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A Cross-cultural Study of Shamanistic Healers
Abstract
The issue of cross-cultural similarities and differences in trance practitioners engaged in healing is examined, based on a formal quantitative cross-cultural study and analysis. The findings suggest distinct types of healers: shamans, shaman/healers, healers, and mediums. The data illustrate not only some universals of healers, but more importantly it reveals systematic differences between the shamans of hunting and gathering societies, the shaman/healers of agricultural societies, and the possessed mediums of politically stratified societies. These different types of trance healers are characterized and compared in order to illustrate the importance of terminological clarity, as well as to examine the characteristics and functions of shamanistic healers with respect to the social and cultural context of their activities.
... Furthermore, the core sequence to which Senn [14] alludes is found in several shamanic traditions, across cultures and continents. By core sequence I mean an initiatory sickness followed by voluntary entry, by the utilization of certain methods, into altered states of consciousness in which psychic feats are claimed in the ultimate service of healing [11,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Rich descriptions of that sequence in the ethnographic literature of recent decades includes Jilek's [24] discussion of Shamanic ceremonialism among British Columbia's Coast Salish and Peters' [25] ethnographic study of the Tamang shamans of Nepal. ...
... Knecht [37], for example, captures very well the fact that shamans exist not as atomized entities in social vacuums but as social phenomena: "In order to be able to function in the role of a shaman, it is necessary that the society, or at least part of it believes in the shaman's powers and adheres to a view of the world that accepts shamanism". Based on his much-cited empirical cross-cultural study of shamanism, Winkelman [23] argued that such terms as shaman and medium are not synonymous and ought therefore not to be conflated. One of the factors that distinguishes the former from the latter, according to Winkelman [23] is that the shaman's "trance-based adaptations for healing and divination" (p. ...
... Based on his much-cited empirical cross-cultural study of shamanism, Winkelman [23] argued that such terms as shaman and medium are not synonymous and ought therefore not to be conflated. One of the factors that distinguishes the former from the latter, according to Winkelman [23] is that the shaman's "trance-based adaptations for healing and divination" (p. 23) are found in less complex hunting and gathering societies. ...
Within the published literature that purports to ask if Carl Gustav Jung was a Shaman, this paper identifies and critically compares two waves of scholarship. The first, in identifying affinities between Jung and Shamanism, has arguably been somewhat one-sided in that it neglects to take into consideration in its analysis points of distinction between Jung and Shamanism. As such it suffers from an overstatement of the similarities. That scholarship also suffers from an overly essentialist approach to the shamanic experience, neglecting to incorporate into its analysis socially constructive considerations. The second wave achieves more of a balanced analysis in that it identifies both similarities and differences between Jung and Shamanism, but it is also limited by the privileged position it accords to essentialist considerations at the expense of constructivist ones. This paper calls then for a more epistemologically integrative approach to the study of the relationship between Jung and Shamanism, one that can build on existing scholarship by complimenting essentialist and constructivist perspectives. When the latter are brought into the analysis, the conclusion that Jung was a shaman is rendered problematic. Such a conclusion also obscures the growing awareness about the true nature of Jung’s intellectual ancestry. If one were to draw up a list of traditions to which it might be said that Jung was an heir, this paper argues that high on that list would be German classicism, Gnosticism and Hermeticism. Unfortunately, that is something that the extant scholarship on Jung and shamanism completely ignores.
... When practitioners have ASC induction as a part of their training, they also engage in healing and divination as a part of their magico-religious role. Previous research has suggested numerous reasons for a functional relationship of the ASC to healing and divination abilities (see Winkelman 1982, 1986b, 1991 here; Finkler 19 85 ;Blacker 1981;Walsh 1990) . Although these ASC are dominated by patterns of discharge from evolutionarily earlier parts of the brain (limbic system and projections to the frontal cortex), they are not intellectually or cognitively primitive. ...
... ASC have a variety of therapeutic effects (Winkelman 1991), including improvement of individual psychologi cal and physiological well-being (Walsh 1980(Walsh , 1990Shapiro 1980;Wolman and Ullman 198 6). Shapiro reviews literature showing that meditation has a number of beneficial effects as a clinical intervention technique for both psychological and physiological conditions. ...
... The considerably stronger prediction by the temporal lobe variables suggests that psychophysiologi cal factors are central to the basis which motivate the development of beliefs in possession . The psychophsyiological factors are however, significantly correlated with social stratification (Winkelman 1991) . ...
... Shaman as a term has been defined by multiple scholars and researchers, that debate the scope of the term (Walsh, 1989a). Between these scholars are researchers from disciplines like theology, psychology, and anthropology, who have widened the definition of a shaman from different points of view (Peters and Price-Williams, 1980), without reaching a general consensus about the topic (Winkelman, 1989). In this sense, next, we present an overview of the term from the antiquity to the modernity. ...
... And Winkelman (1989) who defines shamans from their role as healers in a social and cultural context, as shamans between hunter and gatherer, healer-shamans between farmers, and mediums in politically-stratified societies (Winkelman, 1990). After this contemporary overview, there seems to be evidence of some human and innate tendency to enter into altered states of consciousness (Harner, 1982), generally linked with rituals that support the induction and conduction of these trance states (Walsh, 1989b). ...
... Shaman as a term has been defined by multiple scholars and researchers, that debate the scope of the term (Walsh, 1989a). Between these scholars are researchers from disciplines like theology, psychology, and anthropology, who have widened the definition of a shaman from different points of view (Peters and Price-Williams, 1980), without reaching a general consensus about the topic (Winkelman, 1989). In this sense, next, we present an overview of the term from the antiquity to the modernity. ...
... And Winkelman (1989) who defines shamans from their role as healers in a social and cultural context, as shamans between hunter and gatherer, healer-shamans between farmers, and mediums in politically-stratified societies (Winkelman, 1990). After this contemporary overview, there seems to be evidence of some human and innate tendency to enter into altered states of consciousness (Harner, 1982), generally linked with rituals that support the induction and conduction of these trance states (Walsh, 1989b). ...
... Harmina, uno de los alcaloides contenidos aislado por Zerda Bayon en 1912, fue llamado "telepatina" debido a las experiencias aparentemente psíquicas que la gente usualmente experimentaba al tomarla. Desde entonces, los investigadores continúan reportando fenómenos paranormales entre los usuarios de ayahuasca (Andritzky, 1989;Winkelman, 1989;Shannon, 2002). ...
... birth/marriage/death) (101). The importance of shamans across cultures highlights how psychotic-like experiences have been valued in diverse cultures (102,103). Polimeni and Reiss (104) have suggested that mild forms of schizophrenia and schizotypy could have enhanced a shaman's ability to conduct religious based rituals (105,106). Schizotypy by increasing lateral thinking and novel approaches to problems might have been advantageous to shamans spearheading religious rituals and making decisions for the community (107). ...
Introduction: Research into drug use has typically been restricted to studies of proximate models (i.e. biological mechanisms). However, an evolu-tionary/ultimate perspective may be uniquely relevant to understanding drug-seeking behaviours. In fact, a range of competing evolutionary models have emerged which explain why humans evolved through natural selection to use psychoactive substances. Objectives: We aimed here to critically review evolutionary, cultural and dual inheritance perspectives on drug initiation and use, including considerations on novel psychoactive substances (NPS). Methods: A literature search was conducted us
... Shamans [83] are often selected for having visions or signs from gods whilst going through trance states through a variety of procedures, which typically include hallucinogen/ entheogen intake [64]. Religious/shamanic rituals are universally observed in all cultures, hence suggesting an evolutionary origin/survival value [84][85][86][87][88], with mild forms of schizophrenia possibly having enhanced shaman's ability [89][90][91]. ...
Background
Evolutionary research on drug abuse has hitherto been restricted to proximate studies, considering aetiology, mechanism, and ontogeny. However, in order to explain the recent emergency of a new behavioral pattern (e.g. ‘the e-psychonaut style’) of novel psychoactive substances’ (NPS) intake, a complementary evolutionary model may be needed.
Objective
A range of evolutionary interpretations on the ‘psychonaut style’ and the recent emergency of NPS were here considered.
Method
The PubMed database was searched in order to elicit evolutionary theory-based documents commenting on NPS/NPS users/e-psychonauts.
Results
The traditional ‘shamanic style’ use of entheogens/plant-derived compounds may present with a range of similarities with the ‘e-psychonauts’ use of mostly of hallucinogen/psychedelic NPS. These users consider themselves as ‘new/technological’ shamans.
Conclusion
Indeed, a range of evolutionary mechanisms, such as: optimal foraging, costly signaling, and reproduction at the expense of health may all cooperate to explain the recent spread and diffusion of the NPS market, and this may represent a reason of concern.
... Many of the naturally occurring psychedelics have been used as a form of traditional medicine by indigenous people since centuries or even millennia (7,8). These remedies, as inherent parts of the shamanic practice, exert many beneficial effects on the human body (9)(10)(11). ...
Classical psychedelics are psychoactive substances, which, besides their psychopharmacological activity, have also been shown to exert significant modulatory effects on immune responses by altering signaling pathways involved in inflammation, cellular proliferation, and cell survival via activating NF-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinases. Recently, several neurotransmitter receptors involved in the pharmacology of psychedelics, such as serotonin and sigma-1 receptors, have also been shown to play crucial roles in numerous immunological processes. This emerging field also offers promising treatment modalities in the therapy of various diseases including autoimmune and chronic inflammatory conditions, infections, and cancer. However, the scarcity of available review literature renders the topic unclear and obscure, mostly posing psychedelics as illicit drugs of abuse and not as physiologically relevant molecules or as possible agents of future pharmacotherapies. In this paper, the immunomodulatory potential of classical serotonergic psychedelics, including N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine will be discussed from a perspective of molecular immunology and pharmacology. Special attention will be given to the functional interaction of serotonin and sigma-1 receptors and their cross-talk with toll-like and RIG-I-like pattern-recognition receptor-mediated signaling. Furthermore, novel approaches will be suggested feasible for the treatment of diseases with chronic inflammatory etiology and pathology, such as atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease.
... A cross-cultural taxonomical study of shamans, shaman-healers, healers, and mediums, posits that, although these groups share many of the same characteristics, there is a clear division between those who do, and those who do not, use psychoactive plants and the differing paranormal activities they perform (Winkelman, 1989). Levine (1968) credited the botanist Schultes with the suggestion that the prevalence of vision-inducing plants among the herbarium of "primitive" societies is based upon a differing concept of illness, which has spiritual rather than physical causes. ...
This paper investigates the relationship between psychoactive substances and so-called paranormal
phenomena falling within the study of parapsychology. It is primarily concerned with extrasensory
perception (ESP)—telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance—as well as out-of-body experiences
(OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs). Psychokinesis (PK), aura vision, encounter experiences,
and sleep paralysis only make a very limited contribution to this review as they are seldom related
to psychoactive drugs within the parapsychological literature. The paper borrows widely, but by no
means exhaustively, from parapsychology as well as transpersonal studies, anthropology, ethnobotany,
phytochemistry, psychiatry, psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, and neurobiology, particularly
neurochemistry. It is organized into neurochemical models of paranormal experience (section 1),
field reports of intentional and spontaneous phenomena incorporating anthropological, historical
and clinical cases, and personal accounts (section 2), surveys of paranormal belief and experience
(section 3), experimental research (section 4), and a methodological critique of the experimental
research with recommendations for further work (section 5).
... The active use of psychedelic substances for paranormal purposes supposedly extends back to the ancient Greek oracles at Delphi (von Bibra, 1855Bibra, /1994 and even into prehistory (Devereux 1997). Since the beginning of the 20th century, when Zerda Bayon (1912) isolated harmaline from the South American jungle decoction ayahuasca and named it "telepathine," anthropologists, ethnobotanists, mycologists and other field researchers have continued to report psychedelic-induced paranormal activities among ritual users of these substances (e.g., Andritzky, 1989;Shannon, 2002;Slotkin, 1956;Wasson, 1979;Winkelman, 1989). Some have even reported the direct observation or experience of this themselves (e.g., Kensinger, 1978;Stamets, 1996;Wasson & Wasson, 1957) and such pharmaco-magical practices are now once more fairly common among contemporary occultists in the United States and Europe (Vayne, 2001 ;Louv, 2005). ...
This paper reviews the research on psychedelic substances in relation to
so-called paranormal phenomena, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition
(i.e., ESP), as well as out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and near-death experiences
(NDEs). Reference is made to the age-old shamanic use of these substances to
specifically induce such experiences, and to contemporary reports from within
academia and psychotherapy bearing witness to such phenomena. However, the
review focuses primarily on describing and critically evaluating the contribution
of controlled experiments that have attempted to induce ESP using psychedeUcs,
and of surveys, which have either direcdy or indirecdy investigated the belief
in, and experience of, the paranormal in relation to the use of such substances.
Furthermore, a methodological critique of the experimental research is offered
alongside some recommendations for further research in this field.
... drumming and chanting), and social as well as sensory deprivation. Their trance states are generally labeled as involving soul flight, journeys to the underworld, and/or transformation into animals (28). (p. ...
... However, the definition clearly distinguishes this tradition from other traditions and practices and from various psychopathologies with which it has been confused. For example, medicine men may heal and priests may conduct ceremonies, but they rarely enter altered states of consciousness (Winkelman, 1989). Mediums usually enter altered states (Bourguignon, 1973), but often do not journey; some Taoists, Muslims, and Tibetan Buddhists may journey, but this is not a major focus of their practice (Baldrian, 1987;Evans-Wentz, 1958;Siegel & Hirschman, 1984); those who suffer mental illness may enter altered states and meet "spirits," but they do so involuntarily as helpless victims rather than voluntary creators of their experience. ...
Shamanism and especially the psychological health of shamans remain topics of considerable confusion. This article, therefore, examines the shamanic training process from a specifically psychological perspective. Much in this ancient tradition that formerly appeared arcane, nonsensical, or pathological is found to be understandable in psychological terms. The initial shamanic crisis is seen to be a culture-specific form of developmental crisis rather than being evidence of severe psychopathology. Commonalities are noted between certain shamanic training experiences and those of other religious traditions and various psychotherapies. Psychologically effective shamanic techniques are distinguished from merely superstitious practices and several shamanic techniques are seen to foreshadow ones now found in contemporary psychotherapies.
... Ma questa oscillazione tra un tipo di trance e l'altro può dipendere da fatti molto lontani nella storia dell'uomo. L'antropologo M. Winkelman (1989) ritiene che partendo dallo sciamano delle società di cacciatori e di raccoglitori, si passa attraverso lo sciamano-guaritore per poi arrivare, alla fine di un lungo percorso, ai medium ed ai guaritori delle società maggiormente complesse ed organizzate. Lungo questa linea di trasformazione, si può notare come certe funzioni sociali che lo sciamano incentrava su di sè vengano via via delegate a personaggi diversi e sempre più specializzati: i sacerdoti, i capi politici, i guaritori, i medium, i maghi, gli indovini, etc. Questo passaggio dei ruoli dipende certamente dal fatto che, evolvendosi la società in cui opera, lo sciamano non riesce più a stare al passo con le crescenti innovazioni e trasformazioni della sua comunità e non può più dare risposte adeguate alle numerose e complesse domande che la gente gli pone. ...
... Basic to the distinction between possession and shamanism is the issue of control (192). Male practitioners predominate in the traditions to which Eliade assigns the label shamanism, whereas women are conspicuously present in traditions relying on possession (25,254,256). Lewis (145) has attributed this pattern to women's peripheralization and deprivation. His argument has been challenged as mechanistic and inapplicable in certain cases (101,130). ...
... drumming and chanting), and social as well as sensory deprivation. Their trance states are generally labeled as involving soul flight, journeys to the underworld, and/or transformation into animals (28). (p. ...
Schizophrenia, with its apparent genetic basis, persists despite demonstrating impaired fecundity. Although this has been considered paradoxical, a similar paradigm is observed elsewhere in nature. Honey bee colonies possess sterile task specialists whose presence can best be understood by the evolutionary principle of group selection. Group selection may be pertinent to human history and consequently schizophrenia could represent an ancient form of behavioral specialization. Shamanism and religion demonstrate some similarities to psychosis and may provide clues regarding the origins of schizophrenia.
Les expériences de mort imminente (EMI) sont maintenant étudiées en clinique en tant qu’expériences exceptionnelles. Elles font l’objet de recherches pluridisciplinaires depuis de nombreuses années, ce qui permet d’appréhender le rapport à la mort sous des angles nouveaux et d’observer les processus de changement à la suite de telles expériences. Dans cet article, nous regroupons selon quatre dimensions les explications fournies par les chercheurs au sujet des EMI, pour ensuite nous intéresser au lien entre EMI et spiritualité. Nous présentons l’EMI comme une forme de manifestation du sacré, une hiérophanie au sens proposé par Mircea Eliade.
p>'Shamanism' is an anthropologically constructed concept to explain a socio-religious phenomenon in many non-Western societies that enables community healing via interactions with spirits. In this thesis I explore archaeological and anthropological perspectives on, and more importantly, attitudes towards, 'Neo-shamanism'. I use such theoretical and methodological approaches as alternative archaeology and experiential anthropology, which coalesce, into what I call an 'Autoarchaeology': to understand the past it is imperative we explicitly consider, and take into account, our own sociopolitical locations and motivations. An archaeology of shamanism therefore begins not with shamanism in the past, but with neo-shamanism in the present.
In presenting an ethnography of neo-shamanism, I first discuss how our perceptions of shamanism are heavily influenced by neo-shamanism. I scrutinise main figures in neo-shamanism and specific examples of neo-shamanic practice, on the basis of their universalising, psychologising and romanticising of shamanism. I then critically compare a neo-shamanic case example of Celtic neo-shamanism with Heathen neo-shamanism, two traditions that reconstruct and revive ancient north European pagan religions. I assess these practices in terms of their authenticity and value to archaeologists and historians. Neo-shamanic interactions with archaeological sites, particularly Stonehenge and Avebury are also discussed. The preservation ethic of the heritage industry is contrasted with the neo-shamanic view that perceives ancient monuments to be spiritually alive. Finally, I examine neo-shamanic appropriations of indigenous shamanisms, particularly with regard to Native America. Chaco Canyon in New Mexico is used as a case example of a disputed archaeological site.
Critics perceive neo-shamanism in stereotypical ways; it is seen as a monolithic entity and dismissed. In contrast, I point to great diversity in neo-shamanism and argue that exploring this variety reveals both positive and negative aspects. A more contextualised approach that is socially and politically sensitive, is essential. In conclusion, I suggest strategies looking towards reciprocal benefit, such as forums for meeting and negotiating where communication and education are otherwise lacking. Despite the extremely sensitive and intrinsically political nature of the issues, they must not be left untouched. On the contrary, if the socio-political issues arising from this discussion are not addressed by the interest groups concerned, a contemporary neo-shamanic agenda for the archaeological past and ethnographic present will compromise all voices into increasingly difficult positions.
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Imagine a silvery, milky moon-globe peeking above the horizon and shedding its first light down a long avenue lined with towering, golden-tone earthen walls and directly toward a Hopewellian skywatcher (Figure 20.1). Imagine a silvery, milky mica cutout of a larger-than-life, gracile, open human hand being laid in a tomb, palm up, almost touching with its extended fingers the head of a recently deceased Hopewell adult (Figure 20.2).
A. Irving Hallowell, in his classic article, “Ojibwa Ontology, Behavior, and World View”, offered a guiding principle for the adequate and accurate description of the social lives, world views, and cultures of non-Western peoples. The principle establishes the fundamental place of a people’s own concepts of personhood and, more generally, being, in cultural description and analysis. According to Hallowell
The ritual drama of the death journey that Scioto Hopewell peoples enacted in Charnel House C of Mound 25 in the Hopewell earthwork and that was reconstructed in the previous chapter was not a unique performance. Similar dramas that portrayed the soul of the deceased person departing to an afterlife as a bird in flight or carried by a bird appear to have had considerable geographic spread and temporal depth within the Eastern Woodlands. This chapter describes such dramas in central Ohio, northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania, and west-central Illinois during the Middle Woodland period, and in West Virginia during the Early Woodland period. In all, six more ritual dramas of the death journey are documented here, for the sites of Newark, North Benton, Sugar Run, Ogden-Fettie, Klunk-Gibson, and Cresap. The most basic goal of this chapter is to reconstruct the theatrical actions, narratives, and participants of the six ceremonies. This is done following the same three strategies used in the previous chapter to document the ritual drama within Charnel House C and some of the native-specific meanings and purposes of the ceremony. Most primary is a cultural and historical contextualizing approach that focuses on the internal logic of available archaeological evidence—both content and spatial layouts—supplemented by insights gained from historic Woodland and Plains Indians’ ideas about journeys to an afterlife. Second is comparison of the cases at hand to the cross-cultural concept of the ritual drama. This strategy raises a variety of questions for investigation, such as whether a ceremony was a choreographed performance and the details of its choreography; the size and nature of the social collective who performed the ceremony; the plot and details of the narrative enacted; whether the plot was historical or mythical in nature; the picture presented of the cosmos, its realms, its beings, and their interrelations; and whether an ontology that posited the notion of the personnage was expressed. A third strategy used in the previous chapter and here to reconstruct the ritual dramas is the method of anthropologie de terrain. It discriminates aspects of burial that result from intentional ritual practices as opposed to those that do not and instead reflect natural decompositional and other taphonomic processes. Only two skeletons from two of the six ritual dramas are documented with adequate field photographs and could be evaluated by this method.
Résumé
L’étude du chamanisme s’est fortement développée dans les milieux scientifiques depuis les vingt dernières années (anthropologie, psychologie, médecine) en raison d’un intérêt grandissant de la part des patients pour cette forme de médecine complémentaire et alternative qui plonge ses racines dans les traditions profondes de notre civilisation. Cependant, la question de l’efficacité de ses pratiques de soin sur la santé est nouvelle et a donné lieu à peu de recherches scientifiques sérieuses. L’objet de cet article est de traiter cette question par l’intermédiaire d’une revue de littérature sur le sujet afin de pouvoir poser un premier avis qui permettra d’identifier les difficultés liées à l’étude de ce sujet, les limites des recherches effectuées, permettant ainsi de mettre en lumière des pistes de recherches futures sur un sujet qui prend de l’importance au niveau culturel de par son développement dans les formes de néochamanisme qui se développent actuellement. Du reste, cette étude nous permettra d’envisager le processus de guérison et de soin de manière innovante, en mettant en exergue des approches encore peu étudiées (influence de la spiritualité sur la santé, processus de transformation intérieure, lien avec d’autres réalités mises en avant par les traditions religieuses et spirituelles).
The origin and end of Scioto Hopewell culture and lifeways have puzzled archaeologists for decades. This uncertainty exists in part because, until very recently, the details of organization and operation of Scioto Hopewellian social and ceremonial life and the outlines of Scioto Hopewellian spiritual thought have not been known. How Scioto Hopewellian social and ceremonial life emerged and disappeared could not be adequately addressed when it was unclear what they were specifically and what factors might thus have caused them. Uncertainly also exists because, in this lacuna in knowledge about the inner workings of Hopewellian life, archaeologists have been forced to look for possible causes of it that were external rather than internal to it; and no reasonably convincing external causes have been found.
In popular culture, such diverse characters as occultist Aleister Crowley, Doors musician Jim Morrison, and performance artist Joseph Beuys have been called shamans. In anthropology, on the other hand, shamanism has associations with sorcery, witchcraft and healing, and archaeologists have suggested the meaning of prehistoric cave art lies with shamans and altered consciousness. Robert J. Wallis explores the interface between 'new' and prehistoric shamans. The book draws on interviews with a variety of practitioners, particularly contemporary pagans in Britain and north America. Wallis looks at historical and archaeological sources to explore contemporary pagan engagements with prehistoric sacred sites such as Stonehenge and Avebury, and discusses the controversial use by neo-Shamans of indigenous (particularly native American) shamanism.
L'A. propose une evaluation des arguments avances pour conclure a un necessaire desequilibre psychologique des shamans. Dans un premier temps, il definit le shamanisme, puis decrit les attitudes considerees comme pathologiques par les chercheurs, reprend quelques uns des facteurs qui historiquement ont fait douter de la sante des shamans. Il examine enfin les elements pouvant conduire a des diagnostics plus communs: epilepsie, hysterie, schizophrenie. Il ne semble plus approprie de caracteriser les crises d'initiation des shamans comme purement pathologiques
Some current debates about southern African Bushman (San) rock art have led to an interest in the activities of Bushman ritual practitioners. This paper presents nineteenth and twentieth century Bushman ethnography to show that these people entered an altered state of consciousness that most researchers call 'trance' to heal the sick, go on out-of-body journeys, make rain and transform themselves into animals. The combination of trance experience with these 'supernatural' activities suggests that, whatever social differences exist between these Bushman ritual practitioners and those in certain Asian and North American societies, it is appropriate to term them 'shamans'. The ethnographic material outlined in this paper forms part of the basis for the further argument, not developed here, that southern African rock art was at least in some measure associated with the work of Bushman shamans.
Responding to an increased recognition of the importance of spirituality in the aetiology and treatment of addictions, this
article provides an overview of the potential contributions of both transpersonal psychology and shamanic methodology for
the addictions field. A case study is provided to illustrate the integration of conventional, transpersonal, and shamanic
approaches within psychotherapy for a female client with alcohol addiction issues.
Hopewell residential groups, spread over the forested terraces and bottomlands of the Scioto and Paint Creek valleys, were
nonetheless integrated with one another in many ways. Two important kinds of ties were their mutual participation in a larger,
local symbolic community and a yet broader, sustainable community. Within the context of these communities, members of different
residential groups, separated by varying geographic and social distances, established and renewed essential relationships
with one another by building earthworks together, performing rites together within the earthworks, negotiating marriages and
marrying, forming ritual exchange partnerships with one another, and exchanging foods and other material resources.
M. Esther Harding. Woman's Mysteries, Ancient and Modem. Boston:Shambhala,1990.ISBNO-87773-532-8.Paper,$13.95. Pp. xv+256.
Ayahuasca is a traditional Inca hallucigenic plant. Intoxication by Ayahuasca is an introspective dysleptic experience with a high emotional tonality, particularly well memorised. It can be complicated by physical discomfort, terror reactions, and fits of delirium. The leaves of Ayahuasca contain dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and the creepers contain β-carbolin alkaloids (THH). DMT is a serotoninergic agonist, close to LSD. The β-carbolins inhihibit type A monoamine-oxydases that break down DMT in the intestine and allow passage through the intestinal wall and prolong its actions. The β-carbolins give Ayahuasca its purgative and emetic effects. There have been a number of debates on the use of Ayahuasca as a therapy. The promoters suggest its use for the treatment of certain addictive pathologies. It will allow a highly emotionally charged access to the unconscious in spiritualistic contexts with groups that have a chamanistic resonance. This approach is challenged by scientific spheres which point out the methodological weakness of these studies and the absence of detachment regarding the subjects’ relapses and suggestibility. The authors bring to the fore the risks of distortions of affective perception, the over-investment of personal experience and the primacy of subjectivism, and the weakening of the system of reality. This gives rise to ways of thinking that are paralogical, interpretative, intuitive and highly inspired by passion. This, in turn, attracts the most vulnerable and suggestible subjects, entrains a rigidness of psychic processes and an impoverishment and a narrowing of emotional life around the object that is Ayahuasca. Health authorities have classified Ayahuasca as a dangerous substance on the same grounds as other psychodysleptics.
This article addresses some of the recent controversy over the role of psychoactive substances in the !Kung Bushmen healing ceremonies and trance induction. Although some contemporary works on the !Kung and their healing ceremonies give no evidence of the use of psychoactive plants, an examination of the available biochemical and pharmacological literature on the properties of these plants indicates that most contain psychoactive or toxic substances that are likely to have trance-inducing properties. Almost half of the !Kung medicine plants contain psychoactive substances or have toxic pproperties, and a similarly large group of these plants has psychoactive or toxic properties in related species. Although recent reports have shown little concern with the use of psychoactive substances, the earlier literature illustrated a major concern with their use in !Kung Bushmen trance and healing. This contrast with more recent research suggests a decline in the use of psychoactive plants in the recent past. This decline is examined with respect to changes in the !Kung Bushmen society and how altitudes in the United States regarding drug use may have influenced investigators and their research reports.
This article describes the use of ritual, metaphor, and other mythic devices to facilitate change in alcohol abusing clients. It is argued that the ultimate success of alcohol abuse counseling rests with the helper's ability to form an alliance with the client, an alliance similar in kind to the relationship that evolves between shamans and members of nomadic hunting and gathering societies. To this end, a shaman effect capable of aiding the assisted change process with alcohol abusing clients is defined and specific suggestions for its creation outlined.
In this paper, I discuss the results of a large-scale archival and data base research project that investigated the history of the scholarly use of the terms shamanism and shaman in English-speaking North America. This was done to provide a historical grounding in the hope of arriving at an operationally sound definition of the term. Twomajor findings emerged from the data: first, current uses of the terms shamanism and shaman are inadequate for any discussion of the phenomenon from a historical perspective; second, the terms shamanism and shaman have been widely used in English-speaking North America by researchers, scholars, scientists, and lay people for more than a 100 years, and the use of the term has changed greatly in this time, complicating any possibility of arriving at an agreed-upon operational definition. I discuss these two research findings and how they fit into contemporary uses of the terms, concluding that current definitions and understandings of this phenomenon are unduly circumscribed, largely the result of historical research orientations. I then suggest future research questions and call for a concise, workable understanding of the phenomenon of shamanism.
Thesis (M.A.)--Simon Fraser University, 1993. Includes bibliographical references.
This thesis examines six prominent Pecos River Style rock art anthropomorph attributes to determine if they are found in limited geographic districts of the Lower Pecos Region. Both Boyd (2003) and Turpin (2004) have suggested that spatially-segregated motif distributions exist in the rock art and that these patterns are important in understanding regional prehistoric hunter-gatherer lifeways during the Archaic Period. This study verifies that the feather hip cluster motif is geographically limited, identified only in the neighboring Seminole and Painted Canyon systems. As part of this spatial analysis, the previously undocumented principle of intersite stylistic traditions is introduced. Possible explanations for these anthropomorph attributes are also discussed. Finally, structural analyses of the six attributes are presented.
Historically, alternative psychotherapeutic procedures have florished worldwide in various inspirational, spiritualistic and shamanistic versions. However, few investigations have described these interventions in detail, or followed the clinical outcomes longitudinally. This present report is an ethnographic and clinical description of one particular American practitioner's alternative method as it is used with middle class clientele in several regions of the USA. Two case studies are presented in detail while nine individual cases are qualitatively reviewed with one month and one year treatment outcomes reported. A condensed ethnobiographical study of the practitioner's personal and professional life is included.
A typology of magico-religious practitioners is determined in a cross- cultural sample. Shamans were found in hunting and gathering soci eties ; Shaman/Healers and Priests in agricultural societies; and Healers, Mediums, and Malevolent Practitioners in societies with political integration. Analysis of selection procedures and activities suggests three bases for magico-religious practitioners: a universal basis related to trance states; sociopolitical power in societies with political integra tion ; and conflict between trance-based local power and stratified political power.
Comparison of aspects of magical belief and practice with elements identified in experimental parapsychology suggests that some magical phenomena may have their basis in what parapsychology in call psi. Similarities are found between magic and parapsychology in (1) conditions that facilitate the manifestation of magical and psi phenomena, (2) the mental processes implicated as effective in producing magical and psi phenomena, (3) the basic principles underlying the phenomena of magic and psi, (4) the characteristics of the phenomena likely affected by magical action and psi, and (5) the characteristics of the origin of magic suggested by Malinowski and the characteristics of the basis of psi. These congruences are used to distinguish which aspects of magic are likely to be psi-related. Previous theories of magic are integrated in a perspective that places psi and other universal psychological processes at the basis of magic and explains the integration of many types of magical, social, cosmological, and r...
Classical statistical inference procedures usually assume the independence of sample units. However, the assumption of independence is often unrealistic in cross-cultural research because societies in neighboring or historically related regions tend to be duplicates of one another across a wide variety of traits that are spread by historical fission, diffusion, or migration of peoples. A recent generalization of the usual regression model explicitly allows for networks of interdependencies among sample units as part of the model specification. Here, two new estimation procedures for this network autocorrelation model are compared to previously employed maximum likelihood procedures, and to the usual regression procedures which ignore interdependence. The results of comparisons based on simulated autocorrelation data and the reanalyses of two previously published empirical studies indicate that both of the procedures proposed here compare very favorably with the maximum likelihood approach, and both are vastly superior to the usual regression procedures when there is moderate to high autocorrelation (i.e., interdependence). [Galton's Problem, cultural diffusion, networks, cultural evolution, statistical methodology]
In this article I propose that symbolic healing has a universal structure in which the healer helps the patient particularize a general cultural mythic world and manipulate healing symbols in it. Problems currently existing in the explanation of symbolic healing are examined. The relationship between Western psychotherapy and magical healing is explained, the Junction qfshamanic ecstasy is discussed, and symbolic healing is explained in terms of a theory of living systems.
Presents cross-cultural data to examine the patterns of alterations of consciousness and their relationship to social and physiological conditions
In this article, the issue of shamanism and altered states of consciousness (ASC) is reviewed from a cross-cultural and multidisciplinary perspective. It is suggested that in spite of considerable differences in the uses of these terms, there are conceptual and empirical grounds for distinction among different types of trance practitioners. The authors argue that shamanism is a cultural adaptation of hunting and gathering societies to the biological potential for ASC, and that the specific nature of that manifestation changes as societies become more complex. The role of ASC in understanding shamanic phenomena, the roots of religious experience, and the modern manifestations of the potential for trance are examined. Western cultural avoidance of ASC has inhibited understanding of these phenomena, and has prevented an integration of shamanistic and trance perspectives into the understanding human of psychology, consciousness, and knowledge of the world.
This paper presents the first research results of the Cross-Cultural Cumulative Coding Center (CCCCC), a unit established at the University of Pittsburgh in May, 1968, with support from the National Science Foundation. It offers to scholars a representative sample of the world's known and well described cultures, 186 in number, each "pinpointed" to the smallest identifiable subgroup of the society in question at a specific point in time
Allan Holmberg's ethnography of the Sirionó Indians of eastern Bolivia depicts this group as one of the least complex human societies known. In recent years, anthropologists have argued that Sirionó cultural poverty may be due to deculturation rather than to their failure to develop a more complex culture as the result of environmental stresses. Previous efforts to explore this hypothesis have been limited by the lack of additional data on the Sirionó since Holmberg's early work. This study draws on new information derived from ethnohistorical sources and fieldwork among a recently pacified group known as the Yuquí. I demonstrate that the Yuquí and Sirionó share the same cultural heritage and that, while the Sirionó are now acculturated, the Yuquí only recently are undergoing this process. For this reason, the Yuquí case offers a parallel and current example from which new inferences can be made concerning the theory of Sirionó deculturation.
ALLYN MACLEAN STEARMAN is Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816.
A review of the literature suggests that a common psychobiological process is associated with various altered states of consciousness (ASC) utilized by shamans, meditators, and mediums. However, the shamanic state of consciousness (SSC) can be differentiated physiologically from possession trance states. The psychophysiological literature on different types of trances and on seizure conditions associated with the temporal lobe discharge syndrome is reviewed. On this basis, it is hypothesized that while both the SSC and possession trances involve hippocampal-septal stimulation, the difference between the SSC and the possession states includes the amygdala involvement associated with the latter. This criterion and others establish a basis for differentiating between the terms "shamanic," "shamanistic," and "mediumistic." The physiological concomitants of the SSC make it appear to be both physiologically and psychologically beneficial as well as indicating that it is most likely that there is a genetic component affecting one's ability to enter the SSC and other ASC.
Life after Life Atlanta: Mockingbird Books Measurement ofcultural Com-plexity
- R Moody
- G P Murdock
- C Provost
MOODY, R. 1975. Life after Life. Atlanta: Mockingbird Books. MURDOCK, G. P., and C. PROVOST. 1973. Measurement ofcultural Com-plexity. Ethnology 12:379-392.
Life at Death: A ScientiJc Investigation of the Near-Death Experience The Mind Possessed A Cross-Cultural Study of Out-of-the-Body Experiences, Waking, and Sleeping
- K Coward
- Geoghegan Mccann
- W Sargant
RING, K. 1981. Life at Death: A ScientiJc Investigation of the Near-Death Experience. New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan. SARGANT, W. 1974. The Mind Possessed. Philadelphia: Lippincott. SHAPIRO, D. 1980. Meditation. New York: Aldine. SHIELDS, D. 1978. A Cross-Cultural Study of Out-of-the-Body Experiences, Waking, and Sleeping. Journal ofthe Societyfor Psychical Research 49597-741.
A History ofthe Arabs in the Sudan Toward a Psychobiology of Transcendence: God in the Brain
- H A Macmichael
- Noble Barnes
- A Mandell
MAcMICHAEL, H. A. 1922. A History ofthe Arabs in the Sudan. New York: Barnes and Noble. MANDELL, A. 1980. Toward a Psychobiology of Transcendence: God in the Brain. The Psychobiology ofConsciousness (D. Davidson and R. Davidson, eds.), pp. 379-464. New York: Plenum.
Beliefs about Out-of-the-Body Experiences among Elema, Gulf Kamea and Rigo Peoples of Papua, New Guinea
- A Mcintosh
McINTOSH, A. 1980. Beliefs about Out-of-the-Body Experiences among Elema, Gulf Kamea and Rigo Peoples of Papua, New Guinea. Journal ofthe Society for Psychical Research 50:460-478.
Hallucinogens and Culture San Francisco: Chandler and Sharp. GOWER, 1. C. 1971. A General Coefficient of Similarity and Some of Its Prop-erties
- P Furst
FURST, P. 1976. Hallucinogens and Culture. San Francisco: Chandler and Sharp. GOWER, 1. C. 1971. A General Coefficient of Similarity and Some of Its Prop-erties. ~:ometrics27:857-874.
Theory ofculture Change. Urbana: University of Illinois. TRIMINGHAM, J. 1959. Islam in West Africa The Inzuence of Islam upon Africa
- J Steward
STEWARD, J. 1955. Theory ofculture Change. Urbana: University of Illinois. TRIMINGHAM, J. 1959. Islam in West Africa. Oxford: Clarendon Press. -. 1968. The Inzuence of Islam upon Africa. New York: Praeger.
Siberian Shamanism and Western Spiritual-ism
- Victor Barnouw
BARNOUW, VICTOR. 1943. Siberian Shamanism and Western Spiritual-ism. Journal of the American Sociegfor Psychical Research 36: 140-168.
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy Pan-theon Books Tibetan Yoga andsecret Doctrines Spiritualist Healers in Mexico
- M Eliade
- K Finkler
ELIADE, M. 1964. Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. New York: Pan-theon Books. EVANS-WENTZ, W. Y., ed. 1978 [1935]. Tibetan Yoga andsecret Doctrines. New York: Oxford University Press. FINKLER, K. 1985. Spiritualist Healers in Mexico. South Hadley, MA: Bergin and Garvey.
Out-of-the-Body Experiences Shamanic Voices
- C Green
- Ballantine Books
- J Halifax
GREEN, C. 1968. Out-of-the-Body Experiences. New York: Ballantine Books. HALIFAX,J. 1979. Shamanic Voices. New York: E. P. Dutton.
The Rite Technique of Siberian Shaman. Folklore Fellows Com-munication No. 220
- A Siikala
SIIKALA, A. 1978. The Rite Technique of Siberian Shaman. Folklore Fellows Com-munication No. 220. Helsinki: Soumalainen Tiedeskaremia Academia. SOLFVIN,J. 1984. Mental Healing. Advances in Parapsychological Research, Vol.
The Role of Hallucinogenic Plants in European Witch-craft New York: Ox-ford University Press. HONORTON, C. 1977. Psi and Internal Attention States. Handbook ofParapsy-chology An Ecological Approach to Religion
- M Harner
HARNER, M. 1973. The Role of Hallucinogenic Plants in European Witch-craft. Hallucinogens andShamanism (M. Harner, ed.), pp. 125-150. New York: Ox-ford University Press. HONORTON, C. 1977. Psi and Internal Attention States. Handbook ofParapsy-chology (B. Wolman, ed.), pp. 435-472. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. HULTKRANTZ, A. 1966. An Ecological Approach to Religion. Ethos 3 1: 131-150.
Beyond the Body: An Investigation of Out-of-the-Body Ex-periences. London: Society for Altered States of Conscious-ness within a General Evolutionary Perspective: A Holocultural Analysis
- C Blacker
- Unwin Allen
- S Blackmore
- Psychical Research
- E Bourguignon
- T Evascu
BLACKER, C. 1981. Japan. Oracles and Divination (M. Loewe and C. Blacker, eds.), pp. 63-86. London: George Allen and Unwin. BLACKMORE, S. 1982. Beyond the Body: An Investigation of Out-of-the-Body Ex-periences. London: Society for Psychical Research. BOURGUIGNON, E., and T. EVASCU. 1977. Altered States of Conscious-ness within a General Evolutionary Perspective: A Holocultural Analysis. Be-havior Science Research 12: 197-2 16. CASTANGE, J. 1930. Magie et exorcisme chez les Kazak-Kerghizes. Revue des Etudes Islamiques 4:53-156.
The Social Theory $Magic Extrasensory Perception: Research Findings Advances in Parapsychology 2 Toward an Experiential Analysis of Shamanism
- O Keefe
- D Palmer
O'KEEFE, D. 1981. The Social Theory $Magic. Oxford: Clarendon Press. PALMER, J. 1978. Extrasensory Perception: Research Findings. Advances in Parapsychology 2 (S. Krippner, ed.), pp. 59-222. New York: Plenum. PETERS, L., and D. PRICE-WILLIAMS. 1980. Toward an Experiential Analysis of Shamanism. American Ethnologist 7:397-418.