Shaman-Magicians and Their Ecstatic Trances

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Magic, Spirits, Shamanism, and Trance" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Altered states of consciousness (ASC) is a defining characteristic of shamanism. ASC, however, is not unique to shamans nor is it a single neurological/physiological phenomenon. Mystics and mediums also use ASC, and mediums are even “possessed” to greater or lesser degrees. In contrast, most shamans go on soul flights during “ecstatic” trances. ("Ecstatic" in this context means to be outside oneself as opposed to pleasurable.) During ecstatic trance, shamans interact with and manipulate unseen beings, energies, and/or deities. They hunt witches, petition deities, find objects, and divine the future. They might calm a sea goddess, so she releases the game animals she holds, or aid warriors as they attack their enemies. Shamans are consequently magicians, because magic is fundamentally about manipulating unseen beings and energies to effect changes in the physical world. As magicians they use magical items (e.g., drums, rattles, quartz crystals, fetishes) to better interact and engage with hidden forces and beings. Conceptualizing shamans as magicians shifts our focus to different aspects and roles of shamanism than are typically considered. Here we present cross-cultural regularities of “shamans as magicians” and their magical artifacts and tie them to the anthropology of magic.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Magic, Spirits, Shamanism, and Trance   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39248.0