Shamanism Down South
Click here (Emory) to learn about a newly opened museum exhibition that explores relationships between artwork and shamanism, both ancient and modern...
What observations/thoughts come to your mind about how the curator has structured and described this exhibit?
8 comments:
In scripture Christians say and feel that they get their power from The Holy Spirit/God. That this connection gives them power and wisdom that they would not otherwise recieve. So I find it interesting that Shamans feel they recieve their power and wisdom from animals and the earth.I suppose if I was going to choose an animal to recieve wisdom and power from it would be an owl and jaguar because they respresence wisdom,cunning and strenght/power.
Lisa C. Miller
This an continution of my earlier post.
I like the way the artist set up his exhibit. He tried to make it simple so people could grasp what the subject matter was and why it is important to today's society. I found it interesting because it so different from our Christian background.
Lisa C. Miller
Lisa
I find it interesting that you mentioned how the belief of Christians is that they receive their wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit because that it exactly what initially came to my mind when I read the definition of Shamanism. The difference is that Shamans do not consider their practice a religion nor do they rely on one specific person/thing as their leader.
Katrina A.
I liked the article and the way the artifacts are being described. Many cultures believe in a "Higher power" and tend to promote the Diefication of animals to worship their gods. This practice was largely declining by time of modern Christianity due to the promotion of animal worship as being sinful. The exhibit of these artifacts would be very intderesting to see however.
Bob Miller
Good observations, Lisa & Katrina, regarding shamanic intermediation and the Christian Holy Spirit. Keep this in mind for when we get to the New Testament!
pdk
In western Alaska shamans receive this same kind of power from nature and can supposedly shape-shift into various animals. I believe that many of these shamans believe that the animal spirit which inhabits them takes over their person and therefore they become a conduit between the natural world and mankind.
As for the Holy Spirit, I think there may be a disconnect about the Holy Spirit's role in Christianity. The Holy Spirit is the tangible part of an infinite God which resides on the Earth to empower through boldness and confidence Christians to do the will of God. Unlike the shaman spirits, the Holy Spirit does not take over a Christian. He works within a Christian more like a symbioses relationship rather than a possession like what this article suggests.
Michael
Animal spirits and the visionary journey are integral to the shaman. Stone says that she had found similarities in the art that were trans-cultural. This is fascinating. It suggests that, during a period of relative isolation, differing cultures maintained commonalities. I believe that this grants the shamanic ritual a peculiar validity.
To note, I found "plant teachers" to be a delightful.
* a delightful term
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