Blueberry: ABOUT THE SHAMANISM

30 November -0001

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Some scientists think that the first shamans came from Siberia 40,000 years ago and then spread all over the world, crossing the Bering Strait with the first inhabitants of the American continent, to settle in Asia and Australia. For others, the opposite is true.

They consider shamanism as a base of beliefs common to all men and pre-dating all religions. It is therefore supposed to have appeared in many regions, sometimes as far back as the most ancient prehistoric times. Today, shamanism can be found all over the world, under all climes, from the Mongolian steppes to the Amazon forests, through the Australian bush, the Polynesian atolls and Mexican deserts. Shamans cannot be confined to simplistic definitions.

They do not have a constituted doctrine, or a revealed religion. They are above all, men and women who have the power to make their souls travel to the world of spirits. Shaman enter into a modified state of consciousness that enables them to communicate with the hidden forces of nature. To do this, they use techniques that differ according to the peoples: long fasts, chants, dances and holy plants.

They are all aimed at help the shaman to separate his soul from his body to be able to travel in other worlds where he can meet spirits and reconcile them.

Traditionally, this capacity is placed at the service of the community to solve its day-to-day problems, famines, bad weather, wars and disease. The shaman is therefore a very formative element, who maintains the cohesion of the group.

He is a spiritual guide as well as a social pivot and healer. By transmitting his knowledge to younger generations, he contributes in perpetuating and constantly keep up the cultural identity of his people.THE WORLD OF SHAMANS: OTHER REALITIES

Shamans consider that we perceive only a small part of the universe with our five senses. The sensory reality that we see or hear is therefore only one of many elements of an infinitely larger and more complex reality where sprits abound.

Shamans, unlike people in Western civilisations, do not make a clear difference between the earthly world and the supernatural world. They think, on the contrary that the world is united by a single vital energy; men are part of a complete whole, made up of different levels of reality, some of which are immediately perceptible and others accessible only through shamanic techniques.

When the shaman modifies his state of consciousness or enters into a trance, he is able to perceive these other realities and move within them.

Their relationship with the environment is a reflection of this conception. Far from wanting to exploit or dominate it, they think that man and nature are part of a unit, the balances of which must be respected above all. Each living being, plant or animal is inhabited by a spirit and is part of a global whole with which it must live in harmony.

Man does therefore not have a particular position that would give it rights over the other beings, but is instead part of the universe as a whole. The deterioration of the environment is not only a sacrilege, but it is also simply unthinkable because respecting nature means respecting the world order. Custodian of this holy bond, the shaman is the one who knows how to maintain this fragile balance.

The shaman’s world is very different from that of our civilisation. It is neither mechanical nor rational and time is seen, not as a linear process, but as another dimension of the immediate present. Shamanic people do not know about the notions of growth and progress. Western fascination with shamans can be explained first of all by this integrated vision of the world, based on the constant search for compromises made with the forces of nature and life in small communities.

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