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Those who practice use an important tool, magic, “not black magic, but the magic of healing and making whole” (Wicca, Chambers
In this manner, “camouflaged as European saints, the [Voodoo] divinities continued to be invoked, fed, and celebrated by their transplanted New World devotees, who in turn expected protection and assistance from their ancient spiritual
Many cultures believe that a cleansing is a way to spiritually have peace and restore broken areas of the body. For example, if people are real bad with health or cannot resist much of many diseases out there, the shamans would normally go connect spiritually on how you can get better. One thing to note though is that the shamans are the one who maintains the strong communication between the spirits. The shaman knows that we are not alone. So whenever the person works generously and with compassion to cure pain and suffrage from the other person, the spirits show interests and come to
Eliade identified five required stages in the journey to shamanism: “torture and dismemberment of the body; reduction of the body to a skeleton by scraping away the flesh; substitution of the viscera and renewal of the blood; time spent in Hell, during which the future shaman learns from demons and from the souls of dead shamans; and an ascent to Heaven in order to be consecrated by God” (Favazza: pg. 25). Thus, for the new to emerge, the old must be eliminated through great suffering. In these traditions, the shaman is wise and powerful because of their extraordinary experience. Several examples can be found in Obeyesekere
Skinwalkers are said to be Native American witchdoctors or medicine men that obtained the ability to
