![]() ![]() In this state, skilled shamans employ capabilities that the human organism cannot accomplish in the ordinary state. Mental and physical preparation included long periods of silent meditation, fasting, and smoking. Reaching this altered state of consciousness required great mental exertion, concentration and strict self-discipline. Shamans perform in a “state of ecstasy” deliberately induced by an effort of will. The shamanic séance served as a public display of the shaman’s journey to the spirit world and usually involved intense trances, drumming, dancing, chanting, elaborate costumes, miraculous displays of physical strength, and audience involvement. … In this role they took on tasks such as healing, divination, appealing to ancestors, manipulating the elements, leading lost souls and officiating public religious rituals. Spells are commonly used to protect against these dangers, and the use of more dangerous plants is often very highly ritualized.”Ĭentral Asian shamans served as sacred intermediaries between the human and spirit world. Failure to return from an out-of-body journey can lead to death. Shamanic plant materials can be toxic or fatal if misused. “Shamanic knowledge usually enjoys great power and prestige in the community, but it may also be regarded suspiciously or fearfully as potentially harmful to others.īy engaging in their work, a shaman is exposed to significant personal risk, from the spirit world, from enemy shamans, or from the means employed to alter the shaman’s state of consciousness. ![]() The art and skill of using magic mushrooms, along with other herbal resources for healing conferred upon ancient shaman great prestige, see “ Shamanism“: The profound alterations in one’s state of consciousness brought about by the use of a hallucinogen has served as a founding axis for religious systems, and in the development of established religions throughout the history of humanity.” - Giorgio Samorini, ethnobotanist and psychedelics researcher, Integration, 5: 105-114 “The use of vegetable hallucinogens by humans for religious purposes is very ancient, probably even older than its use for healing, magic or teaching purposes. Here in Japan, with the Jomon people as with many cultures elsewhere, the clay “magic mushrooms” probably had a central function and symbolism attached to shamanic rituals at ancient festivals. Source: Inflammation and Regeneration journal, Jan 1, 2009 ![]()
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