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Exorcism and Shamanism In this paper, I will attempt to examine how Shamanism is related to the phenomenon of Exorcism. Shamanism, as a practice, is widely spread throughout the whole world, and within the scope of this research, we will elaborate on various elements of Shamanism, emphasizing exorcism. Exorcism, as a word, is not always used by various researchers when they talk about Shamanism, therefore in some parts of this paper exorcism is referred to as spiritual healing. We will define exorcism first, to be followed by the discussion of Shamanism and how Shamans get rid of the evil spirits and help possessed people. Exorcism is performed in incidences of demonic possessions, which is generally distinguished from spiritual possession. (Door, p. 62) Exorcism has been defined as the rite of driving out devils and demons from possessed persons. (Door, p. 63) Exorcism is derived from the Greek preposition "ek" with "horizon" which means "I cause you to swear" and refers to putting the spirit or demon on oath or invoking a higher authority to bind the entity in order to control and command it to act contrary to its own will. (Oesterreich, p. 117) The act of exorcism enables one who has been possessed earlier to lead a normal life. Technically exorcism is not driving out a devil or demon but placing it on oath. (Walker, p. 226) It is believed that not only did Christ exorcise but gave the power to his disciples.
Exorcism is also known as "deliverance ministry", a practice in which gifted people heal the possessed by the power of their touch and prayers. The right of exorcism is mainly thought to be practiced by Roman Catholics; however other religions such as Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Shinto and others also have some form of exorcism rituals. (Lewis, p. 213) The Shaman is known to have acquired the knowledge to heal via spiritual means. (Lewis, p. 61) Their have been many studies on Shaman healers. A Shaman is the person responsible for the healing process of tribal communities. (Lewis, p. 65) In one study conducted by Jane Atkinson, she examines the apparent healing objective of the mobo long, a shamanic ceremony of the Wana of Sulawesi, Indonesia. She studied the effects of the audience, drama, symbolism, and therapy in relationship to the healing power of this ritual. (Bourguignon, p. 119) In this ritual the Shamans of the tribe gather all the members together and ask for certain foods of which the tribesmen provide, in order for the Shamans to speak to the spirits effectively. The Shamans will speak to the community via spirits, and ask for certain goods in order to heal. The spirit speaks through the Shamans asking questions in forms of riddles.
This causes the whole group to interact, and if the spirit does not get what it asks for, the Shaman may fall unconscious. This requires other Shamans to stop their healings and aid the fallen Shaman. (Bourguignon, p. 124) It is believed that this form of activity may have healing abilities due to the fact that it causes the group to concentrate less on their problems and more on the Shamans. In another study conducted by Lee Irwin, he observed the Shamans of the Cherokee Indian tribes of the United States. (Lewis, p. 111) This study encompassed the past three hundred years. In Irwin's study, it was found that the healing rites were strongly tied to ceremonial performances involving the entire community, much as Wana of Sulawesi's tribe did in Indonesia. (Lewis, p. 118) The Cherokee Indians were largely found in Northern Georgia.
They had a highly organized social structure which consisted of two main classes and several clans. The priestly class known as the "white" organization, consisted of mostly elder who performed all healing, purity, and prayer addressed to the Cherokee sacred powers. (Halifax, p. 88) The other organization consisted of younger men who were the warriors; this was known as the "red" organization. (Halifax, p. 93) The Cherokee's believed that the sacred powers of the mythic world are often hostile to human concerns for reasons that are embedded in the very necessities of life. The Cherokee mythic world is stratified into seven levels "above the horizon" and a lower world beneath the surface of the earth from which appear the purifying rivers, the springs of which were sacred passages into that lower world. (Stanley, p. 77) This place was populated with innumerable creatures, both material and mythic in form. The upper world, of that which is "above everything", is sometimes called the "seventh height. " (Stanley, p. 96) This consecrated realm was above the visible day or night sky. There, the great divine powers, along with the ancestors of each of the animal clans who were the sacred prototypes of those animals actually inhabiting the earth, lived along with the Thunder powers. The Shamans of this tribe would use herbs and verbal utterances in order to solicit aid from the spirits to heal the needy.
The Cherokee's believed that every animal had a spirit, and it was the competition for food between the humans and the animals that brought many diseases. (Halifax, p. 153) When killing an animal for food, it was believed that animals spirit may become angered and seek retribution from the one who took his life by inflicting him / her with disease. It was also thought that the plants had spirits that wished to help humans by producing a means to cure the disease which had been inflicted by the animal spirits. (Halifax, p. 169) Through this process the plants are believed to be an ally, the helping spirits that counteracted the anger of the animal spirits. Even though the animal and human spirits felt an animosity towards each other, some of the animal spirits were good, as long as the humans respected their way. For example, if an illness was brought on by some winged animal, the Blue Sparrow could be called upon to combat the illness. The White Beaver could be called upon during times of distress caused by water. The Cherokee's prayed to what they believed to be the highest power, a female deity, which resided in the sun.
Their religion strongly associated the sun with an ambiguous relationship to humanity, as drought, scorching heat, and lack of rain proclaimed the disapproval of the Sun. When this occurred, the Cherokee's summoned the Woman of the East to bring rain when all other attempts fail. The Sun was also responsible for sending the disease "fever" into the body. In this case, Frost and Fog were summoned to counteract the power of fever. (Drury, p. 142) The Sun also had healing powers in itself.
The Sun was summoned to cure disease and for permission to gather medicinal plants. (Drury, p. 170) The negative actions of the Sun were attributed to infractions of the Cherokee's social norms. At each of the dominant directions, it was possible to call upon various divine prototypes of the animal world through prayer, formula, and smoke offerings. The ritual order of this address was customarily assigned as east-north-west-south. The calling upon a deity associated with specific inhibited points on the horizon is part of the Cherokee ritual. Each deity is associated with a specific color and meaning. The east was red and represented strength and war, north was blue and represented defeat and unhappiness, west was black and represented death, and south was white and represented peace, gentleness, and sacred power.
The mortal delegate of these points were the Red Man and Woman of the east who gave aid in healing, driving back the Black man of the west who governed over "Tsusgina'i" (land of the dead). (Door, p. 140) The Blue Man of the north was affiliated with Frost, Cold, and the cold blooded animals, while the tranquil White Man of the south had the ancient healing power and warmth of the sacred fire. Due to the fact that the sacred powers can be either helpful or harmful to humans, the Cherokee's relied on the power of the Shaman to maintain the balance and harmony. Not all illnesses are caused by angered animal spirits. It is believed that disease may be brought on by other Shamans in order to test the recuperative powers of the Shaman.
One common origin of disease was attributed to "ghost" of humans, animals, or animals that have been killed more than once. (Drury, p. 211) Most of the illnesses were attributed to selfish acts such as, hunters who failed to offer prayers after killing an animal might expect to be stricken by rheumatism or other diseases by an animal spirit. Some sources of illness may be caused by insects or an insect that have been killed unsuspectingly by humans and show up on the body as boils or skin irritations. These ghosts were believed to lie dormant in the body for years before coming to the surface. The existence of the latent form of the skin irritations is the fault of the individual due to his failure not to seek the help of the Shaman sooner. Death and illness were frequently attributed to recent diseased ghost relations. (Walker, p. 281) For instance, if a child died at birth, the mother may see him / her in her dreams. The child will try to draw the mother to the darkened land of the west; if she followed, she would sicken and die.
Dreams played a significant role in the Cherokee civilization. Dreams of cold blooded animals and of human ghost might also "spoil the saliva" of the individual who would become despondent and soon wither away. (Halifax, p. 265) At the turn of the nineteenth century, the priestly class declined and as a result the Shamans split into three specialized classes. The most widely recognized group of Shamans were the "healers", who were normally referred to by the types of illnesses they cured. These individuals were knowledgeable in a vast array of skills for healing, such as, the use of medicinal plants and sacred formulas or prayers. They acted as mediators between the causative origins of disease and the successful petition of healing powers to counteract those diseases. Closely associated with the healers were two other groups.
The "clairvoyant" who could see into the causation of the illness and who should be selected to deal with the illness. The other groups are the "priest"; they were specialists in prayer and invocation who knew how to address the sacred powers for the benefits of long life, health, and purity. (Halifax, p. 291) This type of power evolved around streams and rivers, due to there mythical powers of healing. The priest class was also specialist in communal life and ceremonial practices. In some instances, a Shaman may combine two of the practices and have the ability to heal and knowledge of tradition. The Cherokee also had a second class of Shamans, one who used their knowledge to harm others.
They were known as the "night-goers" or "horned owl" due to the fact that they use their powers in darkness. (Plotkin, p. 139) It is believed that they were the main causes of disease. One way the night goer worked is by waiting along side a trail until someone spit on the ground, the spit would then be gathered and a spell would be placed on the victim, illness or death may result. Another way was to shoot the victim with an invisible arrow to induce the illness. Also used was a powerful spell to steal the soul of the victim in order to prolong the suffering. Some of the symptoms of this type of Shamanism were food sprouting from the stomach or a change of the persons mental state. (Plotkin, p. 146) The third classes of Shamans were the ones who had gained mastery of both healing rites and witchcraft.
They had the power to cast out any evil spirits that inhibited a body. This third class of Shamans was known as "Master Shaman", their powers were the equivalent of the night-goers. (Drury, p. 111) The main difference was that the master Shamans had the knowledge of how the kill the night-goers, but did not chose to do so. The master Shaman's powers were used only for good. To the Cherokee's, dreams are important in the healing process. The dreams are thought to be a medium that transferred the energy of cause from the mystic world to the individual. Therefore, a Shaman may study an individual's dreams over a long period of time as part of the healing process.
Dreams are thought to be more important to the cause of an illness than the symptoms themselves. The reasons for the importance of...
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