Description
Shamanism is humanity's oldest religion and healing art, dating back to the Paleolithic
era. Originally, the word shaman referred specifically to healers of the Tungus
people of Siberia. In recent times, that name has been given to healers in
many traditional cultures around the globe who use consciousness altering techniques
in their healing work.
Historically, shamanism has been confused with schizophrenia
by anthropologists because shamans often speak of
altered state experiences in the spirit world as
if they were "real" experiences. While
the shaman and the person in a psychotic episode
both have unusual access to spiritual and altered
state experiences, shamans are trained to work in
the spirit world, while the psychotic person is simply lost in
it.
But in many traditional cultures, psychotic episodes
have served as an initiatory illness that calls a
person into shamanism. Mircea Eliade writes:
The future shaman sometimes takes the risk of
being mistaken for a "madman". . .but
his "madness" fulfills a mystic function;
it reveals certain aspects of reality to him that
are inaccessible to other mortals, and it is only
after having experienced and entered into these
hidden dimensions of reality that the "madman" becomes
a shaman. (Mircea Eliade. Myths,
Dreams, and Mysteries. New York: Harper and
Row, 1960. Page 80-81)
As the person accepts the calling and becomes a
shaman, their illness usually disappears. The "self-cure
of a psychosis" is so typical of the shaman
that some anthropologists have argued that anyone
without this experience should be described only
as a healer. The concept of the "wounded healer" addresses
the necessity of the shaman-to-be entering into extreme
personal crisis in preparation of his/her role in
the community as a healer (Halifax, Joan. Shamanic
Voices. New York: Dutton, 1979)..
Traditional cultures distinguish between serious
mental illness and the initiatory crisis experienced
by some shamans-to-be. Anthropological accounts show
that babbling confused words, displaying curious
eating habits, singing continuously, dancing wildly,
and being "tormented by spirits" are common
elements in shamanic initiatory crises. In shamanic
cultures, such crises are interpreted as an indication
of an individual's destiny to become a shaman, rather
than a sign of mental illness. If the illness occurs
in an appropriate cultural context, the shaman returns
from the crisis not only healed, but able to heal
others.
For example, the Siberian shaman Kyzalov entered
a state of "madness" lasting for seven
years which resulted in his initiation as a shaman.
He reported that during those years he had been beaten
up several times, taken to many strange places including
the top of a sacred mountain, chopped into pieces
and boiled in a kettle, met the spirits of sickness,
and acquired the drum and garment of a dead shaman.
In our society today these experiences would be considered
evidence of a psychotic disorder and could possibly
result in hospitalization. Yet when Kyzalov recuperated,
he reported that, "the shamans declared, 'You
are the sort of man who may become a shaman; you
should become a shaman. You must begin to shamanize.' " (Halifax,
Joan. Shamanic
Voices. New York: Dutton, 1979)..
Referring to the "wounded healer" concept, Kalweit
argues the shamanic crisis is:
A sickness that is understood as a process of
purification, as the onset of enhanced psychic
sensitivity giving access to the hidden and highest
potentials of human existence, is therefore marked
by very different characteristics than those ascribed
to pathological conditions by modern medicine and
psychology, namely that suffering has only negative
consequences. According to the modern view, illness
disrupts and endangers life, whereas the shaman
experiences his sickness as a call to restructure
this life within himself so as to hear, see and
live it more fully and completely in a higher state
of awareness. (Dreamtime
and Inner Space: The World of the Shaman by
Holger Kalweit, p. 91)
Associated
Clinical Problems
Individuals in Western cultures occasionally experience similar problems:
We have seen instances where modern Americans,
Europeans, Australians and Asians have experienced
episodes that bore a close resemblance to shamanic
crises...People experiencing such crises can also
show spontaneous tendencies to create rituals that
are identical to those practiced by shamans of
various cultures. (Grof, S., & Grof, C. (Eds.).
(1989). Spiritual
emergency: When personal transformation becomes
a crisis. Los Angeles: Tarcher). p. 14-15)
The themes common to shamanic crises include:
Descent to the Realm of Death, confrontations
with demonic forces, dismemberment, trial by fire,
communion with the world of spirits and creatures,
assimilation of the elemental forces, ascension
via the World Tree and/or Cosmic Bird, realization
of a solar identity, and return to the Middle World,
the world of human affairs. (Halifax, Joan. Shamanic
Voices, p. 7)
But as with shamans in traditional cultures, when
persons in this type of spiritual emergence receive
proper guidance, they too can return from the experience
positively transformed.. In a traditional society,
shamans cure people's illnesses, guide recently deceased
souls, and restore a community's psychic balance
as well. For many people in contemporary western
societies, shamanic crises are precipitants to their
choice of a career in the health professions, such
as psychology and nursing.
Treatment
Treatment for people in a shamanic crisis follows the basic approach described
in Lesson
6.1 Spiritual Crises. During the integration stage (Lesson
6.2 Psychotherapy), contact with traditional shamans and reading of literature
on shamanism can be helpful adjuncts to therapy. In my own spiritual emergency,
shamans played a role in recovery. The spiritual potential inherent in my
experience lay dormant until contact with shamanic teachers enabled me to
connect with that dimension.Years later, in the altered states of consciousness
induced by shamanic practices, I re-experienced, for the first time since
my psychotic episode, a feeling of oneness with the universe. Once again,
I was communicating with divine spirits, and comprehending the meaning of
life itself. Instead of repressing these ecstatic experiences which had brought
painful memories, I was now learning to trust them again. Such experiences
are a major component of shamanic life: "Shamans do not differ from
other members of the collectivity by their quest for the sacred, which is
normal and universal human behavior, but by their capacity for ecstatic experience" (Eliade Shamanism,
p. 107). However, these teachers and their shamanic practices taught me how
to exercise voluntary control over entry into and out of ecstatic states.
I also learned how to keep them contained within appropriate social contexts.
(Full
account of how shamans helped with the integration phase).
Case Examples
Traditional
Initiatory Crisis
WWW LIBRARY of Religion
and Spirituality
The WWW
Library of Religion and Spirituality contains interviews with anthropologist
Michael Harner, PhD, articles and guides to online resources.
 REQUIRED
QUIZ ITEM: 31
Shamanic Crisis
Shamanic crises occur
a) to individuals in traditional cultures
b) to individuals in contemporary societies
c) both a and b
Record your answer for later insertion
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