taken from www.shamana.co.uk/siberian_shamanism/ (http://www.shamana.co.uk/siberian_shamanism/)
(//http://www.shamana.co.uk/shamana.files/siberian1.jpg)
Among the Siberian and Mongolian indigenous peoples, the universe is conceived as a living organism. The polar star is a celestial nail, and the Altaic shamans decorate their drums with the symbols of Venus and the constellation of the Great Bear. In Buryat shamanistic symbolism, the World-Tree is connected to the World-River, which interlinks with all the three worlds. It must be traversed by the shaman in order to reach any part of the Otherworld.
In Siberian cosmology, the universe is also associated with animal concepts, such as the elk for the Middleworld, the bear for the Master of the Animals, or, among the Evenks, for the ethnogenic father. In addition, the universe has a tripartite structure consisting of the Upper, Middle, and Lower worlds, each one being a replica (imago mundi) of the other two. The Yakut shaman embarks on a soul journey by ascending progressively several celestial poles, the World-Tree. It is particularly important that the drum of a Siberian shaman be made from the wood of the World-Tree. The cosmological symbolism depicted on the drumskin, in conjunction with the whole drum, stands for the entire universe. All these types of symbolic devises are internalized by the shaman as his or her personal metaphors.
(//http://www.shamana.co.uk/shamana.files/siberian2.jpg)
"Shamans are at once doctors, priests, social workers and mystics. They have been called madmen or madwomen, were frequently persecuted throughout history, dismissed in the 1960s as a «desiccated» and «insipid» figment of the anthropologist's imagination, and are now so fashionable that they inspire both intense academic debate and the naming of pop groups. Shamans have probably attracted more diverse and conflicting opinions than any other kind of spiritual specialists. The shaman seems to be all things to all people.
"The word «shaman» comes from the language of the Evenk, a small Tungus-speaking group of hunters and reindeer herders in Siberia. It was first used only to designate a religious specialist from this region. By the beginning of the 20th century it was already being applied in North America to a wide range of medicine-men and medicine-women, while some New Age practitioners today use the word widely for persons who are thought to be in any sort of contact with spirits.
"The Siberian shaman's soul is said to be able to leave the body and travel to other parts of the cosmos, particularly to an upper world in the sky and a lower world underground. This ability is traditionally found in some parts of the world and not in others and allows us to speak of clearly shamanistic societies and cultures. A broader definition than this would include any kind of person who is in control of his or her state of trance, even if this does not involve a soul journey, as in Korea. In these senses, shamans are quite different from other kinds of spirit medium who are possessed and dominated by spirits as and when the spirits themselves choose and who then need to be exorcized. But even though the shaman enters the trance under controlled conditions, his or her «mastery» of the spirits remains highly precarious. The shaman's profession is considered psychically very dangerous and there is a constant risk of insanity or death.
"There can be no shaman without a surrounding society and culture. Shamanism is not a single, unified religion but a cross-cultural form of religious sensibility and practice. In all societies known to us today shamanic ideas generally form only one strand among the doctrines and authority structures of other regions, ideologies and practices. There were probably purely shamanist communities in the past but we have only vague ideas about what it must have felt like to live in them. Shamanism is scattered and fragmented and should perhaps not be called an «-ism» at all. There is no doctrine, no world shamanic church, no holy book as a point of reference, no priests with the authority to tell us what is and what is not correct.
"Nevertheless, there are astonishing similarities, which are not easy to explain, between shamanic ideas and practices as far as the Arctic, Amazonia and Borneo, even though these societies have probably never had any contact with each other. Many current interpretations emphasize the healing side of shamanism, but this is only one aspect of the shaman's work. Among other things, shamanism is a hunter's religion, concerned with the necessity of taking life in order to live oneself. The shamanic view of cosmic equilibrium founded largely on the idea of paying for the souls of the animals one needs to eat, and in the societies the shaman flies to the owner of the animals in order to negotiate the price".
Ill be posting my personel points on Siberian shamanism soon enough, hope you enjoyed..:)
Skal WhiteShadow
(//http://www.exzooberance.com/virtual%20zoo/they%20walk/tiger/Siberian%20Tiger%20471057.jpg)
photo from: http://www.exzooberance.com/virtual%20z ... /tiger.htm (http://www.exzooberance.com/virtual%20zoo/they%20walk/tiger/tiger.htm)
^^^^
this info and photos originally appeared on a web page entitled Siberian Shamanism (//http://www.shamana.co.uk/siberian_shamanism/).
The text is excerpted from:
P. Vitebsky. The Shaman. London: MacMillan, Duncan Baird Publishers, 1995; pp. 10-11.
Interesting info, WhiteShadow--- but please give credit where credit is due by citing the original source, if it is known. Thanks!
Hey! I just noticed that I am moderator of this forum as in the previous SPF. Thank you WhiteShadow for the information. Thank you X. Torris for pointing out that the source for material must be posted here if it is not directly from the author.
-TM
Copyrights are complicated. Generally one can have make "fair use" of copyrighted material, quoting passages, photographs, etc., if not copied in entirety, non-commercial, academic use, as part of a discussion, and maybe a few more reasons. That’s why it is a good idea (not only for copyright law, but it makes the thread more interesting) that when you copy something, copy a portion of it, identify the source, so someone can follow-up the entire article if they are interested. And then, to place it into some context, provide a commentary, review, or something of the material.
Hey Whiteshadow, that was good info...put it back up lol!!! Just reference it at the bottom and all is fine.
Booosh
WhiteShadow, I didn't at all mean for you to take the info down, or mean to seem like I'm trying to single you out. Your post originally appeared in The World forum, so I was just making a mod-ish suggestion.
Anyway, what Bush said.
Thanks for pointing out X.Torris..i appreciate it.
Enjoy...Fernia aka Whiteshadowofthedamplands
(//http://www.vpop.net/~bnrart/copple/images/tiger.jpg)
Nice post WhiteShadowOfTheDampLands. I like the look. I wish you could go into more detail about the ceremony and explain some of the "verbage" you threw out there like everyone was suppose to know what you are talking about. Guess I'm just ignorant and don't like being that way.
Anyhoo, in the U.S., copyright law isn't really all that complicated. It would look that way by someone who reads more into it than is really there. Basically, any work of literature, art, recordings, blah blah that is originated in the U.S. is protected under the U.S. copyright law. That means that your original works, that have been dated, are protected from anyone who would try to steal your work and profit from it. It is considered good etiquette to always use references (and a class act!), however it is not required. Now if you were to try to sell this work, you would have to get the permission of the photographer/s and whatever other sources you used before you could sell it without fear of copyright infringement reprisals from those sources. The only exception to this (I'm no lawyer, but my sister is) is if you are using the sources for education and/or research. In which case, there is a tidbit about non-profit educational use, but nothing on "non-profit research" or even a definition of the terms "education" and/or "research". If, you are interested in the U.S. Copyright Law, there is a website at the U.S. Copyright Office (//http://www.copyright.gov/) that has the law in .pdf:
Complete PDF version of U.S. Copyright Law (//http://www.copyright.gov/title17/circ92.pdf)
{NOTE: this is a large document containing 290 pages!}
Also, if you are interested in the "Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use" portion of the U.S. Copyright Law, that would be pg. 18, article 107.
I know, I know, you're saying man that thing is huge. However if, you do a google search (or, even msn now, I hear), you might get lucky and find a site like I did that was from a college's administration to its professors informing them of correct copyright usage. In other words......it was a long time ago and I don't have a clue about the link. But, I do remember the jixt of the thing. Hehe!
So, have fun. Keep up the good work. And, keep the spirit alive!
kj
8)
lol, thanks KJ , i got the point the first time..hehe
well now ive posted a new one, with reference cause im too tired to write...
ill be sure to express my views on this point soon ....
Skal WhiteShadow
I want to send good vibes to whiteshadow for his dedication to the positive energy and ask that we all remember that many members of spiritplants are from backgrounds where english is not their native tongue. I know of a few who would love to post more if they were confident of their handling of the english language or of our ability to tolerate imperfect transcription of their ideas.
Pointing out the correct methods for dealing with other people's material and avoiding plagiarism is important; most people just 'copy and paste' and give the referrence.
If i was writing about someone's work where the main points were taken from that work, i would simply state that at the begiining ... easy peasy.
Quote from: "Cassie"I know of a few who would love to post more if they were confident of their handling of the english language or of our ability to tolerate imperfect transcription of their ideas.
I've recently come to understand that the ultimate purpose of language is simply to communicate ideas to other people... so even if the grammar, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary aren't great... as long as the POINT gets across, then it has served its purpose...
although, I must admit, that when it comes to professionally published works, I get pretty picky about that kind of stuff... I mean... editors are hired for a reason ;)
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edited for accidental unfinished bbcode
No doubt sunsebb,you point out a truthfull point.... hey seems like your up the street, if your in Ontario lol .....
Skal WS
www.geocities.com/thevivisected (http://www.geocities.com/thevivisected)
(//http://www.wag.co.za/special_reports/srep_pics/saav.jpg)
QuoteI've recently come to understand that the ultimate purpose of language is simply to communicate ideas to other people... so even if the grammar, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary aren't great... as long as the POINT gets across, then it has served its purpose...
Very true sunnsebb. Writing is for the purpose of communication. Which means that the writing that most effectively gets across the point is the best. Wordy, jargon, etc. are bad writing. A few professions do this in order to try to keep "the knowledge" from outsiders. The legal prodession, Information Technology, are examples.
A true writer worth his weight in entheogens knows this and his whole motive behind his/her writing is to communicate ideas. Look at Bush. What has he written? Nothing. It's not even established that he can write a coherent sentence. That is reason enough to be suspicsious of anything this man says.
byron[/quote]
hmm. indeed but one must not forget how language controls, it's the only way the world trusts it's governments, dont tell me its by action,the thoughts an aspirations of a government are unstable yet still promised thoughts, like a tease.
(//http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/franka/evolutie1.jpg)
Their are many levels of communication. Those who know themselves for years, loved ones ,family , understand each other on such a basic manner, even just by physical evidence.
Take poetry as an example now theres a way to let out much more emotion
rather than knowledge in a simmilar manner. Just languages alone give a different point of view or dimension on life. Like the differences in portraiying a same point,
Languages have been changing the world for thousands of years, it basicly brought huge differences to various cultures, as though it was a seed from the beginning.
It's my belief it has derived our true interests in life and replaced a world like todays,not in whole of course.lol. I cant argue with the fact that a good knowledge of the desired language to express ones views is always the clearest manner to do so.
A true mastering of the language must be thought of,
the thought of saying , am i free, ugly , different? Wiseness is then derived from the, that knows th eintent and follows the desired path , the hopes of the other.The certain ways words keep being brought to question does not help a society, it makes borders, where languages show conservatism, but this is all to change when one uses the right path of this tool of course.
On a scientific ground theirs no doubt a good approach to being trusted and understood is by mastering the language.
Quote:
A true writer worth his weight in entheogens knows this and his whole motive behind his/her writing is to communicate ideas. Look at Bush. What has he written? Nothing. It's not even established that he can write a coherent sentence. That is reason enough to be suspicsious of anything this man says.
Well see byrooon, bush only shows us how language could be used to manipulate and take over other countries,
trust and others opinions on his spelling does not matter now does it ..lol
I think we all know what he means. grammer and language goes hand in hand with education, a cultures knowledge and of the worlds evolution these days. Theirs plenty of negative ourtcomes like theirs alot more positive. But no one must in any case be judged nor mistrusted for his tapping on a computer, maybe thats what the spelling mistakes are all about on the net for some..lol ;)
(//http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/franka/evolutie2.jpg)
Only the one writing hopes his opinion or points on a subject to be truth or wish it to be thought of, if you are more poetic well the approach is metaphoric if your a scientist well you must master the language or you be wrong and blow your self up..;)
Take it easy WhiteShadow