THE SHAMAN’S VISION QUEST

A Siberian term, shaman, is used for an individual who served as an Amerindian group’s spiritual leader or medicine man. That role seems to have been widespread and generally universal among North American Indians and certainly came to the Americas from Asia. Indeed, the role of the shaman may have originally been common to all peoples of the world, only to have survived into historic times in sub-Saharan Africa, Siberia, Australia and the Americas. The rock art from Ice Age European caves is thought by some to be evidence of European shamanism. In the western United States, the shaman served to guide the group in all matters relating to the welfare of the group, such as how to live, when to move, heath practices, i.e., maintaining a balance in one’s life and in all spiritual concerns. According to Debra Sherman, in an article in the January/February (2000) issue of California Geology, the role of the shaman could be equated to that of priest, doctor, and statesman.

The shaman sought spiritual guidance through a “vision quest.” Ms. Sherman describes a vision quest as an “... inner search for answers to difficult questions. It is a personal ceremony to find strength and to renew a sense of direction and well being. A shaman (always a man) goes alone on his vision quest to a sacred site, often on a hill, or high rock. The shaman fasts and smokes tobacco to induce a hallucinatory state that brings him a vision.” She goes on to quote Dr. David Whitley, a leading expert on ethnography relating to shamanistic practices and their relationship to rock art - “Native Americans have a certain expectation of their vision quests. They expect to be guided by some supernatural being, a link to their tribe, to their family, or to themselves. Their visions may appear as a past relative or animal deity. The shaman then interprets the meaning of the visitation in terms of what is happening in the lives of his people...”

Many sites that have been interpreted as “vision quest” places have been identified throughout the historic range of the Chumash Indians. Some have been suggested within the Simi Valley area. These sites are usually isolated small caves in which the only archaeological evidence consists of shamanistic paraphernalia and, sometimes, rock art. Dr. Whitley believes that most rock art, i.e., pictographs (paintings) and petroglyphs (inscribed or pecked pictures), is the result of shamans’ vision quests.

A shaman’s hallucinations, like our own dreams, are affected by enzymes that obliterate short term memories when we are awaken. That is why one cannot remember dreams for very long as hard as one tries. Indeed, if you want to remember your dreams, you must write them down. The shaman recorded his dreams in the form of rock art. That art was usually symbolic - hence nearly impossible to interpret. The shaman knew and the symbols helped him remember. The “writings” of shamans and the places where they remained were sacred to his people. These places still exist and are a part of our collective heritage of a people and their struggle to exist. They and their times are now largely gone from this earth. We are the less for it.

Mike Kuhn

11-26-04