摘要:

In this article, the issue of shamanism and altered states of conscio usness (ASC) is reviewed from a cross-cultural and multidisciplinary perspective. It is suggested that in spite of considerable differences in the uses of these terms, there are conceptual and empirical grounds for distinction among different types of trance practitioners. The authors argue that shamanism is a cultural adaptation of hunting and gathering societies to the biological potential for ASC, and that the specific nature of that manifestation changes as societies become more complex. The role of ASC in understanding shamanic phenomena, the roots of religious experience, and the modem manifestations of the potential for trance are examined. Western cultural avoidance of ASC has inhibited understanding of these phenomena, and has prevented an integration of shamanistic and trance perspectives into the understanding human of psychology, consciousness, and knowledge of the world.

ISSN:0279-1072    

DOI:10.1080/02791072.1989.10472137

出版商:Taylor&Francis Group    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

This article considers the implications of the definitions and typologies of trance and shamanism for the development and testing of cross-cultural hypotheses through a review of definitions, typologies, and use of key terms and related concepts in anthropology. Authors vary widely in their definitions and applications of terms: some uses are based on reasoned criteria, others on traditional practice; some establish typologies, others prefer continua. Classifications range from narrow and highly specific to broad and inclusive coverage. Some restrict the usage to traditional societies, while others seek applications to Western phenomena, whether faith healers and mediums, or poets, such as Walt Whitman. The concept of control, with a variety of meanings assigned to it, emerges as a significant variable in the comparative study of“trance”and“shamanism”as these terms are used by different authors in widely different manners.

ISSN:0279-1072    

DOI:10.1080/02791072.1989.10472138

出版商:Taylor&Francis Group    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

The issue of cross-cultural similarities and differences in trance practitioners engaged in healing is examined, based on a formal quantitative cross-cultural study and analysis. The findings suggest distinct types of healers: shamans, shaman/healers, healers, and mediums. The data illustrate not only some universals of healers, but more importantly it reveals systematic differences between the shamans of hunting and gathering societies, the shaman/healers of agricultural societies, and the possessed mediums of politically stratified societies. These different types of trance healers are characterized and compared in order to illustrate the importance of terminological clarity, as well as to examine the characteristics and functions of shamanistic healers with respect to the social and cultural context of their activities.

ISSN:0279-1072    

DOI:10.1080/02791072.1989.10472139

出版商:Taylor&Francis Group    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

A review of the literature suggests that a common psychobiological process is associated with various altered states of consciousness (ASC) utilized by shamans, meditators, and mediums. However, the shamanic state of consciousness (SSC) can be differentiated physiologically from possession trance states. The psychophysiological literature on different types of trances and on seizure conditions associated with the temporal lobe discharge syndrome is reviewed. On this basis, it is hypothesized that while both the SSC and possession trances involve hippocampal-septal stimulation, the difference between the SSC and the possession states includes the amygdala involvement associated with the latter. This criterion and others establish a basis for differentiating between the terms“shamanic,”“shamanistic,”and“mediumistic.”The physiological concomitants of the SSC make it appear to be both physiologically and psychologically beneficial as well as indicating that it is most likely that there is a genetic component affecting one's ability to enter the SSC and other ASC.

ISSN:0279-1072    

DOI:10.1080/02791072.1989.10472140

出版商:Taylor&Francis Group    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

In a state of voluntary trance or meditation, the perception of reality appears to extend beyond the usual spatial and temporal boundaries that are normally perceived by the sense organs. It is argued that the problems of validity and reliability of trance experiences for scientific discourse are in principle no different than the problems associated with ordinary perception. The shift in early Greek philosophy from myth to an emphasis onlogos(reason) has led to a neglect of those subtle qualities of reason that were considered to be gateways for divine revelation. Scientific methodologies cannot account for such revelation, and there are no criteria known to science that would enable people to utilize these phenomena. Shamanic experiences are intersubjectively accessible and provide data that is suitable for the construction of rational theories if appropriate methodologies are developed. However, for a scientist, shamanic experiences are considered at most to be psychological ones, and consequently without any value for empirical research. This article examines the possibility of reevaluating the terms“rational”and“consciousness,”in order to expand scientific methodologies in such a way that volitionally altered perceptions of reality can be integrated into scientific research.

ISSN:0279-1072    

DOI:10.1080/02791072.1989.10472141

出版商:Taylor&Francis Group    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Within anthropology, investigations of shamans and their altered states of consciousness have followed some of the prescriptive problems inherited from the discipline of psychology, coloring the assumptions and perspectives of students of shamanism. These inherited problems include the following: conscious/volitional versus unconscious/involuntary mentalisms; contentual objectivism versus contentual subjectivism; environmentalism versus nativism; monopsychism versus polypsychism; mechanism versus vitalism; and quantitativism versus qualitativism. Although the polemics of anthropological studies of shamanism have reflected these prescriptive perspectives, this has not inhibited the acquisition of new knowledge about shamanism. Nonetheless, a resolution of these problems is lacking due to insufficient data.

ISSN:0279-1072    

DOI:10.1080/02791072.1989.10472142

出版商:Taylor&Francis Group    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

This article addresses some of the recent controversy over the role of psychoactive substances in the !Kung Bushmen healing ceremonies and trance induction. Although some contemporary works on the !Kung and their healing ceremonies give no evidence of the use of psychoactive plants, an examination of the available biochemical and pharmacological literature on the properties of these plants indicates that most contain psychoactive or toxic substances that are likely to have trance-inducing properties. Almost half of the !Kung medicine plants contain psychoactive substances or have toxic pproperties, and a similarly large group of these plants has psychoactive or toxic properties in related species. Although recent reports have shown little concern with the use of psychoactive substances, the earlier literature illustrated a major concern with their use in !Kung Bushmen trance and healing. This contrast with more recent research suggests a decline in the use of psychoactive plants in the recent past. This decline is examined with respect to changes in the !Kung Bushmen society and how altitudes in the United States regarding drug use may have influenced investigators and their research reports.

ISSN:0279-1072    

DOI:10.1080/02791072.1989.10472143

出版商:Taylor&Francis Group    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

Contemporary reference to the role of water lilies and mandrakes (NymphaeaandMandragora, respectively) in ancient Egyptian healing, and subsequent research on the iconography of the water lily in Mayan shamanistic ritual, suggest the possible importance of these plants as adjuncts to shamanistic healing in dynastic Egypt. Although the usual interpretation of the water lily and the mandrake has been that of a part of ritual mourning, the present article revises this notion. Based on an extensive review of these two powerful narcotic (i.e., hypnotic) plants in iconography and ritual, it is argued that the dynastic Egyptians had developed a form of shamanistic trance induced by these two plants and used it in medicine as well as healing rituals. Analysis of the ritual and sacred iconography of dynastic Egypt, as seen on stelae, in magical papyri, and on vessels, indicates that these people possessed a profound knowledge of plant lore and altered states of consciousness. The abundant data indicate that the shamanistic priest, who was highly placed in the stratified society, guided the souls of the living and dead, provided for the transmutation of souls into other bodies and the personification of plants as possessed by human spirits, as well as performing other shamanistic activities.

ISSN:0279-1072    

DOI:10.1080/02791072.1989.10472144

出版商:Taylor&Francis Group    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

The social and psychotherapeutic functions of healing rituals with ayahuasca among Amazonian groups are examined, and their healing effectiveness is explained in terms of Western scientific and sociopsychotherapeutic perspectives. The article includes an overview of the preparation and application of ayahuasca, the symbolic adaptations to the process of social change, the role of singing, the perceptive mode during the visionary state, and the structure of the visions. It is noted that the healing activities provide the entire community access to transcendental experiences, which clearly have integrative and cohesive social functions. Ethnopsychology provides important insights into the functions of archaic healing rituals, and can be used to illustrate the transcendental experiences and pathological use of drugs in modem societies.

ISSN:0279-1072    

DOI:10.1080/02791072.1989.10472145

出版商:Taylor&Francis Group    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor

摘要:

The functions and successes of shamanistic healers are addressed in the context of psychoneuroimmunology, which allows a description of how therapeutic success is achieved via the symbolic manipulation of biological processes. These perspectives reinforce the continued importance of traditional shamanistic healers in the contemporary world. This is illustrated by the activities of a Peruvian healer who utilizes both psychoactive plant substances and a syncretic combination of modem and traditional symbolic therapies. The reliance on a wide range of psychoactive plants, including both psychoactive substances and nonhallucinogenic plants, is shown to be empirically effective in the treatment of disease. This demonstrates the pragmatic and adaptive approaches of these traditional healers and their positive functions in treating a variety of illnesses in today's world.

ISSN:0279-1072    

DOI:10.1080/02791072.1989.10472146

出版商:Taylor&Francis Group    

年代:1989

数据来源: Taylor