What we describe today as Shamanism has been with us since the first priest of the Tungu tribesmen began to study his animistic neighbours around him.
The Dervishes, that wild, priestly sect of the world of Islam, who live in the wild mountainous places of what was once Persia, took to howling and developing a dance in which, the devotee whirled and spun like a top to induce a psychological state whereby they could communicate with their God, 'Allah, the One', was also a form of Shamanism.
The wild, Norse Warrior sect, the berserkers, who worshipped the bear as their totem, and in its honour, wore a coat made of its skin and fur next to their own skin to induce a battle frenzy and blood lust that raised their subconscious state, like the preceding two groups, to that of their Higher Consciousness and sometimes called the state of 'Holy Guardian Angel' (H.G.A.), was also a form of shamanism.
Even in our own society, during the Eleventh Century, we commonly had traditional hereditary people called 'Cunning Men' who studied the wild creatures of the world, in common with the 'Lion Men' and 'Leopard Men' of Africa and the 'Snake Men' of Haiti, who worshipped Damballah, all had the gift of communication with the immortal beings of this world and beyond.
The following article taken from our correspondence course on British Paganism, takes the Touchwood reader further into the world of shamanism and explores the unseen world of the Shaman and the shamanka, as only they know it to be now.
Shamanism is very much in vogue at the moment, but few people actually understand what it means, let alone how to practice it. The word for a start is from the Siberian Tungu people and means 'one who is excited or raised up'. To use a Greek word they are 'ecstatic' - outside of their bodies.
For some reason the word shaman has become inexorably linked with the North American Indian medicine men, but Amerindians are only one kind of native ecstatic religion, every country in the world has at one time had this type of priest/seer and if we are to use the name for native American medicine men then we can equally apply it to any native religion which uses methods of spirit contact and ecstasy.
Ecstasy here does not refer to the enhanced sexual state but to the original Greek meaning 'ekstasis' - put out of place' in other words to leave your body, astral or spirit travel.
But spiritualist mediums are not considered to be shamans so how is it different? Well to give one eminent professors opinion (M. Mircea Eliade author of Shamanism - Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy), the shaman is not possessed by the spirits but controls and directs them.
He or she (female is called a shamanka) can travel at will, sometimes with the help of various techniques, outside of their body and into the spirit worlds. There they can control and mediate between humans and the spirits. Most primitive religions are of the belief that illness is caused by what happens to the human soul when it is out of its body during sleep.
Many believe that the soul can be captured, hurt or interfered with in such a way that it effects the physical body. The shaman can travel into the spirit worlds and can cajole, command or trick the spirits into releasing the ill persons soul. So too with bad luck or misfortune which is also believed to be the work of malefic spirits.
The shaman achieves these ecstatic states through a variety of ways including in many cultures the use of mind-freeing or psychotropic drugs. Other ways include chanting, ecstatic dancing, drumming, rattles, food and water and sleep deprivation and even sun-delirium. There are even now some shamans who use controlled snake or insect bites to achieve the freedom of spirit they need for the job.
Another important factor which is often overlooked is that the people who resort to the shaman for help must have faith in his powers. The man is handling his spirit, he must trust that the shaman knows what he is doing.
In order to inspire confidence some shamans go to extraordinary lengths to appear powerful and 'magical'. All of them are eccentric. They dress differently, live differently, behave differently, they understand the need for showmanship, for extrovert behaviour, for flamboyance and sometimes downright trickery.
So we have a picture, drawn from modern sources and anthropological ideas of how a shaman appears to his tribe. But did shamanism ever exist in Britain or in Europe? Archeologically there is very little direct evidence. There are a few cave paintings such as the 15,000 year old picture of a man dressed as a stag which could indicate a shaman or equally a God (cave at Les Trois Freres french Pyrenees).
Also the stone carvings which decorate many standing stones and cup and ring stones. The spiral being the most likely shamanic symbol. The spiral is a well known spirit pattern throughout the world, a mandala as the Indians call it.
It can hypnotise and if in a partially drugged state the shaman could use it to spiral up out of his body and back down again. This is only a personal opinion but based on experience and oral knowledge, no archeologist would accept the explanation, though an anthropologist might give it a thought.
Totem animals appear a lot in later Celtic art and again many shamans use 'power animals' as vessels for their spirit journeys. Shape shifting has been attributed to shamans the world over and certain animals and birds seem to fulfil the role of power animal or to give it a mediaeval term 'familiar' in many countries. The dog family is a favourite whether it be wolf, fox, wild dog, hyena or dingo.
The cat family also has its adherents especially in Africa. Ravens, crows and other carrion birds are popular as are birds of prey such as the eagle and falcon. Pigs and geese were common totems among the Celts although there is no contemporary written evidence that the druids practised shamanism.
However there are many Celtic legends about shape-shifting, weather control, the ability to walk through fire unscathed and many many tales of 'magicians' such as Gwydion and Merlin who could travel to the Otherworld, trick the inhabitants and get what they wanted.
From this and other personal evidence gathered on travels in the spirit worlds I would conclude that some kind of shamanism did exist in pre-Celtic if not early Celtic times. Certainly the British countryside abounds with psychotropic plants and fungi and the knowledge of their use has been handed down through hereditary families.
There is little evidence of ritual drums or rattles but British Shamans may have used other audio techniques and chants and breathing techniques cannot be portrayed by a culture that had no knowledge of writing. The megalith builders seem to have gone to great lengths to align their monuments with heavenly bodies which may have had something to do with shamanism, using earth and planetary energies in their techniques, but it is difficult to say for sure. They can however be used by modern shamans so it is likely that they were meant for that purpose among other things.
Britain and Europe had a rich prehistoric culture perfectly capable of producing shamans as well as more conventional priests and magicians. It seems to me unnecessary therefore for us to import North American Indian beliefs at a time when we should be exploring our own past. Shamanism in North America was shaped partly by the environment of that continent, and whilst it shares common features with all shamanic techniques, it is not European.
We should be able to contact our own ancestors on this subject and learn from them. There will not of course be many shamans still in spirit to teach us but there are some and it is worthwhile at least trying. Every small scrap of knowledge will add to our appreciation of the past as well as to our own personal development.
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