“Can I has shaman now?”: How everything you know about shamanism is wrong

“Can I Has Shaman Now?”: How Everything You Know About Shamanism Is Wrong

A long time ago, in a distant age of the world, I worked at a bookstore in a land where “education” was a bad word. My boss found out I was a practicing Heathen, and so invited me to meet him for drinks at the “Valhalla Pub” in Charlotte (just outside the land of illiteracy’s outer limits). I agreed, and by the time my shifted ended and I got there, a crowd of Renaissance Faire enthusiasts, Wiccans, and Heathens had gotten off to a drunken head start. For the two hours I’d ben stuck on closing shift, they’d apparently been talking about me—the Viking shaman.

Note of full disclosure: I’m not a shaman. I’m not a Viking. Hel, I may wear black a lot but won’t consider myself a real Goth til I sack Rome. Yet, my boss had decided to call me a Viking shaman. And I had corrected him, Many times.   But not knowing the term’s proper context, he kept using them.

So, there I was, meeting my boss for drinks, when this long-haired man indignantly walks up to me in a fury and goes “so you’re a Viking shaman huh?” Because this man knew that a “Viking shaman” is about as ridiculous as a “Catholic Dalai Lama.”.

To this man’s question, I answered no, I’m not a shaman, as

1) I’m not Siberian, and

2) I don’t worship tigers.

And that was the right answer.

See, “shaman” is a word that should be applied to a figure within Siberian and Evenki religious rites. The particulars are highly debated by scholars today, but a short summary might be to say that they hold the tiger, flame, and multiple deities/spirits to be sacred, and that they are known to enter into an ecstatic trance-like state. In this trance they are known to beat upon a drum and shake convulsively until they leave their bodies behind and go forth to deal with spirits, demons, and gods.
Now, other cultures have similar practices. Similar, but not the same. The Oracle at Delphi went into a trance in sacred rituals. The Saami beat magic drums in magical rituals. Bonpo priests in Tibet entered into ecstatic shaking states where they left their bodies to ascend up the mountainsides to meet with spirits.

But these aren’t shamans!

And it’s easy to see people could not know this. “Shaman” is perhaps the most misused word in magic, religious studies, and anthropology. Some of the best books out there use the word wrong. Hel, the most notable scholarly book on Shamanism written by Mircea Eliade is called—you guessed it—Shamanism. And the book uses the word “shaman” incorrectly. In every chapter.

Now, lots of things are shamanistic. The Oracle at Delphi, called the Pythia, had shamanistic qualities. A Bonpo in Tibet is shamanistic. Even Goku flying on his flying nimbus in the Dragon Ball Z anime is shamanistic.

But there were no Viking Shamans. There were no Celtic, Egyptian, Greek, Latverian, Duthraki, or Vulcan Shamans either.

And to outsiders who don’t know the difference it’s an easy mistake to make. But if people want to use a term properly, they should understand it’s meaning, especially when speaking about the term in a culturally specific context.

Which brings me around to another story.

A girl new to occult studies posted on a Heathen message board a bit ago. According to this girl, she had encountered Odin in a dream, and thus concluded she was destined to become a great Viking Shaman. She wanted to know how to do this. Except this happened on the internet, and she phrased her question as she had her story—in net speak:

“Can I haz shaman now?”

No she cannot has shaman now. Not to be mean, but that’s the honest answer to her question, which some one on the forum observed. She was informed that it’s literally impossible to be a Viking shaman, as Shamanism is a tradition insularly separated from the Vikings religiously, culturally, and geographically.

The term “Viking” should also be put into context, as this is also not what the girl meant, nor quite what my old boss meant (though he was closer to the mark). The “Vikings” were the people who went a-viking, which meant either trading, exploring, or pillaging by ship, and it is derived from the term “vik” meaning “bay.” Lots of Germanic people raided and traded by “Viking”has its own meaning.

Many modern Heathens identify with the Norse cultures, but many are pan-Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Old Saxon, or Pennsylvania Dutch—completely separate form religious practices of the Scandinavians who went a-viking. And while the world’s economy is bad, the invention of the 401K package to mean most are financially stable enough not to need to vike anymore.

I won’t disparage peoples’ personal practices. Syncretic worship is perfectly fine. But some traditions and beliefs have such a divergence in their goals and ideology that while they may work for an individual, they cannot be practiced traditionally without ideologies conflicting.

The truth is you cannot be a Viking Shaman—at least not as either of those terms were contextually used.

Now, you can adhere to shamanistic practices.   But there’s a difference between shamanic and shamanistic practices.

One can study Heathenry and all of it’s history, lore, and mysteries. And one can learn the old ways of the Shaman among the Siberians who beat their drums about the sacred flames.

But the term “shaman” means more than most realize, and if one wants to be a shaman, it is a long personal pursuit. A personal pursuit for a personal practice. However, for communal worship, one cannot faithfully practice Shamanism while trying to force it to fit another style of worship, such as the Germanic faith worshipped by the Vikings.

So no, you cannot “has Viking shaman.”