Many don't understand what Shamanism is. Some just call it off as witchcraft. Is witchcraft the right term for it actually?

I think that it is widely a common misunderstanding of what it really entails. I put this under general religion in attempt to get a more diverse opinion in understanding the true intent of this practice, what its definition is, and what significance it has in today's society.

If you have additional information, comments, or interest on the topic then don't hesitate to mention them here.

If you have disagreements on the topic then please use such words as "kindly disagree with your statement because (your reason) to avoid unneccessary conflicts that could ban us from further use of the threads.

Now let us go to the question on what is Shamanism. Here is a small excerpt of what I found on the topic. Perhaps you can provide additional information and if you do study or practice this spiritual path show us how it can be done.

What is Shamanism?


Over tens of thousands of years, our ancient ancestors all over the world discovered how to maximize human abilities of mind and spirit for healing and problem-solving. The remarkable system of methods they developed is today known as "shamanism," a term that comes from a Siberian tribal word for its practitioners: "shaman" (pronounced SHAH-mahn). Shamans are a type of medicine man or woman especially distinguished by the use of journeys to hidden worlds otherwise mainly known through myth, dream, and near-death experiences. Most commonly they do this by entering an altered state of consciousness using monotonous percussion sound. (definition from F.S.S.)

"Shamanism is not a series of methods and techniques. It is a way of life which encompasses the principle of oneness with the web of life, a deep and strong connection to nature, as well as working with the principle of direct revelation." ~ Sandra Ingerman.

Shamans have long believed their powers were the powers of the animals, of the plants, of the sun, of the basic energies of the universe. In the garden Earth they have drawn upon their assumed powers to help save other humans from illness and death, to provide strength in daily life, to commune with their fellow creatures, and to live a joyful existence in harmony with the totality of Nature. ~(The Way of the Shaman - Michael Harner)

The shaman, female or male, is the community specialist in direct dealings with the Beyond —underworld, upperworld, or inner world; a wielder of numinous power; a master of ecstasy (Mircea Eliade) who whether healing, warring, predicting, weather-making, cooking herbs, arranging hunts, making masks, accompanying dead souls, or locating lost ones, performs as master of the operations of the unconscious.

Shamans are women and men who are spiritually alive, and who experience different levels of existence from everyday reality. Shamans learn to work with cosmic forces, and the forces of nature which are in us and around us. A true definition of a 'shaman' is elusive, for the shaman exists in her actions, and it is more helpful to think of shamanism as something one does, rather than 'being' a shaman - it is much more a dynamic, function than a precisely defined role.

"What is a shaman?
He dreams like all men do
But he remembers" (19/5)

As with all labels and words there are many different meanings depending on who is asked.

I use the word to simple mean: Shamanism - "The practice of learning to communicate with the spirit world at will".

That's a very loose definition and open to a great range of meaning depending on what a person accepts as spirit and on what a person accepts as communication.



Other people add more to the definition requiring that a 'Shaman' also must have the ability to heal people and some even require that a 'Shaman' must be dedicated to public service in these matters.

In that sense the title of 'Shaman' would be similar to the title of a 'Bodhisattva' in Buddhism as they would both have been required to have attained spirtitual enlightenment as well as being required to dedicate there services to helping others obtain spiritual healing.

I think all of these titles and labels are used by many people in many different ways.

I find many commonalities among many different religious and spiritual traditions. They often use different words but the underlying concepts are the same.

Shamans are the cultural and historical repositories for tribal cultures without written language.

Thank you for sharing this.

As I have been recently studying Buddhism, I see some resemblance how Buddha's story shows remarkable evidence that he may have practiced Shamanism in a different way.

Here is what I gather:

The Great Renunification

Siddhartha (Buddha) made what is known as the Great Renunification, giving up his life as a prince to become a wandering ascetic. He was twenty nine years old when he saddled his horse and left in the middle of the night. He didn't want to wake his wife or son. He figured he would one day return to them. He rode south to a place called Gotama where there were centers of spiritual training.

One day Siddhartha went to meditate beneath a pipal tree, now known as a bodhi tree in a place called Bodh Gaya. He sat cross legged and went into a trance in which he was tempted by Mara, the evil one, (The Lord of Senses), but he resisted. It was then the Four Noble Truths came to him. Following his enlightenment, the Buddha gathered five of his companions and delivered the first sermon. He preached that those searching for enlightenment should not look to find the two extremes of self indulgence and self mortification, but should avoid them. He taught instead that they should discover the middle path that leads to vision, to knowledge, to calmness, to awakening, and to nirvana.

I must also remind you that Buddha left his wealthy lifestyle as a simple wanderer living off practically little and suffering at times with little support and food to find a better meaning of life that led to his enlightenment.

So this paragraph tells me that he left to find inner spiritualism, wisdom, and knowledge of the surroundings around him to understand the nature of life in general.

So here is a excerpt from Shamanism...

**** The Training of a Shaman ****

A shaman must embark on a intensive training period that leads to initiaition. The shaman's spiritual journey begins witha physical journey that includes fasting, silence, and meditation.

The shaman candidate would leave his or her community to wander alone - hungry and tired - to get in touch with the spirit world. Yet even amid this spiritual community there was a level of practicality: Someone from the community would always watch over the "wanderer" during the vision quest to protect him or her from harm in the harsh Arctic wilderness.

(One must remember the first Shaman's were Siberians or so they say, which indicates the last sentence about the harsh conditions of Arctic Wilderness)

I must add that Buddha had also a traveller accompany him, yet after a few months he left him saying he is officially insane to do such punishment to his body and mind when he has everything a man can possiblity ask for.


So I find it interesting that this is part of a deeper understanding of yourself when you go to such harsh conditions to attain it.

And if you look into the history of Muhammad, Jesus, and Moses they also found a time of solitude in harsher moments to later come back enlightened some would say. So it is ironic that their stories hold a different merit then in what the books of the time teach in many cases. Was every book construed for the benefit of the author to gain wealth, a huge following, and power at the time. This is concerning mediterrenean faith systems.

Isn't that intersting that Buddha's time off alone meditating is a similiar practice of a Shaman's journey?

Could it mean in reality that every great prophet or monk was in the end a Shaman in some perspective?

What are your views on this?

Shamanism is practiced all over the world as we know.

The first Shamans is said to have existed in Siberia.

Hinduism and Buddhism spreaded across Asia that also touched Siberia.

Did they cross paths and share common interests that integrated perhaps each others practices?

Also added later:

As we know the practice of Shamanism is older then Buddhism, so did Buddhism take some idealogies from Shamanism?

I think I have found a cross reference to Buddhism and Shamanism.

They call it Bon Shamanism, which was practiced in Tibet area. Here is the link:

http://mingle2.com/topic/show/220076

Shamanism is contacting spirits? I dont know if that is witchcraft since we all contact spirits on an everyday basis when we commune with each other. we are all spirit being housed in flesh.

Buddhism is connected to Shamanism, along with Taoism. I was studying both, and then shifted to Shamanism.

Shamanism is very individual. In my case I work with the animals and the plants, very earth oriented. One of my teachers is more human-oriented. Another falls midway.

Lucid dreaming is probably the biggest similarity among ALL types and branches of shamanism.

K

Well there you go! I knew it. lol

Thank you for sharing your wisdom

I am by no means any kind of expert on this but its one of those topics that warrants years of study and research. I think Europeans do have their own brand of shamanism. It evolved into what we now think of as witchcraft. As a culture, we feared, persecuted and destroyed our shamanic heritage. We had it all along, and we still do, but most fail to recognize it. It has survived in the strains of folk magick and fairy faith practices. It has been revived as one of the strands in the web of contemporary witchcraft.

European is too broad a term. Each culture around the world has/had their own version of shamanism and much of it was very similar despite the distance. Celtic is even a fairly broad term, but it's still different then say Norse shamanism.

http://mosnews.com/weird/2009/04/10/shamans/

Wow very interesting. Thanks for sharing this.

Interesting