Podcast: Episode 08: Shamanism in Contemporary Culture

May 1, 2010

Description: Shamanism in contemporary culture in North America reflects the context: people’s personal evolutionary needs are different than they might be in an indigenous culture. Most indigenous cultures have well-defined role structures, where people are born into a particular lineage and perform particular duties as part of that lineage. Some cultures have had more tolerance for people deviating from their assigned role than others. Today in the modern Western world, historical patterns and social roles are not necessarily respected. This situation is a two edged sword, but it does allow people to evolve in terms of their own internal callings, rather than necessarily having to evolve according to the roles prescribed by the external culture.In this excerpt from a 2007 Depth Hypnosis workshop, Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D. discusses shamanism and its intersection with modern culture—in particular, spiritual or shamanic healing in a culture without a shamanic tradition.