Transcendent peace from below
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Native American Indian MEDICINE MEN Shaman figurine statues
Transcendent peace from below |
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Paleo Weapons Exotic Replicas made with authentic stone artifacts.
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It is man’s curse and salvation to resolve the question of existence – to perimeter the vast, endless nature of consciousness. As far back as genetic memory spans we've strived to comprehend the universe and how we fit into it. Now, most of us are caught-up in the modern notion of how to fit it into us. It's because of this modern shift in perspective that Shamanism[4] is often mistaken to be based upon the simplistic rite of Native American Indian medicine men getting jacked-up on hallucinogens to find the answer outside and separate from himself.
But such drugs taken without mindfulness training and the guidance of a trusted elder will cause more confusion than clarity. More likely, ancient Native American Indian medicine men could alter consciousness at will. He (or she) would courageously spend days alone out on the desert or retreat into the vast wilderness without food, water or weapons. His main tool was probably his meditation technique given to him by his elder. Medicine men (most likely medicine women) would then either awaken from the dream of self-centeredness or have a vision that would be of great import to the people of his (her) clan.
Practiced by just a few selected Yaqui Indians of Sonora Mexico today and the Ural-Altaic peoples of northern Asia and Europe just a few hundred years ago, shamanism was also the ancient religion of Native Americans. Though the majority of Native Americans are offended by the word "shaman/shamanism" when used within the context of their religion, the similarities between their belief systems and shamanism proper are uncanny. Generally, shamanism is a world-scale faith of diverse sects and various practices. It has roots deep into the last ice age 40,000 years ago and possibly deeper into Africa, the cradle of man, hundreds of thousands of years ago. Its essence is the core of many global tribal systems even today. It was most likely practiced by the Spoon River Illinois Ice-Age Indian.
"Although a
shaman can achieve religious status by heredity, personal quest, or
vocation, the recognition and call of the individual is always an essential
part of that individual's elevation to the new status. The shaman, usually a
man, is essentially a medium, a mouthpiece of the spirits who became his
familiars at his initiation, during which he frequently undergoes prolonged
fasts, seclusion, and other ordeals leading to dreams and visions. Training
by experienced shamans follows." [1]
Shamanism is based on an unseen universe of gods, demons, and ancestral spirits responsive only to shamans or Native American Indian medicine men. The medicine man (or medicine woman) is a priest who uses magic to cure the sick, divine the hidden, and control events. Paleolithic Indians undoubtedly carried these beliefs from Asia and possibly Europe when they immigrated to the Americas. And indeed, in many parts of China the worship of ancestral spirits is still practiced. The ancient sect of Bön Shamanism in Tibet still flourishing today, but with a strong Buddhist flavor, reflects just how widespread and adaptable this religion has been. This is why the figurines representing medicine men hold a special place in our collection. The Native American nomads of the Midwestern Plains did not have chairs or convenient rocks to sit on, so everyone sat on the ground, usually cross-legged. These people were already in the meditation position. So it's reasonable to assume shamanism may have been the first mystic tradition involving meditation alone to still the mind and expand ones view in order to develop wisdom - or an ontological cosmology that works within that particular society.
To me, these figurines are evidence meditation as practiced by the River Owl, or by their medicine men, was an empirical experience. Since writing was undeveloped during this time, and language was probably limited, much communication may have occurred through bodily expressions and sensations. In the meditative traditions of Japanese Zen Buddhism and Tibetan Tantra, emphasis is placed on living in the body as opposed to the modern way of living in the head. We humans used to live in our bodies.
Quite simply put, Paleolithic man may have been much more intuitive and sensitive 13,000 years ago. There was little random thinking to short-circuit the senses. He had little to think about other than survival so he must have felt much more in-touch with his environment than we do with ours today. After all, one cannot stay alert for danger in the wilderness if one is tied-up in thought. If early man had been caught-up in as much discursive thought as we are today, our species would have gone extinct.
Was this peaceful society a collection of enlightened beings or were medicine men and their apprentices the only ones permitted to practice meditation? We may never be able to answer that question. Is it coincidence these stones are in the sitting position or is it because they stack more easily than standing figures?
We have found in equal numbers both male and female figurines in cross-legged posture. (In many ancient cultures however, women, including the Shawoman, were allowed to sit only on their knees. See #74 Mother & Child and #92. Buffalo Woman above.) Certainly medicine women existed around the globe during this time. They probably existed within the River Owl clan as well.
Medicine men were probably one of the first paid on-call professionals: hunters could rest between kills but Native American Indian medicine men were always on duty. Aside from being consul to the chieftain, the local Indian medicine man was the tribal doctor. The world was still a nasty place to live in and he was there to patch you up. Medicine men (or more likely the medicine women) worked on collecting illusive herbs and seeds, shady mushrooms, bear-forsaken berries, suspicious insects, mossy antler, and special stones from the riverbed to be placed in medicine bags with aromatic herbs. She may have even polished these “organ stones", or had her apprentice do it. Medicine men may have had the responsibility of performing surgery and blessing special events. The medicine man was revered (and maybe even feared) so probably lived outside the edge of camp, where we find some of the more esoteric items.
The fringe of camp was also where the chieftain lived. Indian artifacts from a recent excavation near Jamestown, the first white man settlement in North America 400 years ago, and written accounts by John Smith details that Pocahontas's father, Chief Powhatan, had his lodge east of his subjects campsite. This corresponds with Buddhists and many other Shamanists traditions wherein the belief is that East, where the sun rises, is a sacred direction and symbolizes the awakening of the day. Indeed, the hill is east of the main campsite where a flint surgical blade and most of the esoteric (and many of the red jasper) figurines in our collection were found. Most hunts were organized by a group of men from the clan sometimes accompanied by a young novice or apprenticed hunter. It will be his first taste of blood and a time to share in the ancient rite of joining with the animal’s spirit. It’s generally accepted that stone age man had great respect for the animals he hunted. The hunter would apologize to the animal for having taken its life so that he and his family will have life. He would then ask the animal’s spirit to go to Great Grandfather’s hunting ground and join his ancestors among the sun, moon, and stars. Animals played a major role in Paleolithic life. Many Native American and Yaqui Indian traditions suggest Paleo man may have also taken on animal spirit guides and practiced "lucid dreaming".
Confidence in his belief system was important to early Paleo hunters and medicine men: Each Native American Indian medicine man identified with the animal that appeared most frequently to him in his dreams. As children we all had a nightmare, at least once, of being chased by a wild animal. It’s a primal fear genetically embedded and carried for countless incarnations. Young hunters or medicine men initiates of the Paleolithic period however, may have been trained by the local senior medicine man on how to practice lucid dreaming or “Little Death” to break this chain of primal fear.
First, medicine men initiates would wake immediately after a dream and repeat out loud three times what he had dreamed and go back to sleep. (The modern technique is to simply jot down a few keywords, and fall back into the dream. Then write out the whole dream in a journal upon waking in the morning.) The initiate would try to fall back into the lucid dream without losing consciousness so that he would have volition with the events occurring in the dream. In waking life, he may have been instructed to put himself into harms way such as standing on a precipice or facing a charging animal (don’t try this at home). He would then jump into the air and shout the phrase “This is a Dream! This is a Dream!” The initiate would abstain from sex for psychic potency[2] and repeat the above phrase softly to himself whenever he encountered a dream sign – an object or event that has also occurred frequently in his dreams. He would visit and meditate at places that are frequently in his dreams and survey the landscape reciting the mantra "This is a Dream" over and over.
Becoming aware of when one is dreaming allows the medicine man initiate to eventually awake consciously within the dream with complete control over time and space – inner and outer. The apprentice would then be instructed to turn and confront the charging beast in his next nightmare. Once accomplished, all fears of any beast – asleep or awake – are subsided and that animal becomes his friend, companion, informant, and guide. In the very next lucid dream, the initiate would then supplicate his great ancestors and ask for their blessings to practice their magic.
Having awakened at the threshold of a mystical world, the practitioner would then turn himself into a famous warrior or medicine man and perform grand acts of courage and great compassion. He would then enter the realm of Complete Joy because for esoteric shamans, he who controls dreaming conquers death and rebirth.[3]
Endnotes/Bibliography [1] http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?vendorId=FWNE.fw..sh094400.a#FWNE.fw..sh094400.a [2] In the Buddhist Tantric tradition, such “psychic” potency entails transforming sexual desire into spatial discrimination awareness by not acting upon the impulse – to allow the internal energies to evolve and direct them upwards through the “central channel”. This also means maintaining restraint in the presence of sexual stimuli - a "wait and see" policy. [3] For more on lucid dreaming, read Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, Stephen La Berge, Ph.D. & Howard Rheingold, Ballantine Publishing Group, 1990 [4] http://sped2work.tripod.com/shaman.html For more fine Stone-Age art, click below: |
This site was last updated 07/06/10
