Shamanism

Zach Stenberg

Shakespeare

4-14-12

Shamanism

            Today when one brings up the subject of Shamanism, the conversation often goes to indigenous people living in the Amazon, where they’re doing psychedelic and hallucinategenic drugs, chanting, and trying to talk with the spirit world.  Shamanism is suggested to have origins all the way back to the Paleolithic period, or somewhere around 40,000 years ago.  Shamans can be women in some societies, for the most part though they’re men.  Shamans can be a magician, healer or doctor, priest, and even an evil Shaman.  Mircea Elieade defines shamanism as, “First definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be Shamanism= technique of ecstasy (Eliade, 4).  The technique of ecstasy is the ability to get into a trance and communicate with spirits when someone is sick, dying, missing, funeral rites, or other rituals of the community that the Shaman performs.  For the Shaman, “the Shaman specializes in a trance during which his soul is believed to leave his body and ascend to the sky or descend to the underworld,” (Eliade, 5).

            The Shaman can also be a psychopomp, a guide to escort the souls to the afterlife like Hermes; they also can serve as guides through the various transitions of life, such as Prospero in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.  Shamans are separated from the community, they are chosen either hereditary, a call from the spirits, or an election (Eliade, 13).  Shamans are of the “elect” and as such they have access to a region of the sacred inaccessible to other members of the community (Eliade, 8).  In some societies, they are not just a priest, but also an actual messenger to the spirit world.

            Before one becomes a shaman, he/she has to have a call or a sign, and then must have an initiation.  “Before he comes a Shaman and begins his new and true life by a “separation” that is, as we shall presently see, by a spiritual crisis that is not lacking in a tragic greatness and in beauty,”(Eliade, 13).  Physical signs at first are epileptic fits, an actual epileptic attack initiation of the candidate is equivalent to a cure, (Eliade, 27).

            Among the Tungus of the Tranbaikal region, he who wishes to become a Shaman announces that the spirit of a dead Shaman has appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to succeed him.   For this public declaration to be regarded as true, it must include a considerable degree of mental derangement, such as epileptic fits and a sickness on the brink of death, (Eliade, 16). 

            For the Yakut, the perfect Shaman, “must be serious, possess tact, be able to convince his neighbors; above all, he must not be presumptuous, proud, ill-tempered.  One must feel an inner force in him that does not offend yet in conscious of its power,”(Eliade, 290).  In some ways, the ideal Shaman was a Renaissance man as in Europe of old.  A man, who could do anything and knew everything, yet was humble in temperament.  The Yakut Shaman also had a poetic vocabulary that contained 12,000 words, whereas the ordinary language-the only language known to the rest of the community has only 4,000, (Eliade, 30).  We can still experience something of this magnitude with Shakespeare where most of his 25,000 words “(more than twice as many as Milton, his runner-up) had never been heard before by most of his audience, (Hughes, 25).  And sometimes Shakespeare only used these words once or twice, but he was able to convey them where both the high and low classes could understand him.  The Shaman had the same ability to communicate to both humanity and the spirit world in a poetic-trance prose.

            The traditional scenario of an initiation ceremony can be summed up like the life of Jesus Christ’s last days: suffering, death, and resurrection.  One of the most vivid initiation dreams is that of the Samoyed Shaman.  “The candidate was sick with smallpox, the future Shaman remained unconscious for three days and was so close to death he was almost buried.  He remembered having been carried into the middle of the sea.  There he heard his sickness speak, “From the Lords of the Water you will receive the gift of Shamanzing.  Your name as a Shaman will be diver.”

            The candidate came out of the water and climbed a mountain.  There he met a naked woman and began to suckle her breast.  The woman, who was probably the Lady of the Water, said to him, “You are my child and that is why I let you suckle at my breast.  You will meet many hardships and will be greatly wearied.”

            He was then given two guides; an ermine and a mouse to lead him to the underworld.  When they came to a high place, the guides showed him seven tents with torn roofs.  He entered the first and found the inhabitant of the underworld and the men of the great sickness, syphilis.  These men tore out his heart and threw it into a pot.  In other tents he me the Lord of Madness and the Lords of all Nervous disorders, and even evil Shamans.

            He was then carried to the shores of the nine seas.  He went to the sea and many islands learning herbs, plants, and many birds.  He heard voices that said, “You shall have a drum.”

            He was given a branch with three forks; three drums were made from it, to be kept by three women.  The first drum was for Shamanizing women in childbirth.  The second drum for curing the sick, and the third drum for finding men lost in the snow.  He was told that he must marry three women.

            Then he came to an endless sea where he found seven stones and trees.  The stones all spoke and he stayed with them for seven days to learn how they could be of use to men.  He came to a rounded mountain with a bright cave, covered with mirrors in the middle there was a fire.  He saw two women naked but covered with hair like reindeer.  One said she was pregnant and would give birth to two reindeer where they would be the sacrificial animals for different tribes.  The woman said she would give birth to two reindeer, which would aid man in all his works and supply for food.

            After three days travel, he came upon a naked man working a bellows.  On the fire was a caldron as big as half the earth.  The naked man saw him and caught him with a huge pair of tongs.  The man cut off his head, chopped his body into bits, and put all in the caldron where he was boiled for three years.  There were three anvils and the naked man forged the candidate’s head on the third.  Then he threw the head into one of the three pots that stood where the water was coldest.  He then revealed to the candidate that when he was called to cure someone, if the ritual water was hot, it would be useless to Shamanize, for the man was already lost.  If the water was warm, he was sick but would recover, and cold water meant a healthy man.  The Blacksmith then fished the candidate’s bones out of a river, put them together and covered the bones with flesh again.  He counted them and there were three too many bones, so he made three Shaman costumes.  He forged his head and taught him how to read the letters inside it.  He changed his eyes so when he Shamanizes he sees with mystical eyes.  He pierced his ears so he could understand the language of plants.  Then the candidate found himself on top of a summit with his family.  Now he can sing and Shamanize without ever growing weary,” (Eliade, 42).

            What is so rich and epic about this initiation dream is how it has all of the makings of an epic according to Fredrick Turner in his latest book Epic.  Turner says, “But the basic elements of shamanic practice are found everywhere-the vocation of the shaman, the shaman’s call, the suffering of illness of the initiate, the use of drugs from alcohol to psychedelics, the shamanic musical instrument, rhythmic chanting or drumming, rites of passage including ritual death, the trance, the spirit guide (animal, human, or divine), the healing function, the shamanic journey (usually both through the air and under the ground), the conversation with the dead ancestors, the shaman’s power over acquaintance with natural spirits, the use of talisman, the shaman’s social role as diviner, seer, moral judge, storyteller, and myth archive, and the shaman’s subjective experience of flight, ecstasy, and sparagmos, or fragmentation,” (Turner, Epic, 180).  This then is an “epic” initiation dream of a Shamanic dream.  Sparagmos is depicted in fine detail of the tearing apart of the candidates body and matter, so he can be resurrected into a divine shaman.

            Turner says, “The basic elements of shamanic practice are found everywhere.” 

The deeper we look, we can see a Shaman’s presence everywhere; Ovid, Shakespeare, and our day-to-day life.  Our very own personal dreams could be guides to the spirit world if we so choose to do so.  Carlos Castaneda has laid out a blueprint on how to this in his books where he was taught by Don Juan and the most poignant one: The Art of Dreaming.

            Ted Hughes calls Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis as a shamanic initiation dream and says, “It would be an interesting and not particularly difficult experiment to narrate the plot and details of Venus and Adonis to various primitive groups, or at least to groups that still hang on to their old ways of dealing with the supernatural.  They would all recognize this poem as a classic example of the dream of spontaneous shamanic initiation, the dream of ‘the call,” (Hughes, 97).  Shakespeare, whether knowingly or not, wrote about the Shamanic world as if he was the psychopomp of the day and was our guide.  Perhaps Shakespeare’s greatest creation of this sort was Prospero.

            The Tempest opens with a storm that is a creation by Prospero and Ariel.  Prospero shows us that he can control two of the cosmic zones in the beginning; the sky and the earth by staging a storm to cause the ship rack and put his master plan to work, revenge.  Miranda pleads with her father Prospero, “If by your art (magic), my dearest father, you have put the wild waters in this roar, allay them,”(I.II).   Prospero consoles his daughter and then she helps him take off his magic robe.

            Many Shamans have certain costumes they wear when shamanzing.  They also use drums, scepters, music, and a guide or teacher to help them learn the ways to communicate with the spiritual world.  Prospero has his magic robe, his scepter, and his books.  According to Caliban, Prospero is nothing without his books.  Prospero seemed to have his “call” to books.  His initiation was in putting all of his time and efforts into studying his magic books rather than ruling his dukedom.  Prospero’s banishment with a couple of books allowed him to perfect his magic so that he would one day have his revenge.  Yet, Prospero must have had some hope in life by naming his daughter Miranda, Latin for wonderful.  Prospero did not pass his art or magic down to his daughter, instead he raised her and cared for her.  He also tried being kind to Caliban until Caliban tried raping Miranda.

            This is another trait from Shamanism, Prospero did not just perform magic all the time in a state of ecstasy, but he was the leader and ruler of the community, albeit the community of two others on an island.

            Though Prospero does not teach his magic to Miranda, he uses it on her to help her remember her past.  When he asks her what she remembers about the past, she replies, “Tis far off, and rather like a dream than an assurance that me remembrance warrants,” (I.II).  Prospero has the ability to make sleep come over Miranda and put her in a state of dreaming.  When Ariel enters while Miranda is sleeping, not only does Prospero communicate with spirits, he enslaves them, as Ariel is his slave until he/she does the last job, and then Ariel will have his/her freedom.  With the aid of Ariel, Prospero calls on Jove’s lightnings and Neptune’s waves to make the tempest and rack the ship.  Prospero is the Chapello of the island and pulls all the strings.  He is the puppet master and has his spirit Ariel lead Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo right to him. 

            When Miranda and Prospero go to Caliban for more wood, an argument ensues between Miranda and Caliban.  Miranda reminds Caliban how she once pitied him and taught him their language and Caliban replies, “You taught me language, and my profit on’t is, I know how to curse.  The red plague rid you for learning me your language,”(I.II).  Prospero then shows that he can use his magic to inflict bodily harm, “What I command, I’ll rack thee with old cramps, Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar that beasts shall tremble at thy din,”(I.II).  Not only does Caliban obey, but he shows us just how powerful Prospero’s magic is, “I must obey.  His art is of such pow’r it would control my dam’s god, Setebos, and make a vassal of him,”(I.II).  Not only is Caliban afraid for his own physical sake, but of his god Setebos’s sake.

            Prospero sends Ariel off and has him/her play music and sing to Ferdinand to set him into a trance or alter his state of conscious.  When Miranda first sees Ferdinand it is love at first sight, just as Medea fell in love at first sight with Jason.  We will see more references to Medea later.  Miranda asks her father if Ferdinand is a spirit and Prospero explains to her that he is but a man.  At this point in the stage I think Prospero reveals that this ship rack is not just about revenge, but to give Miranda to Ferdinand as a wife and to give Miranda happiness.  Prospero turns away from them and says, “It goes on, I see, as my soul prompts it.  Spirit, fine spirit, I’ll free thee within two days for this,”(I.II).  Prospers says that their eyes have changed and gives Ariel credit for this and promises to give Ariel his/her freedom.  Ferdinand agrees to become Prospero’s slave; Prospero is excited how the spell has worked for both Ferdinand and Miranda as Prospero keeps exclaiming to Ariel that it works. 

            “Ferdinand’s description of his enchantment (“My spirits, as in a dream, are all bound up”) returns the play to the pervasive theme of dream and waking, as well as to the cognate pair of freedom and bondage,”(Garber, 867).  Prospero’s way of being a shaman and a pychopomp on the island is by controlling the residents and visitors of the island by sleep and dreaming.  Before Antonio and Sebastian can kill Gonzalo, the king with their swords, Ariel appears in Gonzalo’s dreams and sings, “While you here do snoring lie, open-eyed conspiracy his time doth take.  If of life you keep a care, shake off slumber and beware.  Awake, Awake!”(II.I).  Prospero can see the present and the future, so he manipulates it as he sees fit.

            When Caliban meets Stephano and Trinculo, Caliban sees them as his savior to be free from Prospero’s bondage.  The plan is to kill Prospero, but first they must get his books.  As Caliban says, “for without them he’s but a sot, as I am, nor hath one spirit to command,”(III.II).  With the sounds of the isle and the music that plays, Caliban encourages his conspirators with possibly some of the best lines of Shakespeare:

 

“Be not afeard: the isle is full of noises,

Sounds and sweet airs that give off delight and hurt not.

Sometimes o thousand twangling instruments

Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices,

That, if I than had wak’d after long sleep,

Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open and show riches

Ready to drop upon me, that, when I waked,

I cried to dream again.”(III.II)

 

            Stephano and Trinculo don’t appear to be moved by Caliban’s words, but Prospero can be generous in the art of dreaming.

            Prospero and Ariel put on an illusion for Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo so they can fall under Prospero’s power.  The charms work and Gonzalo has the longing for his son ever more.  Prospero claims victory, “My high charms work, and these, mine enemies, are all knit up in their distractions: the now are in my pow’r;”(III.3).

            After Prospero has inflicted the fear of god into Ferdinand to not break Miranda’s virgin knot before marriage, Prospero offers a wedding present.  Prospero and Ariel call upon the spirits and show Ferdinand and Miranda, Iris and Ceres.  The gods give their blessing of the marriage to be and that they may increase in number.  Prospero is the shaman calling onto the spirits here, and also the pyschopomp by guiding the two lovers in the transition of their lives to marriage.  Miranda and Ferdinand want more, but Prospero has other matters to attend to.  Before attending to these matters, Prospero gives them an explanation of what life is all about:

 

“Our revels now are ended.  These our are actors,

As I foretold you, were all spirits and

Are melted into air, into thin air;

And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,

The cloud-capped tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces,

The solemn temples, the great globe itself,

Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,

And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,

Leave not a rack behind.  We are such stuff

As dreams are made on, and our little life

Is rounded with sleep.” (IV.I)

 

            Medea fell in love with Jason at first sight and gave up everything for him only to be betrayed by Jason.  Miranda fell in love with Ferdinand at first gaze.  Shakespeare began to read Ovid’s Metamorphoses at the age of nine, and it is told that it was his favorite book.  In act V.I, lines 47-57 are a paraphrase of Medea in The Metamorphoses, book 7, lines 263-289.  Prospero is about to give up being a shaman and says:

“Graves at my command

Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let’em forth

By my so potent art.  But this rough magic

I here abjure; and when I have required

Some heavenly music (which even now I do)

To work mine end upon the senses that

This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff,

Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,

And deeper than did ever plummet sound

I’ll drown my book.” (V.I)

 

            Prospero turns his back on his art, his magic, and forgives those who wronged him, yet he also asks for their forgiveness as well.  Prospero the human being seems not to be liked by readers and that he is nothing but a selfish-crazy-spiteful-man.  In some ways, he reminds of the great warrior Achilles who said he just wanted to be loved and live on a farm at home.  Prospero in the epilogues tell us what his aim was:

 

“Gentle breath of yours my sails

Must fill, or else my project fails, 

Which was to please.”

 

            With Prospero’s art, all he wanted to do was please others whose little life is rounded with sleep.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Eliade, Mircea.  Shamanism.  First Princeton/Bollingen Paperback Printing, 1972

 

Hughes, Ted.  Essential Shakespeare.  New York: Harper Collins, 1991.

 

Hughes, Ted.  Shakespeare And The Goddess of Complete Being.  New York: Barnes &   Noble, 2009.

 

Garber, Marjorie.  Shakespeare After All.  New York: First Anchor Books Edition, 2005.

 

Turner, Frederick.  Epic.  New Jersey, Transaction Publishers, 2012.