“Exploring the Ancient Origins and Modern Practices of Shamanism”

In ancient times, the boundaries between healing, belief in the supernatural and the forces of nature were blurred in people’s minds. This is confirmed by shamanism, a practice practiced by people almost everywhere.

“Shamanism is the most ancient form of belief. It is a term that covers beliefs and rituals in connection with the spirit world, which includes the notions of animism, or the belief that everything has a soul or a spirit, including rivers, lakes, trees and rocks.

Shamanism in many countries of the world may differ regionally, but it has one common link – there is a shamanist who is chosen as a mediator between the material and spirit worlds,” explained Vesperis.

Shamanic practices were characterized by special rituals, hypnosis, the use of mind-altering substances, dancing, music and singing. All this was done with the idea of ​​entering into a trance, or state of religious ecstasy, and thus being able to pass from the material world into the spirit realm and communicate with the spirits.

“The most important point of shamanism is that we can’t say how old it is, but I would like to say that it is a tradition of tens of thousands of years, because people from the earliest times, and I think also our brothers Neanderthals and others, pushed various questions – what, from where and so on,” Vesperis assessed.

Shamanism, however, transformed over time.

For example, it can be considered that the worship of ancient Greek deities also originated from shamanistic traditions, because in essence each deity represented a specific force of nature, which was simply given a human form. If the shamans worshiped the sea, the Greeks – Poseidon.

“The same can be said of the gods of ancient Egypt, the cultures of Mesopotamia, and so on, until in the end we could narrow it down to Christianity. Christianity is actually like a knife that cuts through the belief in many different forces, because it concentrates that all power is in only one being , and that’s God,” Vesper said.

At the same time, shamanism is not only faith or religion, it also includes healing and possibly even political power – the shaman played a major role in imposing various prohibitions or issuing permits.

Today, shamanistic practices are still preserved in many parts of the world through healing and healing. At the same time, it is mostly possible to encounter fake shamans.

“I wouldn’t want to accuse and say – fake shamans, but that’s the way it is. A person reads something, hears something, his chakras “leave”, some energy comes up, projectiles hit his head, and he suddenly becomes a shaman,” said Vesperis.

On the other hand, in ancient times, shamans were excellent connoisseurs of natural materials. They knew perfectly which plant is useful for whom, how much it should be used, how to harvest it correctly. Ritual was often in the background to convince people of the effects of herbs and make them believe in their properties.

“Speaking of shamanism, it remains to be said that shamanism, this belief in the natural world, is actually alive in a great many worlds, despite the fact that they have a stamp – Orthodox, Muslim or Catholic and so on.

Also in our everyday life, when we look at how people react, we often, perhaps unconsciously, use various methods that have come from primitive forms of belief. For example, in Russia, on the Yamal Peninsula, a 300-year-old burial of a young woman was found, preserved in permafrost. This woman’s body was taken to a local hospital. The hospital was full of people, but when that body was brought into the hall, people disappeared because they were afraid of this woman and even started talking about being possessed by spirits. This faith has been preserved in many places,” said Vesperis.

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