Transcript Witchcraft - Foothill College

Religious Specialists
All human societies include individuals
who guide and supplement the religious
practices of others.
Such individuals are seen to be highly
skilled at contacting and influencing
supernatural beings and manipulating
supernatural forces.
They may have undergone special
training and may display certain
distinctive personality traits that make
them particularly well suited to perform
these tasks.
Priests and Priestesses
 A priest or priestess will have the role of guiding
religious practices and influencing the
supernatural.
 He or she is the socially initiated, ceremonially
inducted member of a religious organization.
 Buddhist monks in Luang Pra Bong (Laos)
Shamans
• Skilled at contacting and
manipulating
supernatural beings and
powers through altered
states of consciousness.
• Provides a focal point of
attention for society and
can help maintain social
control
• Benefits for the shaman
are prestige, wealth, and
an outlet for artistic selfexpression.
.
A Shaman of the Sami people (Noaidi)
with his drum. Woodcut, 1767.
“Shaman” Origins
Tungus language of
Central Siberia.
Originally denoting a
religious specialist who
heals the sick, divines
the future and secures
success in the hunt
with help of spirits and
a drum
.
Sami today
A Shaman of the Sami people (Noaidi)
with his drum. Woodcut, 1767.
:
Korean Shamanism
– Today, most are women. Called upon to guide the
dead to the underworld, to cure illness, for divination
.
and to ensure good fortune.
– Shamans are chosen by spirits who are attracted to
those whose maǔm or soul has been hurt by some
sort of illness. The individual will become possessed
until she accepts the call of the spirits and becomes a
Shaman.
– Shamans in Korean society are sometimes seen as
social deviants, so this may be a role not willingly
taken.
– Korean Shaman initiation
Religious Rituals
 Involves religious paraphernalia/symbols
like prayers, offerings, sacred literature
recitations, etc.
 If Myths provide the basis for a society’s
morals and values. Rituals are the vehicle
with which these values are imparted to
the group.
Rituals: Rite of Passage
Purpose is to change the status of an individual within a
community and to imprint this new status to collective memory.
 Review:
 Status: refers to social position (i.e.
brother, mother, husband, Instructor,
student, policeman) not to rank
 Rank: Hierarchical placement of an
individual within society (i.e. Employee,
Supervisor, Middle Manager, Vice
President, President, CEO)
Rituals: Rite of Passage
Purpose is to change the status of an individual within a
community and to imprint this new status to collective memory.
 Rite of Passage stages:
 Separation: an individual is separated from
previous status
 Transition: undergoes rituals (can involve
initiation and/or pain ceremonies)
 Often a time of mystery and metamorphosis. An
individual is in a state of
Liminality: ambiguous social marginality
occurring in this transition phase.
 Incorporation: Individual reenters society w/
new status
Rituals: Rites of Intensification
(also called Social Rights of Intensification)
 Rituals to mark occasions of crisis in the life of
the group.
 Functions:
 Unite people.
 Allay fear of the crisis.
 Prompt collective action.
Rituals: Rites of Intensification
 Ex: “Ghost Dance”
 Associated with the Massacre at
Wounded Knee in 1890 where
153 Lakota Sioux were killed
during its performance. Started
by Jack Wilson (Wovoka), a Paiute
Native American who received a
message from God that if this
dance was performed, impending
doom from the “Manifest
Destiny” of settlers could be
avoided, and harmony and peace
would prevail.
Magic
• The belief that supernatural powers can be
compelled to act in certain ways for good or
evil purposes by recourse to certain
specified formulas.
• Many societies have magical rituals to
ensure good crops, the replenishment of
game, the fertility of domestic animals, and
the avoidance or healing of illness in
humans.
Magic
Imitative magic
 Magic based on the
principle that like
produces like.
Sometimes called
sympathetic magic.
Ex: Red Cloverhead &
sap of the Bloodroot
used to treat problems of
the blood.
Ex: Ancient Egypt &
Rome: Bes Jars
Magic
Contagious magic
 Magic based on the principle
that things once in contact can
influence one another after
separation.
Ex: The Fore, Sorcery & Kuru.
Food remnants, hair, nail
clippings, excrement of victim
mixed with leaves/stones
bundle placed into the cold,
muddy ground, symbolizing
deep chill of Kuru. Bundle
beaten with a stick, symbolizing
breaking/weakening of bones.
Divination
A magical procedure for determining the cause
of a particular event, such as illness, or
foretelling the future.
Ex: Magic 8 ball, Ouija board, Tarot, etc…