Secret_History

240 The Secret History of the World
historic-religious milieu into which this ecstatic experience was destined to be
incorporated and the ideology that, in the last analysis, was to validate it. […]
Everywhere in those lands, and from the earliest times, we find documents for the
existence of a Supreme Being of celestial structure, who also corresponds
morphologically to all the other Supreme Beings of the archaic religions. The
symbolism of ascent, with all the rites and myths dependent on it, must be
connected with celestial Supreme Beings; […] This symbolism of ascent and
“height” retains its value even after the “withdrawal” of the celestial Supreme
Being — for, as is well known, Supreme Beings gradually lose their active place in
the cult, giving way to religious forms that are more “dynamic” and “familiar” (the
gods of storm 154 and fertility, demiurges, the souls of the dead, the Great
Goddesses, etc.) […]
The reduction or even the total loss in religious currency of Uranian Supreme
Beings is sometimes indicated in myths concerning a primordial and paradisal time
when communications between heaven and earth were easy and accessible to
everyone; as the result of some happening, these communications were broken off
and the Supreme Beings withdrew to the highest sky.[…]
The disappearance of the cult of the celestial Supreme Being did not nullify the
symbolism of ascent with all its implication. […]
The shamanic ecstasy could be considered a reactualization of the mythical illud
tempus when men could communicate in concreto with the sky.
It is indubitable that the celestial ascent of the shaman is a survival, profoundly
modified and sometimes degenerate, of this archaic religious ideology centered on
faith in a celestial Supreme Being and belief in concrete communications between
heaven and earth. […]
The myths refer to more intimate relations between the Supreme Beings and
shamans; in particular, they tell of a First Shaman, sent to earth by the Supreme
Being or his surrogate to defend human beings against diseases and evil spirits. 155
It was in the context of the “withdrawal” of the “Celestial Being” that the
meaning of the shaman’s ecstatic experience changed. Formerly, the activity was
focused on communing with the god and obtaining benefits for the tribe. The shift
of the function of the shaman associated with the withdrawal of the benevolent
god/goddess was to “battling with evil spirits and disease”. This is a sharp
reminder of the work of Jesus, healing the sick and casting out demons - the
shamanic exemplar “after the Fall”.
There was, it seems, another consequence of this “shift”. Increasingly, the
descents into the “underworld” and the relations with “spirits” led to their
154 Such as Yahweh.
155 Eliade, Mircea, Shamanism, Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, pp. 503-506.