Blueberry: ABOUT THE SHAMANISM

THE HEALER: A SEARCH FOR EQUILIBRIUM

Healing is one of the traditional functions of shamanism. Today, in certain native cultures where it is no longer necessary to call up the spirits for hunting or to fight one’s enemies, healing has become the main attribute of shamans.

Their understanding of disease is miles away from our Western conceptions. Where our doctors have a scientific approach – know each organ in detail to be able to treat it - shamans have a more coherent approach with their world vision. A sickness does not occur by chance. It is above all the result of an imbalance in the sick person’s relationship with natural forces. In this perspective, the first thing that the shaman has to do is restore this balance: for this, the best tools at his disposal are knowledge of plants and the convocation of the spirits.

Some diseases are considered as superficial and will be treated with medicinal plants. For instance, Amazonian shamans know and use about a thousand plants of the forest.

Other affections have an impact on the patient’s position in his community, his relationship with the spirits and the stage of personal development that he has reached. The shaman healer must therefore be a great explorer of the worlds of the subconscious, able to grasp the complexity of this vast domain.

The modified states of consciousness enable him to read into the body of the sick person like an open book, identify the cause of the sickness, and then reach hidden realities to compromise with the natural forces. When a harmful agent has been introduced into the body by an enemy shaman, the healer shaman will therefore have to fight this adversary spiritually. The journeys into the world of spirits are sometimes real battles.

FOURTH SECTION: BECOMING A SHAMAN: THE INITIATE’S ROAD

Acquiring the powers of a shaman is first a long initiation.

One is not born a shaman, but becomes a shaman. The most frequent situation is the election by supernatural forces. The spirits choose one of the members of the community through different manifestations: dreams, visions, trances, etc. Often the shaman-to-be starts acting oddly, becomes solitary and withdrawn, has an accident or falls sick. The more powerful the spirit, the stronger the sickness will be.

The patient will only be healed if he accepts to radically change the course of his life and devote himself to his new duties. In families where there is a shaman line, the spirit of one of the ancestors is sometimes revealed to one of the brothers and sisters, who is thus designated as the one to carry on the family tradition.

Some people may decide voluntarily to become shamans, after seeing visions, undergoing a traumatic experience or in specific situations such as famines and wars where it becomes vital to know how to deal with the spirits.

Whatever the case, the making of a shaman is a long and painful initiatory path.

It is characterised by certain compulsory stages aimed at modifying the state of consciousness: fasting, deprivation, physical exhaustion, ceremonies, retreats in the country. All the initiation processes include a key stage: the apprentice’s experience of his own death during one of his journeys into the other worlds. The shaman-to-be is attacked by supernatural forces that tear him apart and destroy him.

He is reborn soon after this. Shamanic death, followed by resurrection, is fundamental. This rebirth creates a new person, who, having come to grips with death, has overcome the most deep-rooted fear of each human being and is now able to communicate with the spirits.

During his initiation, the shaman may decide to join forces with bad spirits and therefore take the road of evil. There are white shamans and black shamans. The white ones devote their lives to protecting their community and the others use their powers to increase their own power and domination over others.

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