tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3544799987499995638.post2297216272274193686..comments2023-05-12T03:00:57.208-07:00Comments on Singing to the Plants: Who is a Shaman?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3544799987499995638.post-86432550606052076342009-04-09T03:19:00.000-07:002009-04-09T03:19:00.000-07:00Dear Steve,To begin with, it is great to have you ...Dear Steve,<BR/><BR/>To begin with, it is great to have you back posting after your break, with your trademark sharpness and eclecticism, and, it seems, a renewed appreciation for your visitors’ contributions. Your writing is outstanding. It is unique and quirky, but at the same time it shows your commitment to accelerating the flow of information and being useful within the global evolution we are all experiencing. I am grateful that your blog exists. <BR/><BR/>Congratulations on your book’s publication. I can’t wait.<BR/><BR/>This is a follow-up to my comments from last year under “Who Is a Shaman?” I hope this place is appropriate for it. If not, please post it where you think it belongs. <BR/><BR/>[Digressing: is there any way to index – by date? by topic? alphabetically? – your now abundant list of articles?]<BR/><BR/>I think the question of whether the ayahuasca-derived organized religions deserve to be called shamanic hinges on another issue: is shamanism something that happens only in traditional cultures and disappears in the modern world, or is it a universal product of all human societies? I do not know if any learned opinions about this question exist. Maybe you do…? <BR/><BR/>You can guess where I stand on the issue. I think that, beyond all the culture-specific activities and the local color, shamanism is simply the set of all the practices that seek to affect life by consciously acting in the invisible – “astral” or “spiritual” – realm. Within that definition, in North America, traditions like Christian Science, Religious Science or even “Think and Grow Rich”-type systems could be viewed as forms of Western shamanism, albeit primitive ones from the point of view of a practitioner from a “primitive” culture. The notion of “treating” a problem by changing the way one perceives it strikes me as eminently shamanic. <BR/><BR/>Are there shamans in New York City? I don’t mean shamans from South America leading workshops or dabblers who put that word in their resume. I mean people who act upon the collectively created reality called New York City the way a traditional shaman affects his village’s culture. Here again, I’d say the answer depends on whether one believes that there is indeed an invisible, astral or spiritual realm. Questions within questions within questions… An Amazonian Russian doll.<BR/><BR/>My own answer is yes (and yes and yes). There is a fabric which is made of the combined worldviews of human beings. We call that fabric the world. We all influence it through our thoughts and perceptions, and the only pertinent distinction is whether we do so deliberately or unconsciously. In that perspective, the person who reads the “Daily Word” in the morning and sets out to spend the day with a – for example’s sake – grateful attitude IS a shaman. Obviously, I cannot prove it because it depends on how one defines the term. But I offer as supporting evidence the fact that it would not occur to a member of a traditional culture to do that kind of thing. On the other hand, our society does not acknowledge this hypothetical person with a special name or function and that scores a point for “no”, because the question “who is a shaman?” is essentially a sociological or anthropological one. <BR/><BR/>I am a Daimist. As I posted here before, I believe the main difference between something like the Santo Daime and shamanic use of the tea is the collective “current” in the ceremonies (“corrente” in Portuguese) which has no equivalent in traditional Amazon cultures. Yes, the moral ambiguity of the shaman’s role gets lost in the Daime’s Christian manicheism. Yes, some specific practices like darts and phlegms are not part of it. But the attitude towards the invisible, the visible and their interrelationship is the same. And let me assure you, Santo Daime people take the issue of healing or curing quite seriously.<BR/><BR/>Sorry for being so long-winded. I had to get it off my chest.Marconoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3544799987499995638.post-24913565958018097912008-07-10T12:40:00.000-07:002008-07-10T12:40:00.000-07:00I hope the Anonymous that posted that message coul...I hope the Anonymous that posted that message could see that reply.<BR/>The transgendered individual having the male & female spirit and becoming a shaman is the big "missed topic" in the discussion about shamanism.<BR/>I feel this has something to do with the definition of "nagual" in spite of the known defintion of "double" as referring to the animal double.<BR/>I wish you, and the knowledgeable Steve if he wish, could expand on the subject. <BR/>I also believe that the sacred liar Castaneda refers to the "Naguals" as "double spirit" individuals (not necessary male+female but just double energetic body individuals) but, at the date, is the only one talking about it that i came across.<BR/>Intriguing subject....<BR/>By the way, Steve, congrats for the way you approach shamanism, very few like you. But then with such a curriculum.....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3544799987499995638.post-60693004365232114852008-07-04T08:51:00.000-07:002008-07-04T08:51:00.000-07:00with all due respect to your essay on who is a Sha...with all due respect to your essay on who is a Shaman, I would like to add another rite of passage on becoming a shaman which is sadly overlooked perhaps due to others ignorance about it. and this is the trangendered individual who is a shaman. This type of shaman was <BR/>created with having the male & female spirit, and is capable of walking in both worlds in the physical dimension and the spiritual dimension. a powerful shaman indeed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3544799987499995638.post-69965262677744415712008-05-04T20:43:00.000-07:002008-05-04T20:43:00.000-07:00Even more:http://www.neip.info/downloads/edward/ch...Even more:<BR/><BR/>http://www.neip.info/downloads/edward/chapter6.htm<BR/><BR/>A chapter from an e-book on the NEIP website dealing directly with the continuities as well as discontinuities between mestizo shamanism and the Santo Daime practices. The rest of the e-book is interesting too, but this section is right on the topic of who might be, should be or shouldn't be called a shaman.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3544799987499995638.post-74440894198671877592008-05-02T18:18:00.000-07:002008-05-02T18:18:00.000-07:00More on who might be a shaman:Bia Labate is a Braz...More on who might be a shaman:<BR/><BR/>Bia Labate is a Brazilian anthropologist specializing in the study of ayahuasca-based syncretic religions, neo-shamanism, urban shamanism and other recently evolved hybrid phenomena. She brings intellectual rigor and a wide-open curiosity to the understanding of these developments that don't fit established categories.<BR/><BR/>If you can read Portuguese, here is a good interview of her:<BR/><BR/>http://p.php.uol.com.br/tropico/html/textos/1667,1.shl<BR/><BR/>And this is a link to Alto das Estrelas, the institute she founded:<BR/><BR/>http://alto-das-estrelas.blogspot.com<BR/><BR/>The site has some stuff in English and a large archive, including presentations on visionary visual artists. <BR/><BR/>Bia is active in NIEP, a coalition of Brazilian academics to bring sanity to the study of sacred plants:<BR/><BR/>http://www.neip.info/<BR/><BR/>She has been a consultant to various film and TV projects on these topics but I haven't got those links yet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3544799987499995638.post-76883311579510008722008-04-25T13:20:00.000-07:002008-04-25T13:20:00.000-07:00I think the issue of playing a specialized role in...I think the issue of playing a specialized role in the community deserves attention. Santo Daime fardados are church members, parishioners, and hold all kinds of occupations in society. They do not offer shamanic services to 'clients.' <BR/><BR/>There is, however, such a thing as praying for others -- translation: performing healing work. And, even beyond that, the difference may be less clearcut than it looks. <BR/><BR/>I am a Northern resident of one of the large, cosmopolitan cities of the North. In your universalist vs. indigenist dichotomy, I would definitely be a universalist. My main motivation is keeping my head above water and if someone throws me a buoy, I am not going to make sure I grab it in the properly prescribed traditional way. I am just going to grab it. <BR/><BR/>One thing I have been discovering over a year and a half of practice is that I often find myself performing a role in my own culture (Northern, urban, cosmopolitan) that would be easy to call shamanic. <BR/><BR/>How do I define that word? Well, I am really afraid to do that in such expert company, but I will say that it has to do with perceiving consciousness and therefore society as a malleable medium that can be acted upon deliberately. Getting less vague than this would be a careless move. The point is this: there is a specialized learning that takes place, and, like it or not, it transforms your role in your interactions with others.<BR/><BR/>So, are members of the Santo Daime in the cities of the North shamans? Is there such a thing as an urban shaman? Some people define themselves as such, even get business cards printed and offer consultations. In some cases, this reaches the border of silliness -- and boldly crosses it. Yet it seems to me that, to the extent that traditional shamanic tools have become available to outsiders in very secular environments, the definition of a shaman in terms of his relationship to his broader social community deserves to be framed in more general terms than the client/practitioner relationship.<BR/><BR/>How much of that perception is valid in Brazil? I am heading there for the first time and I will let you know.<BR/><BR/>" 'Cause something is happening here<BR/>And you don't know what it is<BR/>Do you, Mr. Jones?"<BR/><BR/>Bob Dylan, Ballad of a Thin ManAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3544799987499995638.post-61580097306799985372008-04-24T03:43:00.000-07:002008-04-24T03:43:00.000-07:00You raise a very interesting question, and I will ...You raise a very interesting question, and I will have to think about it. Indeed, my inconsistency goes even deeper. As you know, there are numerous structural similarities between Santo Daime and the Native American Church; yet I am inclined to see Native American Church ceremonies as being shamanic, or at least as having significant shamanic components. Perhaps I am more heavily weighting the idea of the shaman as being the active agent of healing and the patient -- or the community -- as being relatively passive in the healing process; perhaps I am privileging the sucking shaman as being paradigmatic of the role. Hmmm.<BR/><BR/>I always enjoy receiving your comments. Thank you for giving me something to think about. :-)<BR/><BR/>-- SteveSteve Beyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06176285779096780805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3544799987499995638.post-14609480554938760552008-04-23T19:05:00.000-07:002008-04-23T19:05:00.000-07:00In another post (I saw it in the past few days, bu...In another post (I saw it in the past few days, but I couldn't find it again), you stated that modern ayahuasca-based religious movements are not shamanic. Could you explain how you came to that conclusion?<BR/><BR/>I was introduced to the drink called ayahuasca through the Santo Daime movement and have become familiar with it. I tested its 'shamanity' against the items in your bundle (of joy?). I checked eight of the ten items with a 'yes, participants do that or have that.' The two that didn't fit were #6 'special role in the community' and #10 'harm as well as heal.'<BR/><BR/>The main difference between that movement and traditional practices with the drink -- as far as I can tell and I will happily defer to your erudition -- is that it is a collective practice in which the creation of a group 'current' of energy is important. I was told by another expert on Amazon cultures that it is virtually never drunk collectively with that purpose in traditional practice. There are a lot of other surface differences, most having to do with the prominence of Catholic motifs and symbols. And of course the drink itself is experienced as sacrament with obvious reference to the Catholic mass. But as you noted yourself abundantly, ayahuasqueros tend to be syncretic and inclusive anyway.<BR/><BR/>I would appreciate your comments on this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com