Shamanism: Difference between revisions
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'''Shamanism''' is a form of traditional medicine, common to a number of cultures including Latin America, Native American, and Oceania. It does not include traditional African witch doctor medicine.<ref>''Medical Subject Headings'', National Library of Medicine</ref> An intermediate stage between polytheism and monotheism, which assumes a "Great Spirit", with lesser deities subordinated. With the beginnings of shamanism there was the advent of the medicine man or witch doctor, who assumed a supervisory relation to disease and its cure. Formally, shamanism is a religion of Ural-Altaic peoples of Northern Asia and Europe, characterized by the belief that the unseen world of gods, demons, ancestral spirits is responsive only to shamans. The Indians of North and South America entertain religious practices similar to the Ural-Altaic shamanism. The word shaman comes from the Tungusic (Manchuria and Siberia) saman, meaning Buddhist monk. The shaman handles disease almost entirely by psychotherapeutic means; he frightens away the demons of disease by assuming a terrifying mien. <ref>quoted in MeSH From Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p22</ref> | '''Shamanism''' is a form of traditional medicine, common to a number of cultures including Latin America, Native American, and Oceania. It does not include traditional African witch doctor medicine.<ref>''Medical Subject Headings'', National Library of Medicine</ref> An intermediate stage between polytheism and monotheism, which assumes a "Great Spirit", with lesser deities subordinated. With the beginnings of shamanism there was the advent of the medicine man or witch doctor, who assumed a supervisory relation to disease and its cure. Formally, shamanism is a religion of Ural-Altaic peoples of Northern Asia and Europe, characterized by the belief that the unseen world of gods, demons, ancestral spirits is responsive only to shamans. The Indians of North and South America entertain religious practices similar to the Ural-Altaic shamanism. The word shaman comes from the Tungusic (Manchuria and Siberia) saman, meaning Buddhist monk. The shaman handles disease almost entirely by psychotherapeutic means; he frightens away the demons of disease by assuming a terrifying mien. <ref>quoted in MeSH From Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p22</ref> | ||
Michael Harner observed certain features are shared with concepts of psychosomatic medicine.<ref>{{citation | |||
| title = The Way of the Shaman | |||
| first = Michael | last = Harner}}</ref> | |||
==Referemces== | ==Referemces== | ||
{{reflist}} | |||
Revision as of 15:33, 18 December 2008
Shamanism is a form of traditional medicine, common to a number of cultures including Latin America, Native American, and Oceania. It does not include traditional African witch doctor medicine.[1] An intermediate stage between polytheism and monotheism, which assumes a "Great Spirit", with lesser deities subordinated. With the beginnings of shamanism there was the advent of the medicine man or witch doctor, who assumed a supervisory relation to disease and its cure. Formally, shamanism is a religion of Ural-Altaic peoples of Northern Asia and Europe, characterized by the belief that the unseen world of gods, demons, ancestral spirits is responsive only to shamans. The Indians of North and South America entertain religious practices similar to the Ural-Altaic shamanism. The word shaman comes from the Tungusic (Manchuria and Siberia) saman, meaning Buddhist monk. The shaman handles disease almost entirely by psychotherapeutic means; he frightens away the demons of disease by assuming a terrifying mien. [2]
Michael Harner observed certain features are shared with concepts of psychosomatic medicine.[3]