MODERN SHAMANISM: what form should it take?
Traditional shamanic initiation produced a spirit-man, one who became in her essence an embodied consciousness of the reality of the times. For millennia shamans have embodied the logical structure of reality, commonly known as “two-worlds”, a spiritual world and a secular world that are secretly a unity. Once initiated, the shaman then could heal, curing individuals or communities of their ontological illness. An ontological illness occurs when an individual’s essential nature falls out of accord with the prevailing logic of the reality she and the community inhabits. But what happens to the shamanic way when this background reality is itself in flux, as it clearly is today? Is shamanism up to the task of the modern crisis in reality? What kind of initiation would an individual have today? And if that is possible what kind of healing shamanic practice would flow from that accomplishment?
