Shamanism

Shamanism comes from the word "shaman", which is a Russian derivative from the Tungus language of Siberia. The Tungus word is saman. Saman is both a noun and a verb.

Saman is thought by some to be a derivative of the ancient Sanskrit word sramana, which means "to practice austerities." Thus, saman may have ties to ancient Buddhism.

As a noun it means "one who sees in the dark". As a verb, it means "to know." Another interpretation is that it means “healer.”

Shamanism is believed to be humankind's oldest spiritual tradition. Our knowledge about it mostly comes from the shamans of dying tribal cultures scattered in remote parts of the world. It is a cross-cultural phenomenon, not confined to any particular region or culture.

Core-shamanism is a term to define a cross-cultural distillation of the spiritual methods of traditional, indigenous, primal people. Through cross-cultural, anthropological studies, we of Western culture can reclaim our ancient shamanic roots.

The popular increase in the interest, study, and practice of shamanic approaches in the West resulted in large part by such works as Carlos Castaneda's Don Juan series in the 1960's, Michael Harner's Way of the Shaman in the 1970's, and many others since then (see list and links in Resources, Book Store.) This has led many to believe that learning to access the spiritual world through shamanic journeys makes one a shaman. This is not the case.

As Dr. Y has taught in his continuing education workshops for mental health and health care professionals, and clergy, and public workshops, nearly everyone has the ability to "journey" to the spirit realm. That ability is in our genes.

Becoming a shaman is much, much more involved. It requires initiation into the shamanic arts and tradition, a prolonged training period, and many tests to advance from an apprentice to a shaman. Unfortunately, there are few extant shamans in the world with even fewer found in industrialized countries who can serve as teachers.