DOCSLIB.ORG

{FREE} the Witch a History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
{FREE} the Witch a History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present THE WITCH A HISTORY OF FEAR, FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE PRESENT 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Ronald Hutton | 9780300229042 | | | | | The Witch A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present 1st edition PDF Book Unfortunately, that means the writing occasionally feels a bit like a glorified list. The audio worked really well, however. In any case this is an excellent book. My only issue with the book is he seemed to have a set number of pages he wanted to write so he tried to shove quite a bit of information into these pages. Re-read I went on a bit of a Ronald Hutton kick after the new year. A magisterial survey of the whole complex of witch beliefs, which pays particular attention to the area of special interest in the West — the early modern witch craze — while making sure to acknowledge also their relation to the diverse variations on the theme found in much though crucially, not all of the world. He argues that the Middle Ages was an important time for Europeans to meld different aspects of these traditions into the image of a witch, which then started to spread through Europe in the early modern period as it gained popularity. I expected a book written by a scholar and published by a scholarly press to be scholarly, but at least of interest to an avid reader of nonfiction with a MA in history. Hence the 4 s I enjoyed this book. Many negative attitudes towards the figure of the witch come from the Roman era. It also means they were more readily suspected of witchcraft, because magic was regarded as inherent in them and could be used spontaneously. You are well-known and greatly appreciated for the series of books in which you explore all manner of different aspects of the Pagan world, from Druidry to King Arthur, shamanism, and now witches. Before its modern incarnation of predictive horoscopy, Astrology was in centuries past integrated with science, magic, mysticism and philosophy. A beautiful tarot card deck with guidebook boxed set by Rachel True, best known as the costar of the cult classic movie The Craft Rachel True, an.. Description Reviews "The witch came to prominence--and often a painful death--in early modern Europe, yet her origins are much more geographically diverse and historically deep. To those who have studied the witch you will have images of women dancing naked in the forest, serving the devil and his minions. Pride Tarot. My progress in my profession — which had initially been unusually rapid — resumed, and I received its highest honours, such as election to the British Academy, to both history and archaeology sections, in the end. I mean, reading my review back I at once feel like I've waffled at great length, and that I've done Hutton no justice at all. It's interesting to see how much of the rites of Ancient Egypt passed down into modern early Europe. His fresh anthropological and ethnographical approach focuses on cultural inheritance and change while considering shamanism, folk religion, the range of witch trials, and how the fear of witchcraft might be eradicated" Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC. My conclusion: this is a fascinating book for people with some background in medieval and early modern history, especially with some knowledge of the history of witchcraft, but not a great choice if you are new to this topic. I particularly enjoyed the way Hutton moves from a very wide range of beliefs to a very narrow one, and then back again, moving with ease through cultural and historical continuities and disruptions. This book was kindly sent to me by Yale University Press for review There was a lot in here that was new to me, since even the familiar material is being approached from strange new perspectives — the debt owed by Germanic folklore to Egyptian ceremonial magic, for instance, or the way the scientific method is still meshing with witchcraft as it did during the European witch hunts in present-day South Africa. Sources that do survive, such as inquisitor's manuals and court records, tend to reflect an ecclesiastical bias. In Persia practicing magic outside the official religion was akin to Worshipping the dark one. Witches no matter where they are in the world seem to have a lot in common. Within their community they are viewed as a threat to only those within. There are two key points of interest, though. Become twenty-five devils Enter into the body, into the blood, into the soul. For my personal enjoyment this book was too academic and somewhat heavy going. It is a work that makes a lot of interesting points, but one that I wish had been a little more vibrant in terms of the prose and the presentation of the material. In fact the Romans had two points in their history. Hushour rated it really liked it. I enjoyed reading the arguments for and against equating witches and witch hunts with different aspects of pagan and shamanistic beliefs and practices; however, I did feel bogged down at times in all the 'he said-- she said' as Hutton quoted different sources. In our minds eye she flies across the nighttime sky on her broomstick. Hutton certainly knows his shtick, having written numerous works on witchcraft and its place especially in contemporary times. This book sets the notorious European witch trials in the widest and deepest possible perspective and traces the major historiographical developments of witchcraft. His fresh anthropological and ethnographical approach focuses on cultural inheritance and change while considering shamanism, folk religion, the range of witch trials, and how the fear of witchcraft might be eradicated. As such, it was taken overtime as a form of social disruption which should be resisted and, sometimes, purged. Hutton's motivating interest in writing the book is to see whether evidence of belief in witchcraft, magic, and the supernatural from ethnography, ancient history, and folklore can provide some answers to historians' questions about why witchcraft trials in early modern Europe took the form that they did. The student newspaper at my own university denounced me as a satanic witch and warned people against me. I found it dull and I was soon bored. It brings you the answers you need, although not always what you wanted. Minor niggles about the style notwithstanding, then, this is a huge achievement, even if it can't easily be recommended for those looking for a pop-historical overview of witchcraft. He also examines Christianity and its impact on the perception and later persecution of witches, and points out to the advent of early modern witch hunts as a symptom of the crisis in European post-Reformation Christianity. The Witch A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present 1st edition Writer Twenty years ago, Ronald Hutton literally wrote the book on modern witchcraft The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft , in which he was generous and open-minded about the value of Wiccan religions, while also making clear that their claims to represent the survival of an ancient heritage of European paganism were nonsense. We have bad ideologies in the twentieth and twenty first century but your neighbor can't get you killed for casting spells on his iPhone which bricked him out. You can tell he's an academic and that's who the book seems to be written for. Ronald Hutton, scholar par excellence on the subject, has analyzed the image of the witch throughout history. A professor of history at the University of Bristol, Hutton has published fourteen books and has appeared on British television and radio. Pride Tarot. I expected a book written by a scholar and published by a scholarly press to be scholarly, but at least of interest to an avid reader of nonfiction with a MA in history. I do feel that this will be a hard one to get through if you don't have any background knowledge of history of witchcraft or basic cultural history backgrounds of medieval and early modern periods. I've read a few other books of his and enjoyed them just as much. Anyone interested in approaches to studying the history of folk beliefs, including appreciation of methodological difficulties, will likely be interested in reading The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present. For instance, the notion that it would be the harmless village midwife or cunning man on whom everyone suddenly turned? The parallels he draws between worldwide traditions provide us with a better understanding of the early modern witch trials as defensive measures set in the context of a wide range of ancient traditions Mesopotamian demonology; Persian cosmic dualism; a Graeco- Roman fear of magic as intrinsically impious; Roman images of the evil witch; and the Germanic concept of night- roaming cannibal women , and established by Christianity to cope with the challenges to its public credibility during the post-Reformation times. Eventually after the 15th century these witch trials Came to an end. Hutton covers a lot of ground, and assumes a certain amount of knowledge, not only of history, but also of historiography. I'm not sure how much Book received from NetGalley. The Egyptian were rather cool with magic and it was ok to bind deities to your will or other entities. Hutton's motivating interest in writing the book is to see whether evidence of belief in witchcraft, magic, and the supernatural from ethnography, ancient history, and folklore can provide some answers to historians' questions about why witchcraft trials in early modern Europe took the form that they did.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Academic and Neo-Pagan Interpretations of Shamanism In
    Academic and neo•pagan interpretations of shamanism in Buile Suibhne: a comparative approach1 Alexandra Bergholm University of Helsinki, Department of Comparative Religion, [email protected] Introduction n the introductory chapter to the book titled New Directions in Celtic Studies (1999), editors Amy Hale and Philip Payton expressed their concern about the general unwillingness within Celtic Studies to address the array of modern “Celticity” (Hale & Payton 1999, 1–2). I Although several scholars have already begun to acknowledge that ‘the constructed nature of contemporary Celtic identities’ in all its complexity is a topic worth studying, critics argue that the field is still dominantly focused on analysing medieval literature by outdated methods of comparative cultural analysis (Ibid, 2, 8, 10). While I personally do not embrace the claims that Celtic Studies as an academic discipline lacks methodological progress and critical discourse, I do agree with the view that modern expressions of “Celticity”, rather than being rejected at the outset as unauthentic or fabricated, deserve attention alongside with the more traditional topics of Celtic scholarship.2 In this article, I will elaborate on this outlook by bringing one aspect of modern Celtic spirituality3 • the Neo•Pagan reception of the 12th century tale Buile Suibhne (The Frenzy of Suibhne) • into comparison with scholarly discussions of the same text. Though it is arguable that the academic and Neo•Pagan approaches to early Irish material differ substantially in the aims of their inquiries, I would claim that in terms of literary interpretation, the scholarly and Neo•Pagan views of the tale’s main protagonist Suibhne as a shamanic figure share common ground in their underlying presuppositions concerning the nature of shamanism and the 1 The writing of this article has been funded by the Academy of Finland, project number 1211006.
    [Show full text]
  • Dealing with Uncertainty: Shamans, Marginal Capitalism, and the Remaking of History in Postsocialist Mongolia
    MANDUHAI BUYANDELGERIYN Harvard University Dealing with uncertainty: Shamans, marginal capitalism, and the remaking of history in postsocialist Mongolia ABSTRACT ore than 15 years have passed since the collapse of social- In this article, I explore the proliferation of ism in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and Mongolia.1 Most previously suppressed shamanic practices among people in these regions have been subjected to unexpected, ethnic Buryats in Mongolia after the collapse of contradictory, and often confusing transformations because socialism in 1990. Contrary to the Buryats’ of the “unmaking” (Humphrey 2002) of socialism and the si- expectation that shamanism would solve the Mmultaneous arrival of a market economy and implementation of neoliberal uncertainties brought about by the market economy, economic reforms. Because the economic transformations have been the it has created additional spiritual uncertainties. As most visible and pertinent aspects of the transitions to postsocialism, a rich skeptical Buryats repeatedly propitiate their angry body of work has discussed the restructuring of property and privatization, origin spirits to alleviate the causes of their state institutions, and the rethinking of political categories (Berdahl 1999; misfortunes, they reconstruct their history, which Borneman1992,1998;BurawoyandVerdery1999;Caldwell2004;Humphrey was suppressed by state socialism. The Buryats make 2002; Verdery 1996). Scholars elsewhere have also noted that the feelings of their current calamities meaningful by placing them uncertainty, insecurity, and anxiety that result from the dangerous volatil- within the shifting history of their tragic past. The ity, disorder, and opaqueness of the market are being articulated through sense of uncertainty, fear, and disillusionment the medium of popular religion, shamanism, witchcraft, and spirit posses- experienced by the Buryats also characterizes daily sion (Comaroff and Comaroff 2000; Kendall 2003; Moore and Sanders 2001; life in places other than Mongolia.
    [Show full text]
  • Self-Denial by Shamans Promotes Perceptions of Religious Credibility
    Self-denial by shamans promotes perceptions of religious credibility Manvir Singh* and Joseph Henrich Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 *Corresponding author: [email protected] 3 July 2019 Abstract Religious leaders refrain from sex and food across human societies. Researchers argue that this self-denial promotes perceptions of credibility, invoking such associations in explanations of shamanism and prosocial religion, but few, if any, quantitative data exist testing these claims. Here we show that shamans in a small-scale society observe costly prohibitions and that observers infer three dimensions of credibility – cooperativeness, religious belief, and supernatural power – from shamans’ self-denial. We investigated costly prohibitions on shamanic healers, known as sikerei, among the rainforest horticulturalist Mentawai people of Siberut Island. We found that shamans must observe permanent taboos on various animals, as well as prohibitions on sex and food during initiation and ceremonial healing. Using vignettes, we evaluated Mentawai participants’ inferences about self-denial, testing three mechanisms of religious credibility: cooperative costly signaling, credibility-enhancing displays, and supernatural otherness. We found support for all three mechanisms: Mentawai participants infer self-denying shamans to be (1) cooperative, (2) sincere believers in the religious rules, and (3) dissimilar from normal humans and with greater supernatural powers. These data provide novel, quantitative evidence that self-denial develops to promote perceptions of practitioners’ religious credibility. Introduction Religious self-denial, whether enforced or apparently voluntary, is ubiquitous. The renunciation of sex, valuable food, or social contact has been practiced by Catholic priests, Buddhist and Jain clergy, Taoist monks and nuns, Christian monastic sects, and many other practitioners who devote themselves to communing with the divine (Bell & Sobo, 2001; Gross, 1992).
    [Show full text]
  • EWP 6537: ENTHEOGENIC SHAMANISM 3 Units Mondays 3 - 6 Pm, Room 307 Mission Building Spring, 2010
    EWP 6537: ENTHEOGENIC SHAMANISM 3 Units Mondays 3 - 6 pm, Room 307 Mission building Spring, 2010 Instructor: Susana Bustos, Ph.D. (510) 987-6900 – [email protected] Course Description: This course explores the fundamentals of shamanic and shamanic-oriented traditions whose practices are based on working with sacred visionary plants. While a deeper focus is placed on Amazonian ayahuasca shamanism, an overview of traditions that use peyote, sacred mushrooms, and iboga lays the foundation for a participatory inquiry and discussion of common threads in entheogenic shamanism. A variety of disciplines and approaches to the topic inform the survey of basic themes, such as the functions of visionary plants in shamanic cultures, cosmology, ritual context and the use of music, healing practices, and the integration of experiences. Cultural, philosophical, and psychological questions are addressed throughout the course, for example, shadow aspects of entheogenic shamanic practices, the ontological status of visionary experiences, and the implications of the spread of entheogenic practices into the West. Learning Objectives: After completing this course, students will be able to: 1. Understand the traditional framework that sustains the use of entheogens in shamanic practices. 2. Be familiar with a variety of approaches to explaining the effectiveness of these practices. 3. Critically assess entheogenic practices, particularly within shamanic-oriented contexts. Learning Activities: • Lecture, videos 40% • Discussion, students’ presentations: 45% • Experiential: 15% Level of Instruction: Ph.D. / M.A. Criteria for Evaluation: 1. Mid-term paper (4-6 pages) 20% 2. Final paper (15-20 pages) 40% 3. Class participation and presentations 40% Pre-requisites: None. Grading Options: OP.
    [Show full text]
  • Shamanism and the State: a Conflict Theory Perspective
    University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2000 Shamanism and the state: A conflict theory perspective David K. Gross The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Gross, David K., "Shamanism and the state: A conflict theory perspective" (2000). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 5552. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/5552 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Maureen and Mike MANSFIELD LIBRARY Hie University ofMONTANA Permission is granted by the aurhor to reproduce this material in its entirety, provided that this material is used for schoiariv purposes and is properly cited in published works and reports. ** Please check "Yes" or "No" and provide signature * * Yes, I grant permission No, I do not grant permission Author's Signature Pate & —/ T 7 - n o Any copying for commercial purposes or financial gain may be undertaken only with the author's explicit consent. SHAMANISM AND THE STATE: A CONFLICT THEORY PERSPECTIVE By David K. Gross M.A. The University of Montana, 2000 Presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Master of Arts The University of Montana 2000 Approved by: Committee Chair Dean of Graduate Sctiodl UMI Number: EP41016 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted.
    [Show full text]
  • The Influence of Shamanism in the Korean Adventist Church 21
    Choi: The Influence of Shamanism in the Korean Adventist Church 21 GYEONGCHUN CHOI The Influence of Shamanism in the Korean Adventist Church In spite of the effort by the military government between 1961 and 1980 to eradicate shamanism because it considered it to be mere supersti- tion, shamanism continues to be practiced in Korean Society. Recently, the newspapers have reported the resurrection of shamanism under titles such as “Shamanism Enjoys Revival in Techno-Savvy South Korea” (Choe 2007) and “Korean Shamanism Finds New Life in Modern Era” (Park 2012). In reality, there has never been a time when shamanism ceased to be practiced in Korea. The longevity of shamanism in Korea has been attributed to a world- view which mainly promises material blessings in this world. The Pres- ident, Park Junghee tried to banish shamanistic rituals and practices in local villages, believing the practices were psychologically unhealthy su- perstitions. There were times when the government prohibited Gut, or shamanistic ritual, and destroyed the holy places and trees and where shamanistic holy tools (swords, bells, fans, et cetera) were confiscated and shamans were imprisoned. Ironically, whereas the military regime wanted to exterminate shamanism in their modernization movement (An- ti-Superstition Movement), the foundational philosophy of shamanism which guarantees this-worldly prosperity, seemed to fit perfectly with the Korean people’s deepest need and primary goal to achieve economic suc- cess. Thus, in the midst of rapid modernization which emerged in con- nection with the rapid growth of Christianity, shamanism survived as an underground value system that easily blended in with the other Korean religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and yes, even the newly introduced Christianity (Kim 2006:324; Kim 2000a:116).
    [Show full text]
  • The Shaman's Initiation
    EBSCOhost http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.ucalgary.ca/ehost/delivery?s... Record: 1 Title: The shaman's initiation. Authors: Halifax, Joan Source: ReVision; Fall90, Vol. 13 Issue 2, p53, 6p Document Type: Article Subject Terms: *SHAMANISM Abstract: Focuses on shamanic initiation. Psychophysical experience of the author; Similarities between shamanic initiation in tribal cultures; Descriptions of a shaman. Full Text Word Count: 4284 ISSN: 02756935 Accession Number: 9607292149 Database: Academic Search Complete THE SHAMAN'S INITIATION In the course of studying shamanic initiation and working with my own psychophysical experiences and those of others since the sixties, I discovered strong similarities between shamanic initiation in tribal cultures and a certain kind of depth psychological experience I have personally known or facilitated and witnessed for others. I, myself, turned to shamanism, dedicated my time to the study and practice of it, to work with the Shadow content evoked in the course of my own LSD psychotherapy. These psychological and physical experiences were so vivid and difficult for me that I needed to see what was going on with my mind/body through a vantage point other than that of the repressive perspective held by contemporary Western psychology. This work with shamans and medicine people was personally motivated by the need to heal myself of the suffering that inevitably arises when one enters the darkness of the Underworld of the psyche. It also returned me to the body of nature, the body of the wilderness as healer, when I went in search of teachers and doctors in remote regions of this Earth.
    [Show full text]
  • Shamans and Symbols
    SHAMANS AND SYMBOLS SHAMANS AND SYMBOLS PREHISTORY OF SEMIOTICS IN ROCK ART Mihály Hoppál International Society for Shamanistic Research Budapest 2013 Cover picture: Shaman with helping spirits Mohsogollokh khaya, Yakutia (XV–XVIII. A.D. ex: Okladnikov, A. P. 1949. Page numbers in a sun symbol ex: Devlet 1998: 176. Aldan rock site ISBN 978-963-567-054-3 © Mihály Hoppál, 2013 Published by International Society for Shamanistic Research All rights reserved Printed by Robinco (Budapest) Hungary Director: Péter Kecskeméthy CONTENTS List of Figures IX Acknowledgments XIV Preface XV Part I From the Labyrinth of Studies 1. Studies on Rock Art and/or Petroglyphs 1 2. A Short Review of Growing Criticism 28 Part II Shamans, Symbols and Semantics 1. Introduction on the Beginning of Shamanism 39 2. Distinctive Features of Early Shamans (in Siberia) 44 3. Semiotic Method in the Analysis of Rock “Art” 51 4. More on Signs and Symbols of Ancient Time 63 5. How to Mean by Pictures? 68 6. Initiation Rituals in Hunting Communities 78 7. On Shamanic Origin of Healing and Music 82 8. Visual Representations of Cognitive Evolution and Community Rituals 92 Bibliography and Further Readings 99 V To my Dito, Bobo, Dodo and to my grandsons Ákos, Magor, Ábel, Benedek, Marcell VII LIST OF FIGURES Part I I.1.1. Ritual scenes. Sagan Zhaba (Baykal Region, Baykal Region – Okladnikov 1974: a = Tabl. 7; b = Tabl. 16; c = Tabl. 17; d = Tabl. 19. I.1.2. From the “Guide Map” of Petroglyhs and Sites in the Amur Basin. – ex: Okladnikov 1981. No. 12. = Sikachi – Alyan rock site.
    [Show full text]
  • Navajo American Indians Through Mircea Eliade’S Theories of Time, Space and Ritual
    Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Senior Theses and Projects Student Scholarship Spring 2013 An Analysis of the Shamanistic Healing Practices of the Navajo American Indians through Mircea Eliade’s Theories of Time, Space and Ritual John W. Wick Trinity College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses Part of the Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons Recommended Citation Wick, John W., "An Analysis of the Shamanistic Healing Practices of the Navajo American Indians through Mircea Eliade’s Theories of Time, Space and Ritual". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2013. Trinity College Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/350 The telling of the Navajo creation myth begins with the appearance of the “The People” from the three underworlds and into this, the “Glittering World”, through a magic reed. Unlike human beings, “The People” were animals and masked spirits. Then came the appearance of the first man, Altse Hastiin, from the Dark World created in the east through the meeting of the white and black clouds. “The young man who walks in the darkness, may it be made as offering to him, may it be made as offering to him.” Then, Alse Asdzaa, the first woman arrives from the Dark World, made by the meeting of the yellow and blue clouds in the west. The people from the three underworlds met in the first house and began the arranging of the world. For the Navajo, this myth marks the beginning of time as they understand it and explains how the world is perceived and even lays the groundwork for ritual.
    [Show full text]
  • The Burning Mirror: a Christian Encounter with Shamanism
    The Burning Mirror: Sandy Yule The Burning Mirror: A Christian Encounter with Shamanism Rev. Dr. Sandy Yule Published in 'Voices from the Edge' Series, No. 3 ISPCK, Delhi 2005 May 2002 The Burning Mirror: Sandy Yule Table of Contents Introduction Conversational Beginnings Shamanism Interlude: Summoning Animal Spirits Christian Europe and Witches Interlude: Witches and Malevolence The Burning Mirror (Story) Interlude: Through the Looking Glass The Image of the Burning Mirror Interlude: Self-awareness Meeting the Aztecs Interlude: Evil and Holocausts Narcissus and Sin Interlude: Discerning the Spirits Exorcism Interlude: Demons The Spirits of the Dead Interlude: Spirit in Humans Australian Aborigines and Shamanism Interlude: Spirits in the Landscape Enlightenment Revisited Interlude: Recognizing Spirit Afterword Select Bibliography The Burning Mirror: Sandy Yule The Burning Mirror Introduction This book is offered as a work of Christian theological reflection. It arises from active listening, by a person committed to Christian faith and life, to another very different faith tradition, that of shamanism. In terms of method, the work occurs in the second person more than in the third. Listening to another tradition cannot be done with proper respect if the basic orientation is towards setting out the facts of the case from the supposedly universal viewpoint of the author. In dialogue, more than one view can be presented in its own terms. This allows for the possibility of meeting the alien tradition at its strongest rather than at its weakest point. This allows us to reflect on what we hear in terms of what it shows us about our own shadow. Active listening leads to active imagining of how to make sense of what we hear.
    [Show full text]
  • Healing, Knowledge and Transcendental Experiences of Unity
    Healing, knowledge and transcendental experiences of unity - Motivations and experiences of shamanism and entheogens in the Andes. Rasmus Lindahl Sociologiska institutionen Masteruppsats, 30 HP Vt 2016 ABSTRACT This study examines motivations and experiences of shamanism and entheogens in the Andes from the perspective of the participants of entheogenic ceremonies. The results suggest that emotional healing, pursuit of knowledge, need for connection and transcendence are prevalent motivators of the participants. Further the results indicate that emotional healing is achieved through acquiring knowledge about the self and significant others, and the need for connection is met through transcendental experiences of unity. Moreover, accounts of “deprogramming” properties of the entheogens is perceived to aid in the process of self-realization which in turn could result in fundamental life changes if the new knowledge obtained is applied. Keywords: entheogens, shamanism, motivation, experiences, spiritual tourism, ayahuasca, San Pedro, benefits, hallucinogens, psychedelic medicine, spirituality, altered states of consciousness A SPECIAL THANKS… To Jenny-Ann Brodin Danell for all positive feedback and criticism, for lending your knowledge to me and for your patience. To Shiloh and Riley for fresh perspectives, for your patience and your love. To the participants of this study. I am greatly indebted to my respondents, these astral explorers of the mind, body and soul for having the courage to face their light and dark sides in ceremonies, and for sharing their stories with me. 1 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Purpose and research questions 1.2 Disposition 2. BACKGROUND 2.1 Early research on psychedelics 2.2 The shamanic renaissance 2.3 Key concepts 2.4 The valley of longevity 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Exorcising the Illusion of Bon "Shamans": a Critical Genealogy Of
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Apollo Exorcising the Illusion of Bon “Shamans”: A Critical Genealogy of Shamanism in Tibetan Religions By Zeff Bjerken (College of Charleston, USA) n descriptions of the Bon religion in Tibet by western missionaries, Itravelers, and scholars over the last century, the term that has become most associated with Bon is “Shamanism.” Shamanism has been used to re-name what is widely regarded as Tibet’s primordial native religion; its endurance as a category demonstrates a need to designate the indigenous religion in familiar western terms. There is a deep longing felt by many scholars, both past and present, to recover Tibet’s silent origins, to identify the tracks of Tibet’s prehistoric religious development, and then to discover whatever modern manifestations might exist on the margins of Tibet. This longing exerts a powerful pull on the imaginations of Tibetans and Tibetologists alike. In introducing his study of the myths and legends of ancient Tibet, Erik Haarh expresses his own fascination with exploring Tibet’s uncharted territory: Studying the ancient Tibetan concept of life and death means intruding upon virgin soil. This feature of old Tibetan culture is, indeed, so utterly unknown and unexplored, that the ideas which have been advanced above, in the first instant may even appear with the cast of chimera…. Very few Tibetologists have ventured forth to explore, even superficially, this blank spot on the map of ancient Tibetan culture and history.1 Haarh’s description of the pre-Buddhist period as a “blank spot” on the Tibetan map might seem apt when one considers the paucity of archeological and textual evidence available today about pre-Buddhist Tibet.
    [Show full text]