lokariototal

Some civilizations have shamanic rituals, others don't practice shamanism. Why did most modern countries stop the practice of Shamanism?

Nemowork

Efficiency. Why waste your day praying to thousands of different gods when you can pray to one god and spend the time spared shopping for soft furnishings instead!

Kraken

Most countries accepted Christianity and Islam, where contacting spirits or mediumship, is strictly forbidden, and can come with some dangerous consequences.

Besides, shamans had to be selected for their position based on supposed inherent qualities the person had possessed. They often use hallucinogenic drugs to initiate their experiences, to try and attempt to contact the spirit world. Not everyone could be a shaman in the cultures that practiced it.

Black Dog

It depends how you define shamanism. Praying to saints could be seen as shamanism

Nemowork

As a personnal view i tend to see it as the advance of cultures.

If your a low development culture at the mercy of the animals, weather, disease, more animals and so on and your helpless to change that i can see why those individual things seem to have power over you.

As civilisations develop and they begin to be technological people begin to see themselves not at the mercy of nature but as controlling and shaping it. Animal and nature spirits stop being scary things to be placated but tools to be used and you need a higher source to explain the things in life that are doing their best to kill you!

Brisieis

It's cultural that's all.

How is shamanism any different than any other religious ritual, when we get to the core of it?

Naomasa298

What exactly do we mean by "shamanism" here?

AlpinLuke

Actually the Brazilian "Santeria", a particular [absolutely respectable, don't get me wrong because I'm Protestant] evolution of Catholic local tradition in which the Saints acquire an importance and some "skills" which were peculiar of the "entities" of ancient animism.

Naomasa298

It's a bit like Pokemon. You pick the most appropriate one for the situation.

AlpinLuke

A part this modern detail, I would carry the persons interested in the argument to the very ancient past, noting that in the drawings from the prehistory, visible in caves from Europe to South Africa, there are figures which are a mix of human and animal aspect.

In my opinion [questionable and to be criticized as usual] these figures [defined "theriomorphic"] represent the oldest example of animist perception of nature.

The suggestion of some scholars is that similar oneiric, dreamy, images would be the fruit of the usage of substances with drug effect [from vegetables or mushrooms].