Shamanism as Direct Experience vs Shamanism as Religion

"Few are happy living according to the postmodern stance of a world without absolute references. This position works for a shaman, however, because he is a rarity in the context of a traditional society. The majority of Native people live with a structured set of ideas, within which life is simple and meaning is rather fixed and concrete. The shaman lives in a different world from his people - this is what gives him a clear vision of what to do for those who are stuck somewhere in their lives." (Coyote Medicine by Lewis Mehl-Madrona p164)

This is why religion has always occurred. In my Buddhist youth, it was observable that Buddhism in the UK had divided itself up into a number of large groupings, all governed by a relatively fixed and particular set of ideas. It is the yogis and heretics and shamans who have the ability to make their own direct connection to the absolute, to spirit, and to live from that.

So we shouldn't be surprised when we see shamanism dividing itself up in this way into groupings of teachers and followers, all with perhaps relatively fixed, even narrow ways of seeing shamanism. And with teachers who maybe think too highly of themselves. And Facebook shamanic groups too. It is just what happens. 

I think it's good to point out the narrowness, but not to waste too much energy fighting it. It is kind of inevitable, and often serves a purpose. For some Shamanism-as-religion gives psychological stability, for others it can be a stepping stone to shamanism-as-direct-experience. And it is often precisely by giving our power away to a teacher - putting his/her judgement before our own as a matter of 'respect' and 'high regard' - that our being comes eventually to rebel and we find that power, that gold, within.

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