Shamanic Practices Research Articles

Reproduction and aggression: shamanic practices among Quichuas from Ecuador (Imbabura and Chimborazo Provinces)

Reproduction and aggression: shamanic practices among Quichuas from Ecuador (Imbabura and Chimborazo Provinces)

RESORTING TO SHAMANIC AGENCIES: FILLING IN FOR THE FAILURE OF THE OFFICIAL INSTITUTIONS IN A SIBERIAN PERIPHERY (TYVA REPUBLIC, RUSSIA)

Abstract. Drawing on a field study of shamanic remedies against affliction with curses in Tyva Republic (Siberia), this paper offers striking documentation of an 'agency' of social control and justice which is officially unseen by the Russian state. The paper identifies several crucial social implications of 'shamanism' as an unofficial redress for kinds of occult-mediated conflict which transcend the limits of state jurisdiction. The data on shamanic counter cursing and retaliatory practices provide evidence of the proliferation in Tyva of a pattern of interpersonal violence, associated with lethal appropriations of the 'occult' for rational purposes. The argument is advanced that the post-socialist 'return' of shamanic religion in the form of a 'judicial offensive' against misuses of the 'occult' in Tyva signifies a notable departure of 'shamanism' from typical meanings of traditional religion which emerge from the state's law. Keywords: 'shamanism', aggression, curse accusations, injustice, social control, Siberia 1. Introduction On an afternoon of April 2003, the normal activities of an Association of Shamans in the capital city of Tyva Republic, Kyzyl, were disrupted by an unprecedented incident. While I was approaching the gate of this Association, I saw a person familiar to me, who was covered in blood and was lying on the ground half-conscious, helplessly trying to uphold his back against the Association's fence. Behind the fence, an irate woman, who lived in a house nearby and was working as the Association's concierge, was loudly cursing this young man, before successively blowing a heavy wooden log onto his bleeding head. As I was told later, this brutal attack (by an otherwise pleasant and good-mannered woman) was due to the fact that this man, who was her son-in-law, was drinking and abusing her daughter (who was his wife). Just as this violent incident was on the verge of a homicide, the Association's Headman arrived in his Soviet-style Volga car (a gift from Tyvan government-officials in compensation for his shamanic ancestors' killing by the Soviet persecutors several decades earlier). In his business-style dark suit (a sign that he was advising politicians how to govern the state with occult-devised policies), the Headman steadily walked toward his office inside the Association, looking at this woman and exclaiming eeei (expressing thus his contempt for this violent attack). The other shamans returned to their affairs in the Association's premises. Having witnessed all this, I could not but comfort myself by thinking that the Association's marginal location in the city's impoverished and 'shadowy districts' (tiomnye raiony, in Russian) enshrouded this near-murder under a veil of secrecy that can hardly be found in the often heavily policed quarters of Kyzyl's city centre (1). Even though by no means representing the state of social relations in Tyva at large, the persons who are involved in above episode, can be viewed and interconnected with each other as variant forms of a cultural repertoire of violence and aggression in Tyva--as I shall argue in this paper. Of course, the 'violent' kinds of shamanism and sorcery, whose implications for the social order in this Siberian territory we shall examine, substantially differ from the empirically demonstrable tools and techniques involved in homicide and violent crimes. In other words, the practices examined in this paper, pertain to a realm of subjectively felt suffering, which members of this society experience as an outcome of a sorcerer's offensive practices against them. This distinct strand of occult killings, whose effects are detectable by means of the oracles used by diviners and healers, is amply documented in the ethnography of sorcery (or witchcraft, for that matter) and of shamanic, and broadly ritual, interventions in misfortune (see, for instance, Evans-Pritchard 1937, Bohannan 1957, Douglas 1970, Favret-Saada 1980, Geschiere 2006; 1997, Batianova 2000, Riboli & Torri 2013). …

What Père Lafitau Learned from the American Diviner

This paper uses the writings of the Jesuit Joseph-Francois Lafitau (1681-1746) to draw attention to the role that missionary encounters played in the shaping of early Enlightenment attitudes toward magic. After spending five years among the Iroquois converts of the Sault Saint-Louis mission near Montreal, Lafitau developed important insights into the shamanic practices of the New World. Buried in his Moeurs des sauvages comparées aux moeurs des premiers temps (1724) these insights have yet to be read through the history of magic. They reveal how ceremonies witnessed in America and interpreted as curious remnants of Neoplatonic theurgy served Christian apologetics in eighteenth-century France. Lafitau's case suggests that, while the practice of magic was "waning" in some European circles, concerns about its existence and efficacy persisted both as a reality in distant lands and as an object of antiquarian inquiry

The Name of Zalmoxis and Its Significance in the Dacian Language and Religion

Abstract In order to write about the significance of the name of Zalmoxis in the Dacian language and religion, I begin with the displaying of the sources. Afterwards, there are presented three debates, about: (1) the relation between Zalmoxis and Pythagoras, showing that the philosopher was definitely influenced by the Thraco-Dacian beliefs which were also present in Zamolxianism; (2) “immortalization” as an initiatic mystery cult, shamanic practices; (3) an exploration of the forms Zalmoxis and Zamolxis. The first form, of Zalmoxis, attested in Herodotus, with witnesses in inscriptions, could be related with some terms and practices found in Siberian peoples, used for hunting and shamanism (cf. sϵl, at Ket and Yugh). These practices are connected to the Dance of the Bear and others in the Romanian folklore. The second part of the term Zalmoxis could have come from *mo(i)š) (skin, sack, i. e., shamanic mask), which could lead to the Romanian autochtonous word moş (old, elder, ancestor). The second form, Zamolxis, was connected to the Indo-European satem *sem- < PIE *dheghom- (earth > man). The theonym could end up with two forms by a word game, due to the oppositions between the mystery cult and shamanism, and between the solar-uranian cult from Sarmizegetusa and a chthonian cult, supported mainly by the southern Thracians (Semele, Dionysos).

A Method for Determining the Practice of Shamanism in Archeological Cultures

Researchers have frequently noted traces of shamanism in cultures of the ancient world, although the methodology for determining it is underdeveloped. Such a method is proposed here, to identify where shamanism was practiced. It is based on comparative research of written sources, archeological materials, ethnography, linguistics, and the natural sciences. Acceptable results require that the data corroborate one another, illustrating common worldview. The proposed method is tested on examples of Cimmerian and Scythian cultures, and their precursors. Ethnographic analogies should originate from the same region as the archeological culture being researched or an acknowledged site of migrational origin. Relevant here is the region ranging from southern Siberia to the Urals. Results indicate Cimmerians and Scythians had shamanistic worldviews, techniques and rituals identical to those of Siberian shamans. Archeological materials and written sources enable identification of some aspects that are already dying out in Siberian shamanism, although the cases covered do not exhaust all available information about rituals and objects that have analogies in ethnographic materials about the shamanism of peoples of Siberia. The aim of the article is to demonstrate the proposed research method in action.

The Revitalization of Yajé Shamanism among the Siona: Strategies of Survival in Historical Context

AbstractThis article outlines the transformations of yajé shamanism among the Siona Indians of the Northwest Amazon Basin of Colombia. The shaman's role and the political and sacred use of yajé rituals have changed since colonial times and can be seen as a result of adaptive strategies for survival. This study examines the factors that have contributed to the current revitalization due to state and popular representations of the ecological and wise Indian. Although Gow and Taussig argue that ayahuasca shamanism in Peru and folk healing in Colombia rose out of colonial domination and proletarian concerns, Siona shamanic practices are best understood as a transfiguration and result of their particular response to outside forces. Their contemporary use of yajé reflects this past and the discourse, aesthetics, expectations, and demands of the larger society.

Ante Mortem Cranial Trepanation in the Late Bronze Age in Western Siberia

AbstractWe report a case study of cranial trepanation in a male subject 30 to 40 years of age from the Nefteprovod II burial ground in the Anzhevsk archeological site. This burial dates back to the Late Bronze Age, in particular the Karasuk culture located in the Minusinsk Basin on the Yenisei River and on the upper reaches of the Ob River. The left parietal bone had an opening with evident signs of bone healing, as well as signs of inflammatory reaction from both bone plates of the calvarium. The strongest signs of inflammation were located around the trepanation opening at the exocranium, suggesting that it occurred after, rather than before, the operation.Although trepanation was the main cause for the development of the changes noted in the preceding texts, there are no reasons to believe that the subject died from complications arising from infection after trepanation. The patient survived and later died for reasons that may never be determined. Medical necessity was the most likely justification for trepanation. Immersion in altered states of consciousness may also have been a necessary part of the trepanation process as a mode of sedation, along with other shamanic practices, such as consumption of psychotropic substances or ecstatic dance. These data, together with reports of other ante mortem burials, raised questions about the application of anaesthesia and possible techniques of cranial trepanation. These issues and possible postoperative complications are discussed in the following text. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ISSUE OF THE INTERCULTURAL DIALOG IN THE MODERN FUNCTIONING OF ETHNOMEDICAL PRACTICES OF THE UPPER AMAZON POPULATIONS

Since the late XX - early XXI century social anthropologists in the Amazon Basin have been increasingly focusing not only on the functioning of ethnomedicine in the indigenous cultures as such but also on the transformations of healing traditions. Caused by intercultural contacts, these transformations have intensified in the course of the above-mentioned period and have been associated with formation of large number of neo-shamanic centers practicing ceremonies with plant hallucinogens and oriented mostly towards ethno-tourists from the industrialized Western countries. The author uses her field research data collected in the neo-shamanic centers that combine healing techniques and therapeutic approaches of ethnomedical traditions of the Peruvian Amazon Basin indigenous populations with modern Western biomedicine and psychotherapy techniques. The article presents comparative analysis of the neo-shamanic practices at healing centers and traditional shamanic (curanderos’) practices in the Amazon Basin. A number of innovations in those activities that facilitate patient-healer mutual understanding and create conditions for therapeutic effects are pointed out. These innovations include participation of certified Western physicians and psychologists in the diagnostics and counseling of patients and use of Western group psychotherapy techniques elements by neo-shamans - in particular, a larger share of verbal communication in comparison with traditional healing practices. The author’s research substantiates the notion that efficient patient-healer contacts are based on mastering worldview elements of the communication partner by both interaction parties as well as on interpretation by intermediaries representing Western culture who are initiated into the Amazon curanderismo tradition.

Nonlocality and the Shamanic State of Consciousness

Healing methods based on the altered states of consciousness common to spiritual or shamanic traditions escape neuroscientific explanations based on classical physics and classical cognition–denoted here as ‘perceptual-cognitive’ (characteristic of the ordinary state of consciousness) information processing. A second foundation of knowledge–named as ‘nonlocal-intuitive’ approach–with another way for making representation of the environment is recommended to be introduced for better understanding of the shaman’s reintegrative role in their community and for an improved interpretation of the shamanic state of consciousness with the ‘soul flight’ in its center. This essay offers terminology for translating some common elements of indigenous world views into a frame closer to the contemporary Western mindset. The proposed model suggests that when the coping capacity of the ‘perceptual-cognitive’ mode of processing is exhausted in a stressful or unmanageable situation, or its dominance is eliminated by the use of hallucinogens or contemplation, a frame shift occurs, and an alternate source of environmental information is opened through a ‘nonlocal-intuitive’ channel. Consequently, the core activity of shamanic practice, the shamanic journey, occurs in a field of quantum connections and is not restricted by space-time constrains, but limited by the uncertainty principle.

SHAMANISM AND INDIGENOUS YOUTHHOOD IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

This article deals with contemporary shamanism among young Indians in Brazilian Amazonia. It explores the meaning of shamanic practices for today’s Amazonian young Indians. The article focuses on the ayahuasca ceremonies practiced by young Manchineri living in both the indigenous reserve and urban areas in the State of Acre, Brazil. Ethnographic fieldwork was carried out between 2005 and 2007. Shamanic practices produce symbolic capital that may credit in one’s own native community and in interethnic relations. The spiritual and traditional knowledge, trust, values, and instructions on life generate cultural capital, social capital, as well as ethnic capital. Through shamanism young people have an active role in the construction of their agency and personhood, as it also is about youth’s own decision to interact with the spirits and other humans. Shamanic practices have marked a turning point in the lives of many native young people. Keywords: Shamanism, ayahuasca, Manchineri

The Shamanic Renaissance: What Is Going On?

A surprising development over the past half-century has been the revival of the ancient tradition of shamanism. Evidence for the renaissance is everywhere. But what is going on? I offer a structural view, suggesting that a global–historical conjuncture is responsible. The most important structures of civilization—governments, religions, sciences—have all suffered from popular alienation, most recently failing to adequately address global crises, prompting many in developed and developing countries, facilitated by global infrastructure, to reach back to their ancient spiritual roots. At the same time, in response to popular alienation, currents within these very structures have converged to buoy the movement. Traditional shamans, for their part, in spite of criticism at home for teaching modern peoples, say that the spirits have played a key role in rekindling shamanic practices.

Jaguar medicine: a qualitative study of healing and transformation

Shamanic practices frequently create hypnotic-like states, with altered states of consciousness, heightened suggestibility, and a perception of an abundance of meaning in everyday events. Jaguar medicine (JM) is a form of shamanic healing with roots in the indigenous cultures of South and Central America. Recent years have seen increasing interest in translating shamanic practices for use in North American community settings, for emotional and spiritual healing and life transformation. This study examines the experiences of five individuals who participated weekly for five weeks in 5-h-long seminars in 2011 in North Carolina. For one-year thereafter the participants continued to gather monthly to deepen their experience and knowledge of JM. The researchers implemented a qualitative research design, utilizing semi-structured interviews. Case narrative and thematic analysis (TA) provided an excellent qualitative base for acquiring knowledge about the transformative healing experience of the participants. The case narratives described the participants’ responses to the research questions. TA was used for the cross-case analysis. Results presented in the form of a cross-case TA identified two sections: (a) Participants and their perceptions of JM (early history of suffering, exploring spirituality, insight into JM, and principles of JM), and (b) Experiences of healing and transformations through JM (connectedness, dreams and stories, healing and transformation, and new directions in life). The identified themes emerged consistently across the interviews and elucidated participants’ processes of healing and transformation during and after the JM seminars. Case narratives will be presented in a later article.

The Role of Anthropological Literature in Contemporary Shamanic Practices

Anthropology and anthropological literature have had an irreversible effect on the practice of contemporary shamanism. In this small-scale study, I look at the complex ways the literature has been recorded, initiated interest, revived and verified the shamanic practices. Over the years, anthropologists have also caused distortions in revived practices as they have left some things unrecorded. On the basis of written responses and interviews from shamanic practitioners and active drumming-group members, I demonstrate that the argument of neo-shamanism as the only form of shamanism still alive is not completely true. Attention is drawn also to the claim about the cycle of learning in contemporary shamanism. My argument is that the main part of learning in the deeper levels of shamanic practices still happens in face-to-face situations.

A "Little Death": The Near-Death Experience and Tibetan Delogs

Article exploring a phenomenon remarkably like the near-death experience that has been uncovered in Tibetan culture. Anthropologists have gathered accounts of contemporary and historical cases of remarkable people called delogs. Seemingly dead for several hours or days, these people revive spontaneously and tell detailed accounts of otherworldly journeys. These delogs are a bridge between contemporary near-death experiences and ancient shamanic practices.

“Revivir a la gente”: Herlinda Agustín, onaya del pueblo Shipibo-Konibo

<p>Este artículo presenta una entrevista con Herlinda Agustín, mujer onaya ‘médica’, shipibo-konibo y reconocida artista de los diseños kené, fallecida en 2010. En ella describe su trayectoria de aprendizaje, comenzando por los masajes y las dietas terapéuticas y culminando con la práctica del chamanismo ayahuasquero, después del nacimiento de su último hijo. Herlinda percibía su carrera intrínsecamente relacionada a su deseo de sanar a sus hijos y de generar ingresos económicos para sustentar su educación escolar y superior en las ciudades. También tenía una aguda percepción de su poder y de su vulnerabilidad como mujer curandera. La necesidad de protegerse espiritual, corporal y emocionalmente para conciliar la maternidad con el ejercicio del chamanismo, según ella, va más allá de una cuestión individual, ya que se trata de manejar el riesgo de enfermedad inherente a la práctica chamánica, para evitar perjudicar a los hijos y demás familiares próximos.</p>

The Name of Zalmoxis and Its Signiflcance in the Dacian Language and Religion

In order to write about the significance of the name ofZalmoxis in the Dacian language and religion, I begin with the displaying of the sources. Afterwards, there are presented three debates, about : (1) the relation between Zalmoxis and Pythagoras, showing that the philosopher was definitely influenced by the Thraco-Dacian beliefs which were also present in Zamolxianism ; (2) " immortalization" as an initiatic mystery cult, shamanic practices ; (3) an exploration of the forms Zalmoxis and Zamolxis. The first form, of Zalmoxis, attested in Herodotus, with witnesses in inscriptions, could be related with some terms and practices found in Siberian peoples, used for hunting and shamanism (c£ s& Ji, at Ket and Yugh). These practices are connected to the Dance of the Bear and others in the Romanian folklore. The second part of the term Zalmoxis could have come from * mo(i) s) (skin, sack, i. e., shamanic mask), which could lead to the Romanian autochtonous word mo : ? (old, elder, ancestor). The second form, Zamolxis, was connected to the Indo-European satem * sem-< PIE * dheghom-(earth> man). The theonym could end up with two forms by a word game, due to the oppositions between the mystery cult and shamanism, and between the solar-uranian cult from Sarmizegetusa and a chthonian cult, supported mainly by the southern Thracians (Semele, Dionysos).

An Intersubjective View of Empathy and Hypnotic Trance: Response to Wickramasekera II

In response to Wickramasekera II’s description of his empathic involvement theory of hypnosis in “Mysteries of hypnosis and the self are revealed by the psychology and neuroscience of empathy” (Wickramasekera II, 2015), Henning offers further reflections on what empathy might be and what it allows therapists to do, particularly in conditions of hypnotic trance. She defines her intersubjective view of hypnotic trance as an experience in which client and therapist mutually engage in a shared state of consciousness, and a mutual bidirectional or multidirectional exchange of verbal and nonverbal, as well as conscious and unconscious, material occurs, and which may include shared taking on of roles and expectations in each party, as suggested by the other, particularly when both client and therapist are highly hypnotizable. Research on the concept of “mutual hypnosis,” or co-trance, is reviewed, and barriers to scholarly discussions about intersubjectivity in therapy relationships are described. Concepts from other disciplines and traditions, including quantum physics, transpersonal psychology, contemplative Christianity, and shamanistic practices and trance in other cultures are then offered to clarify the processes of intersubjectivity, and perspectives about empathy and hypnotic co-trance are offered from the context of the author’s own clinical work as a trauma therapist. Finally, suggestions are provided for future research approaches and methods to further explore and understand these phenomena.

Possessed by the Zeitgeist: Inspiration and Prophecy in the Business of Fashion

The ability to foretell the future―and, as such, to conquer and determine it―is an essential preoccupation of contemporary business, which supposedly distinguishes the winners from the losers. The business of fashion is perhaps the case in point, being inherently concerned with continually staking out new paths into the future. In this article, I explore how fashion designers deal with this imperative through processes of seeking inspiration, constituting a distinctive “technology of prefiguration” by which the designers come to enter a prophetic condition. Rooted in an animistic mode of being, this attests to a shamanic practice, which entails the designers becoming possessed by a zeitgeist and, hence, turning into prophetic agents with particular visions of the future. The world of fashion is, in this sense, populated by entities and processes not commonly associated with modern business, in that animistic tendencies, jumping things, spiritual beings and shamanic efforts enable the designers to attain otherwise unattainable prophetic viewpoints. Underlying this argument is a more general ambition to open up our conception of business, as I suggest that business anthropologists may do well to uphold a profound naïveté in their methodology, which may essentially challenge and revise our assessment of modern capitalism.

Finding “Their Own”: Revitalizing Buryat Culture Through Shamanic Practices in Ulan-Ude

The shamans working at the Tengeri Shamans’ Organization in Ulan-Ude, Republic of Buryatia, claim that their work is devoted to reviving “traditional” Buryat culture, despite local criticism of the “nontraditional” institutional nature of their practices. Ethnographic and survey data collected in 2012 confirm that this is in fact the case for the urban Buryats who are drawn to the organization. Shamanic healing at Tengeri requires patients to learn family genealogies and revive clan rituals, and it offers both practical opportunities and encouragement for the use of the Buryat language, thereby providing a locus for cultural revitalization.

Social Context of the fujo: Shamanism in Japan through a Female Perspective

This study deals with the phenomenon of shamanism in Japan with the emphasis on the female perspective and the fact that women, in the first place, have dealt with shamanistic practices in Japan since ancient times. Could we say that shamanism was a tool that women used in order to have a small part of their authority and power acknowledged? Have they managed to influence their marginal position in society and in what way? Considering the phenomenon from the historical perspective, we will try to individualize some forms in which shamanism in Japan adjusted to the given cultural and social frameworks.