Shamans of the North

forth between either form. They believe that throughout time they made a full separation in to two different types of entities. This, then, essentially supports their point that humans and their animal friends need to have a profound admiration of each other and protect each other’s way of life. According to Venables and Vecsey:

This curious, unitary view of human and animal genesis prevails throughout the Canadian Subarctic…both men [Athapaskans in general] and animals . . . possessed essentially the same characteristics’ when the world was new…’In the beginning of the world, before humans were formed, all animals existed grouped under ‘tribes’ of their kinds who could talk like men, and were even covered with the same protection.’…acknowledging that after the passage of untold generations the two were still, after all, spiritually akin.

It is easier to see that the Athapaskan natives took their surroundings very seriously and respected their animal brothers. This sheds some light in to the natural progression to the Shamanic belief systems that they developed over time.

Furthermore, Shamanism is a religion that has had many variations. It has been around for centuries and has been encountered all over the world. In recent centuries, up to the present day however, it has been misunderstood, especially by conservative Christians who see it as the “devil dance”, devil worship, and even heresy (Macdonald, 2002, p. 52). Shamanism is a beautiful religion and one that is relatively simple and peacefully practiced by the natives of the north. According to Stutley, Shamanism is more complex than other centrally-organized religions and is hard to study because of its many various forms. However, she goes on to mention that

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