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Utiseta: The Northern European Art of Plant Communication
A Selection of Daily Spiritual Practices
Beautifully written.
Hi John, loved the article and that you kick off with human kind’s prehistory and evidence of ceremonial practices. The Rainbow Bar Community Research Project is an archaeological project trying to engage the local community in environmental action by building their connection with the land through archaeology and the story of Mesolithic people in the Solent Area (Southern England between Portsmouth and Southampton).
This includes working with local schools, and as a classroom exercise we asked them what they thought the symbols on the Star Carr pendant might represent. We have also asked a fellow Shaman in the society what they think.
What do you make of them, and do you fancy an exercise in engaging members to offer their interpretation ? The context would be the importance of Star Carr as the first early Mesolithic archaeological site offering hard evidence of ritual.
https://www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk/collections/collections-highlights/star-carr-pendant/
If you can be tempted, we could work up together what would be a consultation with the SSP as a community of practice inviting them to contribute to an archaeological study.
Thank you for sharing this article. It is profound. I will revisit it along the way.
John, I appreciate the breadth and depth of your writing.
I think many would agree that “language” , written/spoken/signed, is inherently rife with ambiguities. Unless the participants mutually agree upon definitions, one is simply “whistling into the wind”…ain’t no one listening. You bring attention to the word(s) shaman and it’s “ism”. I’ve listened to heated debates on various opinions as to what constitutes Shamanism and what it is not. It’s a label…call it Homer Simpsomism if one chooses…does that alter one’s experience (?)…probably not.
However, I do find it extremely frustrating and futile to engage in a meaningful discussion around the topic of spirituality/Shamanism when the participants possess varying definitions of subject matter words and then use them interchangeably. UGH!
Thankfully, the essence of Shamanism is “hardwired” into our being-ness and can be experientially engaged rather than having to solely rely on a certain vernacular for the experience.
Since we live in a participatory Universe it seems to me that the more this “ism” is explored experimentally by the collective the less need for linguistic descriptions. HA!