http://paganbookreviews.com/2007/12/12/shamanism-mircea-eliade/ Book reviews from a pagan bibliophiliac Thu, 27 May 2010 15:54:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://paganbookreviews.com/2007/12/12/shamanism-mircea-eliade/#comment-3273 Earthpages.ca Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:31:59 +0000 http://lupabitch.wordpress.com/2007/12/12/shamanism-mircea-eliade/#comment-3273 "The other small gripe is his treatment of anything that deviates from a certain “standard” of shamanism as “degraded” or, in his words, “decadent”. Given that the “classic” Siberian shamanism may have been influenced by middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures, as well as more southerly Asian ones, some shifting and hybridization is to be expected anyway." --- Interesting point. The same thing could be said of the "guru" or the "saint"--two words with ever-changing connotations. Are the more recent meanings disrespectful, degraded, just different or maybe even better? “The other small gripe is his treatment of anything that deviates from a certain “standard” of shamanism as “degraded” or, in his words, “decadent”. Given that the “classic” Siberian shamanism may have been influenced by middle Eastern and Mediterranean cultures, as well as more southerly Asian ones, some shifting and hybridization is to be expected anyway.”
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Interesting point. The same thing could be said of the “guru” or the “saint”–two words with ever-changing connotations. Are the more recent meanings disrespectful, degraded, just different or maybe even better?

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