Issue 39 £2.50 Indie SSN 2050-568X (Online) Shaman for independent spirits “The fold behind the knee” Survival International’s Stephen Corry reflects on the words of Yanomami shaman, Davi Kopenawa Xhosa Mysticism The Desecration of Natural Power Sites Shamanism: Inviting a move towards an Earth Centred Consciousness? www.indieshaman.co.uk Indie Shaman Environmental and Accessibility WEBSITE https://indieshaman.co.uk/ POSTAL ADDRESS 18 Bradwell Grove Danesmoor Chesterfield Derbyshire S45 9TA EDITOR Indie Shaman is committed to minimize the effects of its June Kent activities on the environment. Indie Shaman Magazine is printed by Minuteman Press, Bristol, whose products are CONTACT Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) www.fsc.org certificated [email protected] and meet the requirements of the Programme for the 01246 251768 Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC) Chain of Custody wwwpefc.org. All articles and images are © Indie Shaman 2009-2018 or to the artist, Indie Shaman is committed to aiming towards equality of photographer, writer where named accessibility. For this reason this magazine uses a book unless otherwise stated. All rights rather than traditional magazine layout, with clear print size reserved. and spacing. The views expressed in the articles We carried out research with the help of our subscribers to and advertisements in the Indie make sure we are providing the service you want and we Shaman Magazine are those of the value your feedback. If you have any comments or questions authors and are not necessarily those on any of the above please contact us: of the editor/Indie Shaman. by email to: [email protected] The editor/Indie Shaman takes no responsibility for errors, omissions or by post to: or the consequences thereof and or June Kent, Indie Shaman, for any actions taken in relation to 18 Bradwell Grove, Danesmoor any article herein or for any contract Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S45 9TA entered into with any third party. Indie Shaman is a member of the Pagan and Heathen Cover Features: Symposium http://pagansymposium.org/ 5 9 17 Xhosa Mysticism 13 “The fold behind Shamanism: Inviting a the knee” The Desecration move towards an Earth of Centred Consciousness? 2 Natural Power Sites Contents Contributors Features Articles Brenda El-Leithy 5 “The fold behind the knee” Brian Anderson Charles Shahar 9 Xhosa Mysticism Eileen Mullard Eoghan Odinsson 13 The Desecration of Natural Power John Lockley Sites Laura Perry Stephen Corry 17 Shamanism: Inviting a move towards an Earth Centred Columnists Consciousness? Elen Sentier, Yvonne Ryves 21 Deathwalking Front Cover Photography Yanomami shaman Davi Kopenawa 23 Prairie Plant Medicine & the Seven © Survival https://www. Sacred Rites of the Lakota survivalinternational.org/ 25 Dolphins, Kinship and Kindred Poet and Back Cover Photography Spirits Sue Latchford 29 Northern Plantlore: Horsetail Reviewers Badrunnisa Patel, Joe Caudwell, Karon Regulars & Snippets Lyne 4 Editor’s Letter/Community News ‘Shay Mann’ Simon Harding 16 The Pebble Tribe - Lucky Draw Storyteller 33 Story Teller’s Corner: The Black Martin Pallot Stone (part two) Editorial and Production 35 Columnist: Ellen Sentier on ‘Ancient Editor, Design & Production - June Kent Ancestors & Modern Ideals’ Sub-editor & Proofreading - Martin Pallot Printing - Minuteman Press, Bristol 38 Shay Mann Distribution - indieshaman.co.uk Indie Shaman logo courtesy of Cat 39 Columnist: Shaman Moon by Hawkins Yvonne Ryves Not yet a subscriber? 41 Book Reviews Magazine subscriptions are available at www. 44 Events Calendar indieshaman.co.uk. Only £10.00 a year for pdf subscriptions via email and from £21.00 a WEBSITE: https://indieshaman.co.uk/ year (UK subscription price) for print editions. DISCUSSION GROUP: https://www.face- Subscription includes other benefits and offers plus 50p from all subscriptions go to support book.com/groups/indieshaman/ wildlife charities! SOCIAL MEDIA:https://www.facebook. com/IndieShaman/ https://twitter.com/JuneKent 3 https://www.instagram.com/indieshaman/ Community News Editor’s Letter Welcome to Issue 39 of Indie Shaman magazine! Indie Shaman readers who also browse our website or have been involved in the online community for some time may already be aware of one of our aims and ethics: “To respect the rights of indigenous people especially those under threat from globalisation, industrialisation or any other cause that adversely affects their right to define their own way of life.” And our first article about the book written by eminent shaman Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, relating intimate stories of the life of the Yanomami tribe living deep in the heart of the Amazon, gives excellent examples of why this is important. Survival International’s Director, Stephen Corry, a personal friend and long-time collaborator of Davi’s, wrote the article and I had the pleasure of working with Jessica Franklin from Survival for this edition of Indie Shaman; learning a little more along the way about the fantastic work this organisation does for tribal peoples throughout the world. Survival fights for tribal peoples’ survival: aiming to stop loggers, miners and oil companies from destroying tribal lands, lives and livelihoods across the globe; lobbying governments to recognise indigenous land rights; documenting and exposing the atrocities committed against tribal people and taking direct action to stop them; and giving tribal peoples a platform to speak to the world. Survival’s vision is “a world where tribal peoples are respected as contemporary societies and their human rights protected”. If you would like to find out more about Survival then do visit their website https://www. survivalinternational.org/. Survival take no money from governments or big business and rely entirely on donations so if you can also support them in any way financially, however small, please do. If you can’t donate, showing your support in other ways is also important e.g. you can sign up to their newsletter, ‘like’ their page on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/survival/) and share stories of their work on social media and blogs - it all helps demonstrate to those in power that people do care about the rights of tribal peoples. I hope you will excuse me using my editorial to tell you a little about this fantastic organisation (I should also point out that they didn’t ask me to)! With many blessings for wherever your explorations may lead you and for whatever you may support in 2019. June In Memory of Elsa Malpas, who passed into spirit on 17th November 2018. A wise elder who, together with her husband Howard, shared their wisdom with many; her legacy lives on in all the lives she changed and through all those who continue to honour her teachings. 4 “The fold behind the knee” Reflections by Stephen Corry on ‘The Falling Sky: words of a Yanomami shaman’ by Davi Kopenawa & Bruce Albert Shaman Davi Kopenawa is a leading Yanomami spokesman and President of Hutukara Yanomami Association. © Survival The Falling Sky, the first book by a Yanomami, is without doubt the most authentic account of Amazonian shamanism ever recorded. It’s the nearest thing to sitting around a fire in a communal Yanomami dwelling (round, thatched and open to the centre, a bit like the Elizabethan Globe theatre viewed from above) and just listening, uninterruptedly, to a shaman’s words. That’s best done around dawn or dusk, those edgy times when the world really does mutate. It uncovers a worldview as complex as any major religion; this is no primitive nature worship, nor is it for the squeamish. “We shamans simply say that we are It’s is a multi-coloured vision of beauty and love but also of protecting ‘nature’ as a whole thing. dismemberment, ‘cannibalism’, death and destruction. The universe is multifaceted and multi-layered, an ever changing We defend the forest’s trees, hills, place full of hidden forces; helpful, mischievous or murderous, mountains and rivers; its fish, game, all shifting and mutating depending on how they’re treated and even on what mood they happen to be in. The skilful and spirits and human inhabitants. We highly trained shaman ‘drinking’ yakoana snuff (it’s actually even defend the land of the white blown up his nostrils), takes on the strength to enter this people beyond it and all those who live hidden cosmos. He becomes not only aware of its forces, good and ill, but can - indeed must - enlist them to try and defend there.” his community. The hidden universe of the xapiri and many other spirits requires constant intervention to maintain balance. The shaman has no option but to work ceaselessly to keep life bearable, not only for his own people but - astonishingly - for everyone, everywhere. Davi says, “We shamans simply say that we are protecting ‘nature’ as a whole thing. We defend the forest’s trees, hills, mountains and rivers; its fish, game, spirits and human inhabitants. We even defend the land of the white people beyond it and all those who live there.” 5 Davi Kopenawa doing shamanism in his community Watoriki in 2002. © Clémence René-Bazin/Survival When road building arrived in Yanomami territory in the 1970s, Davi quickly saw that this was going to destroy the tribe. The Yanomami Park Commission was started in 1978 and the campaign was pushed onto the world stage by Survival International. The focus was on pressing the government to abandon reserving the Yanomami only small pieces of land around a few communities and to campaign for a single Yanomami territory. Stopping the road was essential. In the 1980s, a new and even more acute threat arrived; an invasion of illegal gold miners. About twenty per cent of Brazilian Yanomami died as epidemics of measles, cerebral malaria and flu swept the region and as mercury waste poisoned their food. The shamans saw these illnesses as ‘epidemic smoke’ against which they lacked real power.