Shamanism in Europe

What is shamanism?

The Shaman is usually regarded as a healer as well as a mediator between the normal - ordinary - world or reality, OR, and the spiritual world, the so called non-ordinary reality (NOR). He is an expert for communication with the helping spirits by changing his everyday consciousness to an altered state and "journeying" to NOR to retrieve power and information for his clients and tasks.

Traditional Shamanism

Traditional Shamanism is a complex of beliefs and behaviours embedded within a variety of cultures. Shamans are distinguished from other healers, mediums and various religious practitioners.

Traditional shamanism in Tuva: Shamans sanctifying a spring

• Usually shamans have direct contact with spiritual entities.
• Strict control of one or more spirits. Spirits do not usurp or "control" the shaman's consciousness without his or her permission.
• Control of an altered state of consciousness (the shaman determines when to enter and when to leave the altered state).
• They focus rather on the "normal", material world than looking for personal enlightenment.
• The ability for the "magical flight of the soul", i. e. the shaman's journey.

Traditional shamanism in Tuva: Sanctifying a spot by sprinkling milk with the sacred spoon

Core Shamanism

In doing research in the Upper Amazon US anthropologist Michael Harner stated that while shamanism in various societies differs, there are a limited number of core features which underlie all shamanism. This he called "Core Shamanism".

In Michael Harner's own words:

"I was aware of peyote and ayahuasca use. During my fieldwork 1956-57 among the Jívaro I found myself in a society of shamans. They invited me to take this drinks of theirs. The rainy season stopped my work, but when I came back in 1961 to the Conibo of the Peruvian Amazon I took ayahuasca, because they said there is only one way to learn about it - you've to take the drink.
About my experiences I report in my book 'The Way of the Shaman'.
When I came back to the US I started going through the anthropological literature with great excitement and expectations. I was convinced, like R. Gordon Wasson and others at that time, that all religions had their origin in plant-induced experiences . . . but when you experience other methods of access besides the plants, then you discover that it's bigger than plants - that there is a whole other reality, and that there are different entrances into it.
Eventually, I came to many dead ends. For example I was sure that Pituri Duboisia hopwoodii used by the Australian Aborigines would have psychedelic effects but it apparently had not. The Inuit shamans did not use psychotropic plants and they were certainly having strong spiritual experiences. The evidence was staring me in the face for a long time, but I didn't see it; that in perhaps 90 percent of the world's shamanic cultures they use a monotonous percussive sound to enter altered states of consciousness, rather than significant psychedelics.
Finally I got around to trying drumming. After various experiments it worked. Later I spent some time with Northwest Coast Indians who used drums in a very effective way for reaching the shamanic state of consciousness.
So my path of Core Shamanism involves monotonous percussive sound or sonic driving. And that's what has made it so easy for me to teach shamanism through the years, because it's a legal, safe, effective and ancient method. It teaches people that there's more than one door to nonordinary reality, which is something that shamans in so many parts of the world already know."

From: "Higher Wisdom: Eminent Elders Explore the Continuing Impact of Psychedelics" Roger Walsh & Charles Grob, Albany, 2005. With permission.