Witchcraft in Shamanism

Witchcraft in Shamanism


Shaman = Spiritual and intellectual figure and healer, sometimes self-appointed, sometimes inheriting the office. He/she has the ability to communicate with spirits and perhaps animals and animal totemic spirits. Much respected and fulfilling many functions withing the social group including leading ritual activity. Shamans include: medicine man, witchdoctor, witch, and sorcerer. The terms witchdoctor, witch and sorcerer are often labels for those who deal with the dark side and are much feared among the people who use those terms to describe the evil-working type of shaman. Common among primal or traditional religions. In rationalized, literate religions we see the office of priest replacing the shaman.




Shamanism covers an assortment of beliefs and practices claiming the ability to travel to the axis mundi (pathway between heaven and earth; or world core) for the purpose of spiritual contacts. It is also described as being the “use of the archaic techniques of ecstasy that were developed independent of any religious philosophy -- the empirically validated, experientially operable techniques that produce ecstasy. Ecstasy is the contemplation of wholeness

Shamanism takes for granted the theory that fear is the origin of religion. De La Saussaye holds that the concept of God cannot arise exclusively from fear produced by certain biological phenomena. Robertson Smith teaches that from the earliest times, religion, distinct from magic and secrecy, addresses itself to kindred and friendly beings, and that it is not with a vague fear of unknown powers but with a loving reverence for known Gods that religion in the true sense of the word began (Religion of the Semites, 2nd ed., p. 54). Tiele says "worship even in its most primitive form always contains an element of veneration" and calls sorcery "a disease of religion"

In shamanistic religion there is not a concept of dualistic good and evil . Shamanism and use of magic was an earthy belief system that most peoples turned to in order to find help for their problems. Use of magic to do harm, however, existed even with indigenous primal relgions. With the advance of literate religions with a priestly caste, and with many other primal religions, witchcraft was seen as an evil competition to their own religious practices and the practices of witches were condemned and feared.

Shamanism is closely akin to Fetishism, and at times it is difficult to tell whether the practices in vogue among certain peoples should be referred to the one or to the other. Both spring from Animism; both are systems of savage magic or science and have certain rites in common.

God has created us with a free will to Choose Him or to succumb to evil ways. Satan uses deception and demonic spirits seeking our destruction through practices like Shamanism. He lures by false results and images. “Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

.