{"id":1056,"date":"2011-07-22T21:38:46","date_gmt":"2011-07-23T01:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/?p=1056"},"modified":"2011-07-22T21:38:46","modified_gmt":"2011-07-23T01:38:46","slug":"shamanism-and-paganism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2011\/07\/shamanism-and-paganism.html","title":{"rendered":"Shamanism and Paganism"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most interesting aspects of Paganism for me is that it stretches back to the very beginnings of human spirituality, so far as we can tell.\u00a0 The Axial religions of monotheism, Buddhism, and Hinduism connected to sacred texts all to one degree or another marked a break with that past.\u00a0 In the case of the monotheists the break was violently enforced, and I have recently learned that Tibetan Buddhism was\u00a0not so innocent as I once thought<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What this means is that Paganism\u2019s roots are in shamanism, broadly defined.\u00a0 It developed in different ways, depending on the cultures and environments people encountered, but the starting point was remarkably similar. To this end I recommend two books I have read, and one I am in the midst of reading.\u00a0<\/p>\n

E. R. Dodds\u2019 The Greeks and the Irrational<\/a><\/em> is a sharp completely secular historian\u2019s analysis of ancient Greece\u2019s \u201cirrational\u201d side, meaning its shamanic and shamanic derived side. Read with Pagan eyes the book is an eye-opener.\u00a0 Modern philosophy honors Socrates but rarely acknowledges that he admitted to be guided on important decisions by a spirit, or that in the Phaedrus <\/em>he enters into trance with a spirit.\u00a0 Every bit as important, in neither case wre those around him all that surprised by it.<\/p>\n

I am now immersed in I. P. Couliano\u2019s Out of this World: Otherworldly Journeys from Gilgamesh to Albert Einstein<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0The first part did not grab me all that much but the chapter \u201cGreek Medicine Men\u201d is wonderful.\u00a0 I am impatient to finish it, but want to share my excitement because who knows when I\u2019ll be able to write about this subject much.<\/p>\n

But for those interested in shamanism and Paganism, there is a third book I found very useful: Robert Torrance\u2019s The Spiritual Quest: Transcendence in Myth, Religion, and Science<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0What sticks with me as particularly important there, and not only there, is the tension between the personal encounter of shamanic practices and the attempt to bring those encounters under institutional control by people with institutional authority.\u00a0 My own Paganism is 100% rooted in shamanic and mystical kinds of experience, and is why I am so unexcited by \u201cPagan clergy\u201d even though I know it is likely inevitable and in some ways useful.<\/p>\n

But for those who like me are interested in the personally transformative dimensions of direct contact with different dimensions of Spirit, these are three books that offer much food for thought as to who we are, where we are coming from, and the challenges to preserving the greatest power within the spiritual core of modern Paganism.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the most interesting aspects of Paganism for me is that it stretches back to the very beginnings of human spirituality, so far as we can tell.\u00a0 The Axial religions of monotheism, Buddhism, and Hinduism connected to sacred texts all to one degree or another marked a break with that past.\u00a0 In the case…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[3],"class_list":["post-1056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pagan-spirituality","tag-pagan-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nShamanism and Paganism - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2011\/07\/shamanism-and-paganism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shamanism and Paganism - 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