Secret_History

660 The Secret History of the World
“go mad”, are “failed shamans” who have failed either because of a flaw in the
transmission of the genetics, or because of environmental factors. At the same
time, there are many more myths of failed Shamanic heroes than of successful
ones, so the warnings of what can happen have long been in place. Mircea Eliade
remarks that:
“... The mentally ill patient proves to be an unsuccessful mystic or, better, the
caricature of a mystic. His experience is without religious content, even if it appears
to resemble a religious experience, just as an act of autoeroticism arrives at the
same physiological result as a sexual act properly speaking (seminal emission), yet
at the same time is but a caricature of the latter because it is without the concrete
presence of the partner.”
Well, that’s a pretty interesting analogy! It even suggests to us the idea that one
who attempts to activate a Shamanic inheritance within the STS framework of
Wishful Thinking, has an “illusory” partner as in the above-described activity,
with similar results. In other words, Sorcery is like masturbation: the practitioner
satisfies himself, but his act does no one else any good. And, by the same token, a
Shaman who operates without knowledge is like the proverbial “three minute
egg”: he gets everybody all excited, and then leaves them hanging! In both cases,
such an individual has satisfied only themselves, and it could be said that, in the
latter case, it is actually worse because another individual has been used for that
satisfaction.
But, such amusing vulgarities aside, (even if they DO make the point
remarkably well) the thing about the shaman is that he/she is not just a sick person,
he/she is a sick person who has been cured, or who has succeeded in curing
himself, at least spiritually!! The possibility of achieving the Shamanic powers for
Service to Self also exists, so great care has to be used in trying to “see the
unseen”.
In many cases, the “election” of the shaman manifests through a fairly serious
illness which can only be cured by the “ascent to the sky”. After the ecstatic vision
of initiation, the shaman feels much better! After the response to the calling of the
gods, the shaman shows a more than normally healthy constitution; they are able
to achieve immense concentration beyond the capacity of ordinary men; they can
sustain exhausting efforts and, most importantly, they are able to “keep a cool
head” in the face of experiences that would terrify and break an ordinary person.
Another point that should be emphasized is that the Shaman must be able to be
in full control of himself even when in the ecstatic state! (Trance channeling with
no memory of what transpired is not the activity of a Shaman!) This ability to
“walk in two worlds simultaneously” demonstrates an extraordinary nervous
constitution. It has been said that the Siberian shamans show no sign of mental
disintegration well into old age; their memories and powers of self-control are well
above average.
Castaneda’s Don Juan calls this state being “impeccable”. This idea is also
reflected in the archaic systems of the Yakut, where the shaman must be “serious,
possess tact, be able to communicate effectively with all people; above all, he must
not be presumptuous, proud, ill-tempered”. The true shaman emanates an inner
force that is conscious, yet never offensive. At the same time, it should be noted
that a true shaman might evoke very negative responses from those who are under