Shamans appear to have emerged as far back as 30,000 years ago, in the upper palaeolithic period, as evidenced by cave paintings with such shamanic themes as birdmen, wounded men, soul flights and animal and spirit allies.
The claim could be made, say the authors of Demystifying Shamans and Their World, Adam J Rock and Stanley Krippner, that shamans were the first psychotherapists, first physicians, first magicians, first performing artists, first storytellers and first time-keepers and weather forecasters.
They were active originally in hunting/gathering and fishing tribes, and still are in the most unadulterated form, but they also appear in nomadic-pastoral, horticultural, agricultural and even urban societies – in the 'neo-shaman' movement today there is a Foundation for Shamanic Studies in California which has a European branch in Vienna, and a Society for Shamanic Practitioners based in Colorado with a branch in Glastonbury, England.
The word 'shaman', however, is a social construct that originated in Siberia and was later applied to a diverse range of 'magico-religious practitioners' around the world.
Appraisal of the Academic Literature on Shamanism to Date
Rock and Krippner, a senior psychology lecturer and a psychology professor respectively, suggest that homo sapiens were probably unique among early humans in their ability to symbolise, mythologise and, eventually, to shamanise. With the advent of modern science, shamanic practices were denounced as fraud, trickery and delusion. It was assumed they would disappear with the onset of rationality, but they have not, having re-emerged in contemporary society.
This is what makes this book both timely and indispensable in its thoroughgoing appraisal of the academic literature on shamanism to date, drawing on the fields of psychology, philosophy and anthropology. Its 'demystifying' process surveys, in turn, shamanic journeying, mental imagery, healing, dreams and psychic phenomena, and the Western encounter with shamanism.
Use of the word 'demystifying' in the book's title may at first seem, to some, to imply a denigration or diminishing of the shaman's status but this is emphatically not the case, quite the opposite, in fact. The term is used with the extremely laudable aim of gaining a viable understanding of shamanism which could lead to a fuller appreciation of humankind and its potential.
The authors pay much attention to the issue of 'altered states of consciousness' (ASCs), for which the shamanic ethos has come to be renowned, either through mind-altering plants and substancesor trance, and through which 'soul flight' and access to the spirit world and are made possible.
Major Implications for States of Consciousness Research
Interestingly, Rock and Krippner are at pains to point out that scholars of ASCs, or 'shamanic states of consciousness', have confused consciousness with the content of consciousness, and that 'patterns of phenomenal properties' should be the preferred phrase. It is not 'states'of consciousness which are altering, but its content.
This has major implications for states of consciousness research, which has been going on for decades, and is likely to be controversial. If I ingest magic mushrooms, or enter into meditation, am I altering my state of consciousness or my content of consciousness? Rock and Krippen would say the latter, maintaining that realisation of this would allow researchers of shamanic states to investigate what they are actually purporting to investigate.
Rock and Krippner have produced an invaluable study which is scholarly cogent and unflinchingly analyses opposing perspectives on shamanism. It really deserves to be read by anyone drawn to the subject and its clear significance in the modern world. As the authors say, if the human species is to survive, it will need all the resources it can muster, and shamanic ways of being, knowing and healing are 'too vital to be ignored'.
- Rock, Adam J, and Stanley Krippner, Demystifying Shamans and Their World: An Interdisciplinary Study. Imprint Academic, 2011. ISBN 9-781845-402228.
Geoff Ward - Geoff Ward, MA Lit., is a British journalist, media consultant, author and lecturer/tutor in literature and creative writing
