Page 14 - Celtic Beasts Sampler

into Christian hagiography. That thread in shamanism.

Shamanism is very likely the oldest spiritual discipline in the world.

It is a complex of practices of a magico-religious character whose primary
focus is psycho-spiritual and psychosomatic healing. The word "shaman"

comes from Tungusc, the ancient language of those who inhabit the Altai

mountain region in Russian Siberia. Shamanic practice can also be found

among the indigenous people of North, Central, and South America, the

Arctic region, and Australia. The root word “s’ aman" can be translated

"to burn up" or "to set on fire” referring to a shaman's ability to work

with the energy of heat. Shamanism was practised by the Celts and seems
to have been an aspect of their Druidic training which was ultimately

blended into the spiritual discipline of the Celtic Church. Several authors

have sought antecedents for Druidism among ancient shamans. perhaps

even the Altaic ones, arguing that this connection opens up a vista of fully

twenty thousand years. We can sense how connected the Celtic saints

were with their ancient Shamanic forebears when we recall that the ability

to handle either fire or hot coals was a skill frequently demonstrated by
these saints.

In the archaic past of human evolution before any of the great

religions came into being. shamans were the first to emerge as the

mediators of the sacred for their people. The great historian of religions
Mircea Eliade defined shamanism primarily as a technique of ecstasy. In

situations where information vitally needed for healing or survival was

otherwise unavailable. a shaman would put herself or himself into an al-

tered state of consciousness, during which the shamans’ soul would leave

the body and make a journey. Presuming that we living inhabitants of

Earth are denizens of the Shamanic Middleworld. the shamans' souls

would either ascend to the Upperworld or descend to the Lowerworld.
There. among the inhabitants of those places. they would meet and con-

fer with their "spirit guides" - either human or animal - who would help

them either to obtain needed information or otherwise to achieve their

journey's purpose. In the altered state of consciousness, which is an

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