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Originally Posted by darkangel91
So many people who have not an ounce of blood from any Native tribe in them (as I myself do not) claim to have "native american spirit guides" and to have been trained by "real medicine men" and all that, that it's difficult to find real information. Are there any people who are actually, truly of Native American descent on this forum, who know about REAL "shamanism", whom I could talk to to learn more about this stuff?
I really hate it when people steal the traditions of other cultures, but at the same time I believe we have a lot to teach each other. Properly I am in the European witchcraft tradition (though as a solitary practitioner who has yet to meet or work with any others, or even really to scratch the surface) but I feel that some form of "shamanism" would suit me in what I want to do - totem animals, spirit journeys, etc - especially as my distant ancestors, worshipping the Great Goddess and the Horned God, would have been doing similar things.
I feel that it is part of my destiny to learn how to interact with and receive wisdom from spirits of all kinds - ancestors, plant spirits, animal spirits in particular, which is an important part of the Witch Cult as well. My goal is to learn how to be a conduit for spiritual power for healing, especially emotional or spiritual healing, as I long to bring light to the world.
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First of all, it's good to study and learn about other cultures and religions. But a lot of them are hard to learn about for a reason. They're usually closed to anyone but that specific group of people (they want to preserve their culture for a reason. You can't force your way in)
In order to really learn you would have to find someone who would accept an outsider. You would have to go through many rituals and ways to prove yourself. Not "vision quests" but prove you're there for the right reasons.
Or you'll just be turned down.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_religion
Native Americans never use "shaman" or "shamanism" as that's an entirely different word and origin. They are called Medicine men and women (if they're allowed in that culture.)
In fact, it's a common misconception and even used as a negative term. Each tribe has their own language and their own word for a medicine person. But asking for THEIR traditions in order for YOU to be a healer and worker might not happen.
You can visit nearby places for cultural education or something, but they're not going to give you closely guarded secrets and verbally passed down traditions on how to heal people.
Some things are already well known because they have shared that knowledge with many people. Like for burning herbs (
smudging) from spiritual practices is from all over the world, but certain herbs for certain things are strictly from one or a few Native American tribes.
Another big thing here, is that there are 562 federally recognized Indian tribes, bands, nations, pueblos, rancherias, communities and Native villages in the United States. Approximately 229 of these are located in Alaska; the rest are located in 33 other states. Tribes are ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse.
There is no one religion between all of them. Like there is no one language or origin of the earth story.
There are those who practice Abrahamic religions, but keep some of their old traditions alive orally or through crafting.
Like you brought up "vision quests". A vision quest is an attempt to achieve a vision of a future guardian spirit, traditionally undertaken at puberty by boys of the Plains Indian peoples, typically through fasting or self-torture. Individual Indigenous cultures have their own names for their rites of passage. "Vision quest" is an English umbrella term, and may not always be accurate or used by the cultures in question.
And the Plains Indian peoples is another umbrella term for the 50 (probably more) tribes that lived in the middle of America, even going up to Canada.
It's similar to how people will use an umbrella term for a European religion. But which one? Celtic? Anglo-saxon? Germanic Paganism? Ancient Roman Pantheon? Finnish Paganism? The list is pretty long. You'll hear people talk about Druidry but a lot of that was orally passed down and practically gone at this point because people either forgot or it was lost. Luckily some of it has been rediscovered.