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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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Haven't had a thread about this one I don't think 
Just really thought I'd see if there were any self-professed Shamans in our midsts or, otherwise, whether it provoked any interesting responses in people.
For those who haven't come across it before, my understanding of Shamanism is this... A Shaman is a person who goes into a trance and, in a dream-like state, descends down into a lower kingdom beneath the earth where each of us exists as animal spirits. They then seek out our animal spirits and see if we've got any wounds they can heal, like pulling a splinter out of our paw if we're a lion. This, supposedly, heals us of something up here.
The only disconcerting aspect of all of this, for anyone who's given it a try, is that this underworld has a quite convincing air about it, plus there is often concensus between Shamans about what they saw down there    
It's difficult to prove but it is likely that this form of medicine existed for thousands of years before our own, perhaps even being practiced by stone age man. Critics call it hocus pocus. Believers point to the fact that, if it is hocus pocus, why was it practiced for so long?
I appreciate that this one is pretty far out there... but I'm guessing we've discussed UFO's and such before.. so why not this? |
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Hocus pocus I'm afraid
The believers justification holds little weight or perhaps ritual sacrifice does appease the volcano gods ?
Interestingly I undeunderstand some shamen use used saliva which is a powerful hallucination drug |
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By *yrdwomanWoman
over a year ago
Putting the 'cum' in Eboracum |
The problem with taking a spirit journey is that it involves heroic quantities of drugs, usually of a type where the amount of active hallucinogen cannot be controlled. Take Fly Agaric, the preferred vehicle for the Northern Shaman. You could be lucky and just go for a long and eventful trip, or you could get one that kills you stone dead in minutes.
Psychotropes can be fun, but taking enough to hallucinate is dangerous, and it ultimately achieves nothing. |
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By (user no longer on site) OP
over a year ago
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I know they don't like us talking about dr*gs on the forums. So I just wanted to remind people that it is also possible to practice Shamanism without any need for them. Instead it is possible to descend into a trance-like state via hypnotic procedures, such as tuning into a repetitive drum beat.
I had a shamanic experience when I was a kid which didn't involve anything other than my creative imagination. I'm not saying I'm some great amazing Shaman... I just had a weird experience which I later learned had parallels with what Shamans experience.
I have 'tried' doing some Shamanic visualisation, using drum beats to tune into a trance-like state, and it was a lot of fun... but I've not really been able to repeat what happened to me as a kid. I've bumped into at least one Shaman on this site... so I was just curious to see if there were others on here who are into this, have given it a try, or have just had some weird experiences which have parallels with what I described in my first post |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Deep trance states are possible through meditation, drumming and dance. I've hbeen in many different altered states of awareness without the use of drugs but none have taken me into what I would call the underworld and communing with animal spirits. More's the pity....but there's still time |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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Dimethyltryptamine occurs naturally in the body, deep meditation just stimulates to create it.
Plenty of drugs occur naturally and some are very good for hallucinations, ask anyone who's ever run a fever! |
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