What d
o Cows have to do with Shamanism..?Writing the full connection for me is still in progress... for now here is a start.
I
can not in good consciousness name myself a shaman, or a witch, or any
of the classification typical of these skills. If I have to have a label
I would choose Sorcerer in the style discussed by Carlos Castaneda. I
choose Cowshed Shamanism because I have spent 6 or so years with a
Jersey cow named Honeysuckle. Some of the most peaceful moments of my
life have filled me while milking her gift of creamy wholesome white
goodness. I learned more than I can share here from her about love and
about sticking up for myself. She could fight too!! I learned about how
we as a society have been systematically educated into slavery and
starvation. Milk to me is a symbol of that enslavement. It is largely
illegal to obtain and consume raw milk, and we have been carefully
brainwashed into believing this is a good thing for our safety and
health. It is in fact the opposite. A fact is that a cow (or goat,
or...) will actually manufacture in her milk the antibodies to heal your
illness. If I have a cold or flu or what have you when she licks my
skin or smells my breath her body will respond with medicine to help me
fight it. In the same way a mothers body responds to her own child's
needs. I have read campaigns against humans consuming animals milk, I
can only say 'WHAT?'. Animals are our allies, we have evolved together
and they care much more for us than corporations and by all appearances
governments.
So, I will remove the soapbox,
Emotional Release therapy/techniques
A wonderfully knowledgeable site on Europian shamanism.
" The Sweat Lodge, a brief history.
Throughout the history of Humanity, knowledge of the healing ways through steam purification has been practiced in many different forms. This was the ancient idea of ritual purification through steam heat, in an enclosed space, accompanied by singing, prayers and a powerful cleansing through heat, steam and sweat. Ancient Greek and Roman bathhouses have been discovered in ruins at widely scattered locations throughout Europe. It is clear that even well before the birth of Christ these places were being used to cleanse and heal people, and that there was a whole priesthood connected with these places.
This form of steam bath found it’s way as far north as Russia, and is called their “Bania.” The Scandinavians have their “Sauna”, the Muslims use the “Hammam” and in Ireland it is known in Gaelic as the "Teach Allis", or sweathouse (shown pictured at right predating Columbus). In Africa the people use many types of vapor baths, which are similar to the Turkish form. The Japanese call their purification bath the Mushi-buro."
This mound is estimated about 2500 to3000 years old.
These mounds have always been known, but no one could agree on their
purpose.This time period correlates roughly with the invasion of Rome
into the British Isles, closely followed by the rapidly growing cult of
Christianity, which makes them per-christian Britannica . After 2000 years it would be hard to remember how people
lived before.
There were also excavated sites, which evidence more mobile structures(willows=holes in a symmetric circle,and hide?), all sites associated with fire on the out side(a fire pit) or in
the case of the stone mounds often the fire inside(the whole stone
lodge would heat), all in close proximity to a near by water source. Great debate on the purpose of these sites.
As public knowledge of the "sweat lodge" of the native people of north America has grown, a new picture and understanding of these mounds is emerging.
As public knowledge of the "sweat lodge" of the native people of north America has grown, a new picture and understanding of these mounds is emerging.
In the light of this new understanding evidence of a rich shamanistic culture through out the British
isle is emerging. An understanding for which we can give thanks to our "little brother" the native people
of north America for guiding us to rediscover.
for more information check out this site and the other great links:
http://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk/sweathouses2.htm for more information check out this site and the other great links:
http://celticmythpodshow.com/blog/celtic-scottish-sweat-lodgesauna-saved-and-re-built/
Celtic Scottish Sweat Lodge/Sauna saved and re-built
 Pic: Bronze Age Bressay |
News at the Scotsman.com reports that a Bronze Age structure thought to have been used as a sauna has been saved from destruction by the sea after a team of archaeologists moved the entire find to a safer location. The building, which dates from between 1500BC and 1200BC, was unearthed on the Shetland island of Bressay eight years ago. It was found in the heart of the Burnt Mound at Cruester, a Bronze Age site on the coast of Bressay facing Lerwick. |
The central structure was carefully dismantled and each stone numbered before being moved to a site a mile way next to Bressay Heritage Centre.
And today (23/8/2008), following the completion of the unusual removal scheme, the Bronze Age building will be officially opened at its new location by Tavish Scott, the MSP for Shetland. Douglas Coutts, the project officer with Bressay History Group, said the structure was one of the most important archaeological discoveries ever made in the Northern Isles.
| The building was hidden in a mound of burnt stones and is thought to have been used for feasts, baths or even saunas. The structure comprises a series of dry-stone, walled cells, connected by two corridors. At the end of one corridor is a hearth cell, thought to have been used for heating stones, and at the other end is a tank sunk into the ground which is almost two metres long, more than a metre wide, and half a metre deep. |
 Pic:Bronze Age Bressay |
Burnt mounds don’t usually consist of very much more than a hearth and a tank and a heap of burnt stones. But in Shetland, we seem to have much more complex structures with little rooms or cells leading off from a main passageway which connects the hearth and tank.He added:
We think these cells may have originally been roofed over in a beehive shape. One theory is that these structures may have been used for cooking meat or tanning hides. But it is possible they could have raised steam by heating the water and that these little cells could have been used as saunas.Tom Dawson, a researcher at St Andrews University who also worked on the removal project, said coastal erosion was threatening thousands of archaeological sites around Scotland.
The Wheel of Life
“The world is incomprehensible. We won’t ever
understand it; we won’t ever unravel its secrets. Thus we must treat the
world as it is: a sheer mystery.” Carlos Castaneda
The Scared Spiral
5 minutes or 70 years “You
have little time left, and none of it for crap. A fine state. I would say that
the best of us always comes out when we are against the wall, when we feel the
sword dangling overhead. Personally, I wouldn't have it (1931 -1998)
“The self-confidence of the warrior is not the
self-confidence of the average man. The
average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence.
The warrior seeks impeccability in his own eyes and calls that humbleness. The
average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to
infinity.”
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