Shamanism, a millennia-old tradition, is currently experiencing a revival and adaptation to the modern world. Far from remaining stuck in the past, it is continuously evolving to meet the spiritual and healing needs of our time.
One of the most notable phenomena is the emergence of neo-shamanism or urban shamanism. This is a reinterpretation of traditional shamanism adapted to a Western lifestyle. Neo-shamans are often city-dwellers who have received teachings from traditional shamans and then integrated this knowledge into their own culture. They offer personal consultations, workshops, and ceremonies that blend shamanic elements (journeying, drumming, healing rituals) with more contemporary approaches like psychology or personal development.
This form of shamanism is characterized by a more individualistic and introspective approach. While a traditional shaman primarily served their community, the neo-shaman supports the individual’s search for meaning. They help their clients explore their inner world, address their blockages, and reconnect with their deeper essence. The issues addressed are often those linked to the challenges of modern life: stress, burnout, depression, loss of bearings.
Another aspect of shamanism’s evolution is its dialogue with science, particularly psychology and neuroscience. Many researchers are interested in the altered states of consciousness induced by shamanic practices and their therapeutic potential. Bridges are being built between shamanism and transpersonal psychology, which studies non-ordinary states of consciousness and spiritual experiences. Therapists are drawing inspiration from shamanic techniques, such as inner journeys or trance states, to help patients access unconscious resources and heal trauma.
Shamanism also finds resonance within the deep ecology movement and the quest to reconnect with nature. In the face of the environmental crisis and the growing disconnect between modern individuals and life, shamanism appears as a pathway to rebuild a sacred relationship with the Earth. Shamans have traditionally been guardians of nature, communicating with the spirits of animals, plants, and elements. They view humanity as part of an interconnected whole, an idea that resonates strongly with ecological values. Many Westerners are turning to shamanism to restore their relationship with life and engage with an eco-spiritual approach.
Finally, one of the major challenges facing shamanism today is the preservation of traditional knowledge amidst globalization and acculturation. Many Indigenous peoples feel their ways of life and traditions are threatened by modernization. Ethnobotanists and anthropologists work to collect and preserve this knowledge before it disappears. Simultaneously, there is a revaluation of traditional medicines and Indigenous peoples’ rights. Some initiatives aim to protect shamans and their environment, such as establishing biosphere reserves or fighting against the patenting of life and biopiracy.
Far from being a relic of the past, shamanism thus proves to be remarkably modern. Its holistic approach to healing, its fascinating worldview, and its profound respect for life make it a valuable source of inspiration for those today seeking meaning, connection, and harmony. By adapting to our times while retaining its essence, shamanism opens new pathways to heal the modern soul and reshape our relationship with life.
Common Ground Between Shamanism and Modern Psychology
Shamanism and modern psychology maintain a fruitful dialogue, opening new perspectives for understanding and healing the human psyche. Although these two approaches might seem distant at first glance, they actually share many commonalities in their perception of the human being and their methods for exploring the unconscious.
Carl Gustav Jung
The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung, founder of analytical psychology, was a pioneer of this convergence. Jung was deeply interested in shamanic traditions, viewing them as a privileged pathway to the collective unconscious and the universal archetypes that structure the psyche. He specifically studied the practices of Pueblo shamans in North America and encountered shamanic rituals during his travels in Africa and India (Jung, 1961). For Jung, the shaman was a healer of the soul who delved into the depths of the unconscious, confronting dark forces to bring back treasures of healing. This descent into the underworld and the confrontation with spirits are themes found in many initiatory myths and symbolize the individuation process through which an individual achieves their true self.
This view of shamanism as a path of individuation was later developed by many transpersonal psychologists, such as Stanislav Grof and Charles Tart. For them, the altered states of consciousness (ASCs) induced by shamanic practices (trance, inner journeys, use of spiritual plants) allow access to levels of reality normally inaccessible to ordinary consciousness. These ASCs facilitate an expansion of awareness, enabling one to transcend the limits of the ego and connect with archetypal, spiritual, or transpersonal dimensions of existence (Grof, 1988). They hold great potential for healing and inner transformation, allowing traumatic memories to be unblocked, limiting beliefs to be released, and deep resources of the psyche to be reactivated.
Psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, through his extensive research on holotropic states of consciousness induced by breathing, observed striking parallels with experiences reported during shamanic trances. He recounts the case of a patient suffering from severe depression who, during a session, intensely relived her own birth. She experienced herself trapped in the birth canal, struggling desperately to get out, and realized that this perinatal memory was the root of her feelings of helplessness and inability to move forward in life. By symbolically re-experiencing this birth and emerging from the “tunnel,” she released a tremendous amount of vital energy and felt truly “reborn,” which healed her depression (Grof, 2000). For Grof, such experiences demonstrate that the cartography of the unconscious, meticulously developed by shamans, resonates with the findings of depth psychology.
Another bridge between shamanism and psychology lies in the therapeutic use of trance states. Many psychotherapists draw inspiration from shamanic techniques to induce ASCs that facilitate healing in their patients. Milton Erickson, the father of Ericksonian hypnosis, is one such example. He used metaphor, storytelling, and indirect suggestion to guide his patients on inner journeys akin to shamanic vision quests (Haley, 1973). Similarly, therapists use techniques like holotropic breathwork, hypnotic trance, or guided visualization to tap into the patient’s unconscious resources. These non-ordinary methods can often unlock stagnant therapeutic processes, bypass the resistance of the ego, and directly access the psyche’s innate self-healing potential.
Finally, shamanism and modern psychology share a perspective on mental illness, viewing it as a potentially meaningful crisis that can initiate a healing process. Whereas classical psychiatry tends to view mental disorders as dysfunctions to be eradicated, the shamanic approach views them as painful but necessary processes of transformation, through which the soul seeks to restore its integrity and fulfill its destiny. In some shamanic cultures, a psychological breakdown is interpreted as “shamanic illness” or “spiritual emergency,” a sign of a calling to become a shaman. Those who experience it are seen as individuals in transition, whose ordinary personality is deconstructing to make way for a larger identity connected to invisible forces (Kalweit, 1988). If they successfully navigate this initiatory ordeal, they often emerge healed and endowed with healing gifts they can use to serve their community. This concept aligns with the views of “alternative” psychiatrists like John Weir Perry and Stanislav Grof, who see psychotic crises as potentially transformative spiritual emergence processes, akin to shamanic initiations (Perry, 1999).
Thus, far from being opposed, shamanism and depth psychology mutually enrich each other, opening new paths for understanding and healing the suffering of the soul. By inviting us to dive into the depths of the unconscious to draw from its sensorial and vital treasures, they offer an expanded vision of mental health, one that goes beyond a sanitized concept of “normality” and embraces the whole of existence, including its archetypal and sacred dimensions.
References
- Grof, S. (1988). The adventure of self-discovery: Dimensions of consciousness and new perspectives in psychotherapy and inner exploration. State University of New York Press.
- Grof, S. (2000). Psychology of the future: Lessons from modern consciousness research. State University of New York Press.
- Haley, J. (1973). Uncommon therapy: The psychiatric techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. W. W. Norton & Company.
- Jung, C. G. (1961). Memories, dreams, reflections (A. Jaffe, Ed.; R. & C. Winston, Trans.). Vintage Books.
- Kalweit, H. (1988). Dreamtime & inner space: The world of the shaman. Shambhala Publications.
- Perry, J. W. (1999). Trials of the visionary mind: Spiritual emergency and the renewal process. State University of New York Press.
