White Shamans and Plastic Medicine Men is a documentary dealing with the popularization and commercialization of Native American spiritual traditions by Non-Indians. Important questions are asked of those seeking to exploit ritual and sacred ceremony and of those vested with safeguarding sacred ways. This documentary is thematically organized, and deals with romantic stereotypes and copying, the impatience of new age practitioners contrasted to the fact that indigenous spiritual traditions are thousands of years old, and the proselytizing nature of these new age practitioners. The film represents a wide range of voices from several native communities, and speaks to issues of cultural appropriation with humor, righteous anger, and thoughtful insight.
camu.amazonherb.net email Elisa: shipibotours@hotmail.com www.refugioaltiplano.org after many years as an alcoholic i have used many techniques and tools for awakening. 10 day silent Vipassana meditation courses www.dhamma.org Amazon Herbs: troy.amazonherb.net yoga, nutrition, Maori Shamanism: www.ata-rangi.com Rolfing: tarpitboss@mac.com and recently Natural childbirth: www.tlcwomanscenter.com all having a profound impact on my life and realization that life is sacred and it is important to respect the Earth, others and myself. Peter Gorman writes: “Plants, like everything else, are our co-dwellers in the universe. But man has a special relationship with plants. They provide, and have since the beginning of time, the bulk of our food, our clothing, our shelter. Some provide us with the loveliest scents; some with extraordinary color. Theyre the source of our medicines, their roots work with soil and stone to keep the surface of the earth intact. They go so far as to take the poisonous carbon dioxide that humans exhale and turn it back into human-life-giving oxygen. Thats some relationship. Of course it may be that plants only invented us to distribute their seeds, so Im not suggesting they live to cater to us. But they do provide us with much of what we need to exist on this planet.” Ralph Metzner writes: “Ayahuasca is an hallucinogenic Amazonian plant concoction, that has been used by native Indian and mestizo shamans in Perú, Colombia and Ecuador for healing and …
Hey…..YOU TOOK ARE CASINOS YOU FKING SAVAGE! lol. Get At Me!
this makes me laugh. wow these people are dumb..
practicing shamanism is fine, however search out your own native European roots, at the end of the day, other peoples creations stories and practices won’t work for you. this is bad juju!
these whites are sooo confused,,, poor things
@Essanach
I do not have a problem with the term shamanism. I do however have a problem when it is used for Native American spirituality. Shamanism comes from Siberia. Most of these guys who are stealing our culture and spirituality are merely new-agers. If you really listen to these people speak for example the one lady who said she didn’t know how Native Americans do it but still she is using Native American (well not really cause she is wrong) spirituality. That’s ignorance.
BEWARE OF A FAKE APACHE NAMED AL CARROLL. THIS IDIOT IS A MENACE TO THE NATIVE COMMUNITY. THE FILM, “SPIRITS FOR SALE” WAS FINANCED BY A SWEDISH LADY WHO IS NOW LAMENTING BECAUSE SHE DID NOT MAKE ANY MONEY OR RECOUP ANY MONEY SHE INVESTED IN THIS STUPID JOKE OF A FILM. AL CARROLL IS A MEXICAN/IRISHMAN POSING AS AN MESCALERO-APACHE. DON’T BELIEVE ANYTHING THIS POSER GOES ON ABOUT. NOT A THING.
OGLALA, SIOUX
@Essanach I actually agree, but what I find saddest of all is that everyone of those lost people is actually descended from a rich, deeply spiritual culture, because I believe all humans are hard wired to spirituality-whatever it looks like to them-so some of the arts and traditions that don’t look as sexy as fire walking get missed and under appreciated. As I said initially there is also are those snakes just lurking around ready to fleece these unknowing, somewhat clueless folk
“The word “Shaman comes form the Tungus-speaking group of hunters and reindeer herders in Siberia, It was first used only to designate a religious specialist from this region. By the beginning of the 20th century it was already being applied in North America to a wide range of medicine-men and medicine women, while some New Age practitioners today use the word widely for persons who are thought to be in any sort of contact with spirits” Piers Vitebsky
Shamanism
@valhoundmom Well, I’ve said just below what I think about these “flaky suburbanites”. Mostly, I feel a bit sorry for them (except the real money grabbing frauds). Most just seem to be looking for a more meaningful spirituality and have totally lost touch with their own ancestral heritage. But spirituality is not ‘racial’ and there is a definite racist tone running through the vid, IMO. Our only real point of disagreement, I think, is that I see ‘Shamanism’ as a valid term for similar practices.
@Essanach NO your just being fractious, what you are discussing now isn’t where you were at the beginning. You may not agree with my opinion of the bizarre American trend of all these flaky suburbanites wandering around Arizona and Oregon trying to be Native Americans. I agree many white cultures were and are Shamanistic, I even participate in that, but I don’t call it Shamanism, and the VIDEO is about modern White Americans co-opting American 1st culture practices.
To clarify my position. I see both sides of the debate. I feel rather sorry for the people targeted in this video. The video seems rather mean spirited and with more than a touch of racism. But I can also understand the frustration. It might have been better if these people had investigated the traditions of their own ancestors. But they are not exposed to that in the US and there are no such communities, so they gravitate to what IS there. It’s a shame. Wasn’t there a Hopi prophesy about this?
@4BearWarrior OK, I think I maybe understand what you meant. You said: “These people are ignorant. Just by them calling themselves Shaman shows their ignorance.” Do you mean, if they are actively copying Native American traditions, YET call it Shamanism, they are ignorant? I thought you meant any white person calling themselves a shaman must be a fraud, a claim I often hear. I still don’t agree that referring to Native practices as Shamanism is ignorant, but I know that it’s not a native term.
@valhoundmom No, I’m someone debating with you about false claims you are making about my heritage, such as that the Saami are “the same” as the Evenks. See how things turn around? I’m discussing Shamanism, which is not an ‘American’ topic. The basic problem I have with the video & some of the comments is that there is often a racist component which seems to see being white as barring someone from engaging in Shamanism, which ignores the fact that many white cultures were/are shamanistic.
@redroadbutterfly Aho this is the truth.
@Essanach
First of all I do not speak as Shamanism exclusively belongs to the Native Americans. As a matter of fact shamanism doesn’t apply to Native Americans at all. shamanism comes from Siberia. So in that sense to try to tie shamanism and Native American spirituality shows that they are ignorant. I am Native American and have never heard a true Native American call themselves a shaman. I have heard medicine man/woman or spiritual elder but not a shaman.
@Essanach so your a Norwegian feeling the need to comment on Americans commenting on a freakish trend in our own society?
@valhoundmom 1) I haven’t said anything about “spending time with Native Americans. 2) You’re not listening, I didn’t say the concept of marriage was the same everywhere (anymore than Shamanism is). I said there are certain SIMILARITIES and people use a word to recognize the elements of similarity.
I get the impression you think you are talking to someone else because I never talked about a “Native Alaskan thing”.
@valhoundmom My grandmother is Saami and the family now live in Trondheim. So I don’t need the history lesson. The Saami are NOT “the same” as the Evenk, Nenet etc. Calling them “part of the same reindeer culture” is meaningless. They are not the same people AT ALL, just because they both keep reindeer. They are very different. The Saami don’t use the word shaman and you are contradicting yourself. You’re making the same kind of generalizations and lazy cross cultural references you condemned.
@Essanach yeah, a lot of my favourite songs are by Jonne Jarvela, the band is called KorpiKlaani-Finnish for backwoods clan. The Saami are part of the same reindeer culture as the Nenets, and Evenk. Saami by the way are the Indigenous Europeans, why not learn to be a Noaidi? And so you know, referring to the Evenk as Tungus is like callling someone the”N” word.
PS- I find it interesting you have no information on your profile. but you looked up
mine, that speaks volumes
@Essanach Alaskan Natives have Shamans, and any time you continue talking about spending time “with these Native Americans” like its a visit to the zoo.
And the concept of marriage is not the same every where and when last I checked handfasting on its own does not have validity in most courts. Oh and I checked about the Native Alaskan thing with my Inuit cousins blood related, we don’t just “feel” spiritually connected-Same with the Leni Lenape side of the family.
@valhoundmom PS. I note in your favourites is a song by ‘Shaman”, a Saami band, The Saami never used the word shaman. They are not Siberian. But they certaiunly practiced Shamanism, and, as you can see, the Saami are prepared to employ the word Shaman. Are they ‘Co-opting’ Tungusik culture by using the word? I don’t think so. It’s an “anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world” and applies to whoever employes such practices.
@valhoundmom Using the word “shaman” has nothing to do with ‘co-opting culture’, any more than using the word “marriage” to refer to similar ceremonies from around the world ‘co-opts culture’. I didn’t say Shamanism was the same everywhere – any more than marriage is – but people recognize a general commonality & a similarity of practice & use a word which signifies that commonality. Some Native Americans DO refer to their practices as Shamanism – are they co-opting Siberian culture?
@Essanach No it leads to cultural identity, which you can not co-opt from others no matter how hard you try. Native American intensely dislike their medicine people and elders being called Shamans. And Shamanic practice is not the “same everywhere” there are aspects of true Shamanism that would send you screaming into the night.
@4BearWarrior You speak as if ‘shamanism’ exclusively belongs to the Native Americans. It doesn’t. So “calling themselves Shaman” doesn’t show ignorance at all. Calling themselves Shaman’s in the Native American tradition may do so, but not simply “calling themselves Shamans”.
@valhoundmom Shamans are those who practice shamanism, and shamanism was not confined to Siberia. The word ‘shaman’ derives from a Siberian word, but the practice it describes is pretty universal. Shaman and Shamanism are just words we use to describe classify similar practices from all around the world. If we always used different names for every every type of shamanistic practice it would lead to needless confusion.