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How would you feel if someone called Edgar Cayce a
witch doctor? You'd probably be upset. The term sounds derogatory.
There's a less derogatory and more preferred term
for a person who is a healer within an aboriginal tradition. That title is
"shaman." It refers to a worldview and approach to healing and personal growth
that has been steadily gaining in popularity since the late 1960s when Carlos Casteneda
introduced the world to the Mexican sorcerer, Don Juan. That same fascination for the
exploring the mysteries of the mind that made Don Juan such an intriguing character also
led to an upsurge of interest in the works of Edgar Cayce, especially by the young adults
of that era. It was a time when the A.R.E. experienced unprecedented popularity with young
people.
Consider the major characteristics of shamanism
and how Edgar Cayce's work compares:
A shaman usually receives his or her calling
through battling with a personal illness. It is in learning how to heal oneself that one
becomes a shaman. Mr. Cayce had throat problems that no one could cure but himself using
self-hypnosis. It was during his trances that he began to give readings. In the famous
autobiography of a Native American shaman, Black Elk Speaks, we learn that a shaman
must function as a healer in order to maintain their own healing. Edgar Cayce found
himself in that predicament.
The shaman's worldview sees all life as
interconnected, with the life spirit in everything, and views events symbolically. Cayce
advocates the concept of oneness and often interprets concrete events from a symbolic
point of view.
The most distinguishing characteristic of the
shaman's modus operandi is the use of an altered state of consciousness and the
flight of the soul to spiritual regions. In that condition, the shaman makes contact with
the patient's soul and searches for causes or cures for the patient's illness. That
description fits Cayce quite well.
Shaman's make use of helpers, spirits and animal
guides. Here is the main place where Cayce would appear to differ from shamanism. In his
psychic trance he certainly talked to disincarnate spirits and was offered their help. He
decided it would be for his better development, however, to obtain his information from
the attunement of his own consciousness. Cayce also led a double life as a Christian, a
traditional Christian in his waking life and a Gnostic in his trance state. Gnosticism,
however, has much in common with shamanism, they both being founded on a profound
experiential participation in creation. Furthermore, shamanistic cultures, such as the
natives of Central and South America, could easily incorporate the Christian teachings of
missionaries into their spiritual diet. They saw Jesus nailed to a cross as a shaman who
was practicing a well-known technique for transcendent ecstasy.
One of the earliest books on shamanism was titled Technicians
of the Sacred. For shamans, religion was not a spectator sport, but a way of life that
demanded active collaboration with the spiritual forces of creation. No wonder it has an
ancient tradition of methodologies for experiencing the dimensions of the sacred both in
ecstatic states of consciousness and in daily interaction with all of creation's
inhabitants. If there is anything that characterizes Cayce's approach to the secrets of
Christianity it is that he brought with the worldview he gave us a system of practices, a
methodology consisting of activities that any shaman would recognize as being part of
their repertoire of skills.
The essence of shamanism is not shaking rattles,
beating drums, or consuming exotic herbal mixtures, although shamans often do these
things. Nor is it of the essence of the Cayce worldview to wear chunks of lapis lazuli
taped to the forehead, sit connected to a wet cell appliance, or wear castor oil packs,
even though many students of the Cayce teachings do these things. It is rather the
purifying and attuning of one's consciousness to the reality of spirit as it manifests in
so many ways. Above all, it is the acceptance of the responsibility that we are an active
part of creation.
With shamanism so often
portrayed in terms of its
most cinematic features, like a Hollywood Indian, it's good that finally we have a book on
shamanism that goes to the essence. I'm referring to The Spirit of Shamanism by
Roger N. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Walsh, a professor of psychiatry and philosophy at the
University of California, Irvine, has written a number of books in the transpersonal
tradition. We are fortunate that someone of his background and experience has tackled the
difficult task of presenting us with a view on shamanism that is equal to the complexity
of the subject matter. Although he writes clearly and in a way anyone can understand, Dr.
Walsh does take us into the complexities.
We explore, for example, the relationship between
ecstasy and madness. Shamanism, Jungian psychology and the teachings of Edgar Cayce are
probably the only systems of thought that have a solid framework for understanding the
intimate and necessary connection between the wonders of swimming and the dangers of
drowning. They can encourage us to explore ourselves deeper than the conscious mind while
at the same time explaining what is required to avoid succumbing to the rapture of the
depths.
This book is one of the only places I've ever read
about both the validity and the fraud in psychic healing. We read that shamans have been
caught "cheating" yet not all their healing can be attributed to trickery. We
read about some of the ESP studies conducted with shamans (although the author seems
unfamiliar with Professor Van de Castle's published studies that are more favorable than
the ones presented here) as well as psychiatric investigations. Just as you'll find many
people who identify with Jesus as a model of spiritual life, so will you find many people
in mental hospitals who claim to be Jesus. Shamans run the same risk. Their experience
with uninvited spiritual happenings have much to teach us about what we call today
"spiritual emergencies," events such as kundalini awakenings that require a
spiritual as much as a psychiatric approach.
The Spririt of Shamanism is no "gee
whizz, let's drum together" type of book, nor is it a skeptical inquiry. Rather it is
an appreciative, yet balanced survey of what shamanism, as the original earth
spirituality, has to offer our culture at a time of ecological concern, as well as a
considered examination of the numerous issues shamanism raises.
If you were to read this book, I bet you would be
able to easily imagine, as I can, that if Edgar Cayce and a "witch doctor"
happened to meet and have a visit, they'd discover they had a lot in common.
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