Hi all...
This is a screen dump of two posts I made in reply to one asking "what is
Shamanism?"  This is my feeble attempt to define it, and the three currents
which it seems to have taken shape as.
These are all from Mysteria BBS, Tujunga, CA.
Michelle Klein-Hass/SysOp, Shaman's Soup BBS

Msg. # 2255  Dated:  06/07/88   (R) Subj:  Shamanism
To:  Phil Hansford                  From:  Lonnie Decloedt
    R)ead, N)ext, P)revious, E)xit?  R

Left  12:26:40, 06/07/88

Pardon me for asking, but what is Shamanism?  That's one area of "the
occult" that I don't remember hearing about.

Msg. # 2263  Dated:  06/08/88   ( ) Subj:  shamanism
To:  Lonnie Decloedt                From:  Michelle Klein-Hass
    R)ead, N)ext, P)revious, E)xit, D)elete?  R

Left  14:53:55, 06/08/88

OK, I guess I'm the resident shamanism maven here, so I'll try to
define it.  Shamanism is the name (from the Tungus Shahman, meaning
miracle-worker) for any tradition of ecstatic worship of the Earth,
and the forces that reside and pervade Her.  Most traditions of
shamanism worship two deities, the God and the Goddess.  In the
European shamanic tradition, also known as Wicca, the God and Goddess
are most commonly known as The Lord and The Lady, or Great Mother and
the Lord of the Hunt. In the Yoruban tradition, they are known as Ogun
and Yemaja. In the shamanic tradition of the Chiricahua Teneh
(Apache), they are known as Earth Mother and Sky Father, and also as
White Painted Woman and Killer of Enemies.  In other traditions, there
are more deities worshipped, and in most of those named, there are
other lesser deities.  Some forms of shamanic tradition can be
classified as true polytheism, some, like the tradition of the
Australian Dreamtime, are truly pantheistic (the God-force is in all,
and all exists in the God-force, or as they put it, the Dreamtime) and
at least in the tradition of the Yoruba (Nigerian African) and in most
Native American traditions, these Gods and Goddesses are seen as
emanations from a Great Spirit.  In the Teneh tongue, this spirit is
known as Usen', Who is neither Male nor Female but encompasses both.
Joe Wilson describes the difference between the path of the Shaman and
the path of the Priest this way: the Priest is the custodian of
tradition and rite, the Shaman is the one who journeys within and
experiences the God(esse)s directly. The path of the shaman is the
path of healing, direct invovement with ones Gods/Goddesses, and the
path of aquiring Power for The Good.  Modern Shamanism in America is
usually of two currents: Wiccan and Native.  Wicca is a reconstructed
system, which is probably similar but not identical to the pre-
Christian religion of the Keltoi (the Britons, the Gallics, the Irish
and Scottish Gael, the Picts, and the Cymri(Welsh)  It used to claim
quite an impressive history, but is reliably traceable to people like
Gerald Gardner, who designed a system of Wiccan practice from various
sources, including, supposedly, a wealthy woman whose family had
practiced witchcraft for generations. He obviously had a good grasp of
some of the Anthropological works on the subject, but liberally
borrowed as well from Crowley, Freemasonry, and *fin de Siecle*
occultism like the Order of the Golden Dawn. Artificial or authentic,
it seems to still work.  Native shamanism works with either traditions
of a native people like the Native Americans or the Yoruba tribe
(present in Santeria), or is a distillation of many practices, as is
the shamanism taught by Dr. Michael Harner and by Joseph Wilson of
Toteg Tribe.  The true native traditions are dying out quickly, and
most native Shamans are unwilling to transmit their knowledge.  In
some cases, the knowledge has died out, and those descendants who
remain and wish to embrace the Old Ways must re-invent their
tradition.  My teacher, Misha Sacred Wolf of the Naiche-Tosawi band of
the Chiricahua, is in that unenviable position.  The Apache still
exist, and they celebrate some of the old festivals for the benefit of
tourists.  But much of the Old Knowledge died with the coming of the
white man, the reservation, and the missionaries that considered the
reservation their rightful "mission field".  I shall detail the
eclectic or "core" shamanism experience in my next post. Beauty
Before--Beauty Behind....MK-H

N)ext, D)elete, E)xit:
Msg. # 2264  Dated:  06/08/88   ( ) Subj:  Shamanism part 2
To:  All                            From:  Michelle Klein-Hass
    R)ead, N)ext, P)revious, E)xit, D)elete?  R

Left  15:19:07, 06/08/88

While it is true that many Native peoples are indignant about any non-
Native involvement in shamanism, and the new age movement is full to
the brim with hucksters and shysters who if you give them money will
teach you "how to become a Shaman", there are two non-Natives who seem
to respect the Ways, and have attempted to present the teachings of
Native shamanism in a respectful, reverential way.  One is Dr. Michael
Harner, author of "The Way of the Shaman" (Bantam) and his "core
shamanism" system.  His approach is sometimes a little too eclectic,
with a glaring lack of the ritual and mythos that makes shamanism so
powerful.  He has reduced the shamanic experience to a few major
elements: The Lowerworld Journey, where the shamanist comes face-to-
face with their "Power Animal", which is a representative of the
person's basic animal energy; The Upperworld Journey, where the person
journeys to contact their "Teacher Within", who is a representation of
the person's Higher Self; the Middleworld Journey, where ordinary
reality is seen through non-ordinary eyes; and various techniques of
healing, primarily the Jivaro "sucking doctor"technique.  A non-
ordinary state of consciousness is reached through rhythmic drumming,
singing, and visualization.  Despite the very clinical "self-help"
aspect of Harner's work, it is very valuable.  If you live in the Los
Angeles area, you are quite fortunate in that perhaps the most
exciting work in the eclectic shamanic way is going on through Toteg
Tribe, a shamanic society founded and facilitated by Joseph Wilson.
Joseph was a participant in the Neo-Pagan (Wiccan-shamanic) movement
for more than 25 years, and is now trying to forge a new shamanic way
for ALL people of the Americas.  He has built on the techniques of
Harner with insight from both traditional Native peoples of this land
that he has studied with and entirely new ways of expression that he
and others that work with him have spontaneously come up with.  He
does not claim to teach traditional shamanic ways, but his work is
quite valuable and instead of looking behind to the old days of Tribal
America, is aimed towards the 21st century and beyond.  Again, I study
with a woman who is of the Chiricahua Apache tradition, but I also
find Wilson's work to be exciting and very important.  I hope this
cleared up a few things...there's a lot of good info in the file areas
about shamanic practice. Hi Dicho--this is finished (sigh of relief)
Enju! B*B Michelle Klein-Hass (Chihacou White Puma)