Shamanism and Shamanic Healing

the guests, but D., desperate for energy, keeps touching me, and grounding the energy into himself before I can build up a good charge." COMMENT: Within a day or so following this lucid dream healing, D. showed a remarkable improvement. For the previous six months he had needed oxygen therapy twenty-four hours a day. Afterwards, he required oxygen supplementation only while sleeping at night, and his supplemental oxygen intake decreased from 3 liters per day to 2 liters per day. He continued in this improved state for over 5 years. In July of 1997 he had to return to using oxygen therapy 24 hours a day.

In order to better cope with the pressures and stresses of the current day, modern psychology is anxiously seeking to find new therapies to address the increasing disorders within the human psyche. In the process new fields of research, such as humanistic and transpersonal psychology, curiously appear to borrow more and more from the wisdom of the ages. This volume, containing eighteen articles by noteworthy expositors of the perennial philosophy such as Huston Smith, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Frithjof Schuon, presents the spiritual psychology of the wisdom traditions as a much-needed antidote to the current impasse in modern psychology.

Some Endorsements for Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy:

“[Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy] is more than an anthology. It is a wisely crafted collection of classic and contemporary scholarship noting that what many are seeking is what has always been, a perennial philosophy, that remains foundational. As one of the authors, Tage Lindbom, properly notes, ‘Secularization is a fish in troubled waters.’ This book claims the waters and is essential reading for all those who may have forgotten or are simply ignorant of the rich foundation provided by the perennial philosophy.”
—Ralph W. Hood, Professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, past president of the Psychology of Religion division of the American Psychological Association, co-founder of The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion and co-author of The Psychology of Religion

“A necessary and bracing critique of the assumptions and limitations of contemporary Western psychology, this generous volume is also a passionate call and learned guide towards a truer perspective that embraces man's spiritual nature.”
—Gabor Maté, M.D., and author of In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction

“Knowing the nature of the mind is perhaps the most difficult undertaking, especially in today’s world. To comprehend the nature of mind one needs to turn to the domain of religion and spirituality. Yet the truth of the mind and its complexity cannot explicitly be defined in words. Inner or transcendent wisdom sees the mind’s own nature without the duality of the seer. Suchness (tathatā) of mind is only experiential and not expressible. The words used to describe thought are themselves a product of thought, which is conditioned and limited. Thus, differences and contradictions are unavoidable. Therefore, a comparative study of different viewpoints and commentaries is immensely important to awaken the inner intelligence to see the mind as it is. Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy: Studies in Comparative Religion edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is an outstanding effort in this direction.”
—Samdhong Rinpoche, former Prime Minister (Kalon Tripa) of the Tibetan Government-in-exile, author of Uncompromising Truth for a Compromised World: Tibetan Buddhism and Today’s World

“The rise of psychology has impacted the study and practice of spirituality, the experiences and attitudes relevant to ultimate human values that transcend ordinary behavior. Each chapter of this remarkable book demonstrates this interaction in a unique and provocative way. But rather than using psychology to reduce and ‘psychologize’ spiritual topics, its authors demonstrate how directives from the spiritual traditions can enhance and even illuminate the enduring importance of psychology in the 21st century.”
—Stanley Krippner, Saybrook University, co-author of Spiritual Dimensions of Healing

“The work at hand is a thinking and debating man’s delight. If you have any interest at all in attempting to include an educated and enlightened view of man’s higher functions in your purview of the world, you will learn from and enjoy this collection of essays. If you already have some knowledge in this area, brace yourself: you may see some of your favorites sharply criticized. A thought-provoking work.”
—Bruce W. Scotton, University of California, San Francisco, co-editor of Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology

“This book, superbly edited by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos, is a masterful critique of the field of psychology and its loss of the sacred ground in which it once was rooted. It offers depth psychologists an opportunity to contemplate timeless truths echoed through the centuries by perennial philosophers who have always claimed psyche is subordinate to Spirit. Although ignored in depth psychology’s early years due to prejudice and lack of understanding, this is a message today’s psychotherapists must take seriously. Human beings need a deeper and wider transpersonal vision of who and what we are, which the saints and sages of the world’s spiritual traditions have always pointed to. In psychotherapy with a therapist committed to such a vision, patients penetrate into their unconscious depths and not infrequently awaken to the Ground of all Being. Their suffering itself occurred because they had turned away from Spirit. Above all, this volume passionately calls upon depth psychology to remember its origin in the perennial wisdom at the core of the great religions. There is something of a polemic in these pages. It deserves to be considered by depth psychologists of all persuasions.”
—Bryan Wittine, Transpersonal psychologist and Jungian psychoanalyst

“This anthology from Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is a must reference for anyone who is interested in psychology and its relationship to spirituality, and in developing an inclusive dialogue between disciplines that favor an integral outlook on the person and his or her potential. Selections in this anthology will inspire us to reexamine the metaphysical underpinnings of psychology, and remind us how important it is to rise above science’s attempt to reduce the human being to an epistemic object.”
—Sangeetha Menon, National Institute of Advanced Studies (Bangalore, India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Beyond Experience: Consciousness in Bhagavad Gita

“This anthology has some of the most discerning essays and reviews on spirituality and psychology, which provide much-needed care and caution to all those engaged in bringing them together or who wish to do so in future. Therefore, it is a must-read for all those who teach, research, consult, or study in such frontier areas as transpersonal psychology, states of consciousness, mind-body relation, holistic health, Indian psychology, and so on. It will be an invaluable textbook for courses in these and other related areas. I congratulate the editor of the book.”
—Kiran Kumar K. Salagame, University of Mysore (India), Board Member of the International Transpersonal Association (ITA), author of The Psychology of Meditation: A Contextual Approach

“One of the finest collections of essays on the Perennial Philosophy—a must-read for all psychologists who are engaged with spirituality and transpersonal psychology. The essays which critique modern psychology (including transpersonal psychology, and the framework of Carl Jung), in the light of the Perennial Philosophy are a revelation and make compelling reading. The book serves as a corrective to the excesses of modern psychology, and to this end Sotillos has done a commendable job. I for one will include the book in some of the graduate courses that I teach.”
—Suneet Varma, University of Delhi, co-editor of Foundations of Indian Psychology

“To its credit modern science by-and-large is becoming more cognizant of the essential connection between spirituality and psychological health and well-being and most of all its positive implications within the field of psychology. While there is ample data to document this in a plethora of academic journals and books, this new book Psychology and the Perennial Philosophy adds a novel contribution to the dialogue between psychology and spirituality, which captures many nuances that for the most part go unnoticed within these discussions, and last but not least, it provides a keen eye of discernment to understand this intricate relationship on a deeper level that is crucially needed. This work will be a valuable asset to students and long term mental health practitioners and professors alike who seek to better understand the relationship between psychology and spirituality.”
—Harold G. Koenig, Duke University, Director of the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health, co-author of The Handbook of Religion and Health

The Relationship Between Spirit and Matter: Can Shamanism Help Us Heal?© 2001 Mara BishopABSTRACT This thesis explores the relationship between spirit and matter, specifically in relation to shamanic and spiritual healing. Shamanic healing is a primarily intangible model of healing, engaging patients on a spiritual level more than a physical one. One goal of this paper is to look at ways to integrate spiritual and physical healing techniques. Shamanism provides a valuable example for several reasons: shamanic healing is practiced throughout the world, the techniques of disparate cultures are surprisingly similar, and it can be used in conjunction with allopathic techniques.Shamanic healing is based on principles of animism, on entering altered states of consciousness, and on working directly with spirit assistance. The cosmologies, mythologies, beliefs about the afterlife and daily practices of shamanic cultures are discussed. Methods of diagnosis are reviewed, as are specific healing therapies, including soul retrieval, extraction, power animal retrieval, laying on of hands, and psychopomp work. Ceremonial healing is ubiquitous in shamanic practices and some practitioners today are incorporating ritual healing in their medical practices. Other factors that are important to successful healing, including the compassion of the healer and the power of sound and language when used by the shaman, are reviewed.Information from scholars and anthropologists regarding the spiritual basis of shamanic healing and shamanic beliefs concerning health is discussed. The work of contemporary practitioners, both native healers and core shamanic practitioners, is examined. I examine different ways healers are incorporating shamanic techniques in their work, and discuss the challenge of utilizing ancient methods, widely unknown in western culture, in modern medical settings. Scientific studies measuring the effects of shamanic healing on human bodies and bodies of water are reviewed.Some forms of shamanic healing are analogous to non-local or prayer based healing. A variety of scientific studies indicate that interdenominational prayer positively affects the health of those prayed for. Synopses of some of these studies help illuminate the possibilities for spiritually based healing methods to impact patients today.The shamanic concept of living in harmony with nature is discussed in relation to the recent movement called ecological medicine. The scientists involved in this movement are investigating a view of health based on the importance of living in balance with ourselves, each other, and our environment. This is a quintessentially shamanic philosophy. By combining the ancient spiritual beliefs and techniques of the shamans with the awareness and technical skills of modern doctors and scientists, we can begin to create a bridge between science and spirituality, between traditional healing practices and allopathic methods, and between our bodies and our spirits.

For the past forty years shamanism has drawn increasing attention among the general public and academics. There is an enormous literature on shamanism, but no one has tried to understand why and how Western intellectual and popular culture became so fascinated with the topic. Behind fictional and non-fictional works on shamanism, Andrei A. Znamenski uncovers an exciting story that mirrors changing Western attitudes toward the primitive. The Beauty of the Primitive explores how shamanism, an obscure word introduced by the eighteenth-century German explorers of Siberia, entered Western humanities and social sciences, and has now become a powerful idiom used by nature and pagan communities to situate their spiritual quests and anti-modernity sentiments. The major characters of The Beauty of the Primitive are past and present Western scholars, writers, explorers, and spiritual seekers with a variety of views on shamanism. Moving from Enlightenment and Romantic writers and Russian exile ethnographers to the anthropology of Franz Boas to Mircea Eliade and Carlos Castaneda, Znamenski details how the shamanism idiom was gradually transplanted from Siberia to the Native American scene and beyond. He also looks into the circumstances that prompted scholars and writers at first to marginalize shamanism as a mental disorder and then to recast it as high spiritual wisdom in the 1960s and the 1970s. Linking the growing interest in shamanism to the rise of anti-modernism in Western culture and intellectual life, Znamenski examines the role that anthropology, psychology, environmentalism, and Native Americana have played in the emergence of neo-shamanism. He discusses the sources that inspire Western neo-shamans and seeks to explain why lately many of these spiritual seekers have increasingly moved away from non-Western tradition to European folklore. A work of intellectual discovery, The Beauty of the Primitive shows how scholars, writers, and spiritual seekers shape their writings and experiences to suit contemporary cultural, ideological, and spiritual needs. With its interdisciplinary approach and engaging style, it promises to be the definitive account of this neglected strand of intellectual history.

Becoming Medicine is the second collaboration of holistic psychiatrist, David Kopacz, and Native American Visionary, Joseph Rael (Beautiful Painted Arrow), with a foreword by Lewis Mehl-Madrona. It is a journey of heroism and healing through seeking, finding/receiving wisdom, and giving back to the world. Drawing on their own stories, as well as those of contemporary & ancient mystics, visionaries, and shamans, this book plots out a course of initiation into a living spirituality where we become the medicine that our world so desperately needs.

В статье предлагается экзистеницальная деконст-рукция феномена шаманского камлания, которое у ряда тюркских народов, включая кыргызов, называлось игрой (оюн, ойно). Понимание обряда как игры позволяет по-но-вому вписать в общекультурный контекст шаманскую игру (бакшы ойно) и обнаружить в ней сущностное мифо-поэтическое начало, которое связывает магию с искусст-вом и другими сферами человеческой деятельности.

Макалада бакшы камланиеси феноменинин экзистен-ицалдык деконструкциясы сунушталат, ал бир катар түрк элдеринде, алардын ичинде кыргыздарда, оюн, ойно деп аталган. Ырым-жырымды оюн катары түшүнүү жалпы маданий контекстке бакшы оюнун жаңыча киргизүүгө жана андан сыйкырды искусство менен жана адам ишмердигинин башка чөйрөлөрү менен байланышты-ра турган маңыздуу мифопоэтикалык башталышты та-бууга мүмкүндүк түзөт.
This article points out the existential deconstruction of the phenomenon of shamanic rituals which Kyrgyz people and some other Turkish peoples called a play (oyun, oyno). Describing rituals as a play allows us to insert the shamanic play (bakshy oyno) into the general cultural context and define the inherited mythopoetic roots that relate magic with arts and other spheres of human activities.

This study investigated the experiences gained from a 20-minute shamanic-like drumming session. Twenty-two persons participated and made written descriptions afterwards about their experiences. A phenomenological analysis was applied which generated 31 categories, that were organized into six themes: 1) The undertaking of the drumming journey, 2) Perceptual phenomena: visual, auditory and somatic, 3) Encounters, 4) Active vs. Passive role, 5) Inner wisdom and guidance, and 6) Reflections on the drumming journey. A multitude of detailed experiences were described such as visual imagery, hearing sounds, encountering animals, as well as gaining insights. Participants generally appreciated the drumming session and few negative effects were noted. The conclusion made is that shamanic-like drumming can be a valuable supplement to other psychotherapeutic techniques.

Newsletter of the 13th House Mystery School, Produced by the Founders and Elders of the 13th House Tradition: The 13th House Mystery School Tradition of Witchcraft and Shamanism is dedicated to the facilitation of self- realization and self-expression through creative acts.

In the 40 years since the Maimonides studies (1,2) it has become clear, through both scientific research and first hand reports, that individuals can become telepathically linked in dreams, and can even experience one another in a consensual way in a shared intersubjective dreamspace. However, considering the fact that many animals dream physiologically just as humans do, it should not surprise us that, given the strong bonds between humans and their animal companions, that psi-dreaming might connect humans with other species as well. This presentation will explore human-animal psi-dreaming, and invites participants to share their own interspecies dreams.

Psychopompic Dreaming: Visits With Those Who Have Passed On? by Ed Kellogg, Ph.D. ©2004. Presented at IASD's Third PsiberDreaming Conference, September 19 - October 3, 2004.

What does it mean to have a psychopompic dream, a dream in which we encounter someone who has died? Two possibilities immediately spring to mind: one can dream OF someone who has died, and one can dream WITH someone who has died.

How can dreamers tell the difference?

This presentation will explore this question.

The Great Cauldron of the Otherworld has an archetypal role in many cultures.  In Celtic myths it served as a source of creativity and of poetic and artistic inspiration.  One of the four legendary treasures of Ireland, the Cauldron of Plenty magically provided an endless supply of tasty food and drink to the worthy. And it not only provided abundant food, but could also heal any wound, and even restore life to the dead.

Functionally, the Cauldron of the Otherworld and the ‘Healing Cauldron of Dreams’ share many similarities, which leads me to believe that the first may serve as a symbolic representation of the second.  If so, it makes a certain kind of sense that when I first began to experiment with the idea of using dreams as a source of guidance I intuitively chose to look to dreams as a potentially valuable source of information about diet and health. Over the years, this led to the development of what I call the “Dreamatarian Diet” and the “Dreamatarian Lifestyle.”

The Grolier Codex is discussed in the context of the archaeoastronomy of the ancient Americas on pages 98-99 of the March 1990 National Geographic Magazine article "America's Ancient Skywatchers" by John B. Carlson. One of four known ancient Maya books, the Grolier Codex depicts different manifestations of the planet Venus; the column of glyphs on the left of each panel records days in a 104-year Venus almanac. These plaster-coated bark-paper pages, carbon-dated to the 13th century, represent only half of the 20-page original. A numbered photographic arrangement of the Grolier Codex depictes the author's discovery that Codex pages 10 and 11 are actually two parts of the same "page 10".  Carlson clarifies the identities of Venus deities depicted in the Grolier Codex from a comparison of images from the Cacaxtla murals and links the images of the Grolier Codex with ancient Maya astronomically timed ritual warfare and sacrifice. (Grolier Codex photographs: Enrico Ferorelli; Other photos: Bob Sacha)

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

CONTENTS
Opening address by the Member of the Academy V.A. Tishkov:
Environment, Tradition and Health:
What Medical Anthropology is Capable to Do? ... 5
Kharitonova V.I.
Second Summer School on Medical Anthropology ................... 9
PROBLEMS OF HEALTH PRESERVATION
OF NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE POPULATION OF THE NORTH AND SIBERIA
Tkachenko O.S.
Influence of Geophysical Fields on Biosphere .. 15
Hasnulin V.I.
Ethnic Features of Psychophysiology of the Northern Indigenous People
as Survival Basis in Extreme Geoecological Conditions .. 36
Bukhna Anastasia G.
Dermatoglyphic Features of Adaptation to Extreme Northern
Conditions — Example of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District.................. 54
Hasnulin V.I.
Health, Northern Type of Metabolism and Food Requirements
in Fish in the North ........ 58
Bukhna Andrey G., Prilensky B.Yu., Sokolov S.A.
Chronic Viral Hepatitis of “C” Type in Western Siberia ... 77
Kharuchi G.P.
Problems of Health Preservation
in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District .... 83
CHILDREN HEALTH IN THE NORTH AND SIBERIA
Manchuk V.T.
Clinic and Structural-Functional Features of Children Health
in Northern Conditions..... 93
Godovykh T.V.
Metabolism of Natives and Migrants in Respect to Somatotype .. 98
Kozlov V.K., Uchakina R.V., Krasnova M.A., Kozlov A.V.
Amur River Indigenous Teenagers Health Status in the Beginning of the XXI century..... 107
Lobanova Y.N., Gorbachev A.L., Skalny A.V.
Influence of Ecological, Climatic and Geographic Conditions
on Children Microelement Status...... 115
Pulikov A.S.
Heart Structural Functional Transfigurations during its Growth
and Development among Native and Non-Native Children
in the Extreme North and Siberia ..... 120
Polivanova T.V., Manchuk V.T.
Structural Organization of Collagen in Stomach Mucous
among Evenkia Schoolchildren with Gastroduodenal Pathology ... 130
Evert L.S., Manchuk V.T., Maslova M.Yu., Zaitseva O.I., Panicheva E.S.
Adaptation Conditions and Functioning Peculiarities of Cardiovascular System during Physical Activity among Native and Non-Native Children of Northern and Southern Siberian Regions with Arterial Hypertension and Normal Level of Blood Pressure .... 137
Zaitseva O.I., Manchuk V.T., Prakhin E.I., Kolodyazhnaya T.A., Evert L.S.
Reactivity of Cellular Membranes as a Marker of Adaptation to Environment Influences among Children in Different Siberian Regions ....... 144
Ozhiganova A.A.
Vaccination: Opinions of the Opponents .... 152
ALCOHOLISM AND SUICIDE PROBLEMS
IN NORTHERN AND SIBERIAN REGIONS
Skalny A.V., Kurchashova S.Yu., Vyatchanina E.S.
Zn and Other Trace Elements Imbalances Affiliated with Alcoholism and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in Russia ....... 161
Manchuk V.T., Semenova N.B.
Risk Factors of Suicidal Behavior among Youth Natives
of Tuva Republic ..... 167
Tuguzhekova V.N.
Some Youth Suicide Issues in Khakassia ..... 176
Voitseh V.F.
Suicide Issues among Small Indigenous Peoples of the North .. 180
Hirsch G.Y.
Eskimos Have no Word or Concept for ‘Future’: Cultural Suicide
in Nunavut (Ethnographic essay) .. 185
INTEGRATION OF MEDICAL SYSTEMS
AIMED TO MORE EFFICIENT PEOPLE HEALTH RECOVERY
Molchanova E.S., Aitpaeva G.A., Ten V.I., Koga P.M.
Traditional Healing and Official Psychiatry in Kyrgyz Republic:
Interaction Opportunities ....... 204
Ermakova E.E.
Official and Folk Medicine: Confrontation or Cooperation? .. 218
Trofimov V.N.
Shadow Archetype in Traditional and Alternative Medicine  226
Wiget A.
Traditional Navajo Medicine and Western Medicine Today... 235
Walker M.
Shamanism and Symmetry .. . 249
Kharitonov S.V.
Application Possibilities of Systems Theory to the Practical Problems of Psychotherapy  266
Kharitonova V.I.
Integration of Medical Systems: Idea, Practice, Human Factor .. 274
THE ROLE OF FOLK MEDICINE AND MAGIC-MEDICAL PRACTICES,
FOLK HEALING AND TRADITIONAL MEDICAL SYSTEMS
IN THE LIFE OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
Pepion D.D.
Traditional Blackfeet Indian Medical and Healing Practices... 286
Dobkin de Rios M.
Shamanism, Ontology and Human Evolution: Implications for Psychotherapy  ..... 299
Loeckenhoff H.K.
Ethno-Medicine: Vitalizing Powers of Self-Healing
(transl. by Povoroznyuk O.A.) ...... 307
Janeva-Balabanska I.
The Alternative Medicine in Contemporary Bulgaria ..... 317
Voldina M.K.
Sounds in Khanty Traditions as the Source of Human Soul Recovery ....... 329
Voldina T.V.
Kazym Khanty Sacral Practices and the Problem
of Human Health Preservation......... 332
Lapina M.A.
Ethic Principles Related to Khanty Health Preservation .... 338
Batyanova E.P.
Traditional Teleut Medicine ............. 343
Popovkina G.S.
Methods of Human Health Preservation in a Modern City:
Myths, Traditions and Innovations ... 350
ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN LIFE
AND HEALTH PRESERVATION OF A HUMAN AND THE MANKIND
Kremer Yu.V.
Shamanic Healing, Psychotherapy and a Multi-Sense Perspective on Hypnotic-like Procedures ... 360
Michaelson S.
The Visual Arts and the Healing Process .... 384
Soder H.B.J.
Shamanism without Shaman: an Exploration of Altered States of Consciousness Using Psycho Technological Devices... 394
Kharitonova V.I.
“Modern Shamans”: Creative Oxymoron or Reality? .... 402
Molchanova E.S.
Altered States of Consciousness and Synaesthesia among
Kyrgyz Epos “Manas” Chanters . 417
Mesheryakova E.A.
Psychological Study of the Followers of the Healing Method
“Ayat – Life without Pharmaceuticals and Diseases” ......... 426
Janeva-Balabanska I.
Study of Personality Peculiarities of Bulgarian Healers .... 437
Koekina O.I.
Criteria for Evaluation of Phenomenal Abilities of Folk Healers ... 440
Rodshtat I.V.
Some Debatable Considerations on Shamans and Shaman Disease ..... 445
APPENDIX
Steering Committee of the On-line Forum ... 454
Program of the On-line Forum ... 456
Program of the International Seminar (25 June, 2009) ... 461
Resume... 463
Information about the authors ...... 488
Information about the authors ...... 493
List of abbreviations ..... 497
Resolution ....... 499
Resolution of the First International Summer School of Medical
Anthropology ... 499
Rodshtat I.V. On the Summer Skhodnia Route .... 502
Contents ...........

Ensoulment is a cosmological perspective that integrates personal, interpersonal, collective and cosmic dimensions which allows us to connect with our soul and the Soul of the World. Ensoulment consist of 24 primary gateways, sacred letters and symbols. Through Ensoulment we learn to embody our soul and decipher her symbols and to understand how our soul’s cosmology is weaving herself through “Particles of Experience”. Every person, every mineral, every plant, every living being, animated or not, has a soul that is imprinted with their very own unique cosmology. Realizing and living one’s cosmology is fundamental to fulfilled, abundant and meaningful existence. 

In this article, I describe how to use Ensoulment for healing, healing of the mind- body and spirit. Having used ensoulment for the last 10 years with hundreds of clients I witnessed significant physical -emotional and mental long lasting transformation in my life and in client's life. This article is written in Hebrew, I welcome collaboration on the English translation.  Thank you and Enjoy. Natalie

This comprehensive introduction to the three-volume anthology Shamanism: Critical Concepts (RoutledgeCurzon, 2004) provides an overview of the state of shamanism studies in Western humanities and social sciences from the 1700s to the present.  Particulalry, it examines how different branches of social scholarship appraoched shamanism beginning from from Enlightenment explorers and ninteenth-century Romantic observers to psychoanalysts, Marxists, post-modernist scholars, and spirituality writers.  It also shows how and why a parochial metaphor of shamanism eventually gained popularity in Western humanities and counterculture

The festival dedicated to the healing saint Agios (Saint, m.) Gerasimos is celebrated on the Greek island of Kephallonia, of which he is the patron saint, on 16 August, the day after his death. Two years after his death in 1579, his body was found to have undergone no decomposition, and it exuded a pleasant odour. He became the patron saint of the island in 1622. His relics are housed in his monastery and during the festival his sarcophagus is carried in procession to the plane tree by the well that the saint is said to have dug with his own hands. As the sarcophagus is carried in procession, the pilgrims lie down in its path so that the saint's body may pass over them, thereby healing them. Gerasimos is particularly famous for combating demons, and the pilgrims collect some dust from his tomb or fetch several leaves from his plane tree to keep as amulets. The article will present the festival as I experienced it during my fieldwork in 1992, and make some comparisons with similar cults in the Mediterranean world.

En la bibliografía académica, hay un problema con la definición del trance. En este trabajo, hemos intentado lograr obtener una definición menos etnocéntrica de este concepto. El trance es algo muy complejo y no es lo mismo para cada cultura sino que difiere en todas ellas. Además, existe una tipología dentro del trance que autores anteriores no han mencionado. Pero, debemos tener en cuenta las múltiples origines posibles de las culturas ya que determinan los diferentes tipos de trance que se encuentran. Es importante también, el concepto de espíritu como factor diferenciador entre los diferentes tipos de trance. Este concepto es la base central de la ideología en el trance, ya que el espíritu determina los efectos y motivos del trance.

For a long time, Chinese had applied the human body parts for medical treatment and ritual healing. Numerous evidences in relation to their collection, production, efficacy and application are widely recorded in the works of materia medica. In the late sixteenth century, Bencao gangmu 本草綱目 (1596), the largest volume of its kind, illustrates thirty-five “human drugs” for treating illnesses and nourishing the body. These “human drugs” include human hair, beard, pubes, nails, teeth, saliva, tear, sweat, blood, milk, semen, menstrual blood, urine, stool, bone, flesh, gallbladder, and skull, etc. Based on the sources, this article will answer the questions as follow: What are the rationales underlying the views of human body parts as drugs? How do they draw the boundaries between “to eat” and “not to eat”? Why do certain kinds of human body parts require specific procedure for their production into drugs? What are the “materiality” and “efficacy” of the “human drugs”? What kinds of ethical issues and moral concern did they cause, particularly in Ming China? Last but not least, what are the epistemology and cosmology of human body as revealed in the discourses on the human drugs? In short, what I attempt to do is not only to characterize the “human drugs” in the traditions of Chinese materia medica, but also to depict the relations between human beings and things, things and things, etc. In addition to discourses on human body in the approach of material culture, this article also focuses on application of human drugs in ritual healings, both Daoist and shamanistic. It will help us to rethink the neglected aspects of cannibalism in Ming China, as well as to evaluate the adequacy of anthropological views of dirt and pollution being used in historical studies.

After the death of a close friend or a loved one, the grieving process often takes years, even decades, to accomplish.  Although we may believe that they have "passed on," most people still doubt, and without a way to confirm that those they care about still exist "somewhere," deaths often cause emotional wounds very difficult to heal.

Can we really visit with those who have died through our dreams? For myself, from a factual perspective, considering the unexpected correspondences that have showed up in my own dreams, I'd answer this question with an "I think so, but other explanations - such as telepathy, etc., might account for the unexpected, and accurate, information obtained." On the other hand, from an emotional perspective, judging the experiences based on the astonishing degree of emotional resolution that I've felt following many psychopompic lucid dreams, I find myself obliged to say, despite my personal attachment to the phenomenological attitude, "Yes, almost certainly."  And as far as the proverbial "chasm between life and death" goes, for those who have the requisite skills, I believe that lucid dreaming can provide an effective way of bridging the gap.

Mara’akame Paritema (Don Santos) (17th July, 2013) - Huichol cosmology: A mara'akame shares Wirraritari cosmovision and mythology. The Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness Salon, The Institute of Ecotechnics, October Gallery, Bloomsbury, London. (Host and compère)

The origins of the Wirraritari or Huichol people are uncertain: are they an Aztec tribe or were they independent of the pre-Hispanic Aztec empire? In any case it is know that they resisted the Spanish throughout the conquest of Mexico and still remain independent. The Wirraritari cosmovision is full of myths, gods, and legends, and this cosmovision is embodied and experienced directly during the practice of their many ceremonies, which take place throughout the year. In Wirraritari society the Mara’akames are medicine-men and leaders. There are different types of Mara’akame; those who simply sing and communicate with the spirits, those who do treatments with energy, extracting disease and materialising it as it is sucked out by the mouth, and those who sing and heal as Mara’akame Santos does. Mara’akame Santos is going to share some of the Wirraritari myths of Creation, the origins of the people and their cosmovision. He will also share a sacred ceremonial song.

https://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/books/bacigalupo-thunder-shaman
As a “wild,” drumming thunder shaman, a warrior mounted on her spirit horse, Francisca Kolipi’s spirit traveled to other historical times and places, gaining the power and knowledge to conduct spiritual warfare against her community’s enemies, including forestry companies and settlers. As a “civilized” shaman, Francisca narrated the Mapuche people’s attachment to their local sacred landscapes, which are themselves imbued with shamanic power, and constructed nonlinear histories of intra- and interethnic relations that created a moral order in which Mapuche become history’s spiritual victors. Thunder Shaman represents an extraordinary collaboration between Francisca Kolipi and anthropologist Ana Mariella Bacigalupo, who became Kolipi’s “granddaughter,” trusted helper, and agent in a mission of historical (re)construction and myth-making. The book describes Francisca’s life, death, and expected rebirth, and shows how she remade history through multitemporal dreams, visions, and spirit possession, drawing on ancestral beings and forest spirits as historical agents to obliterate state ideologies and the colonialist usurpation of indigenous lands. Both an academic text and a powerful ritual object intended to be an agent in shamanic history, Thunder Shaman functions simultaneously as a shamanic “bible,” embodying Francisca’s power, will, and spirit long after her death in 1996, and an insightful study of shamanic historical consciousness, in which biography, spirituality, politics, ecology, and the past, present, and future are inextricably linked. It demonstrates how shamans are constituted by historical-political and ecological events, while they also actively create history itself through shamanic imaginaries and narrative forms.

Psychoactive plant research has been actively pursued over the last century around the world,
particularly in the Americas. Yet, southern Africa has often been regarded to have relatively few psychoactive
plant species of cultural importance with little research conducted on the region’s potential psychoactive flora.
However, in the last decade, renewed interest has occurred in the study of psychoactive plants from southern
Africa. Recent anthropological studies have demonstrated the significance of psychoactive plant medicines in the
initiation process of southern African traditional healers and in treating mental illness, while numerous
ethnopharmacological studies have screened southern African plants for psychotropic activity, with promising
new findings and research directions resulting. Yet, despite this great progress, the indigenous cultural (ritual) uses
of psychoactive plants by the indigenous people of southern Africa remains a neglected area of ethnobotanical
research. Aspects identified as requiring further study include: the indigenous cultural understandings of mental
illness and psychoactive plants, the role of psychoactive plants in the spiritual practices of southern African
traditional healers, the influence of various psychoactive plant species used in traditional formulas and the folklore
and mythology relating to indigenous psychoactive plants. Thus, much is still to be learnt and documented from
the southern African traditional healers regarding their worldview and their botanical, diagnostic, methodological
and healing knowledge that can provide insights into the treatment of mental illness and the actions of psychoactive
plants.

Luke, D. (2015, September). Ecodelia: Psychedelic plants and transpersonal ecopsychology. Invited lecture for Plant Consciousness conference, Regents Park College, London, 26-27th September.

Exploring interspecies interactions arising from the use of psychedelic plants this talk considers what can be learned from animism and shamanism in informing both psychology and ecology. Fusing research from parapsychology, transpersonal psychology, ecopsychology, ethnobotany and the investigation of psychedelics a perspective of transpersonal ecopsychology views plant-human interactions as meaningful, potentially transformative and sorely needed given the current rate of manmade species extinction on Earth.

Programa da 19.ª edição da Formação de Psicoterapeutas Clássicos de Xamanismo Transcultural (Estudos Antropológicos Teórico-Práticos) que se realizará através de teleaulas e de telepráticas (por videoconferência, portanto, ao vivo, mas online) entre os dias 14 de junho e 16 de novembro de 2025.

Neste curso os formandos colaboram (facultativamente) num estudo científico (quase-experimental) sobre a efetividade psicoterapêutica de um compósito de práticas xamânicas transculturais, praticando-as (entre os formandos e com voluntários) com supervisão.

Trata-se de um curso pioneiro, onde, pela primeira vez se aplicam métodos mistos de investigação científica, no sentido de aferir: as práticas xamânicas funcionam mesmo?

O nosso estudo preliminar deu uma resposta afirmativa. Mas, será que com a ampliação da amostra (de formandos e de voluntários), se mantêm os resultados sobre a efetividade do xamanismo?

Conforme Krippner (2002) os investigadores têm dissertado (em estudos sobre o xamanismo) com um teor predominantemente pejorativo (talvez até projetivo). Com o nosso estudo, sugerimos um novo olhar sobre o xamanismo: uma psicoterapia clássica, que pode ser estruturada e testada cientificamente conforme ocorre com outras psicoterapias.

Assim, mais do que teórico, este é um curso prático onde se aprende, fazendo. Mas, fazendo de uma forma cientificamente estruturada, ajustando as práticas xamânicas milenares às demandas e às realidades contemporâneas das sociedades ditas «modernas».

Este é um curso para pessoas com uma mentalidade integrativa, não-sectária e com interesse ontológico. Porque o «ser humano» é mais que apenas o «humano». O «ser» faz parte do «ser humano». E é no estudo do «ser» que (da nossa perspetiva) se encontra o «ouro» que complementa e torna inteiro o estudo sobre o Ser Humano.

A number of individuals have reported physical healing following LUCID DREAM HEALING EXPERIENCES (LDHEs), where dreamers know that they dream while they dream.  Some conditions appear to respond promptly and completely to lucid dream healing; others have not.  A successful healing may depend upon such variables as the targeted condition, the technique used by the dreamer, the apparent success of the healing during the dream, or upon some personal idiosyncrasy of the individual involved.  Although an-ecdotal evidence has only limited value within a scientific paradigm, it can point the way towards more rigorous investigations by bringing to light fac-tors of potential importance.  This preliminary questionnaire may help detect and isolate the factors involved.

"Wisdom of the Serpent," Chapter 13 in  Dreams that Change Our Lives, edited by Robert J. Hoss & Robert P. Gongloff.  A Publication of The International Association for the Study of Dreams.

For thousands of years symbols have played an integral role in understanding the meaning of dreams.  Archetypal symbols, symbols that resonate across a wide range of cultures, have a powerful role in dreams, and the archetypal symbol of the snake with its association with wisdom and higher knowledge, whether for good or for ill, appears universal.  With respect specifically to healing and dreams, serpents played an important role in ancient Greece in the temples of Asklepios, which the sick visited with the expectation that they would either receive information to effect a cure, or would receive healing directly from the gods while dreaming.1 In depictions of the Greek god Asklepios, he holds The Sceptre of Medicine, which has a single snake coiled about it, representing divine wisdom and the power of healing. His daughter Hygiea, the goddess of Health, also commonly appears with a snake, and the Temples of Asclepios where the sick would sleep featured sacred snakes in both the main temples and in the dream incubation chambers. ( . . . )

Archaeologist Joel Klenck conducted an archaeological survey for prehistoric and historic properties covering approximately 50 acres, in and around Luatele or Judds Crater, on Ta’u Island, for the American Samoa Historic Preservation Office, in compliance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (“NHPA”), as amended. The project resulted in the identification and recordation of twenty-four (24) historic sites comprising one hundred and one (101) archaeological features and one natural feature that associates with a Samoan legend. A National Register Nomination will be submitted for five (5) sites: AS-11-100 to AS-11-104, representing Features 001 to 017, consisting of three (3) tia seu lupe (pigeon-catching mounds), four (4) oval boulder mounds, and platforms, rock walls, and terraces associated with Solo Tagata or “line of people,” precontact features on the rim of Judds Crater.

The inability to effectively process and heal trauma is one of the defining marks of Western civilization and one of the primary problems that all of global culture is afflicted with. Arguably, most of us are sick. If given a chance to really take a closer look, nearly everyone one has something physiologically, biologically, psychologically, emotionally or environmentally out of balance.

This dissertation is an exploration of the Santo Daime Church in Miami, focusing on the challenges of balancing institutional stability with continual growth and innovation. Santo Daime—whose central ritual entails the consumption of the mind-altering ayahuasca brew—is a new religious movement that amalgamates indigenous Amazonian, Afro-Brazilian, and popular Catholic traditions. Between June 2016 and December 2018, I employed participant observation, semi-structured interviews, exegesis of sacred songs, and document analysis to investigate the meanings and lived experiences of church leaders and adherents as they relate to their religious identity and agency. Specifically, this study asks three research questions: What global processes facilitated the expansion of Santo Daime in Miami? What changes have occurred at the organizational level of the Miami-based churches? Lastly, how have these impacted the identities of this church and its followers in the city of Miami? To answer these questions, a theoretical framework utilizing postmodernism and bricolage was used to anchor and unify the factors influencing the global expansion of Santo Daime and its receptivity in Miami. In terms of identity, postmodernity involves the deconstruction and reconstruction of the self as fluid, fragmented, and eclectic. These characteristics of the new postmodern self permit an equally eclectic pick and choose attitude of spiritual traditions. I use bricolage as a theoretical tool to describe the bundle of diverse religions promoted under the Santo Daime canopy as well as the postmodern willingness to combine symbols from disparate codes, even at the cost of disjunction and eclecticism. Using Weber’s theory on authority and leadership, I analyze how intra-church and inter-church power struggles among two Miami-based Santo Daime churches tested their capacity to resolve the conflicts between and among the leadership and devotees as well as consolidate their position in Miami and globally. This study suggests that the Americanization of Santo Daime found in one of its Miami churches undermines Church orthodoxy and hierarchies both in Miami and Brazil, Santo Daime’s birthplace. The dissertation concludes that the Santo Daime churches reproduce the same divisions, inequalities, and discrimination found in the Miami social environment, yet maintained their healing efficacy among practitioners.

Healing is an essential aspect of Amazonian mestizo shamanism. Not only is it one of the most commonly quoted motives for Westerners for participating in ayahuasca ceremonies, but most elements of an ayahuasca ceremony are aimed to heal and protect. This article is purely ethnographic, and its purpose is to provide insight into the ways healing is conceived by both ayahuasqueros and Western participants in the context of shamanic tourism in Iquitos, Peru. I show that illness is perceived to have physical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions, and healing is a complex process that takes place in and outside of ceremony. I show that a multitude of elements in a ceremony converge to address all three dimensions of illness, one of the most important ones being the element of personal crisis. Often present in healing narratives, the element of crisis becomes the catalyst for positive transformation, including physical, psychological, and spiritual healing. Rather than being seen as a singular event, healing in this context is seen as a process, in which the patient carries the responsibility for their own healing.

L’oggetto di questa tesi è la descrizione, l’analisi e il confronto delle varie culture musicali indigene del mondo, con particolare attenzione ai popoli dell’Oceania, dell’Africa e del Sud America.
Il lavoro è stato svolto grazie alla lettura di opere di etnomusicologi e antropologi, molti dei quali sono stati direttamente a contatto con queste popolazioni, e grazie all’ascolto delle musiche di queste tribù reperite in internet.
Dopo aver raccolto il materiale, ci si è inizialmente focalizzati, nei primi due capitoli, sulla musica indigena ancestrale, organizzando in categorie gli usi e le funzioni di questi canti e successivamente analizzandone diciassette; l’analisi delle musiche è stata fatta attraverso la trascrizione dei canti in scrittura occidentale e, sebbene questa non possa essere sufficiente per una comprensione profonda, risulta comunque utile se sostenuta dall’ascolto.
L’ultimo capitolo invece è basato sulle influenze della cultura dominante presso quattro popolazioni indigene(la tribù delle isole Tuamotu, gli Shipibo, i Duna e i Teton Sioux),influenze che hanno portato inevitabilmente ad alcune tipologie di cambiamento che sono state descritte e confrontate tra i vari popoli.

This study concerns the selected aspects of the biography of Carl Gustav Jung. Particular events of his life shall be analyzed within the framework of the shamanic disease. In conclusion, arguments for the direct influence of Jung's experiences on the content of his psychoanalysis shall be presented.

This workshop will explore different methods using dreaming to facilitate mind-body healing. It will focus on step by step methods for promoting, and following up on, three different kinds of healing dreams: 1. Diagnostic healing dreams; 2. Prescriptive healing dreams; and 3. Curative healing dreams. . . .  Also includes  a Resource section and 4 Appendices.