Contemporary Shamanism Research Articles

Contemporary Society and Shamanism Ritual- Focusing on the emergence of Haewonsangsaeng Gut and its meaning -

Contemporary Society and Shamanism Ritual- Focusing on the emergence of Haewonsangsaeng Gut and its meaning -

Contemporary City Shaman Jóska Soós Included in the New Antwerp MAS Museum

The MAS (Museum aan de Stroom), the brand new city museum of Antwerp (Belgium), became the first museum in Belgium to openly include a presentation on the life and work of the contemporary shaman and artist Jóska Soós (1921-2008). It is incorporated within a permanent presentation on shamanistic practices throughout the world, and urban shamanism is itself recognized as a contemporary and western European form of shamanism in Europe. The article discusses the selection of art works, ritual objects and multimedia documentation in the presentation and the pioneer role of Jóska Soós. The author co-curated this presentation, based upon many years of scientific research into the life and work of the Hungarian-Belgian shaman and artist.

Spirituality and Extraordinary Experiences: Methodological Remarks and Some Empirical Findings

Abstract This article is based on empirical data gathered in two qualitative field studies of contemporary Western shamans and practising magicians (occultists) in German speaking countries. It emphasizes the importance of extraordinary experiences in the adoption of heterodox worldviews. The findings indicate that such experiences play a decisive role in the adoption of religious and/or spiritual beliefs as well as in individual conceptualization of spirituality. Some methodological considerations in the investigation of extraordinary experiences and their relation to assumed paranormal phenomena are mentioned. A particular problem is that these experiences often seem to contradict the orthodox, commonly accepted scientific worldview. Thus researchers who want to collect information about religious beliefs and spiritual experiences have to allow for participants’ possible fear of stigmatization. An empirical phenomenological approach, following the principle of openness (Hoffmann-Riehm) and the method of grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss), seems apposite. In addition to the aforementioned methodological issues the article presents data on aspects of the lived spirituality of contemporary shamans and practising magicians as an example of secondary analysis of interview data.

Contemporary shamanisms in Mongolia

The aim of this paper is to outline the current situation of shamanism in Mongolia. It examines the relationship between shamanism and ethnicity, the phenomenon of urban shamanism and the emergence of shaman associations and shamanic enterprises in Ulaanbaatar. The study is based on a year-long field-work in Mongolia in 2004–05, during which the author came into contact with the two most influential shamanic associations, the ‘Golomt Center’ and the ‘Heaven's Dagger’ association and had interviews with the members, and attended a number of shamanic rituals that they conducted. The field study was conducted at a time when these associations and enterprises had already ‘grown up’, i.e. they had recruited a vast number of members and attracted enough clients to operate, but still had not reached the stage of economic prosperity. This was also the time when the partly conscious attempt of forging a standardized Mongolian shamanism mainly from Darkhat and Buryat sources and the recreation of Khalkha shamanism began to take place.

Auteur Film Directors as Contemporary Shamans

This essay illuminates and explicates the author’s theory that auteur film directors are contemporary embodiments of ancient, primitive shamans. They are figures of the same archetype but inhabit different eras, cultures, and costumes. Throughout history and cross-culturally, the mythical role of shaman and artist were inseparable. Shamans were, in fact, the most gifted of artists who recorded their visions in poetry, song, painting, and drama. They came to serve the functions of priest, doctor, psychotherapist, writer, actor, and, in the twentieth century, auteur film directors. From their invention during the 1890s, movies have served the mythic function of reestablishing for community members an ancient connection in the safety of a darkened, cave-like dwelling, which signifies both tomb and womb. Every person in the theater unconsciously agrees to come together as a collective and share this particular life experience. This essay also closely examines the notion of the auteur director as a “wounded healer” using the examples of Ingmar Bergman, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Francois Truffaut, and Oliver Stone.

Singing Story, Healing Drum: Shamans and Storytellers of Turkic Siberia (review)

Reviewed by: Singing Story, Healing Drum. Shamans and Storytellers of Turkic Siberia Lenore Grenoble (bio) Kira Van Deusen. Singing Story, Healing Drum. Shamans and Storytellers of Turkic Siberia McGill-Queen’s University Press 2004. xxvi, 206. $80.00 Òhe stories and tales in this collection come from several sources. Some were previously published in the Tuvan or Russian and appear in translation here; many were gathered by Kira Van Deusen herself over a series of trips to Khakassia and Tuva, beginning in 1993. All appear for the first time in English, making this a valuable collection for anyone interested in the stories themselves. Van Deusen is a storyteller, and this book is a fine collection of stories of and by shamans in Tuva and Khakassia, along with the author's own accounts of their collection, the context they are created in, and her own journeys into Siberia to gather them. The book is divided into seven chapters, beginning with a (very) brief history of Tuva and Khakassia followed by discussions of shamans in both regions and of spiritual geography, and then a chapter on the storytellers themselves. A chapter is devoted to the important relations between music 'as a point of entry to the inner world,' as is another to the role of language as such a point of entry. The book concludes with a discussion of contemporary shamans in Tuva and Khakassia. Stories are interwoven throughout each of the chapters, embedded in discussions of their context. Van Deusen has interviewed shamans, storytellers, and scholars of Siberia to help understand them. In places the book would have benefited from more editing. Some stories are left dangling. There are at times abrupt transitions between paragraphs; cross-referencing in the text would also have helped make this a more coherent volume. That said, it is a very readable account. It is important to take this collection for what it is, a collection of stories as retold by a storyteller, grounded in her experiences and perspectives. It is not an ethnography and not a scholarly book, as it is lacking in critical analysis and scepticism. Òhe stories are held together by descriptions of the context, historical, political, and ethnographic, of Khakassia and Tuva, usually presenting the view of the people themselves, as told to Van Deusen. At times they become superficial and too cursory, even misleading. Repeatedly throughout the book Khakassians and Tuvans are referred to as indigenous, with reference to a broader Siberian indigenous identity. But this assumption of a shared Siberian indigenous identity completely overlooks the differences between these two Turkic groups and others (such as the Itelmen, Nivkh, or Ket) whose experiences – both historically and in the modern day – are radically different. Throughout, there is a strong tendency to romanticize the lives of the Tuvans and Khakassians, without much analysis of the day-to-day realities. To be sure, there are references to the problems which plague native Siberians today, such as the high suicide rate, but others (low life expectancy, high alcoholism rates) are not mentioned, and the negatives are overwhelmingly buried in discussions [End Page 297] of such topics as the 'richness in the languages of indigenous peoples, speaking to a wealth of individual spiritual understanding.' It is unclear how such social problems coexist with such spiritual richness. This is perhaps an unfair critique, as it is not the author's intent to discuss social structure but rather the spiritual nature of these societies, yet the two are intertwined. Another example is the recurrent theme of the shift in the nature of shamanism. Historically and traditionally, shamanism was a gift of sorts, bestowed upon a person who really had no choice but to accept it or be ill. Unlike other kinds of spiritual leaders, shamans simply acquired their craft, from the spirits, without formal training. At present, however, particularly in southern Siberia, it is possible to take shaman lessons. Van Deusen mentions this as coming about through necessity, owing to the destruction of traditional culture by the Soviet government. More discussion of this phenomenon, its roots and implications for modern-day shamanism, would be welcome. Despite my reservations about the critical value of this volume, it is an...

The Shamanic Ritual of the European Court of Justice

The paper considers shamanism as an analytical model for the analysis of case-law making. The main hypothesis of this approach is that a legal principle is a contemporary analogue to a shamanic spirit, and therefore, a judge is a contemporary shaman. This theory suggests replacing such words as article, case and legal act by the notion of an amulet where spirits live. The paper represents an enlargement of the constitutional atheism proclaimed by legal postmodernism. The European Court of Justice performs the role of a practical example.

Healers, Leaders and Entrepreneurs: Shamanic Revival in Southern Siberia

While it is generally agreed that in the postmodern world all tradition is invented, in many post-colonial contexts the emerging identities are spelled out in the idiom of ‘traditional heritage’. This article considers the social field of ‘shamanism’ as it has been shaped in the post-Soviet years in Tuva, an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation in Southern Siberia, and analyses Tuvan shamanism as a product of local historical and social forces, and global processes. Based on both the ethnography of the organisational structure of contemporary Tuvan shamanism, and portraits of different categories of practitioners, the article analyses continuity and change in various aspects of what is locally seen as ‘traditional knowledge’, and discusses different skills, orientations, and divisions of labour among the practitioners. Shamanism in post-Soviet Siberia is seen as a postmodern religious movement enmeshed in global structures and processes, and it is only in this context that a local tradition can become alive and meaningful again.

The Return of the Native

The Return of the Native

Contemporary Shamanism in Global Contexts: ‘Religious’ Appeals to an Archaic Tradition?

Contemporary Shamanism in Global Contexts: ‘Religious’ Appeals to an Archaic Tradition?

Therapies of Resistance? Yuta, Help-seeking, and Identity in Okinawa

In contemporary Okinawa shamanism and psychiatry are both employed by Okinawans to bring relief from what are understood to be godly or psychiatric interventions in their lives. This paper examines some of the reasons that shamanism is still popular and well-patronized in a society that is part of one of the world's most developed nations. By situating the role of shamans within a historical context, it becomes clear that repression of these women has taken place at a number of junctures in Okinawan history, mainly because they were seen as “backward,” “primitive,” or “too” Okinawan. In other words, their primary identity as Okinawans led those in political power to attempt to remove them from being socially acceptable, forcing them underground as the state reinvented itself to suit broader political strategies. Notwithstanding almost four centuries of discrimination and attempted repression, shamans continue to prosper in contemporary society, using markers of Okinawan identity (in particular ancestor worship) to legitimate their roles as therapists and healers. Patients, too, hybridize both systems today in informed and idiosyncratic ways, moving comfortably between treatment regimes. Both shamans and psychiatrists are perceived as therapists in this article.

Neo-Shamanism in the Context of the Contemporary Ethno-Cultural Situation in the Republic of Buryatia

AbstractIt is often said that there is a ‘revival’ of shamanism in Siberia today. The article argues, however, that in Buryatia alongside this resurgence there are new phenomena, which we would more accurately call ‘Neo-shamanic’. Amongst these phenomena are: the combining of shamanic with secular careers; the creation of an Association of shamans; the participation of shamans in popular media events; the desire of shamans to express their point of view in the academic environment; and the contemporary shamans’ elevation of shamanism to world religion status. The Association has promoted some mass rituals, which have been integrated (often problematically) into local mythic worldviews, and the combination of shamanic with academic pursuits has also turned out to be an uncomfortable one. Such new activities show that shamanism evolves historically, though it also retains a fundament based on locality and ancestors.

Through Dialogue with Contemporary Yakut Shamans: How They Revive Their Worldview

In this article I indicate the revitalization of Yakut worldview based on dialogues with contemporary shamans in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in 1994. Dualistic views of the world are emerging: the real and the spiritual worlds, and the separate concepts of good and evil spiritual beings. Also, the relation between man and spiritual beings has become idealized as a symbiotic relation between man and nature. This new animistic idea has resulted in suggesting the spiritual equality between human beings and nature and cyclic movements between the two.

Travelling by the other's cognitive maps or going native and coming back

The article deals with the notion of anthropological participation in the field, trying to draw together the recent writings of the anthropology of experience and those of cognitive anthropology. Both imply that our understanding of the people we study can be enhanced by sharing their life in a sympathetic and unreserved way: ‘participant observation’ becomes ‘experiencing participation’. This involves socialization in their systems of meanings and participation in the dynamic process of the construction of these meanings in which they are engaged. These ideas are illustrated by the ethnography of the sweat‐lodge, a ceremonial practice borrowed from Native American cultures and used by contemporary urban shamans in today's Sweden.

The Role and Functions of Contemporary Shamans in Southeast Asia

The meaning of the word shaman (of Tungus origin) has become obscured by numerous, increasingly different interpretations. The term has also been applied to practitioners who live outside Siberia, and are actually called by different names in their respective countries: bomoh in Malaysia, ma khi in Thailand, and tany-di in Singapore.Because I did not want to rely on secondary sources, I went to Southeast Asia to find contemporary shamans. Having started my research in 1960 I was able to witness, over a thirty-one year period (during visits lasting from several months to a year), the continuation of shamanic traditions among different groups living in multiethnic and multi-religious societies. What struck me most was the emergence of new shamans in urban centers like Singapore and Bangkok.

Rhythmic Drumming in Contemporary Shamanism and Its Relationship to Auditory Driving and Risk of Seizure Precipitation in Epileptics

Rhythmic Drumming in Contemporary Shamanism and Its Relationship to Auditory Driving and Risk of Seizure Precipitation in Epileptics

Arts therapy and healing

In this issue, three related papers are presented, each written by an experienced practitioner in music, dance, or art therapy. As a drama therapist, I have been asked to comment, adding my own thoughts on the topic of shamanism and its relationship to the arts therapies. At the heart of these papers is the issue of professional identity: as arts therapists, who are we, and what theoretical model(s) do we follow? Following close are questions pertaining to goals, techniques, and training. That is, what do we try to accomplish in our sessions; what kind of help do we give and toward what end? What kind of training will enable us to perform our work sensitively, intelligently, and effectively? Beyond this is the still-larger question of healing; i.e., what is it, after all, that helps people feel better, more in charge of their lives? These are the issues that underlie these contributions. This series of papers began with Joseph J. Moreno’s cont~bution-“The Music Therapist: Creative Arts Therapist and Contemporary Shaman.” Responding to his paper are Claire Schmais and Shaun McNiff, each adding ideas from dance and art therapy, respectively, as well as from her and his own theoretical perspective. To chart a path through this terrain, let us briefly review the positions taken by each. Moreno’s premise, boldly stated, is that the “modem” music therapist functions in many essential ways like the shaman of old. The roots of music therapy are in a 30,000 year-old tradition of shamanic practices that link music, art, dance, drama, and holistic healing rites. Decrying the overspecialization and “single focus” that marks both Western medicine and arts therapy training, Moreno makes a plea for a holistic, integrated approach, one similar to that used by the shaman who integrates dimming, chanting, dance, and drama in community healing rituals. In this multi-arts process, Moreno sees the music therapist as central, “the binding force,” as he or she works to synthesize these diverse modalities. In direct and indirect ways, Moreno comments on the implications of this approach for training and practice. In order to work in an integrated way, students should be given at least an introductory course in other arts modalities. Additionally, Moreno stresses the importance of in-depth training in ethnomusicology, training that is necessary to work effectively with diverse cultures. Indirectly, via the examples he cites, he makes a case for in-depth training in both group and verbal psychotherapy. For example, he speaks of enabling patients to focus on “unconscious feelings rather than on the superficial realities of ordinary daily life” (p. 277). Similarly, in talking about guided imagery and music he makes a distinction between shamanic practices and music therapy practices. The music therapist, he says, may not find it necessary to enter the trance as the shaman does, but may invite the patient to do so. The material that emerges from such a session can be talked about later in group therapy. Here Moreno seems to stress the necessity of in-depth training in both group and verbal psychotherapy for he says that it “is still necessary to help patients to verbally process their experiences and gain insight into their feelings” (p. 277). Apparently he assumes that

The music therapist: Creative arts therapist and contemporary shaman

The music therapist: Creative arts therapist and contemporary shaman

Concerning the Origin and Formation of Korean Shamanism

The origin of Korean shamanism is uncertain. Thus Eliade concludes, It is difficult to determine the 'origin' of Korean shamanism. 1) This difficulty lies primarily in its complexity. The diversification of shamanistic practices according to different provinces makes it difficult to find the unifying source of its origin. A serious attempt was made at the end of the Yi Dynasty to unify the different systems of shamanism, but it did not succeed. 2) Perhaps the diversification of the religion is well summarized by Hulbert as a religion of the mosaic. 3) Moreover, according to Akamatzu, Korean shamanism is the most thoroughgoing synthesis of Taoism and Buddhism. 4) These two higher forms of religion became united with shamanism so intimately that it is almost impossible to separate them. We will see how much the contemporary form of shamanism is affected by these religions. Since it is almost impossible to trace the origin of shamanism, from the appearance of contemporary shamanism, it is best to approach it from a study of myths or legends which have something to do with its origin. We will select a few prominent and reliable ones, among many, and examine them as much as possible in their historical con-