Shamanism and psychedelics: 5 questions for Manvir Singh

This interesting post from The Microdose comments: “In the summer of 2014, after his first year in a Harvard anthropology PhD program, Manvir Singh flew to Siberut, an island off the coast of Indonesia, to live with the Mentawai people. He was primarily interested in Indigenous religion and how the community managed conflict, but as soon as he arrived, he was “dazzled by shamanism.” Shamans in the community immediately stood out: tattoos adorned their skin, and though most others in the community had adopted modern clothes, shamans still wore loincloths. During ceremonies, they painted their bodies in turmeric; they wore beaded necklaces and headbands. After that summer, Singh read more about shamanism across the world — and kept returning to the Mentawai, learning the language and even eventually building a small house in the village. Singh, now an assistant professor of anthropology at University of California at Davis, recently published Shamanism: The Timeless Religion. The Microdose spoke with him about convergences between shamanism and psychedelics, and their role in modern spirituality. What is shamanism, and what do you think mainstream depictions of shamanism get wrong? The definition I prefer includes three features. One: the practice of entering altered states of consciousness. Two: while in those states, engaging with unseen agents, gods, ghosts, witches, ancestors. And three: using that engagement to provide services like healing or divination, or even weather control. Throughout the 20th century there’s been a debate over how to define shamanism, but also a recognition that there are interesting resonances and parallels across very diverse contexts. You have practitioners providing services and entering non-ordinary states, but how do we draw lines around what counts? Shamanism is so entangled with the primitive and the exotic and the orient — many people would be comfortable using the term shaman for people in Siberia, Korea, or the Amazon, but my definition would include practices from Pentecostal pastors, Hebrew prophets, or even trance mediums. I don’t think you can justifiably draw lines around the exotic while excluding manifestations of the same tendency in Western societies.”

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