An Anthropological Study of Spirits by Christine S. VanPool & Todd L. VanPool

Author:Christine S. VanPool & Todd L. VanPool
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783031259203
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland

According to Jonaitis (1986:53), “The novice then tears out this tongue, skins the animal, retaining the pelt and burying the flesh.” Animal tongues contained spirit helpers called yek. These spirits would become the source of the shaman’s spiritual power, but any non-shaman who interacted with the “yek-tongues” of the sea otter or other animals “would lose his mind.” Consequently, Tlingit shamans kept their cache of yek-tongues hidden (Jonaitis 1986:53). The more yek-tongues the shaman possessed, the more yek he could work with and the more powerful he was. Again, the Tlingit shamans obviously learn more as their experience grew, but their fundamental power was based on their relationship with the yek, as opposed to their own training. A long period of apprenticeship was not essential to becoming a shaman once the shaman was called.

In contrast to the relatively short initiation period of the Tlingit, each incipient shaman among the Maya of Guatemala was the responsibility of the shaman who cured his shamanic illness (Wagley 1941:17). The novice was required to undertake years of training to, “know the appropriate prayers, the shrines at which to pray, and the ritual for each occasion. He must learn to divine both by casting beans and by interpreting the twitching of his calf muscles. He must know which of the various supernaturals to appeal to for every specific need: the curing of sickness, a successful trading trip, a good harvest of maize, the successful birth of a child” (Wagley 1941:17). The Aztec of Mexico followed a remarkably similar pattern in which novice shamans began training after being miraculously cured of a chronic illness and/or being called in a dream that a shaman interpreted as a calling. The novice then trained with an established shaman for 6–7 years to learn the required songs, rituals, and spiritual knowledge (Sandstrom 1991:233–234).

Even in cases of years-long training periods, not all shamanic traditions required direct apprenticeship with a specific teacher, though. The previously mentioned Wixárika of West Mexico used an extensive form of self-training (Schaefer and Furst 1996:19). As discussed in the preceding section, the Wixárika recognize that an individual (male or female) has been called to be a shaman by an illness that can only be cured through agreeing to become a shaman. Once a Wixárika had accepted the call, the novice shaman began to attend rituals performed by other shamans, sometimes as a helper who sang or drummed in support of the other shamans and sometimes merely as a spectator. Through this process, the shaman learned the needed ritual components and songs. This experience was further enriched through repeated peyote pilgrimages in which the spirits themselves helped the shaman learn the required skills and knowledge. The period of self-training took between 5 and 10 years. During this period, the shaman learned, “innumerable chants of sometimes staggering length” and undertook “a minimum of five, or, preferably, ten or more [peyote-based spiritual journeys]” (Schaefer and Furst 1996:20).

Goodman (1988):4) further noted that shamans and mediums know there are different kinds of spirits, some of which are (or at least can be) benevolent and others that are malevolent.

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