Nina Lois Turtledove

Modern Versions of Shamanism, Part III: Ecstasy

…A shaman is able to see the soul, as one is a specialist in the matters which pertain to it. (Eliade, 8 ) According to Eliade, a shaman experiences the numinous and the sacred more intensely than the other members of the community. (Elaide, 32) He says that the quest for the sacred is universal and normal to human behavior, but that shamans differ in this by their ability to have an “ecstatic experience,” and that this is their vocation. (Eliade, 107) Shamanism is analagous to using the technique of ecstasy. (Eliade, 4)

Ecstasy

Gagan writes that the altered states of consciousness of ecstasy are achieved by narrowing the focus of attention. (Gagan, 43-44) Ecstasy, asserts Gagan, is the “voluntary use of an altered state combined with the intent to serve the community,” (Gagan, 32.) Ecstasy includes dreams, visions, and dialogue with spirits. (Eliade, 115) It is through ecstasy that a shaman is able to access other realms and do shamanic healing. Toby emphasizes that being able to do these things is a very natural process able to be done by anyone. Toby and Antonio have said that everyone that has come to them wanting to learn their techniques are able to do so. Toby and Renna say that children often have experiences of the spirit world and energy. Toby claims that often parents explain these away as simply imagination. (Personal interviews, fall 2007)

Stutley claims that “genuine ecstasy is a psychogenic reaction according to the dictates of the visionary’s mind, so expressing the conscious and unconscious desires of the ecstatic shaman,” (Stutley, 28.) In my research on the ecstatic experiences of the shamans in my study, I have found that ecstasy does not originate in mental nor emotional conflicts in the shaman’s mind. They are obtained through techniques similar to ones described by Eliade and which fit with some of Carl Jung’s theories. Examples of these include dreaming, meditation, and drumming. The practice of shamanism brings forth “a cure, a control, an equilibrium,” says Eliade. (Eliade, 29) He has found shamans to be intelligent, healthy, normal individuals with exceptional character, not psychotics. (Eliade, xviii)

However, Eliade does say, that the shamanic vocation, like any other religious calling (which Toby and Antonio both had at one time), is often manifested by a crisis- a “temporary derangement of the future shamans spiritual equilibrium,” (Eliade, xviii.) But the ecstatic experience seems not like a problem for the shaman, it is the answer. By nature of this particular skill and the ability to cure him or her self and other people, shamans have the knowledge of the “mechanism or theory of illness.” This peculiarity is confirmed with the shaman’s own experience which is “unusual” or “abnormal” when compared with that of others. (Eliade, 31) Antonio claimed knowledge of energy served to save his life while working among the criminally insane, which he claims was a part of his shamanic training. A shaman cured Toby’s chronic back pain, which propelled him into his own vocation.

Stutley’s claim that ecstasy expresses the conscious and unconscious desires of the shaman echoes the Freudian viewpoints of dream analysis, which holds that dreaming is a form of wish-fulfillment. According to Freud’s theory, these desires are typically repressed urges that are sexual or violent in nature. This Freudian explanation extends over similar phenomenon such as fantasy, myth, or works of art. (Larsen, 24) Others have expanded on this viewpoint. Carl Jung views products of the imagination not as pathological, but as natural and instinctive. (Larsen, 25) Dreams, says Jung, are “involuntary, spontaneous products of the unconscious psyche [often revelatory]… pure products of nature not falsified by conscious purpose,” (Jung, 48.) Dreams may contain certain psychic forms called archetypes. (Jung, 48) Shamanic visions contain these as well, as Eliade, Maggie, Toby and Antonio assert that one can access the same realms in visions as in dreams. Jung asserts this realm to be the collective unconscious.

An archetype is a “numinous content,” (Jung, 40) a universal image that has existed since the “remotest times,” (Jung, 5.) It is a symbolic, impersonal figure, “essentially an unconscious content that is altered by becoming conscious and by being perceived, and it takes the colour from the individual consciousness in which it happens to appear,” (Jung, 40.) This content, percolating up from the “transpersonal” realm is personalized as it is altered, and takes specific form for the person experiencing it.

Mere wish-fulfillment as an explanation for dreams or ecstatic experiences falls short of attributing the deeper meanings properly attributable to them. Not all dreams have archetypal and/or ecstatic components. However, this alternate dream theory is in alignment with shamanic phenomena, and attribute appropriate importance to unconscious content which shows itself valuable in various therapeutic techniques. Aside from this debate on the nature of ecstasy, through it anyone is able to experience the contents of the unconscious and the relation of these to their conscious minds.

Stutley tells us that the Greek root of the word ecstasy ekstasis (ek- outside of, and stasis- to stand) signifies the “escape from one’s own rational and definite position,” and asserts that the goal is the same in mysticism. Both of these, she says, “transcend the assumed limits of personality,” Stutely, 28.) Ecstasy references a person who is standing outside his or her self, outside the ordinary, rational waking consciousness. It is the fundamental technique of shamanism.

Eliade tells us that the experience of ecstasy “becomes communicable through universally current symbolism,” (Eliade, 411) through archetypes. Communication through symbolism is the thread that passes on information of what is being experienced by the shaman. Examples include metaphors such as flight and journey which are used in describing the ecstatic experience of the shaman. It is in this way that the shaman crosses the “veil” between human beings and the spirit world, obtaining useful information (Stutley, 28) pertaining to the noumenal realm of the sacred, and that which might be called “the soul.”

Achieving Ecstasy

According to Eliade, ecstasy, also considered a trance state, is achieved by means such as singing, dancing, (Stutley, 2) drumming, narcotics, and possession by spirits. (Eliade, 95) Yogis could achieve the power of flight by psychological discipline and yoga, asceticism and alchemical practices. (Eliade, 409)

Antonio has used drumming to enter the altered state of consciousness, but can now journey without the use of any mechanism to induce ecstasy. (Arguello, interview, 2007) Toby uses meditation. (Marchand, interview, 2007) Renna uses a combination of methods: she sings, drums, dances, and rattles. “I… open myself to perceiving spirit as directly as possible through shamanic journeying and “transfiguring” - letting my hold on a human perspective and identity slip away to better be aware of the divine energy that animates all,” (Shesso, correspondence, 2007.) Maggie calls it a “ a state of allowing… it’s a state of being open… in all your channels, all your chakras, all your energy centers, and wide open, three hundred sixty degrees and connecting to the source that created everything and when you put yourself in that place some pretty amazing things can happen.” She says that she also transcends the limitations and definitions of the ego and lets go of limiting beliefs, and uses meditation to go on shamanic journeys. (Connor, interview, 2007)

Essays | 18.04.2008 22:15 |