Perennial Wisdom & Healing Grace For Personal And Planetary Evolution

In the Western world, magic is defined as the ability to alter one’s consciousness at will. The magicians perform hand tricks to startle the senses and free the audience from the outdated and restricted thoughts by inspiring awe and surprises within the individuals. This is the common image that we bring up when thinking of the word magic and magician. Westerners find no relation between magic and nature as the two are thought as two distinct concepts. However, people of the oral, traditional land conjure up different idea in regard of magic and nature. The two are correlated concepts as magic can be defined as “humans experience their own consciousness as simply one form of awareness among many others” (7). Magic is shifting out one’s consciousness to put it in others shoes. The others indicate the many beings regarded to have intelligence, the components of nature. By thinking in the perspective of other nonhuman entities, as Abram succeeded in doing in the traditional land, the magicians communicate with the nature. As the author mentions, “Countless anthropologists have managed to overlook the ecological dimension of the shaman’s craft, while writing at great length of the shaman’s rapport with supernatural entities” (6), the Western people simply fail to recognize the relationship between nature and magic because they have

Shamanism and ancestor reverence are key religions of the Chinese. Shamans are spiritual healers who call on spirits while they are dreaming to relieve an individual from uncertainty or cure an individual from a disease (Laughlin & Rock, 2014). Shamans are seen as elders of the Chinese community and are respected for the tremendous healing power they have on others. Furthermore, ancestor reverence is the respect many younger generations have for their

On the other hand, the healing powers that sorcerers possess are respected in other communities. Witch doctors, although not real witches, are trusted to concoct remedies to protect others against witchcraft. Furthermore, Shamans are believed to be endowed with the power to both cure and kill. The Shaman has the ability to go into a trance to interact with the spirit world on behalf of the community. Although there are varying opinions on the practicing of witchcraft, it still continues today whether it is accepted or not.

Another characteristic of an indigenous religion deals with the emphasis placed on the spiritual specialists. The general consensus is that anyone can have personal or direct access to spirits or that which is unseen, yet felt (democratized shamanism). There is no special requirement in most indigenous systems that stipulate ‘who’ can commune or interact with spirits, however, as a general rule, many feel that it is best to leave interactions with spirits to those that have been taught or trained through ritual or purification of some sort. Most indigenous religions are not written down, but based on oral

For the Native American shaman the world of animals, the world of plants, the world of minerals, and the world of humans are all intertwined (Wolfe 3). Shamans in the Native American culture are viewed as a revered member of society, are often male, and are the sole healers of their people. While anyone can become a shaman in the Native American culture, the attainment of the status is an arduous process, and is considered a feat of great courage. The introduction of self to the spiritual world in such an intimate way has been considered dangerous because of the risk of insanity, as well as the risk of possession by angry spirits (Wolfe 237). From ancient times to modern times, shamans have been considered to be the link between the physical world and the spiritual world. (Wolfe 3). The Native American shamans utilize many sacred objects in their workings, which are considered sacred solely because they come from nature. These include talismans, spirit animals, totem helpers, ritual items, and spirit helpers (Wolfe, 9). Tobacco and other herbs, cornmeal, small shells, stones, and totems are important elements to their healing practices (Wolfe 20). Regardless of the methods that the shamans may use in healing, many Native American shamans believe that no one person heals

"The Gift of Life" is a book written by Bonnie Glass-Coffin. This book is a make up from what Ms. Glass-Coffin experienced while she was in Peru. She observed male and female shamans who did many different types of healing rituals. Ms. Glass-Coffin stated that she believes that women shamans are more often know to involve their patients into what they are doing in their healings where as men get in and out to do the fight. In this though I will be looking at an overview of the chapters and going into some detail about what that chapter was about or explaining.

Shamans do their work by changing the state of their mind, or consciousness. This can be achieved through the use of the rhythm of the drum or of music. It can be achieved through physical activities such as long ceremonies of dancing and singing. It can also be achieved through the use of hallucinogens such as Ayuhuasca. What shamans do to shift their consciousness is different in different cultures. It is important to know that a large amount of shamanic healers don’t use

In fact, Mercy Medical Center in Merced recently established a new Hmong shaman policy that invited shamans to perform nine approved ceremonies, such as “soul calling,” in the hospital (Brown, 2009). Integration of Hmong shaman policies into hospitals, and exposing shamans into western medicine, allows for the coexistence of Western and Oriental medicine, in addition to a profound respect for the patient’s choice. This paves a way for the steady integration of holistic health care, a system that strives to promote optimal health by recognizing healing as a part of the soul, and focuses on remedying the ill by analyzing a plethora of external factors outside of organs, such as behavior, social environment, the person as a whole, and social role function (Wade, 2009). Although oriental medicine can be a way of effective treatment by pulling strings from the placebo effect, there are several drawbacks in using traditional medicine. Medical disabilities that best require surgical intervention, such as the case with clubfooted Hmong refugee Kou Xiong, would be turned down by Hmong families who are deeply rooted in the animism faith, which views physical alteration of congenital deformities as a dangerous violation of spirit will (Caplan, 1995). As much as the US is advancing towards accepting other forms of medical practices into current methods of patient care, tensions between Western medicine and oriental medicine still exist. In fact, the book The Spirit Catches You, and You Fall Down captures the collision of cultures most vividly as it narrates the failure of Merced hospital doctors to recognize patient Lia and her family’s cultural beliefs by unrelentingly imposing westernized medical treatment on Lia, which ultimately created tensions between the family and the hospital (Fadiman, 1997). Such tensions, as

In their cultures shamans’ role is to restore this cosmic harmony when lost. Their practices encourage positive relations, respect for nature and its sacred value. They do so by performing ceremonies, singing songs, painting and carving various objects. Their myths explain the origins of the world and establish the cycle of life, with its connections to the past, present and future. Life is invested with multiple meanings: birth, life and death happen in close relationship with the inhabited land and nature. Life is a continuous flow, a dynamic interchange of performed

This concept, termed the ‘shamanistic complex,’ thus indicates that for treatment to be efficacious in a particular cultural setting it requires: the belief of the sick person, the community and the healer. This concept is linked to the placebo effect today.

In many indigenous traditions, the relationship that the people have with their environment plays a highly influential role in their lives. As John Bowker tells us, very often “native religions find their inspiration in the natural world” (Bowker 2006, 198). In the novel Black Elk Speaks, we see this particularly within the Oglala Lakota Sioux’s strong ties to nature through the flowering stick, thunder spirits, wildlife, and more. Similarly, the film Avatar presents us with the Omaticaya clan of the Na’vi people, and their deity Ey’wa, rooted both figuratively and literally in the “Tree of Souls”, as well as their connection to the “Home Tree” and creatures both big and small on their planet. In this paper I intend to explore the meaning

Despite the fact that spirituality has been a long-time key component of healing throughout history, modern medicine refrains from it- instead choosing to embrace a more mechanistic view of the body- whereas, in contrast, Native American healing practices embrace spirituality. In fact indigenous practices consider the spirit an inseparable element of healing, placing importance on the spirit of the patient, healer, patient’s family, community, environment, and even the medicine itself. More specifically, the healing must take in account the dynamics between all of these spiritual forces as a part of the universal spirit. In contrast to Western medical view’s that focus on fixing unique body parts in distinct individuals that are separate from each other and their environment, Native Americans believe that we are all part of a whole that is greater than the sum of parts, and therefore, healing must be considered within this context (Johnston 131). This sense of connection can be observed by the concluding phrase of healing prayers with the words mitakuyo oyasin, or “all my

An integral part of my dharma as teacher is to help educe answers to such questions as these our of the inner resourcefulness found in each student, to help them listen in a manner that allows whatever hunger for an answer to be satiated free of personal agenda or attachment to the outcome of one's apprenticeship experience. The answers to the questions you posit shall emerge in organic fashion from the wholeness of our Universal Shaman initiation experience, rather than as an 'isolated' revelation of information alone. Have you ever talked with someone who listened with such utter abandon to what you were trying to tell them that you were yourself made clearer in what you were trying to express by the very quality of his or her listening?

One massive difference between shamanism and sorcery when it comes to misfortune is whom is blamed. While shamans blame atrocities on spirits and ancestor spirits, sorcery solely blames it on humans. People realized their inability to control, or to explain, the world about them (Bennet, 1996,39). An important distinction between sorcery and shamanism is noticeable through their ways of dealing with misfortune through counter sorcery and

Once two Indian boys lived with their grandmother in a wigwam. One day the boys went hunting to get some meat for their grandmother. While they were gone, a stranger came and asked for them and waited for their return. When they came back late at night, they brought a large buck deer which they had killed. Their grandmother cooked some of the venison, and the stranger ate with them. When they were finished, the stranger asked the grandmother’s permission to stay with them for the winter. She agreed. He was a shaman or medicine man, and whenever they went hunting he gave them hunting medicine and they were always very successful.