Shamanic Trance Journey with Animal Spirits: Ancient “Scientific” Strategy Dealing with Inverted Otherworld ()
ABSTRACT
Since
palaeolithic times, shamans
involved animal depictions in cave ceremonies and adopted animals as helping
spirits during their trance journeys. This study aims at explaining the rituals
with new evidence: the shamans were acting rationally to deal with an inverted
otherworld, still rooted in many traditional beliefs, and seen as an impressive natural phenomenon in
superior mirages. After experimenting with unhealthy upside down positions,
shamans have adopted more convenient ways to “invert” their consciousness by
generating oxygen deficiency and trance for entering the inverted world. San
rock art from Brandberg, Namibia, is used as a model to learn more about the
logic behind shamanistic trance travel, for example aimed at attracting rain.
When travelling to an inverted otherworld San shamans used, besides trance-inverting
their consciousness, symbols of inversion (inverted sex, inverted body posture
and body painting) and were
hiding their faces. Negative hand stencils, dotted (mirage) animals and hidden
faces were correspondingly used in palaeolithic caves during trance ceremonies.
The animals painted on cave walls were aimed at meeting their counterparts in
the other world, a condition for the termination of earthly life, to enable
their successful hunting. Animals seen to behave “supernaturally” in mirages
and mirage phenomena themselves became
helping spirits for the voyage. The mirage of
earthly objects into the sky itself served
as role model for shamanic travel. Voluptuous
Venus figures were carved for the inverted world. They show an inversion of reality.
The conclusion is that early spiritual and religious concepts developed
rationally, like other strategies for survival, in attempts to deal with an
occasionally but worldwide seen natural phenomenon which
suggested an inverted otherworld.
Share and Cite:
Tributsch, H. (2018) Shamanic Trance Journey with Animal Spirits: Ancient “Scientific” Strategy Dealing with Inverted Otherworld.
Advances in Anthropology,
8, 91-126. doi:
10.4236/aa.2018.83006.