Religion in the New World: Native American Spirituality: Shamans

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Role. Shamans in Native American culture were religious leaders and were believed to have extraordinary powers. Their most important function was not preaching or administering religious rites but healing. Shamans were also the Native Americans’ physicians. Indians believed that one’s physical condition was linked to his or her spiritual condition. It was up to the shaman to determine the cause of a person’s illness—what was missing from that individual’s spirit—and then to suggest a cure through prayer, surgery, or other means.

Power. With a greater connection to and understanding of the supernatural world (they were thought to mediate between the human and spirit world), shamans were tremendously respected in Native American societies. After revealing that they possessed shamanistic powers, made evident to them in dreams or visions, shamans went through initiation ceremonies to demonstrate further their powers and their wisdom. They were thought to experience the world more spiritually than did anyone else. As they grew older, shamans’ powers were believed to increase. Age was particularly honored, for the elders were the keepers of tradition. In a culture which lacked written texts, older people were the repository of history, knowledge, tradition, wisdom, and memory.

Source

The Red Swan: Myths and Tales of the American Indians, edited by John Bierhorst (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1976).