Jung, Individuation, and Shamanism

According to historian and philosopher Mircea Eliade, shamanism has been around for millennia, practically as long as humans have existed. In recent decades, the archetype of shamanism has experienced a rebirth. With growing consciousness, more and more individuals are recognizing spontaneously and consistently what our indigenous ancestors knew: that there is a divine intelligence at work in the universe, a life force of love and light, of which, by nature and birthright, we are an integral part.

Anne Baring (2007), psychologist and author, notes that C.G. Jung himself commented on the capacity of humans to respond to this greater force, saying:

The archetypal image of the wise man, the saviour or redeemer, lies buried and dormant in man's unconscious since the dawn of culture; it is awakened whenever the times are out of joint and a human society is committed to a serious error...These primordial images are … called into being by the waywardness of the general outlook. When conscious life is characterised by one-sidedness and by a false attitude, they are activated…"instinctively" … in the dreams of individuals and the visions of artists and seers. (Read a great post on Alchemy and the Hermetic Tradition: Mircea Eliade and Carl Jung here by Alliance member Cerena Ceaser here).

In her article, "Sacred Plants and the Goddess", Susana Valadez quotes the late Mazatec shamaness, Maria Sabina, who says, "There is a world beyond ours, a world that is far away, nearby, and invisible. And this is where God lives, where the dead live, the spirits and the saints, a world where everything is known. That world talks. It has a language of its own."

By contrast, modern humankind in western consumer-based societies seems destined to live our lives in a sterile box, limited on all sides by... (Click here to read the full post)

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