# "How To Become a Shaman"-National Geographic **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 14, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-become-a-shaman-national-geographic/585441 "2011-06-14T15:33:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-become-a-shaman-national-geographic/585441/1 "2011-06-14T15:33:37Z")
I was watching a clip from NGTV on this. Becoming a shaman seems to be a difficult task. A young man who aspires to this must uindergo some rather painful rituals-plus take some hallucinogenic drugs. usually these drugs provoke scarey dreeams-in which the young man may feel he has become an animal. Anyway, after such fearsome trials, shamanhood is achieved. Does anyone have a good book about this? The drugs used by South American shamans are interesting-have they been clinically studied? Do most people who become shamans stay wioth the profession? Anyway, some other references would be most welcome! ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-become-a-shaman-national-geographic/585441/2 "2011-06-14T17:01:09Z")
Try reading Carlos Castenada’s books, esp. _[The Teachings of Don Juan](http://www.amazon.com/Teachings-Don-Juan-Yaqui-Knowledge/dp/0671600419)_ and _[The Second Ring of Power.](http://www.amazon.com/Second-Ring-Power-Carlos-Castaneda/dp/0671732471)_ Castenada was a Peruvian-born American anthropologist who studied to become a sorcerer under a Yaqui “man of knowledge” known as Don Juan Matus. Frankly, I found Castenada’s books, and his experiences rather…disturbing. A little bit like Stephen King in real time. If anything, I think they might tend to discourage one from following that particular course. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-become-a-shaman-national-geographic/585441/3 "2011-06-14T17:05:06Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > Try reading Carlos Castenada’s books, esp. _[The Teachings of Don Juan](http://www.amazon.com/Teachings-Don-Juan-Yaqui-Knowledge/dp/0671600419)_ and _[The Second Ring of Power.](http://www.amazon.com/Second-Ring-Power-Carlos-Castaneda/dp/0671732471)_ > > Castenada was a Peruvian-born American anthropologist who studied to become a sorcerer under a Yaqui “man of knowledge” known as Don Juan Matus. Frankly, I found Castenada’s books, and his experiences rather…disturbing. A little bit like Stephen King in real time. If anything, I think they might tend to discourage one from following that particular course. YMMV. Wasn’t it proven that Castenada made most of this stuff up? ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-become-a-shaman-national-geographic/585441/4 "2011-06-14T17:51:17Z")
A lot of people claimed he made it up, including some very credible researchers. But proven? not really. After all how do you prove or disprove an alledged mystical experience? My own thoughts, having had some slight experience with hallucinogenics, is that Castenada had some really good drugs. But I suppose he actually saw or experienced some of the things he said he did. Or thought he did. The thing that struck me was that Don Juan’s/Castenada’s brand of sorcery didn’t seem to have any practical application. It didn’t heal illnesses, feed the hungry, promote world peace or even foretell the future. It was purely a personal ego trip…at best it could perhaps be said to expand one’s mind (the shaman’s). What good is knowing a sorcerer if he can’t do anything for you? SS ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-become-a-shaman-national-geographic/585441/5 "2011-06-15T08:51:57Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > The thing that struck me was that Don Juan’s/Castenada’s brand of sorcery didn’t seem to have any practical application. It didn’t heal illnesses, feed the hungry, promote world peace or even foretell the future. It was purely a personal ego trip…at best it could perhaps be said to expand one’s mind (the shaman’s). What good is knowing a sorcerer if he can’t do anything for you? > SS Yea, you could say the same thing about almost any priest/monk/holyman or religion. :rolleyes: Useless touchstones and channels of the spiritual, the lot of them. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-become-a-shaman-national-geographic/585441/6 "2011-06-15T09:00:46Z")
Tis Some mighty fine sorcering he did to make you write that synopsis of witness, judging the useful useless making the weighty insubstantial, working with no apparent effort. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-become-a-shaman-national-geographic/585441/7 "2011-06-15T09:12:31Z")
Mircea Eliade _Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy_ Joseph Campbell _The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology_ (the first book of the four book set) If my library wasn’t packed away ☹ the list would be much longer. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2011, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-become-a-shaman-national-geographic/585441/8 "2011-06-15T09:57:31Z")
Somewhat relatedly, Wade Davis’ “The Serpent and the Rainbow” is a great read. > **[The Serpent and the Rainbow (book)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Serpent_and_the_Rainbow_(book))** > > The Serpent and the Rainbow: A Harvard Scientist's Astonishing Journey into the Secret Societies of Haitian Voodoo, Zombies, and Magic is a 1985 book by anthropologist and researcher Wade Davis. He investigated Haitian Vodou and the process of making zombies. He studied ethnobotanical poisons, discovering their use in a reported case of a contemporary zombie, Clairvius Narcisse. > The book presents the case of Clairvius Narcisse, a man who had been a zombie for two years, arguing that the zombif...