Help?

[gategrrl]

I need to research shamanism in North America in particular, and Asia secondarily. Does anyone on my flist know of any decent nonfiction books that don't twist it for modern New Age American sensibilities? That's all I seem to be finding at the moment.

Comments

[szeretni.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I can't think of any books atm. but I have to tell you that I've been interested in shamanism for a couple of years or so, so I'm really curious as to why you're asking. :)

Of course, I know more about Core Shamanism and the practices of Northern Sweden than North America...

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

I've had a story idea bouncing around in my head for a while that refers to magic wielding humans as shamans; shamans typically have concourse with various levels of the afterlife (I guess you could call it) and the spirits.

The main thing is, I don't want to use a new age excuse for shamanism, and I want to stay pretty much within the parameters of how it is practiced in the real world. Also, I want to be respectful of the traditions from which shamanism has come--none of this westernized new age crap. Unless I *want* to incorporate that into the story.

Northern Sweden has shamanism? Really? Can you tell me a little bit about that?

[szeretni.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on what we decide to call shamanism and not...

I realise that I'm about to talk about something that is very private for me, and it's not something that I've talked about a lot on LJ...simply because I do not want to be linked to any New Age groups or anything like that. And I certainly don't want to be seen as someone who abuses someone elses culture for profit. :(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_shamanism

Personally I don't see shamanism as "new age", but I know that some people are trying to use the same methods and using Native American Traditions to make money.

Shamanism isn't a religion or a culture but it can be part of a culture and a tradition.
The word itself comes from Siberia, so I guess technically we shouldn't really use the word at all when it comes to North America, South America or Europe...but it's the word that is known to people.

I've read a lot about different cultures, even before I started to practically try out shamanism, and like I said - there is a core that is common with all these cultures.

The use of trance state to communicate with something called the spirit world. Different people might be suited for different methods to get into such a state: drums, dancing, singing...and the use of different drugs of course, which is very common in many cultures, but not in Northern Sweden, as far as I know. But then again, they might not have been that public about it.

So, basically, it's about being in a trance state and...experiencing things. Seeing, hearing, feeling different things that can teach us about ourselves, about how to help others...

It's also about seeing the world as alive, that everything that lives has a soul or a spirit, and also that everything we create or put focus on has a spirit of some kind. Animism is the word we use in Swedish but I'm not sure if it's the same word in English?

Basically, I know some things about different cultures but I dont want to get it wrong so I suggest you try to find some books about different cultures, if that's what you want.

I know some things about the practical side of shamanism, so that's what I can tell you, if that's what you want to know. And like I said, that's what's so fascinating, because there are a lot of ceremonies and thoughts that go through all of these very different cultures...

Want to know more?

[jennywren102.livejournal.com]

I like your description...I like it a lot. :) And I'm basically taoist, if you want to put a name on it.

[szeretni.livejournal.com]

Yeah? Interesting. I know basically nothing about Taoism myself, so if you'd like to explain more, I'd be interested to listen. :)

Taoism

[jennywren102.livejournal.com]

I used to have several really great links to sites with short, comprehensive overviews. Those sites seem to be gone, much to my dismay. I don't trust myself to discuss Taoism, since I don't really research it and I don't *really* practice it. It's just the only thing you can put a recognizable name to which most closely resembles my system of belief. If that makes any sense. So I started searching the web for decent sites to recommend and got pretty frustrated at all the long-winded, confusing diatribes which spent too much time focusing on the piddly minutae which differentiate one sect from another. Go figure. Wish I could be of more help. :/

[szeretni.livejournal.com]

BTW about shamanism in Sweden, I've been reading some books just this month about the old native (or what the word would be) culture that we have in the north of Sweden.

Basically, it's a culture that probably travelled from Siberia or Russia via Finland, ages ago... They're called Sami, so you might be able to Google that.

They got treated pretty badly by Swedish authoritites and Christian priests over the years but I think they've started to revive a lot of different practices the last years.
Since Sweden is a very secular and non-religious country, it's kinda difficult to say that you believe in anything that can't be proven.
So it's not something you talk about publically, but that goes for all religions or spiritual beliefs. ;)