Corrections/Suggestions: E-Mail | delete "[NOSPAM]"
Please note that these are two separate topics. This is not about Shamanic practices within the Native American (religious) community. The two topics are treated on one page because they were both covered over the course of a one weekend retreat.
[ General ]
[ Sweat Lodge ]
[ Resources ]
[ Reading ]
[ Wannabees ]
Shamanism is a range of traditional beliefs and practices that involve the ability to diagnose, cure, and sometimes cause human suffering by traversing the axis mundi and forming a special relationship with, or gaining control over, spirits.
By Michael Webster, Associate Professor of English. Teaches courses on World Mythology, Comparative Literature, etc. at Grand Valley State University
Shamanism: Western and Eastern Siberia
By Karina Solovyova Russian, Museum of Ethnography
By Shaman Elder Maggie Wahls
A Brief Concise Summary on Shamanism
By Michael D. Lee-Price; this is a condensed of a larger article that may become a book. This piece cites a short, but decent, list of footnotes.
[index]
An account of the Plegan tribe. Compiled by Glenn Welker for Indigenous Peoples' Literature.
Native American Sweat Lodge: History
Mikkel Aaland's account of the Sweat Lodge in Native American tradition. Apparently, Mr. Aaland has been in search of the perfect sweat, and has documented "the Finnish sauna, the Turkish bath, the American Indian sweatlodge and medical reasons why the sauna feels so good and is so good for you."
A fairly detailed account of the ceremony, with photos, by an elder of the Missanabie Cree First Nation in Ontario.
An essay about the Sweat Lodge and its use, Adapted from the notes of Hopoyv Fekseko (D. Joseph Alderson) and others by Chetty Chapko for use by the Ceremonial Discussion Committee of Pine Arbor Tribal Town, 1997.
Essay by Edward S. Curtis on sweat bath religious observance of the Cheyenne.
Brief rundown of the "Inipi" ceremony, a sacred traditional, ceremony from the ways of the Lakota people.
[index]
American Indian Cultural Support (A.I.C.S)
The American Indian Cultural Support organization is dedicated to preserving our various Nations sovereignty, legal rights, lands, and cultures. Read the Mission Statement.
Guess what? Shamanism is alive and well in the Northern European traditions. Asatruar refer to these ancient oracular or 'shamanistic' techniques as seithr and spae-craft. Read on!
The Flight of the Condor - Contemporary Shamanism: Texts
From the Texts page: The ancient art of shamanism cannot be taught only via articles or books. The presented articles however show an insight in [Kondor Author's] personal approach to shamanism. They can be copied and used in personal manner if they are not changed and [Kondor's] copyright is being included
Foundation for Shamanic Studies
Internationally renowned anthropologist Michael Harner founded the FSS in 1985 to preserve, study, and transmit shamanic knowledge worldwide. His name might be familiar to you if you read The Way of the Shaman [Amazon link].
There are two URLs for the Foundation: www.shamanism.org and www.shamanicstudies.org.
the leading magazine on experiential shamanism for nearly twenty years. We invite you to explore with us the extraordinary worlds of shamanic healing, entheogenic sacraments, and ecstatic spirituality.
Various links and resources compiled at Spirit Online. None have been reviewed/investigated by brainwise.org. Feedback appreciated.
[index]
Creation / Migration / Origin Stories
Welker's website focusing on creation/origin/migration narratives from North and Meso America. Welker has close to 60 rich, profound, troubling, beautiful, sometimes violent, always thought-provoking sacred stories here on Indigenous Peoples' Literature.
Shamanism: "It Ain't Native American Religion"
An interesting and in-your-face article from Metista, a site styled as "the home of Shamanic Spirituality for American (and other) Mutts."
Shaman's Drum magazine, anthropologist Peter Furst, Visions of a Huichol Shaman, and Yarn Art.
[index]
Wannabes and Cultural Appropriation
Links to several sites about cultural theft and exploitation and how this hurts Indian communities.
Native Religions and "Plastic Medicine Men"
Another collection of links and articles decrying the theft of Native American traditions.
The Plastic Medicine People Circle
There are groups advertising seminars, sweatlodges and vision quests as if they were indeed purveying true Indian teachings. All such groups follow the patterns followed by The Great Round in as much as they are imitators of Indian ways and are led by individuals who do not have any inside knowledge of American Indian spirituality.
Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality
At the Lakota Summit V, an international gathering of US and Canadian Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Nations, about 500 representatives from 40 different tribes and bands of the Lakota unanimously passed a "Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality." This declaration was unanimously passed on June 10, 1993.
More Sites Concerning the Wannabe/NewAger Issue.
Eccentricities with Maggie Duval
Read the June 1998 essay, "Bury my SUV at Wounded Knee."
[index]