Comments on: Shamanic Performances

By: therioshamanism

therioshamanism — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 04:57:22 +0000

raven_albion–damn. I left the northeast too soon *grumble* I’d love to have seen that! I’ll keep an eye out for future opportunities, though.

Riverwolf–*nods* Glad to know it worked out well!

By: Riverwolf

Riverwolf — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:58:22 +0000

Last winter solstice, I attended an interesting performance locally. It involved what might be described as shamanistic elements. There was dancing, drumming, costumes, music, fire, as well as video, singing and spoken word. However, there was no audience participation—it was definitely a performance. I found it enlightening and refreshing to see these folks bring to life their imaginations, using these spiritual traditions as well as other sources of inspirations.

I guess it depends on how you structure the setting from the start. There was no expectation of audience participation, so things seemed to work fine. We were also in a traditional church sanctuary, which is set up more for listening and observing rather than participating.

All in all, I would’ve loved to take part myself!

By: raven_albion

raven_albion — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:52:35 +0000

I don’t know how you feel about Kenn Day/Deigh, but reading you today put me in mind of some of the rituals (during ‘workshop time’, yeah, but definitely rituals) he’s been doing at Sirius the last couple years. His late-in-the-week healing ritual in…oh, I think it was 2006 but it might’ve been last year…had a lot of the elements you talk about. Unlike many of his workshops, in this one all the participants did was hold the space while he entered a trance state on behalf of those gathered for the ritual. There wasn’t a lot of ‘theater’, aside from how Ken always seems to have a bit of a flair for the dramatic, but it was fascinating (and most unlike other ‘participatory’ rituals I’ve experienced).