What is shamanism?

What is shamanism?

The word itself comes from the language of the Evenki, a Tungus-speaking people who hunt and who herd reindeer in Siberia and in Northern China. It is pronounced "shaa-man" with the emphasis on the second syllable. It was among the Evenki that Russian anthropologists first documented shamanism and, by a hundred years ago, the word was being used to describe people from other cultures who did the same work. Although shamans have been persecuted by all the major religions and, more recently, by Communist governments, shamans still exist in many different ethnic groups around the world.

And it is the work that he or she does that defines someone as a shaman. Let's look at what that work is. A good definition is that a shaman journeys, at will, to the spirit realms to communicate and negotiate with the spirits and to return with power, healing or knowledge for the community.
There are five important points in this definition that I think deserve a closer look. The first is the word, "journeys". If a shamanic trance journey doesn't take place then it isn't shamanism that is occurring. Secondly, this journey is done "at will". That is, the journey, although not necessarily the things that happen on it, are under the shaman's control. If you find yourself outside your body without having intended leaving it, you are not practising shamanism. And thirdly, the journey is to the spirits. Astral travel is not shamanic journeying.

Fourthly, there must be communication with the spirits. Many people are aware of spirits who don't talk or listen to them. There must be two-way, meaningful communication for it to be shamanism.

And lastly, the journey must be "for the community" Shamanism is not self-therapy or self-improvement, although this kind of journey is necessary in order for us to develop along our spiritual paths. During the interaction with the spirits the shaman comes to have a deeper and more spiritual understanding of the world.

Shamanism cannot exist without the community. There is no such thing as a "lone shaman". Evenki shamans operate within Evenki society. Salish shamans operate within Salish society. If we practice shamanism here then it must be within our society. It must have a place within our culture, just as it has in any other culture. Shamanism is not a New-Age word. It cannot be used to mean anything other than has been described. It has a precise meaning both to the Evenki and to anthropologists and therefore should have to us. I do not believe that we have the right to take a word from another culture and change its meaning simply because we like the word, or we like the reactions of our friends if we call ourselves "shamans".

For many years anthropologists, studying shamanic cultures, dismissed shamans as 'charlatans' or 'madmen'. But, gradually, anthropologists realised that if they were ever to understand shamanism they would have to experience it themselves. Michael Harner was one of these anthropologists. He learned to shamanise from the Shuar of Peru, then brought what he had learned north to the U.S.A. and formed the Foundation of Shamanic Studies to study shamanism in all its forms world-wide. He coined the phrase "core shamanism" to describe this world-wide shamanism without cultural or religious overlays.

Core shamanism is, therefore, the common threads of shamanic practice from all over the world. It is the heritage of everyone, wherever they live, whatever their ethnic or cultural background or religious beliefs. On core shamanic workshops it is those common threads that are taught. This is not because shamanism should, or can, be practised in a cultural void, but because we are a part of our culture, just as the Inuit shaman is part of his or the Sora shaman is part of hers. It makes no more sense that someone born and brought up in the United Kingdom should learn to practise Nepalese shamanism than that someone born and brought up in Central Africa should practise Huichol shamanism. We each belong to our own cultures and to the lands where we live. So 'core' means that central part of shamanic practice that is not dependent upon cultural traditions. But to most core shamanic practitioners it means more than this. It means also that shamanism is 'core' to our practice and to our lives.

We don't live in a shamanic society. That is self-evident. But does shamanism have a place in this society? Well, if it didn't, then the spirits wouldn't co-operate with us, and no amount of our teaching would enable you to meet them. So, what place does it have? In hunter-gatherer societies shamanism is traditionally used to locate game and to appease the spirits of the hunted animals. In agricultural societies the shaman works, for a large part, with the spirits of the weather and of the crops.

Essentially, the shaman is a negotiator between humans and the spirits in order to keep (or to restore) balance to the community. And here? Now? Well, shamanic healing is a large part of the work of contemporary shamanic practitioners. Much more so than in native cultures. A close friend of mine went, several years ago, to a trans-American shamanic conference. She was the only non-native person there, but she was also the one who had most shamanic experience – because the communities of the native shamans were kept in balance – mainly by ceremony - and needing only a tweak here and there. Our culture is out of balance with the spirits and so we need to do more ‘patching-up’ work. Also, here, we tend not to see illness as a reflection of the spiritual lack of balance in the community, so our work – through necessity – is often on the level of sticking plasters on broken legs.