Essay On Shamanism:d

[wagon_wheel]

[Jaegermeister]

You do a pretty good job. One grammer error: "pe4rsons" in the last paragraph. One phrase I would consider revising: mortuary home. What does that mean? Does it mean earthly grave or spiritual afterlife or what? Another thing I would change is shamanry. I get what you're trying to say with it, but the problem is it's not an actual word. Try revising it with "shamanic acts/tendancies".



So, next thing: is this simply an expository essay giving information on what a shaman is? If so, the paper is fine. If not, you really should revise it for a more clear thesis and guiding rule.



Now, on to the content (and this may be the part where you start to hate me). You do a good job of pointing out the duality of a shaman; how he is capable of both healing and harm, controls birth and death, ect. You also describe some of the major functions of a shaman quite succintly, as well as the process of becoming a shaman. But, you kind of miss the point of the shaman's most simplistic duty: the physical and spiritual welfare of the tribe. The shaman is essentially the tribe's scholar, doctor, lawyer (maybe), and soldier. He performs a great many tasks on a daily basis, sometimes under hallucinogens, sometimes not. Rather than saying "he uses hallucinogens" say that he uses altered states of consciousness to perform his work, because a part of being a shaman is the ease of being able to slip into altered states without hallucinogens. They are used for big things. Also, include animals. You never once mentioned them, and they are one of the largest tools that the shaman uses. Spirit helpers. They are used in healing, in guiding, in performing sorcery (which I should point out that at some times in defense of the tribe the shaman is supposed to use sorcery), in almost every aspect of functioning, a shaman has his spirit guides. They are various animals and such, and are quite essential to shamanic work. If you are looking to add on to your essay, then I would recommend adding on a section about spirit animals.



One book I have from a class that was quite helpful in understanding specifically Amazon shamans was "The Way of the Shaman" by Michael Harner. Take a little look see through that, because he lays out Amazon shamanism pretty concisely.



Your essay was good. It can use some tweaking but it certainly covered a great many things with some good details and correct facts.



tJ