(Shaman Showman - part 4)
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| "Dancing Sorcerer" After Henri Breuil's drawing. |
“The oldest religion of which we have any secure knowledge
is the shamanism of the late Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) as we have seen it
depicted in the caves of southern France and northern Spain.” (Weston LaBarre.) Further, “Nothing justifies the supposition that, during the hundreds and thousands of years that precedes the earliest Stone Age, humanity did not have a religious life as intense and
various as in the succeeding periods.” (Mircea Eliade.)
Research and deepened understanding of early religious practices reveals the riches of the religious experience of these ancient human systems. They were in no way inferior in their ability to supply answers to big philosophical questions, to control the dangerously random processes of nature, to strengthen community bonds, or providing real healing powers in times of sickness.
Research and deepened understanding of early religious practices reveals the riches of the religious experience of these ancient human systems. They were in no way inferior in their ability to supply answers to big philosophical questions, to control the dangerously random processes of nature, to strengthen community bonds, or providing real healing powers in times of sickness.
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| 12000 yo cave painting, Trois Freres, France |
From the furthest recesses of time our ancestors put their trust in shamans with spiritual and bodily needs. For the shaman was not only priest but also medicine man. Today this seems very strange indeed, since doctor and priest are two very separate occupations. Each belonging to fundamentally different ideological systems, namely science and religion. In these ancient times though, such distinctions were yet to be made. It is interesting here to note that, at root level, these sprung from a similar source.
“In a mysterious world full of unknown dangers like death, disease and other disasters, the shaman is the man who claims knowledge and power over these frightening mysteries that the ordinary man manifestly does not have. Clinically, we might view the shaman as a paranoiac, in his claims to omniscience, omnipotence and omnibenevolence. And yet, since these are what his clientele demand of him, these are what the medicine man must purport to provide.” (LaBarre)
All this was the shaman's obligation. Since early
man placed their faith in shamans we must ask: What did shamans do to deserve
this trust? What powers did they wield? And how well did it work?
Shamanism was practiced worldwide, from Europe to America,
Africa to Mongolia, and Brazil to Japan. This enormous distribution might certainly be taken as an
indication of its efficacy. It did what it set out to do effectively enough for
the practice to be almost universal.
What powers did they wield?
According
to Melbourne Christopher, one of the oldest and most performed Native American
mysteries was a ritual know as the shaking tent. It was an important and often
performed shamanistic ritual amongst the North American Cree Culture. It played an important role in the yearly cycle of harvest and other
ritual activities of the Innu people of Quebec and Labrador.
“It was not
only an important method of direct communication with the caribou and other
animal masters, as well as with Mishtapeu and cannibal spirits, it was also a
source of amusement. The shaman used the tent to look into the hidden world of
animal spirits, and to make contact with Innu in distant groups.” United Cherokee Nation.
