Native American "Shamanism" and Other Fictions

Its a carry over from our convo in “benevolent skinwalkers”. Its cool though it was a good, civil discussion.

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Yes, the skinwalker. Currently being equated with otherkin. The otherkin, at best was a subculture started when some hippies read too much Tolkien and then decided that they were elves. In other words, it’s no more a native idea than Harry Potter. Yes, the otherkin=skinwalker idea supposedly issued from the lips of this “shaman”.

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While otherkin being legitimate I hate how bad it’s gotten with people not doing their research especially given a skinwalker can’t constitute as that label :man_facepalming:

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But…a shaman said so. It must be totally, really, way true. :joy:
Do you see now that this is fanfic and that this shaman likely doesn’t exist?

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It’s not impossible for outsiders to become initiated and inundated into tribal medicine societies. Holy men recognize power when they see it and are often willing to teach those they deem capable students, regardless of blood or background, and particularly when they don’t want their medicine to die.

I was born white, with medicine power, and trained in such a lineage so this shit’s important to me: We’re not all plastic shamans (charging exorbitant fees for repackaged Aquarian horseshit).

Now for the term shaman, most spirit workers I know understand the term to be one above all of convenience, and most occultisms which fall under the umbrella of the former term have enough denominators in common that it doesn’t really piss off practitioners nearly as much as it pisses off white knights with gender studies emphasis cultural anthro degrees and an axe to grind with the patriarchy.

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Probably not. But sufficiently uncommon that it would still raise red flags should someone make the claim. What tribe does your lineage come from? And would you recognize balderdash on here when you see it?

It’s a catch all term largely used by academics. A convenience, as you say.

There is probably some of that. Most of the people I have noticed sounding off just seem to be regular people as opposed to the sjw sort you mentioned. And they don’t seem especially angry in their writings. It seems more in the spirit of “let me help you understand.”

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This thread is a fascinating read.

Out of curiosity, does this also include people who were medicine men in their tribe that are now offering their services to “outsiders”? Or is that not a thing?

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I would call it suspicious. It’s probably not impossible, but it raises questions about why they no longer serve their communities.

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I have heard of some who had an arrangement with the local witch. The witch hexes someone and the victim has to pay the medicine man to get it off them.

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In the interests of protecting the innocent and the guilty (namely me, my doxxability, and that of my mentor) I’m omitting my specific tribal connections from this particular thread; a cursory perusal of my post history however should give you some pretty good ideas if you’re genuinely curious. And yes, plastic shamans are fairly easy to catch out. Key markers of fraud with this kind of thing in my experience almost invariably include an utter lack of reticence in writing or speaking about their so-called praxis and a supremely indiscriminate attitude towards performing or teaching so-called rites for money.

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Yeah the history of fully trained and initiated medicine men who’ve carried and shared their medicine extra-tribally is very short, highly anomalous, and vastly dwarfed by the long and difficult history of tribal outcasts and misfits who’ve combinatively made shit up and outsourced the few stories they remembered their grandparents telling them in exchange for liquor and/or vast sums of money.

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I get the impression that you actually do know your stuff. So when someone claims to be taught secret skinwalker rituals from a Navajo shaman that they have only just met, would that sound dodgy to you? Because it does to me.

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