Shamanism

Introduction

Shamanism is widely regarded as the oldest human spiritual practice, with roots going back to the Paleolithic era (the Stone Age), from 2.5 million to 200,000 years ago. The Dance of the Deer Foundation notes that

“One could view shamanism as the universal spiritual wisdom inherent to all indigenous tribes. As all ancient spiritual practices are rooted in nature, shamanism is the method by which we as human beings can strengthen that natural connection.”

The shamanistic way of life, which is regarded as a religion by some but not all people, regards every element of the world (and presumably the wider universe) as having its own spirit. This includes not just people and animals, but also plants, minerals, bodies of water, mountains, entire forests, and so on. Everything is interconnected; everything is part of the great web of life. A shaman is a healer, capable of communicating with these spirits and with spirit guides who can inform the shaman what the community or the individual client needs.

Origins

It appears that the earliest shamans practiced among the indigenous peoples in Siberia and Mongolia. The word “shaman” comes from the Siberian language known as Tungus: “saman” means “one who knows.”

This tradition was of course completely oral, and reflects early humanity’s efforts to understand the world in which they lived and their place in the vast universe. Shamanism evolved in cultures all over the globe, without reference to each other or to any central figure. It seems to be the most basic of human attempts to comprehend the mysteries of the cosmos. One website notes that

“This universality speaks to the shared human experience and the intrinsic need to connect with the sacred and spiritual dimensions of existence.”

History

Shamanism has no scriptures or named founders; as noted above, it is apparently the worldwide first step in humanity’s effort to understand Nature and our place in it.

In the theosophical teachings, every human attribute begins in the mind of the Divine and gradually works its way "down" to the physical plane. Shamanism, then, is simply where we began to try and make sense of the world around us. Presumably this would occur only after we had reached a stage where we knew how to meet our basic physical needs and thus had time to think about the spiritual world(s). It would also seem to point to a degree of separation between humans and the spirit world that did not exist previously. It has been suggested that prehistoric humans may have lived in the higher planes of consciousness as easily as they did on the physical plane. To serve the collective evolution of consciousness, we had to “descend” further into physical reality, leaving our direct experience of the spiritual world behind us. Theosophy posits the beginnings of humanity at a spiritual level, from which we underwent “involution” into the physical realm. Thus very early humans --- perhaps earlier than the scientific record can show --- may have been aware of the higher planes of consciousness as a reality on a par with the physical plane. Shamans represent those humans who were (and are) still capable of direct experience with other levels of reality.

Modern Manifestations

A Native American professor of religious studies once told a class, in which this writer was present, that true shamanism is a calling from within, a vocation that is arduous, rare, and not to be used for profit. She did not believe that New Age practitioners who do not come from an Indigenous tradition were true shamans, despite appropriating that title. Modern-day practitioners, naturally, disagree with this assessment. A Web search on “modern shamanism” (excluding AI) turns up quite a few articles by such New Age practitioners, with a great variety of opinions on what constitutes the practice of shamanism and whether other opinions are valid. This is not the place to re-hash such arguments. Perhaps a reasonable approach is to refer to modern-day, non-Native practitioners as “shamanic healers” rather than shamans.

Tengrism

As noted above, the earliest shamans likely practiced among the indigenous peoples in Siberia and Mongolia. The form of shamanism prevalent during Genghis Kahn’s reign over the Mongol Empire, and which is still practiced today, is called Tengrism, after a “Sky God” named Tengri. Genghis Kahn was a Tengrist who --- unusual for the times --- also believed in religious tolerance. His followers were allowed to practice other religions as well as Tengrism, which many of them did. While in some quarters this has earned him the title “Defender of Religions,” he did forbid some Jewish and Islamic practices. However, he also exempted all religious leaders from taxation. He expected Mongol citizens to identify as Mongolians first and foremost, and that their loyalty would be to him rather than other religious leaders.

Being a Tengrist, Genghis Kahn as a leader was obliged to appeal to a shaman when there was disorder in the Empire. As noted above, shamans are healers, providing a connection between this material world and the world of the spirits. As such, they had the power to investigate what was going on beneath the surface of the physical world and to remedy the problem(s), bringing balance back into the world.

Tengrism views the cosmos as encompassing three realms: the underground; the middle domain where we humans live; and the higher spiritual world. While Tengri is credited with having created and continuing to govern the universe, the modern emphasis appears to be not a monotheistic worship of this supreme god, but a way to live authentically and ethically.

Altai-Kai

The Altai Mountains cover roughly 2100 km (1300 mi), through China, Mongolia, Russia, and Kazakhstan. According to UNESCO (United Nations agency for education, science, and culture), “The Altai Mountains bear unique witness to the ancient Scythian culture that flourished in the Eurasian steppe during the 1st millennium BCE.” This steppe has long been home to various nomadic tribes, and many of their descendants still live according to a worldview that values an ethical relationship with nature over the excesses of materialism. Altai Kudai, the God of these mountains, is a living spirit. Respect for this spirit is the defining characteristic of Altai-Kai culture.

Shamanic ceremonies always refer to the spiritual and serve the spirits as well as the community. Their music is a delight.

Although sometimes referred to as the “Golden Mountains,” an Altai shaman tells us that there is not enough gold there to justify that title. The word Altai means “Diverse and unified God of mine.” To the question “What makes Altai different from other Russian regions?” the shamanic response is “Barrows, ails, souls, spirits.” Barrows are burial mounds; many in the Altai date back to that Scythian culture. An ail is a traditional Altai dwelling, always pyramid-shaped, with no floor except the earth and an open chimney --- that is, a section of the roof is left open. The modern ail appears to be a secondary lodge used for spiritual purposes: “This is a family shrine” where the human soul is formed. Such formation occurs when the earth, our Mother, emits beams of living spirit that move upward in a pyramidal shape. The shaman worships these “beams-spirits.”

There is a legend that Altai is the “door to space,” meaning the metaphysical universe. It is said that the soul of a shaman is different from the soul of an ordinary person. Altai shamanism perceives an energy polarity between Mother Earth and Father Sky. To use a battery analogy, Earth is the negative node and Sky is the positive. A soul, then, is the Mother-Earth negative charge and the Father-Sky positive charge, synchronized. The shaman is capable of harnessing the spirit beam emanating from Mother Earth and emitting it at will, sending it wherever it is needed. Distance is no object. “When an ordinary man sleeps, his positive charge detaches and goes to the parallel world. [He] can see people he’s met and people he has never seen. Ordinary men cannot detach their positive charge at will, and the Shaman can. This is the difference.” So while most of us simply dream, the shaman is capable of consciously navigating that parallel world. While some ordinary people do have lucid dreams, the shaman is far more proficient at traversing and being purposefully active there.

While the shamanistic tradition has always been an oral one, many of the stories have now been written down. One Altai-Kai woman notes that an ordinary person can’t remember them; one legend has about 6,000 lines and would take days to narrate. A shamanic storyteller goes into a trance state and “enters the world of their characters … travels through the time and places of their story. Shamans are able to communicate with the parallel world.”

One Altai-Kai shaman notes that the ancient pagans possessed knowledge that “we now have forgotten, that we are not capable of.” We have become so intellectual that we have lost our connection to Nature; we worship the mind instead. “We foot the bill for this mind by floods, earthquakes, especially the places where they live ‘smart.’ We stepped away from Nature. … Spirit is stronger than [humanity], spirit cannot be subdued. For us spirit is higher than anyone or anything. That is why before doing something important, we go to a Shaman.”

Another notes that “Everything around here happens through nature. We are nature’s children. We depend on nature, so we turn to it all the time. Our God is nature –- Altai Kudai.”

A Synretic Religion

In the 1600s, the state of Jungaria included the Altai, western Mongolia, and western China. Also known as Oirot, the name of the ruling clan, the Jungar was an alliance of nomadic peoples who had overthrown their Turkic- and Mongol-speaking brethren. The last ruler of the Oirot was named Amursana, a historical prince (1722-1757) who reached mythical proportions. After the death in 1745 of the khan of the Oirot Empire (one Galdan-Tseren), Amursana joined a disastrous power struggle to succeed him. He helped a more powerful prince become the khan of Oirot, but, given the human propensity for political drama, the two eventually clashed. Amursana gained the support of the Chinese Manchu and was in charge of the troops sent to occupy Oirot. Eventually his machinations made the Manchu suspicious of him; at the same time, the nomadic population rebelled against the plundering of the Chinese troops.

Prince Amursana then joined the nomadic rebellion against his erstwhile allies. This did not go well, and in 1757 he escaped to Russia, where he came down with the plague and died. Following this, the Manchu eliminated the Oirot threat by murdering 80% of the Jungar population --- men, women, and children. After this atrocious act of genocide, the remaining tribes scattered, some to the Kazakh plains to the west, others to the Altai mountains and the Tuva taiga forest in the north.

As time passed and political power shifted, many in the Altai felt oppressed by Russian imperialism, and there arose among some of them the belief that a prince of Oirot would someday return and free them from this tyranny. In 1904, a shepherd named Chet or Chot Chelpan announced his vision of a white-clad rider astride a white horse, who proclaimed the impending return of the Oirot Khan. This figure would lead the oppressed Altaians to liberation and restore the ancient Oirot. A few years later, in 1911, a former lama apprentice in western Mongolia claimed to be the reincarnation of Amursana, come back to free his people from the Chinese and, again, restore the ancient Oirot.

The upshot of these two visionary events was the development of Burkhanism or the White Faith (whose key figure is the “White Buddha” of the 1904 vision), a synthesis of Tibetan Buddhism and shamanism that also included elements of Orthodox Christianity.

While little known outside of the Altai and some scholarly circles, Burkhanism is still practiced in the southern Altai in the 21st century, despite the previous efforts of Soviet religious suppression. The Russian artist and Theosophist Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), who traveled extensively through the region in the 1920s, painted many scenes from the Altai. One of his most famous ones is Oirot, Messenger of the White Burkhan.

Today, while the vast majority of religious Russians (about 72 percent) identify as Orthodox Christian, Tengrism is among the many other religions that are also recognized. While the modern Russian constitution guarantees freedom of religion, there are laws prohibiting “extremist activity” and others regulating missionary activity.

The Tuva people of southern Siberia managed to keep their Turkic language and their nomadic culture alive despite centuries of imperialism, having been dominated by the Mongols and the Manchus, among others. While Soviet Communism did its best to stamp out shamanism, it did not succeed. In the late 20th century, the Tuvan people revived their shamanic tradition with the help of Western scholars. Ceremonies such as the annual consecration of home and hearth, practiced only in secret under Communism, are now practiced openly. One scholar, Michael Harner, noted that “the mere presence of outsiders, educated Westerners, endorsing and even themselves practicing shamanism, is a tremendous boost to the morale of the indigenous people.” He commented further that the purpose of their visit was to encourage the Tuvans to wake up to their native tradition, give them confidence in it and encourage them to practice it, and then “get out and leave them alone.” Fortunately, the Russian state has decided that shamanism is no longer a threat.

Tengrism: Nomadic Ontology

In the 21st century, Tengrism, in the words of one practitioner native to Kyrgystan, is “not a dogmatic religion, but a living system of nature that inspires the human mind to action.” The steppe, Tengrism’s native land, is an organic presence, containing --- or being --- a living spirit. The infinite sky represents “a vertical axis of meaning.” That is, the sky symbolizes the infinite, omnipresent divine source of everything we know (and, of course, much that we don’t know). There is no doctrine or creed in Tengrism, only “nomadic ontology: life is accepted as it unfolds.” There is no push to fashion the universe to our liking, to exploit our natural resources for the benefit of the few. What is practiced --- and admired --- instead is a way of life that wishes to coexist in harmony with the earth and its creatures.

The ongoing Tengrist tradition is to use natural elements whenever possible, rather than modern manufactured items. It is obvious even to some of us in highly technical societies that as we incorporate more and more technology into our lives, we lose more and more of our spiritual connection. In the language of the Altai, the spirits leave us. This may well be the main reason for the epidemic of mental health problems in the “civilized” West.

The cultural and social life of modern day Tengrists reflects these beliefs. Some gatherings feature archery contests that, to say the least, illustrate an astonishing mastery of the human body, as shown below. Both pictures are from the World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan, in 2016 and 2018 respectively.

 Archery1.jpg here                   Archery2.jpg here

Horses and birds of prey, integral to traditional Tengrism, are also still important in the 21st century. Horses, in addition to competitive games, are still sources of both milk and meat.

   Archery3.jpg here

Credit: Stijn Dejonckheere From the 2018 World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan

In the Altai tradition, a bird symbolizes the human soul. Birds of prey, however, such as the golden eagle, play a special role. In mythology, they bring back someone’s soul when the shaman requests this by beating a drum, and they may also be part of other sacred ceremonies. During times of war, ancient nomads used them to transmit messages. In everyday life, birds of prey were, and still are, used for hunting. As in Native American practice, nomadic hunters thank any animal that is giving its life to provide food or another necessity, and the animal’s spirit is honored.

Other birds venerated in Altai culture include the nightingale, which might be used for a particular ceremony and would then be released. The raven was also considered a shamanic bird, important to some spiritual practices.

Traditionally, one person or family in the clan would hold the hunting birds and would provide for the entire clan. Similarly, one person would have horses and would provide milk and meat. At one time milk was never sold; it was always provided for free. In the modern world, families buy both milk and meat. Sustenance is still not taken for granted, however; thanks are offered (especially for milk) as meals are prayed over.

Theosophy and Shamanism

As noted above (in the sections entitled “Origins” and “History”), shamanism is generally regarded as the oldest human attempt to understand our place in the universe. This tradition evolved in cultures world-wide, with no knowledge of or reference to its presence in other societies, nor with any suggestion of a common principal figure. It credits no founders and has no scriptures; wherever it existed, it was for centuries a purely oral tradition. It simply appears to reflect the human need for connection with the sacred and spiritual. Despite the scientific “Enlightenment” of the 16th and 17th centuries, the need for such a connection still exists, although in some modern societies that need is not being met.

Theosophy is another name for what is often referred to as the Perennial Philosophy --- the teachings that are common to all religious and spiritual traditions. Despite many (sometimes violent) arguments regarding the details of various belief systems, there is in fact an underlying shared premise, which speaks of Unity with a capital U, suggesting a universal Law. This is a mystical view of reality: at the deepest (or highest --- choose your metaphor) level there exists only One thing, and that One thing is the fundamental unity of all consciousness. The Divine and the human are not separate; we are all part of that One. It is a cliché that this understanding is impossible to put into words; it is ineffable, unspeakable; but still those who experience it try to describe it.

Shamanism also views the world as a Unity, recognizing all levels of human experience as Real, including the ones that cannot be measured or controlled in a laboratory. All cultures in all eras have reported experiences of levels of consciousness beyond the everyday rational one. This strongly suggests there is far more to being human than many of us realize.

Also like Theosophy, the shamanic tradition emphasizes living ethically and purposefully, honoring and being of service to all forms of life. While this is not an easy way to live, it is what makes life deeply meaningful to those who attempt it. In the fractured world of the 21st century, this might be the easiest fix for our many woes: looking within ourselves.

Additional resources

Video

• Shamanic Rites, Rituals, and Initiations by Christina Pateros. Presented November 7, 2019 at Theosophical Society in America. "In shamanism, everything is animated; everything is alive. By bridging the physical world with the mystery of the spirit world, shamans have historically worked in service to others by enhancing and supporting healthy and fulfilling living; expanding the experience of beauty, grace, and peace in life; and more. In this conversational, visual, and story-filled presentation, Christina Pateros will share rites, rituals, and initiations as practices for heart-centered living."
• The Shamanic Vision by Richard Smoley. Presented November 8, 2018 at the Theosophical Society in America. "Shamanism is the most universal religion in the world, and possibly the oldest. Shamans provide healing and insight to their communities by journeying to other realms and contacting the spirits and forces there. They encounter animal powers, deities, and the spirits of ancestors as a way of gaining wisdom. Over the past few decades, Westerners have been discovering the way of the shaman and practicing it themselves. Is shamanism possible for us today? Does it work, and what promises does it hold out? In this engaging presentation, Richard Smoley will address these questions and will lead participants on a guided meditation to gain a taste of this tradition for themselves."