View source for 90:1 The First Shamans—The Medicine Men

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90:1.1 The [[shaman]] was the ranking [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_man medicine man], the ceremonial fetishman, and the [[focus]] [[personality]] for all the [[practices]] of [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_92#92:3._THE_NATURE_OF_EVOLUTIONARY_RELIGION evolutionary religion]. In many [[groups]] the [[shaman]] outranked the war chief, marking the beginning of the [[church]] [[domination]] of the [[state]]. The [[shaman]] sometimes [[functioned]] as a [[priest]] and even as a priest-king. Some of the later [[tribes]] had both the earlier shaman-medicine men (seers) and the later appearing shaman-[[priests]]. And in many cases the office of [[shaman]] became hereditary.

90:1.2 Since in olden times anything abnormal was ascribed to [[spirit]] [[possession]], any striking [[mental]] or [[physical]] [[Anomaly|abnormality]] constituted qualification for being a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_man medicine man]. Many of these men were [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epilepsy epileptic], many of the women hysteric, and these two types accounted for a good deal of [[ancient]] [[inspiration]] as well as spirit and [[devil]] [[Possessed|possession]]. Quite a few of these earliest of [[priests]] were of a class which has since been denominated [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_personality_disorder paranoiac].

90:1.3 While they may have [[practiced]] [[deception]] in minor matters, the great [[majority]] of the [[shamans]] believed in the [[fact]] of their [[spirit]] [[possession]]. [[Women]] who were able to throw themselves into a [[trance]] or a cataleptic fit became powerful shamanesses; later, such women became [[prophets]] and [[spirit]] [[mediums]]. Their [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalepsy cataleptic] [[trances]] usually involved alleged [[communications]] with the [[ghosts]] of the [[dead]]. Many [[female]] shamans were also [[professional]] [[dancers]].

90:1.4 But not all [[shamans]] were self-deceived; many were shrewd and able tricksters. As the [[profession]] developed, a novice was required to serve an [[apprenticeship]] of ten years of hardship and self-denial to qualify as a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_man medicine man]. The [[shamans]] developed a [[professional]] mode of dress and affected a [[mysterious]] [[conduct]]. They frequently employed [[drugs]] to induce certain [[physical]] [[states]] which would impress and mystify the tribesmen. Sleight-of-hand feats were regarded as [[supernatural]] by the common folk, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventriloquism ventriloquism] was first used by shrewd [[priests]]. Many of the olden [[shamans]] unwittingly stumbled onto [[hypnotism]]; others induced autohypnosis by prolonged staring at their navels.

90:1.5 While many resorted to these tricks and [[deceptions]], their reputation as a class, after all, stood on apparent [[achievement]]. When a [[shaman]] failed in his undertakings, if he could not advance a plausible alibi, he was either demoted or killed. Thus the [[honest]] [[shamans]] early perished; only the shrewd [[actors]] [[survived]].

90:1.6 It was [[shamanism]] that took the exclusive direction of [[tribal]] affairs out of the hands of the old and the strong and lodged it in the hands of the shrewd, the clever, and the farsighted.

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[[Category:Paper 90 - Shamanism, Medicine Men and Priests]]
[[Category: Ritual]]
[[Category: Evolution]]
[[Category: Superstition]]
[[Category: Anthropology/TeaM]]