Question by ?Alex??: Are the roles of shamans across cultures similar?
I mean in Native American cultures are shamans the same as in Korean or African shamans?—Do they all basically believe the same thing? Are there more similarities between shamans across cultures or differences in their practices?
Best answer:
Answer by JR
Pretty much, and pretty much like all religions….”keep ’em scared, and keep ‘m stupid.”
Works every time. Follow the money and the power, and you find the religion.
Add your own answer in the comments!
The details are always different in the cultures but their role is the same in the sense they are the religious expert and lead most rituals.
Yes, more or less. There are a few variations but generally they are a respected elder that is wise enough to deal with most community and personal problems. They also lead any community ceremonies. But it is not a religion, everyone is expected to lead themselves and find their own way. 🙂
Shamans are specific to Animism. Animism is an observation and experienced based belief system, which is why they are so similar, despite vast distances and oceans in between. There are minor differences in terms, but they all use an abstract language of spirit. In the spirit of a place context. 🙂
The word Shaman is specific to my culture though. Indigenous Siberian. But it is the same thing in other Animistic cultures. The American indigenous people would call them a holy man. In Africa a witch doctor.
Practicing Shaman… quantum physics rocks
Well since there’s NO SUCH THING as a Native American “Shaman”
Don’t listen to anyone claiming to be American Indian shamans , talking about tarot cards and Wiccan/pagan things, or talking about crystals and New Age things. I’ve got nothing against shamanism, paganism, or the New Age, but a cow is not a horse: none of these things are traditionally Native American. Shamanism is a Russian mystic tradition, Wicca is a religion based in pre-Christian European traditions, Tarot readings are an Indo-European divination method, and the New Age is a syncretic belief system invented, as its name suggests, in the modern era. None of them have anything to do with authentic Indian traditions, and anyone who thinks they do is likely to be wrong about anything else he claims about Native American religions as well. Wiccans and New Agers don’t have any more knowledge about actual American Indian beliefs than you do.
Way more similarities than differences. And the differences are primarily cultural, minor variations in roles and how they deal with their spirit world.
Read “The Way of the Shaman” by Michael Harner. He started out to write a thesis on shamanism, became one himself, and now is an expert on worldwide shamanism. Should be available in any good bookstore (I got mine at Borders) or possibly library.
Blessings on Your Journey!
“Shaman” is a reference more to their function in society than to their specific beliefs, they all serve the same basic function, that of serving as an intermediary between their the people and the supernatural world, but the nature of the supernatural world and by what methods the interactions are achieved can vary radically just as with the word “Priest”. While there is no single religious doctrine to which Christian, Buddhist, Shinto, Muslim, Zoroastrian, and Pagan believers subscribe they all have their own form of Clergy who serve the same basic function, the same is true among Shamans. Many people, myself among them, believe that treating a Shaman as being anything other than a Clergyman from a different faith is largely a relic of Euro-Centric social bigotry.
Coolrogue is right.
There is no such thing as a Shaman in Native American traditions, its a new-age or wannabe thing.
Why is it all the non-natives are answering for Natives? Especially when your incorrect.