Shamanism Political Influences in History
Introduction
Shamanism is a performance that involves a practitioner whose main role is to reach out for spirits. This is effective at different states of consciousness that gives a better opportunity for the practitioner to come close to the then interact with the spirit world. The person with the ability to gain access to the spirit world goes by the name shaman. He performs various kinds of duties during rituals such as divination, plus, healing. Shamanism referred to an antique religious act by Turks and the Mongols (Edson, 57). The practice has been in relation to spiritual healing, a way of dealing with ones emotions or alternatively psychic.
Background
Study of the act of shamanism proves it being evident in many societies around the globe. There are communities that still practice shamanism up to date despite those that did it in the ancient times then got to a level to not practice it any longer. This is an act of religion that has evidence of practice not only in America but various other places from all over the planet. Shamans have no temples and in the recent times, they live among us. They have daily jobs and live ordinarily with us just as their ancestors did in the ancient times, farming or hunting besides practicing Shamanism.
Shamanism played a major function in the making of history in the ancient times with the prediction on the expected. They had a major role in the society to assist people and their emotions as well as ritual performance. The practice involves a technique in which the shaman lives his body spiritually to get linked with the spirit helpers in the spiritual world. The purpose of conducting such an act is to acquire knowledge from the spirit world as well as for power reasons and healing (Edson, 57). During this process, the shaman is at a state that he is able to manage his body.
The shamans in most communities come as a result of being chosen or alternatively when one has the ability to heal him or herself from a serious degree of illness. This is considerable since it was a unique stunt in most communities and the best one to consider since not all people were in a position to heal them from serious infirmity. Part of the Native American Shamanism was the journeying process that involves a distorted condition by the shaman’s awareness that gets him through a dominion mostly referred to as non-ordinary reality (Romain, 65). During the practice one gets the opportunity to acquire knowledge that helps the Shaman to deal with healing.
The knowledge one gains during the journeying process helps with acquiring knowledge in the process that is in use mostly by the Shaman. In the process of healing there is always a journey that the Shaman has to take on behalf of the ailing person to a sort of journey that where is supposed to return with information that will assist in the healing process. It may be to deal with the spiritual or emotional problems that someone comes across as part of life. In the ancient times the people with the ability to conduct such practices were valuable in the community. The roles played in the journeying process were elementary since it gave reliable information to help in the progression of the society.
Jack Wilson “Wovoka”
Jack Wilson is a shaman that came up with the Ghost Dance. He was a religious leader who came up with a native society of the Northern Paiute speaking society. The name Wovoka meant wood cutter in his community. Through his livelihood, Wovoka attended various training as medicine man that assisted in his enhancement of the healing power. His ability of healing was evident at his adulthood (Romain, 65). He was proficient at pulling off magic tricks. One of the tricks that made him common was about him being shot with a shotgun then he does not die claiming that his protection was through the ghost shirts.
Wovoka relates to history as a shaman who had the ability to prophesy the future during a solar eclipse. This ability was beyond any normal human being to prophecy the future. A single prophesies by Wovoka that had a link with history is when he prophesized about the eviction of the white people present in North America with an inclusion of their occupational explorations. For prophesies to take place the Native Americans had to take part in an act of righteousness through their way of life (Edson, 57). Despite the righteous living, he skilled his people on being part of a traditional dance named Ghost Dance accompanied with a gathering that took place in five days.
The dance movement took place thus, spreading rapidly among the Native Americans. The greatest number of individual that practiced the dance movement was the victims to the Wounded Knee Massacre. The messages by the shaman were peace oriented with an exclusion of two which were emphasizing on the eradication of the whites. Historically, the federal officials got motivation of their defensive mind-set through some of the teachings as well as the prophesy by Wovoka who was a Shaman. He passed away in the year nineteen thirty two month of September (Romain, 65). The position Wovoka took part in the elimination of the whites from the Native American land is vital since he foresaw it happening despite the state of rebellion from the Indian representatives, soldiers as well as some federal officials.
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull was a Tetan Dakota chief who went down in history with the determination of rebellion from the whites around the Vast Plains of North America. He was against the white people around the plains and had an enduring disbelieve towards them. He was a medicine man in his community. The foundation of his disbelieve against the white had influence from the aspect that the white people had a motive of displacing them (Edson, 57). Sitting Bull was a war chief who relates to history after bringing together the Lakota tribes during their retaliation against the white settlers.
Sitting referred to himself among his friends to be a leader when he was slightly a young adult. When he was ten years old, he managed having his first successful hunt. Sitting Bull killed a buffalo on his first hunt then he gave the meat from his hunt to the community leaders. The reason for him giving this meat from his hunt was because they too old to go hunting themselves. This was an act of kindness as well as wisdom from a very young boy in the Lakota tribe. From the few decisions he made from childhood, one can conclude that he had paramount leadership skills. This was a challenge keeping in mind the position in which his community was in being driven out of their homeland.
Sitting Bull success as a leader began when he was still young. His interest in fighting for the community began when he was only fourteen years old when he took part in the first war. At the age of twenty five he was a leader to the community’s warrior group by the name Strong Heart Warrior. He began earning a reputation such as increasing his community’s hunting ground. These were qualities of a Shaman since he had the ability of power, which is evident in having an influence in the history of the Native Americans. He had no fear in him during any battle thus, present excellent virtues that had everybody from his community admiring him.
Maria Sabina
Maria Sabina spent her complete livelihood in Sierra Mazateca, being born some time towards the end of the nineteenth century. At the age three, her parents succumb to death after ailing from a disease. She was a shaman with the ability to communicate with the gods through the use of mushrooms. This is a quality that was depicted from her relatives, those of her paternal relatives. After her father passed away, Sabina’s mum took her two daughters, Sabina with her younger sister Maria Ana to their maternal grandparents where they grew up from (Romain, 65). Historically, she happened to be the first present-day Mexican curandera termed as a native shaman.
Maria Sabina gave the westerners a chance to take part in a therapeutic vigil commonly referred to as velada. The therapeutic vigil entailed the taking of a magic mushroom that played the role of a sacrament. The purpose of taking the magic mushroom was as a key to open the gateway of one’s mind. Up to date, the velada plays the role of a purifier as well as a communion used by the sanctified. She had the unique ability that made her stand out from the entire community thus, making her a native shaman (Romain, 65). Her ability was unquestionable since people travelled from various regions globally to take part in the velada.
A common US banker by the name R. Gordon Wasson stopped over at Maria’s native land to be part of the velada ceremony for purification and communion. R Gordon carried along some of the spores of the magic mushroom to Paris, which tells more about the impact of Maria’s influence on mankind (Fortis, 35). The impact that Maria had to her entire community was intense considering the velada ceremony that she had people partaking. This was a sign of her blow in history during her reign. Maria became famous for her divine work among various youths from around creating the urge to come meet her and attend the healing vigil.
Youths from around the United States developed an interest of finding Maria from the year nineteen sixty two. Thereafter, other thousands of people with interest on the magic mushroom, including scientists and other parties set for a quest to attend the ceremony conducted by Maria Sabina. A great number of individuals had a chance to meet Maria and have a chance to take the magic mushroom. Soon than expected the healing vigil became well known among various communities from the whole region as well as beyond boarders of the Native American plains. Even celebrities present at that period had an interest of meeting Maria and coming close to experience her divine work (Fortis, 35). Her impact on history was immense after touching lives of many hence, reaching out to people from the United States in addition to part of Europe.
Lozen
Lozen was an energetic female warrior as well as a prophet, with a sister who was an outstanding chief in Chihenne. She was a shaman with the ability to prophesy an enemy’s progress during war and she applied this knowledge on the battle field to emerge victorious against her enemies. Her qualities as a shaman were outstanding and beyond human understanding. She had unique powers that made her more prevailing from the enemies of her community. Lozen’s sister referred to her as the shield to her people. Lozen’s ability to prophesy the future was effective in her participation on the warfare that took place in Southern New Mexico.
Lozen had the chance to fight besides various great warheads of her time and assist bravely in the victory against their enemies. The ability of prophesy made her common to many and leaders wanted a chance of having her on their side during war since she liable for their success in any war. She negotiated for peace with the whites to ensure that her people were safe from the invasion by the whites on their land. During the war period between the whites and the rebels, Lozen was taken in like other rebels then imprisoned like any other prisoners of war. She later passed away while in penitentiary of tuberculosis (Fortis, 35). As a woman she played a major role in the representation of women in the Apaches.
Shamanism has had a representation by the four shamans each having different powers and ability with influence in their respective society. They all had an immense position in the diversion of history and their abilities as shamans influenced plenty of activities that contributed to rebellion of the whites in the Native American plains. They are considerably influential to their communities and some even beyond their native homeland. The aspect of shamanism is clearly relating to the making of history with various visible changes in different times. The shamans had similar roles in the influence of shamanism to history though they had very different powers.
Conclusion
Native Americans had various had many different religious convictions as well as cultural practices. The Native Americans had very many people in the society with different abilities that assisted people of the community. These communities were full of medicine men, healers in addition to others who performed rituals, some sacred and others cultural. In their communities shamans were hardly referred to as shamans but the things they did and the titles they earned from the society depicted their power to do the inevitable. Their spiritual functionalities have hardly revealing it to people who are not part of the community, thus keeping it secret. The idea was to keep it secret was to secure the spiritual leaders from outsiders and to avoid informing them of the potential of their shamans. Some had the ability to reach out to people from the outside communities (Fortis, 35). This depended on the powers of a shaman in the Native America.
Work Cited
Edson, Gary. Shamanism: A Cross-Cultural Study of Beliefs and Practices. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Co., Publishers, 2009. Print.
Fortis, Paolo. Kuna Art and Shamanism: An Ethnographic Approach. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2012. Print.
Romain, William F. Shamans of the Lost World: A Cognitive Approach to the Prehistoric Religion of the Ohio Hopewell. Lanham, Md: AltaMira Press, 2009. Print.
Tannenbaum, Rebecca J. Health and Wellness in Colonial America. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood, 2012. Print.
