Aboriginal Shamanism

[The Unknowing]

I went to visit a friend's house and they had a beautiful piece of traditional Aboriginal Art mounted on their kitchen wall. I was immediately drawn to the style and color of the painting and it struck me that this was powerfully psychedelic and strongly resonated with some of my religious experiences. Their 'orbs' of multicolored light which appears frequently in their art reminds me of my own entity contact and gives me the chills.

I'm curious as to why there has been little to no mention of using divine plants in their culture to create altered states of consciousness, as Australia has plenty of potent Psilocybin/other species and Acacias. I strongly doubt that in the 40,000+ years Aboriginees have walked these lands with a strong connection to their land and all species within that they would have no knowledge/practise of plant based shamanism. Their spiritual beliefs surrounding their Dreamtime sounds like they've accessed knowledge through altered states of consciousness that would otherwise be inaccessible.
Their musical instrument called the Didgeridoo is most likely used in their shamanic ceremonies much like the Amazonian tribes using Icaros during Ayahuasca sessions.

I sense that this knowledge has been safeguarded by the Aborignal people from Westerners (myself included) and I completely understand. The Sacred must be protected.

P.S. Their art is truly engrossing!

 

[DreaMTripper]

I think thats exactly it, theyve had parts of their culture brutalised, abused, stolen and in some cases made extinct so its not surprising they dont want anyone outside of their culture to know about possibly the most sacred thing to them.
I wouldnt be surprised if there are many unknown active acacia species in Arnhem Land.

Do you think you may have seen those orbs before somewhere and had forgotten about it or saw them and didnt register them at the time so theyve sat in your unconcious?

 

[The Unknowing]

Do you think you may have seen those orbs before somewhere and had forgotten about it or saw them and didnt register them at the time so theyve sat in your unconcious?

I first felt the presence of an orb made of light during meditation (it made a high pitched humming noise and I could feel it's 'warmth'). The night before I almost died from a chainsaw accident the same kind of visitation happened.
The first time I smoked DMT I actually saw the orb encircling my body like an inter-dimensional fly and it gave me a bit of a fright!

Could be just a figment of my imagination, but seeing all these Aboriginal paintings of these light orbs makes me wonder...

 

[Seldom]

that's a semi-traditional depiction of a waterhole, not a 'light orb' .. if you had the initiative to do even a little bit of research, you'd see there's clearly documented use of mind altering plants, including alcohol decoctions, as early as the work of Spencer and Gillen. it's a mistake to transpose south American Shamanic notions with our traditional orientation to life, just as it was discovered to be a mistake to use Durkheim's notion of religion to interpret Indigenous Spirituality. The function of the didjeridoo in ceremony is not analogous to icaros. If you don't understand, that's fine, but you should resist the indignity of thinking that you can speak for something you clearly know nothing about. the questions you're asking have been answered a long time ago.

 

[SnozzleBerry]

If you don't understand, that's fine, but you should resist the indignity of thinking that you can speak for something you clearly know nothing about. the questions you're asking have been answered a long time ago.

It would appear that you are knowledgeable on this topic.

Would you perhaps be willing to provide some additional information or links so that others may become as well-informed as you?

Thanks

 

[The Unknowing]

that's a semi-traditional depiction of a waterhole, not a 'light orb' .. if you had the initiative to do even a little bit of research, you'd see there's clearly documented use of mind altering plants, including alcohol decoctions, as early as the work of Spencer and Gillen. it's a mistake to transpose south American Shamanic notions with our traditional orientation to life, just as it was discovered to be a mistake to use Durkheim's notion of religion to interpret Indigenous Spirituality. The function of the didjeridoo in ceremony is not analogous to icaros. If you don't understand, that's fine, but you should resist the indignity of thinking that you can speak for something you clearly know nothing about. the questions you're asking have been answered a long time ago.

You're absolutely right, I know virtually nothing about their culture. Just interested is all. I'll retreat quietly into the corner now....

On second thoughts, 'Even if an outsider may be privilege enough to be shown a ground painting, it is highly doubtful that any person other than a man of central Australian Aboriginal origin will ever be permitted to understand its ultimate meaning.'
'The Dreamings, often painted from an aerial perspective are abstract in form and lend themselves to various interpretations – the sacred and the public.'

I think that their original art before European settlement had very sacred knowledge and power and that I doubt they'd share its true meaning with a culture that nearly completely wiped them out. We're just stupid enough to believe that when they explain that 'this here means stick and that represents a stone' etc...because it fits our outlook on these so called 'primitive' people. Do you think if they had said something along the lines of 'this represents the energy field that permeates all living things' that white people would take them seriously?

 

[Seldom]

ha! Sure. But you have to see you're never going to get what you're after from a post on an internet forum. Anthropological research consistently shows psilocybe species found up and down the east side of Australia were deliberately avoided by Indigenous peoples. I remember an article by Philip Clarke (edit: found! it's Clarke, P.A. 1987. Aboriginal uses of plants as medicines, narcotics and poisons in southern South Australia. Journal of the Anthropological Society of South Australia 25(5): 3-23.) which contains the comment that shrooms are known to turn kangaroos into 'ngarlnkhe' or 'idiots', and human consumption is explicitly forbidden ..

lists of plants known to be used for their narcotic effect typically look something like (taken from 'Traditional and Modern Plant Use among the Alyawara of Central Australia: James F. O'Connell, Peter K. Latz and Peggy Barnett, Economic Botany, Vol. 37, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1983), pp. 80-109. - I cite it only to show that it's fairly typical of any list that you'll find)


Goodenia lunata J. M. Black
Nicotiana benthamiana Domin.
N. gossei Domin.
Nicotiana ingulba J. M. Black
N. megalosiphon Heurk et J. Muell.
N. velutina Wheeler

Another well known one is of coarse the Duboisia myoporoides. The point I make is that in Australian Indigenous ethnobotany most mind altering plants are generally either stimulants or sedatives used for pain, and not hallucinogens. (the closest I've heard of is whispers of men's business from central/northern Queensland, a plant called Pityrodia salviifolia Pityrodia salviifolia - Pat Uri's debutante ) .. (this is completely unknown to me, but I can say Pat Uri is someone it pays heed to listen to ..).

There will never be an Australian Castenada. The (albeit ambiguous) distinction in South American Shamanism between the spirit world and the physical world is simply not the same as Indigenous Spirituality. Ours contains only a seamless crossover between the mental, the physical (geographic) and the spiritual. Our sky heroes made the land with their movements, their bodies became the earth. The earth is made of depositions of their still living character, both good and bad, healing and sickness. Our Spirits are written into the fabric of the earth; they are the earth. We see them with our own eyes, feel them with our own bodies. We don't need hallucinogens to find them.

 

[Seldom]

I think that their original art before European settlement had very sacred knowledge and power and that I doubt they'd share its true meaning with a culture that nearly completely wiped them out. We're just stupid enough to believe that when they explain that 'this here means stick and that represents a stone' etc...because it fits our outlook on these so called 'primitive' people. Do you think if they had said something along the lines of 'this represents the energy field that permeates all living things' that white people would take them seriously?

Don't be so sure. Look at the work of A. P. Elkin, or the projects of people like Max Harrison or Margaret Turner, who are trying with everything they have to share their knowledge.

It's very telling to see you frame things in terms of the western notion of representation. Occidental culture has inherited a tradition going back to Ancient Greece which builds on the assumption that words are somehow separated from the things they specify. We have no such prejudice. My thesis work involves contrasting the western notion of representation with Aboriginal conceptions of the relation between abstraction and reality .. We are a non-representational culture .. you can't say that ..

I dig that you're interested though

 

[The Unknowing]

It does interest me but I'm short of time to do some proper in-depth research.
You've provided some great information & insights, so, Thank you.

'We don't need hallucinogens to find them.'
Of course not, but we can only benefit from a different perspective.

 

[nen888]

..i may comment more on this thread, but i'm going to have a think about what i'm going to say, if anything..and don't have much time right now

for now ..
.OneEyeAscension: on the didgeridoo..the 'yidaki' is not considered a musical instrument, but rather a powerful healing tool..and it is used in secret ceremony..in this sense it could be termed 'shamanic' in a way..
Seldom: as i have said also of Vedanta knowledge in India, use of plants is not enough to become 'spiritual'..
great sounding thesis btw..

 

[DreaMTripper]

Very interesting thanks Seldom. Also thank you for reminding me that I shouldnt make assumptions based on such little knowledge..
What I found particularly interesting was the rock art in Kakadu National Park that depicted beings and spirits of a non-human nature, makes me think what influenced them. Animals and insects?

One a different tangent.. I was given some fresh sting ray liver once by a family from the Torres Strait Islands that seemed to produce feelings of euphoria, not sure if that was the joy of being included in their family dinner or whether there was something in the liver that made me feel that way..