Shamanism

Thunder_Bull45

Native Injunuity
The very word “shaman” conjures up images of animalistic figures banging a drum while entering altered states of consciousness to bring back knowledge to heal with. The term itself is from syberia and while large portions of Native Americans practiced it in some form or another, I don’t necessarily believe they all had shamans.

I can’t help but utilize my cultural background as the framework to study a subject like this and it at the same time I’ve came to some personal truths through studies and observations made along the way. Being a member of the Chickasaw tribe didn’t really help me on this path . The Chickasaw traded their great spirit (shilomb’ishto) for a Jehova (chihowa) a long time ago. It gave them access to guns and blacksmiths but altered or erased most knowledge of their previous religion almost over night. What can I say we like guns!

I find it comical that some people like to claim ancestry to a Cherokee princess like it grants them some secret wisdom or something. I like to call these “plastic shaman”! More into that later maybe. Back to shamans, there are two words that could be interpreted into shamans in the Muskogee language . Alik’Chi which literally means medicine person and Hatak Holhkunna which is often translated as witch doctor/wizard. The former survive to this day with the term also meaning modern doctors, the latter is part of that culture traded so long ago.

Not all medicine people were wizards, not all wizards were medicine people. Basically every village had their own medicine people who specialized in the natural ailments. The good old down to earth healers! The Hatak Holhkunna was a specialist if you will, and for the sake of this topic I would say they are more closely aligned to what we modernly refer to as shamans.

Using the four D’s of shamanism Drums,Dancing,Dreaming and Drugs they entered into a altered state of consciousness to retrieve things the layman couldn’t readily access. I like Dr. Stanley Krippner’s interpretation on this.

“Shamans can be defined as socially sanctioned practitioners who purport to voluntarily regulate their attention and awareness so as to access information not ordinarily available, using it to facilitate appropriate behavior and healthy development — as well as to alleviate stress and sickness — among members of their community and/or for the community as a whole.”

This type of healer breaks through the layers of consciousness to find the oneness with all things. While it is said there is three layers of this world. The upper or celestial world, the middle or physical world , and the lower or world of souls . They’re really all the same thing! Being studiers of the conscious perhaps granted them access to that collective consciousness which rendered answers to Aid in the healing of a patient. I believe part of the practice was used for show, to help the patient believe what the shaman was doing would help them. But I think the most often misunderstood aspect of the practice is this.

A shaman, doctor, medicine person,psychologist, scientist, or preacher cannot heal you! The body has that ability on its own, the above mentioned practitioners are just providing the avenue for that to take place.

Anyone else intersted in this old practice or have any insights or questions?
 

Kchoo

At Peace.
I have visited a Shaman, was given a smoke bath, a water bath, a sweat hut with chants and rattles.
The goal was to cleanse and purge all negativity. I coughed up a big Lugi later, and thought it may be an allergy to the smoke, but also wondered if that was my body just purging the poison of my negativity....
After that I was fine, and I was glad. I think it was a good thing...
 

Thunder_Bull45

Native Injunuity
Very interesting thanks for sharing!

The musical aspect of shamanism is another fascinating topic. They seemed to understand how the brain could produce its own sound waves and by doing so could alter the waves form.

Binaural beats are a proven method of accomplishing this! They can shift your brain waves into that delta/ rem dream state.

On a side note, if you super impose the earthly sounding indigenous music/chants over the Schumann resonance it tends to match up. The same way the locust’s and frogs sing their songs to the tune of the earths magnetic field.

Ancient yes but not basic! The medicine wheel is another intricate aspect of the healing culture.

 

Thunder_Bull45

Native Injunuity
One can also find programs to help you study,sleep,dream,wake,get strong,loose weight,etc.. :rolleyes:

The old way to create them is with a drum! Our ears are tuned to hear noise at slightly different frequencies, it’s what helps us locate sounds better, by slightly turning ones head the differences in frequency start to correlate thereby locating the source of the noise in front of you.

The interesting thing is if one does not turn their head to attempt to locate, the two slightly different frequencies create their own frequency inside our dome!

Search shamanic drums and I believe you can find something closer and less super manish. :smile3:
 

Kchoo

At Peace.
Something like this ;)


While listening, I had a brief vision.
A man with no shirt and a head dress made of feathers had two 18 inch small diameter sticks in each hand, with a tiny flaming torch on the end of each... he tipped them down and inserted each one into its own slot in the floor.
 

Rick Hunter

Celestial
My father's family are all from Appalachia and have been there over 200 years. They still use folk remedies such as sassafras, garlic, and wild honey for a variety of ailments. Wild honey can fetch very high prices, especially if it is dark and still has the comb. One of the more unusual but effective ones is blowing tobacco smoke in the patient's ear to relieve earache. Of course, whiskey has long been used to treat a variety of ailments, especially sobriety.;) One of my aunts has a prescription from the 1960's by a licensed physician instructing her to take two ounces before bed.
 

Thunder_Bull45

Native Injunuity
I believe it was James Mooney who listed some 600 native plants used in Cherokee pharmacopoeia, of those listed we have only identified 200 or so. Most of which are used in modern pharmaceuticals! There’s no doubt indigenous medicine was effective, it’s unclear exactly how much they understood about the process. Were they utilizing certain plants for a placebo? (Which I believe a lot of folk medicine does) or did they really know that sweet gum leaves have a antifungal property and work well as a wound treatment !?

Apple cider vinegar is a huge folk remedy for well just about anything ! While it certainly has some medicinal qualities, is it really the vinegar that’s doing the healing? The mind is the most powerful medicine! Most modern medicines are utilizing chemicals to enhance/alter/or disable brain receptors to provide relief for symptoms. It’s still the brain doing the work.

One could say that the indigenous medicine was capitalizing on this phenomenon. But how did they know that you could mix a MOAI inhibitor (Capi vine) with tree root bark and have a orally ingested DMT trip (ayahuasca)!?

The shaman would say the plant told them. One could say that they used a scientific process of observing nature. The jaguar showed them the vine! Shamans are scientists in a way;)
 

Thunder_Bull45

Native Injunuity
While listening, I had a brief vision.
A man with no shirt and a head dress made of feathers had two 18 inch small diameter sticks in each hand, with a tiny flaming torch on the end of each... he tipped them down and inserted each one into its own slot in the floor.

I would suggest to try a guided shamanic journey. First one should meet their guides before venturing too far down the rabbit hole. Not only will this help interpret what’s seen, it will also show perhaps a hidden side of the one doing the interpreting !

Dreams/visions have their own language. Through symbols a story can be produced , but it’s a individuals story and in that, it cant be understood completely by something on the outside.

What does the individual pieces of that symbol mean to you? The man? The feathers? The fire? All of which are the reflections of the inner self that’s being shown in the vision. What questions did one bring to the vision? And better yet, how will they interpret them? This the guides role again.

Ones guides are not some super natural entity that gives the keys of knowledge, they are the ways which one brings in and processes information, represented by symbols, most often animals.
 

Kchoo

At Peace.
The feathers and the man represent the eagle... a wise old bird that can see extremely well. His prey is the division of one man another... he wishes they could see the vast earth from up high as he does, so they could see how small man is...
The fire represents the test of time, and the slots in the floor each represent tribes.... by inserting the fire in the floor, he waits for the fire to burn the space of wood between each of the slots to symbolize many tribes becoming one... forged in the fire from the the drum stick torches... The drum sounds represent harmony in all things... and to listen to it brings forth this vision to me... and the fires represent the spirits in the eagle and the man and the man-eagle and the earth and All it’s tribes.
 

Area201

cold fusion
Sadhguru knocks the use of psychodelics to achieve altered states of consciousness, some are very unique and good arguments.

"(Ayahuasca) is a temporary access, and most of the time it could lead you completely debilitated, because one excess of a heightened experience and then back on the ground. You will be broken, more miserable than ever before."

"If you made all the sudden $10M one year, got used to the lifestyle, then dropped down, you'd be miserable."

"Someone has to carry a bucket for you, has to take you to the toilet.. purging their digestive tract. :laugh8: "We can do something like this.. a huge purging on all levels. But don't mistake this for consciousness. Yes it gives you a certain relief, but doesn't take you to any place."

"I am stoned all the time (not on chemicals)."

 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
OK. Cards on the table.

Who here has experimented with LSD ? Mescaline? Mushrooms? Peyote buttons?

I mention the last because I used to work with a guy who was obviously damaged in some way. He told be he ate a dozen of them at a sitting and was never 'right' after that. Couldn't and wouldn't drive or operate any machinery. Point for him on that one. Never tried those because they're not common around here.

Anybody really think you are taking a productive trip or are you just kidding yourself?
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
I can see a very limited application of naturally occurring substances for some very specific purpose. Generally I would see any drugs at all as an impediment to true spiritual enlightenment. Not hard to see how Western oriented drug consumers could misinterpret their use, or hard to see how BS artists might employ them to enhance their own mystique.

As a youth I did all sorts of things. Was very much a Hunter S Thomson Fear and Loathing fan, still have my original dog eared copy somewhere. Blotter acid - sunshine - will allow you to truly take a Left Turn, Clyde. You really go out to lunch with that stuff except you can still function somewhat normally at the same time. I remember driving, going to movies etc. Mescaline or 'purple barrels' gets you really silly, I'd rank it as second after LSD. Third would be 'shrooms - and those things will give you an upset tummy and send yo to the bathroom. It wasn't as if we did just one thing either - usually a mixture. How nothing bad every happened is beyond me. Interesting set of experiences to file away though.

DMT and Ayahuasca sound like they are an order of magnitude more powerful - but is the depth of your drug induced hallucination a measure of its validity? Can you get high enough for shit to get real? It certainly can make you think you can do very special stuff. I am doubtful but John B Alexander has described some things I wish I were alongside him to see. His wife indulged but he can't and won't. Too many classified snakes in his head probably.

I would have gobbled that crap in a heartbeat given a half a chance but at 56 don't have the tolerance for that sort of extreme behavior any more. Also, recently I have come to believe that we actually can access more of our 'human experience' and reap benefit from it and can do it on our own with the factory equipment. No need for aftermarket add ons.
 
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nivek

As Above So Below
Sadhguru knocks the use of psychodelics to achieve altered states of consciousness, some are very unique and good arguments.

"(Ayahuasca) is a temporary access, and most of the time it could lead you completely debilitated, because one excess of a heightened experience and then back on the ground. You will be broken, more miserable than ever before."

"If you made all the sudden $10M one year, got used to the lifestyle, then dropped down, you'd be miserable."

"Someone has to carry a bucket for you, has to take you to the toilet.. purging their digestive tract. :laugh8: "We can do something like this.. a huge purging on all levels. But don't mistake this for consciousness. Yes it gives you a certain relief, but doesn't take you to any place."

"I am stoned all the time (not on chemicals)."



Any true mystic will say the same thing and I've said it many times, drugs use is not a path to enlightenment nor will drugs provide true spiritual experiences...People underestimate the ability of the mind to fill in the blanks and it does a splendid job at that when an individual attempts to gain a spiritual awakening or experience through drug use...I'm also "stoned all the time" but not on drugs nor any source physical...

...
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Anybody really think you are taking a productive trip or are you just kidding yourself?

If anyone thinks they are taking a productive spiritual trip on drugs is fooling themselves, or more to the point, their own mind is fooling them...

...
 

nivek

As Above So Below
Any true mystic will say the same thing and I've said it many times, drugs use is not a path to enlightenment nor will drugs provide true spiritual experiences...People underestimate the ability of the mind to fill in the blanks and it does a splendid job at that when an individual attempts to gain a spiritual awakening or experience through drug use...I'm also "stoned all the time" but not on drugs nor any source physical...

...

This isn't to say that prior drug use would prevent any present spiritual goals from being obtained, that's dependent upon how heavy and prolonged the usage occurred and what types of drugs...Hard drugs over a prolonged period can cause lasting effects or toll on a human body, whilst more milder drugs like cannabis won't...

...
 

Rikki

High Priestess
I smoked Peyote during a sweat lodge session. It did not induce any positive effects but I did throw up. not for everyone!
Blessed Be
Rikki
 
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