shaman
Art History
(noun)
A holy person believed to mediate between the physical world and the spirit world.
Sociology
Examples of shaman in the following topics:
-
Shang Religion
- Shang religion was characterized by a combination of animism, shamanism, spiritual control of the world, divination, and respect and worship of dead ancestors, including through sacrifices.
- Shang religion was characterized by a combination of animism, shamanism, spiritual control of the world, divination, and respect and worship of dead ancestors, including through sacrifice.
-
Southwestern Culture
- Many of the tribes that made up the Southwest Culture practiced animism and shamanism.
- Shamanism encompasses the premise that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds.
- Although at present there are a variety of contemporary cultural traditions that exist in the greater Southwest, many of these traditions still incorporate similar religious aspects that are found in animism and shamanism.
-
Animism
- Shamans, also sometimes called medicine men or women, serve as mediums between the physical world and the world of spirits.
-
Woodland Burial Mounds and Chiefdoms
- Many works of art seemed to revolve around shamanic practices and the transformation of humans into animals -- particularly birds, wolves, bears, and deer.
-
The Nazca
- As in the contemporary Moche culture based in northwest Peru, shamans apparently used hallucinogenic drugs, such as extractions from the San Pedro cactus, to induce visions during ceremonies.
- This plant, Echinopsis pachanoi, has hallucinogenic properties, which shamans of the Nazca culture utilized in ceremonies.
-
Process Art
- Inspiring precedents for process art that are fundamentally related include: indigenous rites, shamanic and religious rituals, and also cultural forms such as sandpainting, sun dance, and tea ceremonies.
-
Magic and Supernaturalism
- In general, The term religion is reserved for an organized cult with a priesthood and dedicated sites of worship or sacrifice, while magic is prevalent in all societies, regardless of whether they have organized religion or more general systems of animism or shamanism.
-
Animism
- It is a belief, such as shamanism, polytheism, or monotheism, that is found in several religions.
-
Religious Experience
- Characteristic of the shaman, the goal of this type of experience is to leave one's body and experience transcendental realities.
-
Tiwanaku and Wari
- Some have been found holding severed heads, such as the figure on the Akapana which possibly a puma-shaman.