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After spending time studying with the Mexican shaman Don Juan Matus, Carlos Castaneda once said of the practice of Shamanism, "The difficulty is to learn to perceive with your whole body, not just with your eyes and reason." Making that deeper, spiritual connection is the aim of a new art exhibit and lecture program at Stanford University's Cantor Arts Center.
Titled The Shamanic World-View: Arts of the Americas, the exhibit features approximately 50 art objects associated with or representative of the ancient practice of Shamanism. The exhibit runs from May 26 through to September 26.
Shamanism is not a religion per se, but rather is among the world's oldest spiritual practices. The shaman is considered a specialist of the "ecstatic state" and has the ability to move through worlds of consciousness. This ability to "journey" gives the shaman a unique insight into matters of the soul.
Shamanism thrives today in many of the world's indigenous cultures, from Siberia, Central Asia, Asia, North, Central and South America, Oceania, Indo-Europe, Australia and Africa. Shaman are often called dream walkers, witch doctors or medicine men.
"The shaman mediates between the world of ordinary reality and the spirit world," explains Winfield Coleman, curatorial assistant of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, who organized the exhibition. "Shamanic cultures, especially preliterate cultures, share a similar vision of the cosmos and of life, nature, and the human condition. This vision is encoded in their art, which helps both to define and to manipulate this complex cosmos."
Shamanic art objects are usually associated with ceremonies of initiation, death, healing, war and ultimately the journey into the spirit world. Pieces on display include Amazonian headdresses, a gold Panamanian sun disc, an Arapaho dance shield, ceramic vessels and a Hopi Shalako katsinas, all from the Cantor Arts Center's own collection.
In association with the exhibit, there will be two lectures on Shamanism on May 26, starting at 2 p.m. Armand J. Labbe, director of research and collection at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, will talk about shamanism in New World art in his presentation, "Pre-Columbian Shamanism in Cross-Cultural Perspective." Dr. Michael Harner, director of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in Mill Valley, will lecture on "Visionary Aspects of Shamanism." The talks are part of the Ruth K. Franklin Lectures series.
"The Shamanic World-View: Arts of the Americas" runs May 26 through Sept. 26 at the Cantor Arts Center at Sanford University. Admission is free. Call 650.723.4177 for go to www.stanford.edu/dept/ccva for information. For information on the lectures, call 650.725.3155.
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