Shaman

The Shaman's vision by Ian

Shaman (From Evenki, saman: ecstatic one)

A healer or wise-person, believed to have the ability to perceive spiritual beings and matrices of power, and in some instances perform magic.

Shamanic practice often involves entering into trance states induced by rhythmic music, drumming, dancing, the wearing of animal pelts or paraphernalia such as feathers and horns, and imbibing in naturally occurring psychedelic drugs like peyote.

The visions and journeys of the shaman are said to transcend the usual boundaries of space and time. And some shamans apparently perform magical feats such as creating a butterfly out of thin air.

Many shamans adhere to a cosmology of three interconnected worlds:

1. The underworld of demons and spirits of the unhappy dead
2. The middle world of everyday earthly life
3. The upper world of helpful spirits

In shamanism mental and physical illness is often seen as a loss or theft of the soul. To heal another person, the shaman apparently embarks on a spiritual voyage to recover a soul to its rightful owner. Alternately, they may remove a spiritual object from a sick person’s soul that is presumably responsible for the illness.

Because it is believed that illness may be brought on by spiritual attack or molestation, the shaman battles negative spiritual forces, beings and objects, which in subtle planes may be tampering with a sick person’s soul.

Most negative forces are said to emerge from the underworld into the middle world, where the shaman battles them by harnessing the helping powers of upper world spirits.

dream of the shaman by Cornelia Kopp

Anthropological research on shamanism suggests that many shamans undergo some form of crisis at a young age, which in contemporary society would likely be viewed as a breakdown or the onset of a mental illness.

This crisis may involve an inner experience of being dismembered, seeing one’s skeleton or being skinned alive.

While some may uncritically accept the enchanting and miraculous truth-claims made by shamans, most psychiatrists would probably say we have no way of knowing whether or not shamanic altered states are genuinely transpersonal and spiritual or mere personal wishes, physiologically induced hallucinations or, perhaps, the activation of memory or primitive brain regions. As for stories about magic, these in large part remain part of an oral tradition, sometimes recorded by anthropologists but clearly not part of the mainstream media or scientific community.

Meanwhile some traditional Christians see the whole shamanic experience as an egotistic and spiritually unclear demonic deception.

Regardless of where one stands on this issue, it seems valid to ask the following questions: Are some shamans psychologically wounded opportunists capitalizing on the vulnerability or gullibility of others? Might some shamans be deceiving themselves and really believe they’re doing valuable spiritual work when, in fact, they’re suffering from a personality disorder? Or, conversely, might the shaman truly have access to realms, powers and abilities that most of us don’t understand nor possess?

The Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade notes that not all initiated into shamanism emerge as successful shamans. Some fail to regain a sense of psychological balance deemed meaningful by self and society. Others choose to pursue another vocation if being a shaman is not economically viable in their community.

At Earthpages.org

• Shaman Elder Maggie Wahls’ 50th Anniversary Teaching
• Why Study Shamanism
• Alchemy, Egypt, and Shamanism
• Spirit Guides & Totems
• The Shaman’s Journey: Impeccability
• The Shaman’s Journey: Intent
• The Shaman’s Journey: The Value of Emotional Control

» Animism, Controlled Dreaming, Evil, Fasting, Hendrix (Jimi), Odin, Saint, Song, Soul Loss, Ticket, Witch, Yoda

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Shakti

Dance of Shakti by Angela Marie

Shakti

This is a Sanskrit term for female power, sometimes called ‘serpent power’ because it’s said to rise upwards like a serpent through the chakras of the meditating yogi or yogini.

Shakti also denotes a general principle of creative, cosmic energy. When personified it takes the form of a goddess, such as Siva’s consort Parvati.

In New Age parlance the term arguably signifies the empowered, holistic woman, as we find with figures like Shakti Gawain.

» Kundalini, Tantra, Raja yoga

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Shakespeare, William

Photo credit: jimmiehomeschoolmom

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

English playwright and poet born in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Shakespeare worked as an actor in London, where he began to compose sonnets.

With the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, a company of players to become known as the King’s Men, Shakespeare leased the first Globe Theatre, erected in 1598. It burnt down in 1613 but Shakespeare and his troupe had already been performing at a new Globe.

The genius of his work, written mostly for the Globe, was recognized by Queen Elizabeth and her court.

Shakespeare enjoyed much success and considerable wealth in his lifetime. Today, many forget that his plays were written to be seen, not read.

If theatre going isn’t a practical alternative, the next best thing might be the BBC television series (VHS and DVD) of Shakespeare’s plays. This production boasts authentic costumes, on-location castles and ancestrally inherited accents to help bring the mystical bard’s works to life.

It has been suggested that Shakespeare is the greatest writer ever, not only in the English language, but in any language. Some feminists contend this claim, suggesting that writers like Jane Austen and Emily Dickinson are equal if not superior to Shakespeare’s wit and wisdom. And others say that if Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had not written in German, he might have rivaled Shakespeare’s literary throne.

This author remembers an Anglican minister once saying that the Biblical Book of Job was “like Shakespeare,” as if to imply that Shakespeare was better literature than the Bible. Many might disagree, and popularity is not necessarily an indicator of absolute value, but from 1986 to 1993 Shakespeare ranked third in the Top 10 Authorities cited in academic journals of the Arts and Humanities, with the Bible at 5^th place.†

† Source: Institute for Scientific Information as cited in The Globe and Mail, Toronto: Southam, February 11, 1993.

» Arjuna, Atlantis, Berkeley (George), Glamour, Hamlet, Homer, Iago, Keats (John), Macbeth, Madness, Merchant of Venice, Milton (John), Othello, Pericles, Psychosis, Radha, Reincarnation, Romeo and Juliet, Shylock, Unconscious

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Shadow

The Black Sun by Matias Loyola

Shadow

In the psychology of C. G. Jung, the shadow is the unconscious, evil side of human nature.

The shadow is said to be one of the first aspects of the unconscious psyche encountered in Jungian analysis.

Apparently its positive side is expressed through creativity and humor. According to this view, representation of the shadow’s dark tendencies in non-violent, socially acceptable channels (e.g. art, music or controlled ‘acting out’) facilitates mastering them.

Otherwise, Jung says the shadow could conceivably control the ego.

If merely repressed, Jung further says the shadow might find a way through the cracks of the psyche and momentarily express itself in a disturbing manner.

This might account for the cruel actions toward children by Sister Francesca at the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa.

Another version of the shadow comes as a comic strip, pop culture figure, “Only the shadow knows…” And more recently, the Canadian science fiction TV program, Lexx, features ‘His Divine Shadow’ as the archdeacon of darkness.

At Earthpages.org:

• Throwing Light on the Shadow: C. G. Jung’s Answer to Evil

» Archetype, Darth Vader, Demons, Dracula, Hesse (Hermann), Kafka (Franz), Self, Steppenwolf, Trickster, Vampires, Witch, Yoni

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Seven of Nine

Jeri Ryan aka 7 OF 9 by Jim Bacon

Seven of Nine

A female Borg, convincingly played by actor Jeri Ryan in the American TV series, Star Trek: Voyager.

Originally a human, Seven of Nine was transformed into a semi-cybernetic entity when assimilated by the Borg while still a child.

Seven’s humanity was restored, however, when Commander Chakotay stimulated her human memories through a technologically manufactured mind-link.

She joined the crew of the starship Voyager and through trial and error relearned how to interact appropriately with her fellow human beings and the other bipedal life forms that constitute the starship’s crew.

Seven is a fascinating symbol of something gone wrong going right again. She adds a new twist to the fall and resurrection motif so common in mythic stories of old.

» Abyss, Angels, Borg, Chakotay (Commander), Chekov (Pavol), Data (Commander), Dax, Jadzia, Dreamtime, Janeway (Captain Katherine), Kardasians, Kirk (James T.), Klingons, Odo, Prime Directive, Q, Relations of Production, Roberts (Jane), Roddenberry (Gene), Romulans, Sargon, Science Fiction, Siva, Spock, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: Voyager, Sulu, Tek War, Temporal Paradox, Third Eye, T’Pol, Trickster, Uhura (Lieutenant), Vulcan, Worf

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Serpent

Serpent to Rain by roctopus

Serpent

The serpent is a symbol found in most mythological and religious traditions around the world.

Similarities in meaning exist as do important differences.

In Jewish and Christian accounts of Eden, the serpent is the “most subtle” of all creatures that tempts Eve into disobeying God’s command to not eat of the tree of knowledge. Eve then seduces Adam into eating and mankind is expelled from the Garden of Eden and cursed to forever suffer and work.

The Biblical Leviathan was a great sea serpent, “the dragon that is in the sea” (Isaiah 27:1).

In India, the kundalini (Skt: coiled like a snake) represents serpent power that is awakened by carefully opening a series of chakras (body/psyche points of power).

India also has a naga cult with widespread devotees who worship a demi-god cobra with a human face.

The snake is also regarded as a healer in some Native American traditions.

Serpent devouring a man

In Mexican mythological art, a giant serpent is often depicted as swallowing a human being, usually head-first.

This might bear a symbolic relation to the Biblical notion that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). That is, the inferior aspects of the human personality must be purged, devoured or sent to hell so the superior may further develop.

The logo for contemporary western medicine is a snake coiled around a pole, a symbol derived from ancient Greece, as evident in engravings of Aesculapius, c. 100 BCE, where a serpent is coiled around his staff. This symbol is often mistakenly linked to the Greek Caduceus, displayed in myth as a two serpents wound around a staff, sometimes with wings.

The psychiatrist Carl Jung was interested in the Ouroboric serpent, a symbol derived from Gnosticism in which the snake forms a circle by biting its own tail. For Jung this is a mandala, symbolizing his understanding of self wholeness.

The above examples only scratch the surface of serpent symbolism, a topic too diverse to treat adequately here. Nevertheless, J. E. Cirlot suggests that one commonality present among numerous serpent symbols is the representation of psychic energy.

» Apollo, Kundalini, Persephone, Shakti

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Serenity Prayer

Peace Church by Scott Shatto

Serenity Prayer

A Christian prayer written in 1943 by the American Protestant theologian and man of letters, Reinhold Niebuhr, here in its most familiar form:

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

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Semiology (or Semiotics)

discriminación by Dimitri dF

Semiology (or Semiotics)

The study of signs. The term was coined by Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913), and semiology was originally taken to be a science.

But more recent theorists in several disciplines have questioned the entire notion of the ‘scientific enterprise,’ which some regard as just another sign.

Indeed, semiology includes or, one could say, branches off into postmodern deconstruction, an approach which questions the distinction between denotation and connotation, along with many other culturally implied truth claims, normative structures and practices.

Some argue that pioneering semiologists like Roland Barthes contained the seeds of what would become known as a postmodern approach.

» Baudrillard (Jean), Foucault (Michel), Sigified, Signifier, Structuralism, Wittgenstein (Ludwig Josef Johann)

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Self

sTURM UND dRANG (Self Portrait) by Artwerk / Yanko

Self

The human self, being the basis of personal identity, has been variously understood.

Some say the self is the agency that says “I.” This is the conceptual, reflective part of ourselves that apparently remains unchanged from the first time to as long as one can think of the idea of “I.”

In psychological terms this is the ego, not to be confused with egotism or egoism. Theorists subscribing to this view often reject any kind of transcendental, unchanging core to selfhood.

Others suggest that individuals possess multiple selves. Here the self is viewed as “the personality or organization of traits” (J. P. Chaplin, Dictionary of Psychology, Bantam 1985, p. 414), another view that rejects an eternal, unchanging aspect of the self.

From a Western philosophical standpoint the question of self belongs to ontology (the study of being) and phenomenology (the study of experience). Ontology and phenomenology, however, are arguably influenced by cosmology (theories about the character of the universe) and ethics (questions about right and wrong).

The psychologist Freud’s theory about the self is limited to two main factors–nature (instinctual drives of sex, aggression, love and death) and society (parents, significant others and social institutions). This is because Freud viewed God and any notions of an afterlife as illusions created to satisfy unconscious psychological desires and wishes, and his restricted worldview had a significant effect on his outlook.

Meanwhile Freud’s star pupil, Jung, took psychoanalytic theory a step further by suggesting the possibility of archetypal aspects of the self (i.e. eternal aspects existing beyond yet connected to the everyday world). For Jung, the self, itself, is an archetype of wholeness.

In Biblical Christianity, the true, essential self is not of this world but created to enjoy otherworldly, everlasting heaven:

If any one would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it (Matthew 16:24-25).

Hindus in agreement with Sankara tend understand the true self (atman) as identical with an invisible, underlying aspect of creation (brahman). Once liberated, the self loses all sense of individuality.

Ramanuja’s school of Visistadvaita presents another Hindu perspective where the true self is said to ultimately retain some sense of individuality as it rests in the godhead.

A branch of New Age believers say we have many slightly different selves coexisting in parallel or multiple universes, all unified by an oversoul existing above, beyond and yet within those multiple realities. A good example of this point of view can be found in the Seth Books by Jane Roberts.

In a witty and regal vein, King William III (William of Orange) was among those who’ve pondered the nature of the self:

As I walk’d by my self
And talk’d to my self,
My self said unto me,
Look to thy self,
Take care of thy self,
For nobody cares for Thee.
I answered my self,
And said to my self,
In the self-same Repartee,
Look to thy self
Or not look to thy self,
The self-same thing will be.

» Alchemy, Anatman, Archetype, Archetypal Image, Atman, Blake (William), Brahman, Buddhism, Collective Unconscious, Conscience, Defense Mechanism, Dennet (Daniel), Ego, Fromm (Erich), Hero, Hinduism, Individuation Process, Karma Transfer, Leibniz (Gottfried, Wilhelm), Maslow (Abraham), Mead (George Herbert), Numinous, Persona, Pollution, Postmodernism

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Seer

Thee High Priestess ov Thee Temple ov Psychick Blah (T.H.P.O.T.T.O.P.B.) by Suzanna / Comtesse de Wurzeltod

Seer

In the religious sense a seer is a person with an alleged gift of inner sight. He or she apparently ‘sees’ the past and future, possibly across great distances and through different spiritual realms.

Some spiritual figures like Da Free John, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Chinmoy and Paramahansa Yogananda apparently receive other people’s thoughts, feelings and experiences, and claim to use these abilities to assess their disciples’ degree of spiritual development.

Mystical Hinduism, particularly the guru ideal, stresses the importance of the seer. And his or her gifts are said to coincide with and contribute to spiritual wisdom.

In Catholicism the seer often adheres to the rules and regulations of their order, as in monastic Catholicism. Spiritual abilities are viewed as gifts or charisms from God and are usually played down out of humility–that is, there’s no desire to puff oneself up as a big holy person, an unsavory approach which in Jungian terms is called inflation or self-aggrandizement.

Catholic seers allegedly have the gift of ‘reading hearts,’ which includes knowing another person’s thoughts, inclinations and overall spiritual condition.

In Greek myth Tiresias was a blind seer.

Some are willing to entertain the idea that a seer may possess unconventional abilities but question their source as well as the ethics as to how they are applied in daily life.

Meanwhile, skeptics like James Randi remain unconvinced about everything paranormal, the notion of ‘seeing’ and so on.

» Clairaudience, Clairsentience, Clairvoyance, Remote Viewing, Rishis, Psi, Wisdom

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