attract positive energy. To dispose of the spiritual intrusion, the Shaman Healer puts the bad spirit in water. Something else that Shaman healers do to heal their patients is “suck” the illness out of them. For example, if a patient has a stomach ache, the healer goes into trance and locates the spirit associated with the illness, then, with a straw they go to the affected area and suck the illness out of the person, and spit out a black liquid and show it to the patient and tell them it was the illness was inside of them. The patients believe these rituals are very effective, even if they don’t know what the black liquid was. It is believed that the mind of the person getting the healing done goes into the Placebo Effect, which is if someone believes something will make them feel better, they will feel better.
Shamans can eat basically anything they want. The foods they restrict themselves of is all up to the individual; but there are diets that are different for each culture, and consist mainly of plants. Shamans in the Amazon, who practice Amazonian Shamanism, host a diet called the Shamanic Plant Diet. It allows Shamans to connect with nature and be more exposed to plant’s energies. Each session lasts a year, but if you aren’t very experienced with any types of Shamanic diets and are trying it for the first time, they restrict your time to 3 months, and then allow you to follow up for another session if you feel comfortable. There are many restrictions to this diet, and they are: No fruit should be eaten, only fruit juices such as lemon juice; little to no contact with strong smells such as perfumes or deodorants; you must stay committed to the diet the whole way through your time frame, it is not permitted to interrupt your diet; very little to no salt, sugar, vinegar, sweets, spices, chili, fats, oils, canned food, stimulants, alcohol, red meat, and absolutely no pork; you must maintain yourself a certain distance away from society, or other tribes that are around the area; and have minimal exposure to direct sun or rain because the diet could cause you to be sensitive to these things. The only foods that are allowed in their 3 months to 1 year diet is fish, free range chickens and eggs, green plantains, green bananas, rice, potatoes, spaghetti or noodles, broccoli, onions, garlic, carrots, white or whole meal bread, beans, oats, lemon grass, and Chamomile tea. A traditional Shaman wedding is a very simple ceremony. At the beginning, 2 sacred things are made: a circle and smoke. The circle is made from tobacco and cornmeal, which are usually used to create a sacred space, and the smoke is make from a variety of plants. Before the couple steps into the circle, they will get smudged with the sacred smoke 3 times: The first for a cleansing, the second for dedication, and the third for energy. After this, they step into the sacred circle and are smudged with smoke again, then the circle is completely enclosed with more cornmeal and tobacco. Since the Shaman believe the four cardinal directions are very powerful, they invite them to join the ceremony, and each one is invited by a session of drumming. The people attending the ceremony are to turn to the correct cardinal direction for each one that is announced. After each direction is invited, the couples’ witnesses say what they feel after the direction comes to them. When all of this is done, the ceremony is over, the sacred circle is opened and the married couple is presented to friends and family.