Simply Puzzled
July 17th, 2007, 03:35 AM
On the poll thread for this forum, I advocated naming this forum "Neo-Shamanism." Unfortunately, I was a bit late on this request, and since no one has changed the name, I'm assuming they aren't going to. Still, I think the word is very important and should become part of the vocabulary of this sub-forum.
We have already begun the process of beating a long-dead horse over the meaning and origins of shaman. Is it the practice of an individual or must it take place in the context of a tribe? Is it an ability or a position? Does it refer to the practices of a profession within the Tungi tribe or is universal? Does the word come from that tribe or some secret language? Can anyone be a shaman or must you be called? And this is only a sample of what we are and could be discussing. This doesn't even examine tribes where they have "good" shamans and "bad" shamans; herbal healers, magic healers, and spirit healers (which you would see in that order); whether witches the shamans of Europe (as Harner contends), or any number of things.
As an alternative to this continued horse mutilation, I propose we come up with a commonly accepted definition of Neoshamanism for this group, and then continue to use it. That way, when someone new comes to the forum (and I'm really hoping our definition makes it as a sticky, titled something along the lines of "Please read before identifying as a shaman"), they can simply say "Hi, I'm SilverDarkWaterMoon, and I practice Neoshamanism." We all know what they mean, and we don't have to revisit the topic of "what is shamanism." After our current discussions have played out, we only have to refer the person back to the archives, and unless they have something really new to add, we're done.
And I do want to make it clear I'm not trying to stifle discussion. If someone has something unique to add, I think they should. I'm merely trying to keep us from revisiting the same topic over and over, which will inhibit discussion rather than encourage it. Like a car stuck in the snow, we will be turning the wheels and going nowhere.
This is my proposed definition of Neoshamanism:
Neoshamanism ('Niə.ʊʒɑmæn) - a spiritual practice that draws from various tribal traditions around the world which make use of special person or persons set apart from the community to contact the spirit world for the community's benefit, as well as the self-described shamanic systems by modern day authors such as Michael Harner and Tom Cowan, to create a new, coherent system rooted in Western culture that allows practitioners to access the unseen world and perform actions for either their benefit or the benefit of another, especially healing, divination, soul retrieval, and binding an enemy.
I think each part of that definition is important. One thing I like about it is I specifically avoided defining shamanism to avoid a circular debate. It merely defines one definition of shamanism which is popular among people who meet the above definition for practicing neoshamanism. It also defines it as something uniquely Western. Someone who practices shamanism that is rooted in, say, Yoruba culture, is definitely not practicing Neoshamanism. I believe it's also important to point out what the neoshaman does: enter the unseen world. This definition also allows the flexibility for the neoshaman to work individually or for the service of a community, an option not available with traditional shamanism. Lastly, this definition rules out European witchcraft, as witches are rooted in European culture and do not draw on the practices of tribal societies around the world.
I also transliterated it into the International Phonetic Alphabet General English (IPA Ge) in case anyone has a question about how it's pronounced, especially ESL people). I hate when people pronounce Sh-ah-man, Sh-Aye-man
We have already begun the process of beating a long-dead horse over the meaning and origins of shaman. Is it the practice of an individual or must it take place in the context of a tribe? Is it an ability or a position? Does it refer to the practices of a profession within the Tungi tribe or is universal? Does the word come from that tribe or some secret language? Can anyone be a shaman or must you be called? And this is only a sample of what we are and could be discussing. This doesn't even examine tribes where they have "good" shamans and "bad" shamans; herbal healers, magic healers, and spirit healers (which you would see in that order); whether witches the shamans of Europe (as Harner contends), or any number of things.
As an alternative to this continued horse mutilation, I propose we come up with a commonly accepted definition of Neoshamanism for this group, and then continue to use it. That way, when someone new comes to the forum (and I'm really hoping our definition makes it as a sticky, titled something along the lines of "Please read before identifying as a shaman"), they can simply say "Hi, I'm SilverDarkWaterMoon, and I practice Neoshamanism." We all know what they mean, and we don't have to revisit the topic of "what is shamanism." After our current discussions have played out, we only have to refer the person back to the archives, and unless they have something really new to add, we're done.
And I do want to make it clear I'm not trying to stifle discussion. If someone has something unique to add, I think they should. I'm merely trying to keep us from revisiting the same topic over and over, which will inhibit discussion rather than encourage it. Like a car stuck in the snow, we will be turning the wheels and going nowhere.
This is my proposed definition of Neoshamanism:
Neoshamanism ('Niə.ʊʒɑmæn) - a spiritual practice that draws from various tribal traditions around the world which make use of special person or persons set apart from the community to contact the spirit world for the community's benefit, as well as the self-described shamanic systems by modern day authors such as Michael Harner and Tom Cowan, to create a new, coherent system rooted in Western culture that allows practitioners to access the unseen world and perform actions for either their benefit or the benefit of another, especially healing, divination, soul retrieval, and binding an enemy.
I think each part of that definition is important. One thing I like about it is I specifically avoided defining shamanism to avoid a circular debate. It merely defines one definition of shamanism which is popular among people who meet the above definition for practicing neoshamanism. It also defines it as something uniquely Western. Someone who practices shamanism that is rooted in, say, Yoruba culture, is definitely not practicing Neoshamanism. I believe it's also important to point out what the neoshaman does: enter the unseen world. This definition also allows the flexibility for the neoshaman to work individually or for the service of a community, an option not available with traditional shamanism. Lastly, this definition rules out European witchcraft, as witches are rooted in European culture and do not draw on the practices of tribal societies around the world.
I also transliterated it into the International Phonetic Alphabet General English (IPA Ge) in case anyone has a question about how it's pronounced, especially ESL people). I hate when people pronounce Sh-ah-man, Sh-Aye-man