“A shaman is a religious leader who usually functions in an animistic culture to contact the spirit world in order to be ’empowered’ by them. Throughout the world, shamanistic experiences are highly uniform – anthropologists have recognized the remarkable worldwide consistency. Shamanism is one of the most dangerous practices. There is a close relationship between Eastern gurus, psychic surgeons, black magicians, witches, and shamans. For example, spirit possession, temporary insanity, kundalini arousal, bizarre animal sounds and grunts, and occult transfer of energy found among magicians, voodooists and Hindu and Buddhists gurus are all found among the shamans as well. Anyone who reads the standard works on shamanism will discover the potentially savage hazards of such a path. Many anthropologists who have investigated shamanism ‘scientifically’ have paid a costly price. Shaman initiation through the use from the ‘sacred’ drug made from the ayahuasca plant have gone insane, ill, or even died. Spiritistic intimidation is common among shamans, as in all categories of occultism. Shamans ‘chosen’ by the spirits as ‘healers’ must obey, or they become ill or even die. Even one’s own family may be attacked by the spirits to force compliance. These are the characteristics of satan’s kingdom. However, the Lord and God Jesus Christ came to give life and freedom found in Him.”

(Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs)

Shamanism leads to occult bondage. Only the power of Jesus Christ can break into the dark world of shamanism and deliver those in its bondage. Shamans and shaman apprentices who desire deliverance must repent and turn to the living Jesus Christ, for He and He alone can save and deliver them.

The following is from the book Encyclopedia of New Age Beliefs by John Ankerberg and John Weldon (pp. 542-552) [bold mine]:

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If we were to summarize the essentials of shamanism, it would include at least four basic themes: 1) altered states of consciousness or trance, 2) spirit possession, 3) experiences of severe physical and mental illness, 4) spirit travel. Although these are not limited to shamanism and, collectively, are found in much occult practice, without them, no one can become a shaman.

DANGERS AND DEGRADATIONS

Shamanism is one of the most dangerous and potentially consequential of modern New Age practices. Anyone who reads the standard works on shamanism, such as those of perhaps the world’s leading authority on the subject, Mircea Eliade, or those of I. M. Lewis and Joan Halifax, or the books of popularizers like “white” shamans, Michael Harner, Lynn Andrews, and Carlos Castaneda, will soon discover the potentially savage hazards of such a path. Even many anthropologists who have investigated shamanism “scientifically” have paid a costly price in the process. Botanists, herbalists, and medical doctors likewise.

Horrors surrounding shaman initiations are common:

Tales of frightening initiations are not unusual … with visions of physical dismemberment and reconstruction being quite common….

The Salish shamanic initiation includes first a period of torture and deprivation: being clubbed, bitten, thrown about, immobilized, blindfolded, teased, starved. When the initiate “gets his [shamanic] song straight,” or the slate that is the mind is wiped clean, the guardian spirit or power animal appears [to possess the shaman].

[Kinalik’s] own initiation had been severe; she was hung up to some tent poles planted in the snow and left there for five days. It was midwinter, with intense cold and frequent blizzards, but she did not feel the cold, for the spirits protected her. When the five days were at an end, she was taken down and carried into the house, and Igjugarjuk was invited to shoot her, in order that she might attain to intimacy with the supernatural by visions of death…. Igjugarjuk asserted that he had shot her through the heart…. [Another student of Igjugarjuk, Aggjartog] actually stood on the bottom of the lake with his head under water. He was left in this position for five days and when at last they hauled him up again, his clothes showed no sign of having been in the water at all and he himself had become a great wizard, having overcome death.

Shamans also usually undergo terrifying symbolic experiences of death, while experiencing mystical initiation during spirit-flights.

The often terrifying descent by the shaman initiate into the underworld of suffering and death may be represented [to him] by figurative dismemberment, disposal of all bodily fluids, scraping of the flesh from the bones, and removal of the eyes. Once the novice has been reduced to a skeleton and the bones cleansed and purified, the flesh may be distributed among the spirits of the various diseases that afflict those in the human community.

Through such means the shaman is said to not only relinquish his fear of death but to gain the secrets to healing his fellow tribe members.

Other shamans have real-world experiences of being horribly maimed in various accidents as part of their initiation. Others are poisoned with snake venom or other substances. Some experience diseases such as smallpox, and a few report miraculous phenomena such as a ball of fire that comes down from heaven and strikes them senseless. “Kundalini” arousal is also not infrequent. Some American shamans specialize in helping initiates deal with what is apparently shamanically induced kundalini difficulties, including psychoses.

Because so many people are turning to shamanism, we think that stressing the dangers of this practice will help them reconsider their commitment and hinder the merely curious from future involvement. Suffice it to say that shamanism often involves the shaman in tremendous personal suffering and pain (magically, he often “dies” in the most horrible of torments), and that it often involves the shaman in demon possession, insanity, sexual perversion, and so on. Why anyone would consider shamanism or shamanistic initiation as healthful, spiritual or otherwise, is difficult to imagine.

Amorality

Obviously shamanism lacks moral standards. It is characteristically amoral, using the spirits for either good or evil purposes. As shamanistic counselor Natasha Frazier, director of Transformative Arts Institute points out, “There are four ways to use shamanic power—for healing, for manipulation, for acquisition and for malevolent action…. Manipulatory shamanism is [sic] to do with manipulating the environment for personal gain and without regard for the consequences. Malevolent shamanism is tied up with intentionally causing injury, illness or death and can be applied to people, places and the environment.” In other words, the shaman is one who acquires knowledge of both good and evil spirits, often attempting either to use both or to bring both into “harmony.” The powerful Native American shaman, “Thunder Cloud,” for example, was known as both “a great healer and adept poisoner.” Like witches, some shamans, of course, claim to concentrate on “good” forces, while others deliberately use evil powers. Yet it is the amoral perspective in general that is part of what makes shamanism per se evil, regardless of any practitioner’s claim to use shamanism benevolently. In the end, the “good” and evil spirits and forces cannot logically be separated, and therefore all shamans must utilize a source of power that is as comfortable being used for evil purposes as allegedly for good ones.

In shaman training, “the forces of both light and dark [are] summoned,” and the very process of accepting shamanic power also involves “accepting the ancient darkness.” As one initiate recalled:

Although I sat in the cave of light, my experience that night was very dark. At times I felt myself to be a channel through which all the destructive and entropic forces of the universe were flowing. [My shaman later] explained that the darker forces … in that evening’s work were seeking to restore balance in the circle, making themselves apparent to those able to perceive them…. While most of the group focused on the light … experiencing radiant visions of power animals or guides, three of us struggled with darkness. In this way the balance of the circle was maintained.

Of course, any tradition, spirit, or power that is equally at home employing evil can never logically be considered good. To accept or employ evil as a necessity to supposedly “balance” the occult circle or spiritual world is not wise.

Sexual Immorality

As an illustration of sexual perversion, many shamans become androgynous, homosexual, or lesbian at the insistence of their spirit guides. In an age of worldwide AIDS, can anybody consider this sound advice? As in forms of monistic Hinduism, the rationale is allegedly to unify the “illusion” of opposites (good with evil, male with female, dark with light). But the result is perversion or even suicide. As the following illustration reveals, the source behind such degradation is the spirit world:

The dissolution of contraries—life and death, light and dark, male and female—and reconstitution of the fractured forms is one of the most consistent impulses in the initiation and transformation process as experienced by the shaman…. During mysteries of initiation such as those of shamanic election, androgyny can appear at two very significant moments in this sacred continuum: at its inception and at its termination…. Among Siberian peoples, androgynous shamans appear to be unusually prevalent…. The spirit ally, or ke’let, demands that the young man become a “soft man being.” Many instances of suicide among adolescent shamans occurred as a result of their refusal to meet this requirement. Nonetheless, most neophytes complied in spite of their profound social and psychological ambivalence. The transformation process is heralded by the spirits guiding the young man to braid his hair like a woman’s. Next, the spirits, through dreams, prescribe women’s clothing for the young man…. The third stage of this initiation entails a more total feminization of the male shaman. The youth who is undergoing the process relinquishes his former male behaviors and activities and adopts the female role…. His spirits are guiding and teaching him the woman’s way. His mode of speech changes as well as his behavior, and on certain occasions, so does his body…. Even his physical character changes…. Generally speaking, he becomes a woman with the appearance of a man…. The “soft man” comes to experience himself sexually as a female. With the help of his spirit allies, he is able to attract the attention of eligible men, one of whom he chooses to be his husband. The two marry and live as a man and wife, often until death, performing their appropriate social and sexual roles.

In similar fashion, female shamans may become lesbians. We also find the horrible experiences of the demonic incubi and succubae or sex with male and female demons.

Sexual perversions occur because the shaman is controlled by evil spirits from beginning to end. “The initial experience of possession, particularly, is often a disturbing, even traumatic experience…. Where the successor shows reluctance in assuming his onerous duties, the spirits remind him forcefully of his obligations by badgering him with trials and tribulations until he acknowledges defeat and accepts their insistent prodding.” Indeed, I. M. Lewis’s description of a particular amoral class of spirits that shamans may associate with is actually descriptive of shamanic spirit guides in general. “It is I believe of the greatest interest and importance that these spirits are typically considered to be amoral; they have no direct moral significance. Full of spite and malice though they are, they are believed to strike entirely capriciously and without any grounds which can be referred to the moral character or conduct of their victim.”

Once inside their host, the spirits have the capacity to produce either a “divine” ecstasy or horrible, demonic torment. Perhaps only the occasional spiritual ecstasy of the shaman can explain the willingness of some to enter such a horrible profession. Here, the spirits will entice their hosts with intense mystical joy, which may make their infliction of torture more acceptable. Nevertheless, the spirits are capricious:

… These maligned pathogenic spirits are regarded as being extremely captious and capricious. They strike without rhyme or reason; or at least without any substantial cause which can be referred to social conduct. They are not concerned with man’s behavior to man. They have no interest in defending the moral code of society…. [T]hey are always on the look-out for a convenient excuse to harass their victims, and they are inordinately sensitive to human encroachment. To step on one inadvertently, or otherwise unwittingly annoy it, is sufficient to so inflame the spirit’s wrath that it attacks at once, possessing its trespasser, and making him ill or causing him misfortune.

… They show a special predilection for the weak and downtrodden, … indeed for all those whose circumstances are already so reduced as to make this additional burden seem a final, crushing, injustice.

Drug Use

Many authorities also note the importance (if not necessity) of drug use for shaman enlightenment. We also find this in the world of the occult generally, and among many Eastern gurus. But with millions of people now exploring shamanism and other kinds of occultism and Eastern paths, one can only hazard a guess as to what degree pagan religion in modern America fosters drug usage and its attendant problems.

Death Magic and Other Forms of Murder

Harner, Eliade, and others discuss parallels between shamanism and occult death magic. Harner observes the following practice among the category of the so-called “bewitching” shaman: “Shamans send these spirit helpers into the victims’ bodies to make them ill or kill them…. [T]he urge to kill felt by bewitching shamans came to them with a strength and frequency similar to that of hunger.” According to Eliade, “when the shaman wants to poison someone, he sends a damagomi [spirit]: ‘Go find so-and-so. Enter him. Make him sick. Don’t kill him at once. Make him die in a month.’”

However, because there are no absolute moral values exercised by shamans (or their spirit helpers), one discovers allegedly “good” shamans also use their powers for evil, whenever it suits their purposes. This is exactly what we find among so-called “good” witches.

Another illustration of how shamanism is used in killing or murdering others is seen in that the spirits which shamans cavort with enjoy “taking the heads” of tribal enemies, or even of innocent victims. Indeed, primitive shamanistic communities may undergo a crisis when civilization comes and takes hold of their social life and head-hunting becomes outlawed. “Head-hunting had been outlawed, and the people feared that the spirits would consume them because they were not able to feed the hungry spirits the heads of slain enemies.”

A television special on the subject was produced by Douchan Gersi, who had led the first successful expedition in history that crossed central Borneo through uncharted territory. Five previous expeditions had failed, and even in this one Gersi almost lost his life. On the TV special, one of the more understated personal sentiments he gave was, “Everywhere, invisible dangers.” At one point of incredible hardship, near death, he recalled, “Believe me, I started saying all my childhood prayers.”

Gersi discovered that the head-hunting tribes he encountered, in common with most pagan religion, justify murder on the basis of the spirits’ own interests and perverted religious principles. He encountered some 350 of these shamanistic tribes and spent years living among them as a convert. One such tribe, the “Iban,” gather heads from other tribes and from explorers like Gersi. Why? Because the heads are believed to confer “social status” and occult power. Reminiscent of Western gunslingers, one native had 250 notches proudly carved out on his spear—one notch for each head. Indeed, for every major event (moving, marriage, etc.), a head must be sacrificed and publicly displayed on a pole. Thus, as the ritual ceremony for displaying the severed head approaches, “the people sense the presence of a thousand spirits hovering around them, ready to relish the gruesome spectacle.”

The religious justification for this is that human skulls are believed to be the home of living spirits, hence the supposed reason for the spirits’ interest in the displayed head. Human skulls are further thought to symbolize life, and so the tribe must be kept “healthy” by ritual sacrifice—the human sacrifice itself symbolizing life-giving power for the tribe. In harmony with other occult traditions of human sacrifice, it is also believed the person taking off the head of the victim receives the power from the spirit of the dead man. Gersi himself came close to having his own head removed—even after having been accepted by the tribe. He was spared only by a tortuous shamanistic initiation. Being placed in a deep pit with flesh-eating ants was only one of his many ordeals.

Perhaps the most incredible part was Gersi’s pagan conversion and proud membership in the community. He no longer believes such people are primitive, but now is convinced they are spiritually advanced because of their “harmony with nature.” He concluded his television show by criticizing modern viewpoints and the encroachment of civilization for destroying such important cultures, using the wry phrase, “Progress is beheading Borneo.”

Consider that here are hundreds of tribes that engage in ritual murder—a theme so common in demonic religion—and yet an intelligent, world-renowned explorer complains that they are being forced to change their ways by the encroachment of civilization—as if changing the “natural order” of things for such tribes were the real sin! In a similar vein, those who criticize Christian missionaries for “destroying” pagan cultures apparently have little comprehension of how evil and demonic pagan culture can be. Perhaps the more enlightened among them would care to join the local coven and ritually sacrifice a baby—and then see how they feel about preserving paganism. It is right that Christians are financially supporting missions that seek to share Christ with such peoples.

To summarize, there is no such category as a “benevolent” practicing occultist, whether shaman, witch, medium, psychic, or guru. First, because the urge to use power amorally is always present and people sooner or later succumb to it, even when their motives are good. Second, the Bible makes no distinction between “good” and “evil” practices of the occult. God calls all occult practice evil and an abomination to Him (Deuteronomy 18:9-12). That the spirits themselves are evil leads us to conclude that they will influence people in that direction, albeit often in subtle ways. Once people turn to the spirits, the spirits always get their way, sooner or later.

Spiritual Blackmail

The phenomenon of spiritistic intimidation is common to all categories of occultism. Thus, shamans who are “chosen” by the spirits as “healers” must either submit to the spirits or become ill, or even die. “The person called to be a shaman must learn to shamanize, that is, must take his powerful experiences and find a way to share the power with his people. If he does not shamanize, he will become ill again and may die, for the shaman is called to a certain kind of life, and if he does not lead it properly, his power will turn against him and kill him.”

In other words, to the spirits, human life is cheap. If their chosen host will not obey their wishes, they will destroy it and find another. Dr. Nandor Fodor discusses a similar condition among mediums. He observes that when a person neglects his mediumistic powers, illness results. Thus “mediumship, if suppressed, will manifest in symptoms of disease.” He cites the following illustration:

The spasms seized the whole body; even the tongue was affected, blocking the throat and nearly suffocating her. When the patient mentioned that in her youth she tried table tilting, the doctor thought of the possibility that the mediumistic energy might block his patient’s organism. A sitting was tried. The lady fell into trance and afterwards slept well for a few days. When the sleeplessness became worse again the sitting was repeated and the results proved to be so beneficial that the chloral hydrate treatment previously employed was discontinued.

This woman discovered that, like many shamans, she too had been “called” to her profession, and that unless she gave in to the process, she would suffer immeasurably.

Such spiritistic intimidation is common. Once the door has been broken down to permit spiritistic influence, whether by heredity, occult transfer, or personal choice, the spirits may aggressively pursue their evil agenda. Whether in mediumism, shamanism, or witchcraft, the person “has been caught by the spirits and must serve the spiritual world.” The following shamanistic examples, from Swiss psychologist, anthropologist, and ethnologist Holger Kalweit show the true nature of the spirits. These examples, which come from a chapter having the incredible title, “When Insanity Is a Blessing: The Message of Shamanism,” reveal how dangerous it is to open the doors to the occult, and why those trapped often find it so difficult to escape. “Among the Siberian Tofa, too, shamans become sick before their initiation and are tormented by spirits…. [S]haman Vassily Mikhailovic … could not rise from his bed for a whole year. Only when he agreed to the demands of the spirits did his health improve.” The wife of another shaman recalled the terrible experience of her husband’s call to shamanism. She warns, “He who is seized by the shaman sickness and does not begin to exercise shamanism, must suffer badly. He might lose his mind, he may even have to give up his life. Therefore he is advised, ‘You must take up shamanism so as not to suffer!’ Some even say, ‘I become a shaman only to escape illness.’” Another shaman added, “The man chosen for shamandom is first recognized by the black spirits. The spirits of the dead shamans are called black spirits. They make the chosen one ill and then they force him to become a shaman.” And a shamaness reports, “Sometimes I say to them, ‘I do not want to go with you.’ Whenever I turn down such an invitation I develop a fever and become very ill.”

Kalweit comments that, in harmony with occult healing generally, the “healer” must suffer the illness of the patient:

Resistance to psychophysical change and a disintegration of the normal structure of existence has always been part and parcel of the transformative process. Because of this, it forms at least a partial aspect of every rite of transformation…. Frequently the shaman enters a patient’s state so thoroughly that he himself experiences the symptoms and pains of the illness…. In the course of their painful existence, many shamans have physically experienced countless illnesses….

Either way, the shaman cannot win. If he pursues his spiritistic calling, he suffers. If he does not, he suffers. The shaman who refuses his call in all probability “will be plagued by sickness the rest of his life.” Even one’s own family members may be tortured by the spirits as a means of forcing compliance:

Often not only the shaman himself but his whole family are visited by misfortune…. The Koreans talk about a “bridge of people” (indari) that comes into being when a member of the family is chosen to be a shaman and another member has to die as a result of this…. A God has “entered into” the shaman and, in return, demands another human life…. But most families are unwilling to have a shaman in their circle, so the indari phenomenon occurs quite frequently. According to the investigations made by Cho Hung-Youn, indari occurs on average seven or eight times in every twenty cases of shamanic vocation.

In a parallel to life of famous trance medium Edgar Cayce, we read:

The Yakut shaman Tusput, who was critically ill for more than twenty years, could find relief from his suffering only when he conducted a seance during which he fell into a trance. In the end he fully regained his health by this method. However, if he held no seances over a long period of time he once again began to feel unwell, exhausted, and indecisive. In general, the symptoms of an illness subside when a candidate for shamanism enters a trance.

In the end, because of their power, the spirits will have their way. “In the end I became so ill that I was close to death. So I began to shamanize, and very soon my health improved. Even now I feel unwell and sick whenever I am inactive as a shaman over a longer period of time.”

Clearly, horrible torments, paralysis, drownings, insanity, extended sickness, being maimed, poisoned, and worse are the shaman’s lot. Perhaps this explains why even those sympathetic to the practice may issue warnings. Dr. Achterberg writes:

Any current thrust toward romanticizing shamanic medicine or folk medicine in general should be tempered with the knowledge that often the remedies prescribed were clearly wrong and harmful from the standpoint of physical well-being. Jilek-Aall describes birthing procedures dictated by custom in parts of Africa that defy the course of nature. The result is high infant mortality and a high incidence of epilepsy….

The practice of shamanism is always regarded as being fraught with grave risk to the life and well being of the practitioner…. One particularly dangerous aspect of shamanism, “soul raising” is almost always practiced by women….

A long standing debate has existed in anthropological writings on whether shamanism is a shelter for deranged personalities.

Psychopathology

The obvious reason for the debate over the shaman’s psychological health, as mentioned by Achterberg, is that shamanism usually involves the practitioner in psychotic and schizophrenic-like episodes. But because shamanism is now often interpreted as a form of “higher” spirituality by many psychologists, especially transpersonal psychologists, its accompanying mental states are also being reinterpreted in a benign fashion.

In other words, what was once considered a psychological state of depraved insanity is today considered a spiritual state of higher consciousness! What was once dangerous and feared is now preferred as a method of spiritual empowerment and enlightenment. As Achterberg writes, “Newer theories of personality development … all include the notion that ‘normal’ [consciousness] is by no means the most evolved possibility.” The East has indeed come West: temporary insanity as a potentially higher or elevated state of consciousness is a premise of Hindu and Buddhist thinking, more than many people realize.

Of course, not all agree that states of insanity are spiritually desirable. “Among those most frequently cited are Devereux, who steadfastly maintains there is no excuse for not regarding the shamans as neurotic or even psychotic, and Silverman who likens the SSC [Shamanic State of Consciousness] to acute schizophrenia.” (Silverman is the author of “Shamanism and Acute Schizophrenia,” American Anthropologist, Volume 69, 1967, pp. 21-31, and Devereux is the author of Basic Problems of Ethnopsychiatry, University of Chicago Press, 1980.)

One of the biggest problems that surrounds ethnopsychiatry, or “transcultural” psychiatry, is the confusion of normal and abnormal states of consciousness. Because states of mental illness are considered “normal” in shamanistic and other subcultures, and because modern secular psychiatry and anthropology have no absolute standards by which to judge such things, many scholars are concluding that even occult-induced mental illness can be simply part of a continuum along the “normal” range of transpersonal consciousness.

The implications of this are anything but minor. Consider Michael Harner’s first experience with shaman initiation—an experience that resulted in his becoming a shaman. He employed the sacred drug made from the ayahuasca plant or “soul vine”:

I could make out large numbers of people with the heads of blue jays and the bodies of humans, not unlike the bird-headed gods of ancient Egyptian tomb paintings. At the same time, some energy-essence began to float from my chest…. Although I believed myself to be an atheist, I was completely certain that I was dying and that the bird-headed people had come to take my soul away….

Starting with my arms and legs, my body slowly began to feel like it was turning to solid concrete. I could not move or speak. Gradually, as the numbness closed in on my chest, toward my heart, I tried to get my mouth to ask for help, to ask the Indians for an antidote. Try as I might, however, I could not marshal my abilities sufficiently to make a word. Simultaneously, my abdomen seemed to be turning to stone, and I had to make a tremendous effort to keep my heart beating…. I was virtually certain that I was about to die…. I was dying and therefore, [it was] “safe” [for me] to receive [new] revelations. These were the secrets reserved for the dying and the dead, I was informed. I could only very dimly perceive the givers of these thoughts: giant reptilian creatures…. I could only vaguely see them in what seemed to be gloomy, dark depth.

Then they projected a visual scene in front of me. First they showed me the planet earth as it was aeons ago…. [They said] they had come to the planet earth to escape their enemy.

The creatures then showed me how they had created life on the planet in order to hide within the multitudinous forms and thus disguise their presence…. They were the true masters of humanity and the entire planet, they told me. We humans were but the receptacles and servants of these creatures….

I knew I had only a moment more to live. Strangely, I had no fear of the bird-headed people; they were welcome to have my soul if they could keep it….

[Later] I began to struggle against returning to the ancient ones, who were beginning to feel increasingly alien and possibly evil….

I frantically tried to conjure up a power being to protect me against the alien reptilian creatures. One appeared before me; and at that moment the Indians forced my mouth open and poured the antidote into me.

When native or naive Americans seek out such encounters, on what basis does anyone logically conclude there will never be casualties? Harner himself admits people may go insane, “become seriously ill or even die” from shamanistic experiences. The number of people who might never come back from such experiences is unknown, but the risks are certainly not less than those encountered in mind-expanding drugs such as LSD.

It is true that the mental states of what may be termed “shamanic consciousness” and those of schizophrenia and psychosis are not entirely identical. The shaman often has more volition and control during his altered state of consciousness, and it is a “voluntarily” induced insanity similar to that found in the spiritistic Eastern guru traditions. Nevertheless, while this state is controlled to some degree by the shaman, it seems to be controlled to a much larger degree by his spirit guides, and certainly it is manipulated by the spirits for their own purposes, whatever these might be. Regardless, the very fact of a debate among ethnopsychiatrists proves that the “state” of insanity and that of shamanistic consciousness are similar enough that they are not easily distinguished. Shamans themselves admit, “There is a fine line between the shaman and the psychotic.”

As we will now seek to show, the unfortunate result for those who seek shamanistic states of consciousness is only that they will encounter their own demonically manipulated consciousness—and despite the claims of promoters, this is anything but “healthy” or spiritually “evolved.” Because shamanism requires spirit possession and because one cannot become a true shaman-healer without it, demon possession is also required. How many shamanistically fascinated Americans realize that?

Demonism and Health

Any individual who decides to practice shamanism soon realizes he has contacted genuine spirit beings who exist entirely apart from his own personality, at least initially.

Of course, modern Western scientists who employ shamanistic techniques may scoff at the idea of personal, independent spirits or demons. Many psychologists and shaman initiates may redefine spirit manifestations in more “neutral” categories, such as “archetypal consciousness,” “higher self,” and “cosmic consciousness.” But such interpretations only underscore an antisupernatural bias, which does nothing to protect one from the spirits themselves, who easily hide behind such “naturalistic” designations.

As is true for much Eastern religion in general, the end result of the shamanistic path, whether it is used for spiritual or health purposes, is almost always the spirit possession of the seeker (or patient). As Harner explains,

When a power animal is restored to a person, he usually feels better immediately, and then gradually experiences a power flowing into his body over the next few days…. You should begin a weekly routine to retain the power by keeping your power animal content, for the spirit has entered your body, not only to help you, but also to help itself. You gain its power; it gains the joy of again experiencing life in a material form.

For almost all shamans, the entrance point to spirit possession is altered states of consciousness. Indeed, this is precisely how many professional anthropologists and other social scientists become shamans. By personally engaging in the rituals and practices they are seeking to study academically, they use drugs or other means to “test drive” altered states of consciousness, trance, and spirit contact. Then they become shamans. This was true for Carlos Castaneda, Michael Harner, and others. Harner admits, “What is definite is that some degree of alteration of consciousness is necessary to shamanic practice.”

Shamans find that even a light trance is effective for their spiritistic work. Harner, refers to “the light trance in which most shamanic work is done.” This would seem to have implications for a good deal of modern experimentation, popular and scientific, with hypnosis and related methods of altering consciousness. In fact, as Drs. Villoldo and Krippner note, “Spirit-incorporation according to Peters and Price-Williams [1975] resembles ‘deep hypnosis’….” In addition, use of sweat lodges, sacred pipes, and even ritual alone may lead to spirit contact and possession. Because the intent of the ritual is to deliberately contact the spirits, it is hardly surprising that the spirits who desire such contact will respond.

Sadly, as noted earlier, advocates do not recognize that the supposedly “good” spirits contacted in shamanism are really demons imitating good spirits for purposes of influence and control. This indicates a gross contradiction within a shamanistic worldview, for shamanism freely admits that it employs “demon helpers” in its work. American shamans may prefer to term their spiritual possession as the more polite “divine companionship,” but this hardly changes the facts. Indeed, some of the perceptual problems inherent in contemporary America’s fascination with shamanism are illustrated by Harner’s work The Way of the Shaman. Harner makes shamanism sound like the best thing since modern electricity. He calls it “a great mental and emotional adventure” and emphasizes its physical and spiritual benefits. Displaying an inexcusable ignorance of his own field, not to mention the history of spiritism itself, he claims that spirit guides never harm those they possess (to the contrary). “Remember, guardian spirits are always beneficial. They never harm their possessors. And you possess the guardian spirit; it never possesses you. In other words, the power animal is a purely beneficial spirit no matter how fierce it may appear. It is a spirit to be exercised, not exorcised.”

Why, then, does Harner devote an entire chapter to the shamanistic practice of exorcising demons from patients? As Eliade correctly observes, “In order to extract the evil spirits from the patient, the shaman is often obliged to take them into his own body; in doing so, he struggles and suffers more than the patient himself.”

Clearly, the spiritual naiveté of our culture is aptly demonstrated in the subject of shamanism. As a result, what is so demonic and dangerous is frequently accepted, uncritically and without question, as a method for securing physical health and healing, psychological adjustment, and spiritual advancement.

Harner points out the depth at which Americans want to get into shamanism: “I have been continually surprised to discover how many Westerners who are ill or injured immediately accept the possibility of their power animal [spirit guide] and happily enter into contact with it.” Not surprisingly, therefore, many of the spirits who work through shamans want their hosts to establish training centers so that more and more people can be instructed in the ways of spirit possession through shamanism. Don Eduardo Calderon was told by his spirits in a vision that “it was important to reveal this knowledge of healing and shamanism to outsiders.” The same was true for shamaness Skyhawk, founder of the Church of Loving Hands. Sun Bear, the founder and medicine chief of the Bear Tribe Medicine Society, recalls, “I have established an apprenticeship training because the spirits told me to do it.” He also notes, “If the spirits accept you, then you become a medicine man…. They are the ones who determine whether you actually have the power to practice.”

The irony of using shamanism as medicine is magnified when we consider what is involved in “healing” according to shamanism. It is not just the shaman who becomes demon-possessed. Why? Because shamanism assumes that most or all people already have a guardian spirit within them. That spirit has come and gone as it wished throughout the person’s life. Illness and psychological or emotional problems are merely indications that, for various reasons, one’s spirit guide has left one’s body, and the illness or other condition is the final result. Eliade observes that “it is often the case that the illness is due to a neglect or an omission in respect to the infernal powers….”

As noted earlier, to retain one’s spirit guide or power animal one must keep it “happy.” This illustrates another form of bondage to the spirits:

If one wishes to maintain shamanic practice, one has to change into one’s animal regularly to keep the animal contented enough to stay. This involves exercising the animal through dance, singing songs of the animal, and recognizing “big” dreams as messages from the guardian, the power animal. Dancing your animal is an important method for keeping it content and thus making it reluctant to leave you. The guardian animal spirit resident in the mind-body of the person wants to have the enjoyment of once again existing in material form…. [A]s I learned from the Jivaro years ago, guardian spirits usually stay with you only a few years and then depart. So, in the course of a long, powerful life [as a shaman], you will have a number of them one after another, whether you know it or not.

According to shamanism, when a spirit leaves a person, physical, psychological, or spiritual illness results:

Thus possession of guardian spirit power [i.e., retaining the spirit within you] is fundamental to health. Serious illness is usually only possible when a person is dis-spirited, and has lost this energizing force, the guardian spirit. When a person becomes depressed, weak, prone to illness, it is a symptom that he has lost his power animal and thus can no longer resist, or ward off the unwanted power “infections” or intrusions.

In other words, shamans wish us to alter our perception to harmonize it with their spiritistic philosophy, to believe that the mere presence of illness, physical or psychological, or being in a serious accident, or even certain mundane problems, mean that one has automatically been “dis-spirited” and therefore, by definition, a spirit must be reintroduced into the body. Harner states, “The specific treatment, if the victim is not in a coma, is to recover or obtain his guardian spirit to re-energize him.” And “if your power animal’s messages are ignored, or if it is not exercised through dancing, it may become discomforted, discouraged, and want to leave your body. Its discomfort may unintentionally flow into your own consciousness causing tension and anxiety. If you do nothing to remedy the situation, it will shortly leave you and you will again be dis-spirited.”

Again, any illness is evidence a person has been “dis-spirited.” So the only possible way to recover “health,” is for the spirit to be “reintroduced” into the mind/body. Of course, if the diagnosis is wrong, and illness is not related to a loss of one’s pre-existing spirit guide, then shamanistic methods serve as a cover for the demonization of persons previously not demonized. This vital importance of the spirit guide to the health of the patient is why modern books about using shamanism for health purposes instruct people to meet or to be reintroduced to their spirit guides.

Because hundreds or thousands of practitioners are now adopting shamanism to varying degrees in their health and therapy work, it is hardly inconceivable that patients may become demon-influenced or demonized in the process:

The urgent healing work of the shaman … is to restore one of the person’s lost guardian spirits as soon as possible. Since ours is not a shamanic society, it is usually not possible to do the necessary work in the same room as a hospitalized person. Exceptions are sometimes tolerated in this country if both shaman and the patients are American Indians…. In some hospitals, such as on the Navajo reservation, visits by native healers are being increasingly encouraged as the Western medical staff becomes more aware of the benefits produced…. Meanwhile, you can use the following long distance technique to restore guardian power.

Harner discusses how a spirit may be “restored” to a person at great distance through shaman ritual. The shaman merely calls upon his power animal, transfers its power to the patient’s guardian spirit, and then visually and mentally sends the spirit “to the patient as visualized in the hospital room.”

As our American society increasingly turns to the occult, we can expect many more such “health” procedures in the future. An important point to remember is that even shamans (like other mediums and spiritists), are not always aware of the presence of their spirit guides. Their spirit guides may be right next to them, or even inside of them, and yet they may have no conscious awareness of that. And this means that people can become demonized unaware.

In summary, the essence of shamanic “health” is possession by one or more spirits: “A power animal or guardian spirit … not only increases one’s physical energy and ability to resist contagious disease, but also increases one’s mental alertness and self-confidence…. Being powerful [spirit possessed] is like having a force field in and around you…. Thus, possession of guardian spirit power is fundamental to health.”

Once a person adopts shamanism, then by definition any illness, mental or physical, requires the following diagnosis: The person has lost his power animal (or spirit guide) and the only solution is to “restore” that person’s spirit guide into his mind and body.

Even children can become novice shamans and spirit-possessed. Some of the modern practices in “transpersonal education” are useful for shamanistic instruction here. Shamans themselves may help introduce power animals and other spirits to their children. As shamanism increases within our culture, the children of American shamans will become as demonized as their parents. As Harner explains of his own experience among the Jivaro, “Parents of a newly born infant, in fact, typically gave it a mild hallucinogen so that it could ‘see’ and hopefully thus acquire an arutam wakanI or guardian spirit. The parents, of course, wanted the baby to have as much protection as possible in order to survive into adult life.”

And shamanistic practice in America has many other fruits.

• Because it encourages demon contact, shamanism leads to occult bondage; that is, subjection to and dependence upon the world of demons.
• Because it is a form of spiritual warfare, shamanism brings powerful personal experiences that insulate a person against biblical teaching and the gospel message.
• Because it is irrational, shamanism produces a denial of cause and effect in the realm of medicine, leading to a rejection of scientific methods and an acceptance of occult methods. In that the spirits have subtle powers and persuasions, even “scientific” harmonizers may end up abandoning orthodox medicine.
• Because it stresses magical ability, shamanism exalts and glorifies the one with occult powers.
• Because it is animistic, shamanism breaks down three vital distinctions in the created order: 1) material; 2) plant/animal; 3) human. Rocks, trees, and animals become just as “alive” and therefore as important as man; in the process, humanity is reduced to the lower or lowest levels of the creation.

The result of all this keeps the shamanistic practitioner in a primitive state spiritually and often morally, with little hope of escape. The ritual and practices of shamanism reinforce its belief system and vice versa through powerful supernatural manifestations that are difficult if not impossible to counter.

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Awesome Testimony: “As a young man Chief Shoefoot was trained to be a Yanamamo Shaman or witch doctor. He invited multiple spirits into his “chest” to equip him to heal and lead his people. You feel the fear and sense the hopelessness that dominated him… until one day he discovered a Holy Spirit who changed his destiny. Such a blessing to see the power of God compared to the power of the enemy even in our strongholds…”

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Only the power of Jesus Christ can break into the dark world of shamanism and deliver those held in its bondage. Shamans and shaman apprentices who desire deliverance must turn to the living Jesus Christ, for He and He alone can save them.

If you were involved with shamanism and need deliverance from the evil spirits, then feel free to contact me.

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If you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can receive Him into your heart, and He can deliver you from darkness and sin and have your name written in His Book of Life.

If you are sincere, you can say this simple prayer to the Father (it doesn’t have to be word for word):

“God, I recognize that I have not lived my life for You up until now. I have been living for myself, and that is wrong. Please forgive me for all of my sins just as I forgive others. I need You in my life; I want You in my life. I acknowledge the completed work of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ in giving His life for me on the cross. I believe in my heart that Jesus is Lord and was raised from the dead, and I long to receive the forgiveness You have made freely available to me through this sacrifice. Come into my life now, Lord. Take up residence in my heart and be my king, my Lord, and my Savior. From this day forward, I will no longer be controlled by sin or the desire to please myself, but I will follow You all the days of my life. Those days are in Your hands. I ask this in the Lord and GOD Jesus’ precious and holy name. Amen.”