Reclaiming the Feminine
The Woman in the Shaman's Body
by Barbara Tedlock, PH.D.
Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine
Dreaming is a powerful force. it allows us access to the past and helps with autonomy for the future. Dreams are the closest thing to shamanic journeys that all of us experience; indeed, "spirit messages," or prophecies, can manifest themselves to anyone who pays attention to their dreams. If we learn to be more mentally aware in our dreaming, we can become more open to healing images. As we do so, we move beyond a perception of dreams as static entities, mythic texts, or landscapes and toward an understanding of dreaming as a spiritual process of transformation within the poetic landscape of the human soul. page 118
As we come to understand that shamanism worldwide is based on the emotional power of the entire cycle of birth, life and death we cannot help recognizing that women warriors and prophets, like midwives and healers, are following important shamanic pathways. In these transcendent roles, powerful women are able to draw on both the feminine and masculine dimensions of shamanism in their minds and flesh, truly exemplifying the woman in the shaman's body. page 269
When I talke with Buryat shaman Nadia Stepanova in Ulaanbaatar, during the Fifth Conference of the International Society for Shamanistic Research, she told me that while the Soviet campaign against shamanism had never been very effective in silencing all of the healing shamans, it has, however, seriously disrupted traditional clan rituals. As a result, it was now the duty of all consecrated shamans to compare their memories of prayers, songs, and rituals so that they could restore as many of the pre-Soviet shamanic ceremonies as possible. During the conference she actively encouraged the Buryat and Mongolian shamans in attendance to share their memories of the rituals for the Thirteen Northern Dieties, spirits of the mountains, cliffs, rivers, woods, lakes and islands. She also told me that she hoped one day to find a way to have shamanism officially recognized as a religion. page 275
by Barbara Tedlock, PH.D.
Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine
Dreaming is a powerful force. it allows us access to the past and helps with autonomy for the future. Dreams are the closest thing to shamanic journeys that all of us experience; indeed, "spirit messages," or prophecies, can manifest themselves to anyone who pays attention to their dreams. If we learn to be more mentally aware in our dreaming, we can become more open to healing images. As we do so, we move beyond a perception of dreams as static entities, mythic texts, or landscapes and toward an understanding of dreaming as a spiritual process of transformation within the poetic landscape of the human soul. page 118
As we come to understand that shamanism worldwide is based on the emotional power of the entire cycle of birth, life and death we cannot help recognizing that women warriors and prophets, like midwives and healers, are following important shamanic pathways. In these transcendent roles, powerful women are able to draw on both the feminine and masculine dimensions of shamanism in their minds and flesh, truly exemplifying the woman in the shaman's body. page 269
When I talke with Buryat shaman Nadia Stepanova in Ulaanbaatar, during the Fifth Conference of the International Society for Shamanistic Research, she told me that while the Soviet campaign against shamanism had never been very effective in silencing all of the healing shamans, it has, however, seriously disrupted traditional clan rituals. As a result, it was now the duty of all consecrated shamans to compare their memories of prayers, songs, and rituals so that they could restore as many of the pre-Soviet shamanic ceremonies as possible. During the conference she actively encouraged the Buryat and Mongolian shamans in attendance to share their memories of the rituals for the Thirteen Northern Dieties, spirits of the mountains, cliffs, rivers, woods, lakes and islands. She also told me that she hoped one day to find a way to have shamanism officially recognized as a religion. page 275
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