Michael Cremo - Human Devolution - A Vedic Alternative To Darwin's Theory

Ethnologist John Reed Swanton reported (1905, p. 465): “All kinds of tales are related of the power of these shamans. Thus it is said that some United States marines were going to cut the hair of a Sitka shaman, when his spirit came into him so powerfully that the arms of the big marine who was about to ply the shears were paralyzed and those of the other marines dropped to their sides.” According to Swanton (1905, p.

466), the power of a shaman would usually pass to one of his nephews after his death. The shaman’s chief spirit would tell the shaman shortly before his death where his body should be taken and what his clan should do. After this happened, the clan would gather in a house, and the successor shaman would invite a spirit to come in. When the spirit came in, there would be singing during which the new shaman would fall into a trance. And when he was awakened by the clan, the clan had a new shaman.

During sickness, a person’s “spirit” (not the soul, but the vital force that causes the body to function) may leave the body, causing a dangerous situation. During such times, a shaman can summon a spirit helper to catch the spirit and bring it back to the body, thus restoring health, or ending the threat of death (Emmons 1991, p. 288).

Ojibwa Cosmology

The Ojibwa Indians, also known as the Chippewas, live on the northern shores of Lake Huron and Lake Superior in Canada. According to the Ojibwa, a human being is composed of a material body ( wijo ), a shadow ( udjibbom ), and a soul ( udjitchog ). After death the material body decays and disappears (Jenness 1935, p. 18).

The shadow is associated with the brain, but it also operates outside the body. It assists the soul in perception and knowledge. The shadow appears to correspond to the mind element or subtle material body of our model Vedic cosmology. The Ojibwa believe a man’s shadow goes before him when he walks. Sometimes the shadow, moving ahead of a hunter, will cause his eyes to twitch, signalling that it has seen game (Jenness

1935, p. 19). Animals also have their shadows, which act in a similar fashion to protect them. But sometimes the animal shadow will fail to perceive an approaching human as a threat, and the human will kill the animal. On the other hand, the shadow of an animal, such as a deer, may become aware of a hunter and correctly perceive its intention. The deer’s shadow then constantly watches the hunter, and therefore the hunter will never be able to approach the deer closely enough to kill it (Jenness

1935, p. 22).

If someone feels he is being watched, even though no one is visible, this is the shadow giving a warning to the soul. The shadow might also give a young Ojibwa a sensation that he will soon be visited by a manitou, or supernatural being, allowing him to make the proper preparations (Jenness 1935, p. 19). The shadow of a baby is especially sensitive and active. It moves beyond the body to observe and learn many things over wide distances, although the body remains stationary and quiet. Sometimes the baby smiles or laughs inexplicably. In such cases, the baby’s shadow has apprehended something that gladdens its soul. Ojibwa parents are very protective of the baby’s shadow. Rocking the baby’s hammock carelessly may cause a disturbance to the shadow. The Ojibwa also believe that if the baby’s father tortures an animal, the shadows of the baby and the father will suffer (Jenness 1935, p. 20)

At times, the shadow, which is normally not seen, becomes visible, taking the same form as the body (Jenness 1935, p. 20). This accounts for people seeing apparitions of someone who is in fact at a distance of many miles. The Ojibwa believe that a person’s health requires a balance between body, shadow, and soul. Persons intent on harming others may employ witchcraft to disturb this balance. Sometimes the shadow may split in two, with one part pulling one way and the other part pulling in another. When this happens, the soul remains detached, waiting for a decision, while the body, under stress, falls victim to disease. If the conflict is not eventually resolved, the person dies and the shadow haunts the grave as a ghost (Jenness 1935, p. 20). Jenness says (1935, p. 19), “The shadow is slightly more indefinite than the soul, and the Indians themselves often confuse them, attributing certain activities of phenomena now to one, now to the other.”

About the Ojibwa concept of the soul, Jenness (1935, p. 18) says: “The soul is located in the heart, and is capable of travelling outside the body for brief periods, although if it remains separate too long the body will die. . . . For the soul is the intelligent part of man’s being, the agency that enables him to perceive things, to reason about them, and remember them. . . . Besides being the intelligent part of man the soul is the seat of the will.”

A skilled medicine man can take a sleeping person’s soul out of the body. Sometimes the intention may be innocent—to converse with the soul in the medicine man’s tent before an audience of spirit beings and then let it go back to the sleeping body. But the intention may also be to kill the body by keeping the soul too long away from it. An Ojibwa said, “I had a lucky escape once. I was only sixteen years old. A conjurer drew my soul into his conjuring lodge and I knew at once that he wanted to kill me, because I had made fun of his son who was a ‘humpy’ [hunchback]. I said, ‘I’m going out.’ But the old man said, ‘No! You can’t go.’ Then I saw my own head rolling about and the people in the lodge were trying to catch it [The “people” were the guardian spirits, pawáganak, of the conjurer—superhuman entities]. I thought to myself that if only I could catch my head everything would be all right. So I tried to grab it when it rolled near me and finally I caught it. As soon as I got hold of it I could see my way out and I left. Then I woke up but I could not move my legs or arms. Only my fingers I could move. But finally I managed to speak. I called out to my mother. I told her I was sick. I was sick for a couple of days. No one saw my soul go to and fro but I knew where I had been” (Hallowell 1955, p. 175, his insertions).

After death, the soul journeys to the west, to the land of souls. The land of souls is ruled by Nanibush, a great Ojibwa culture hero (Jenness 1935, p. 18). The soul is driven on its journey to the land of the dead by a supernatural being called the Shadow Manitou. The Shadow Manitou normally sleeps, but when an Ojibwa becomes very ill the person’s wandering soul disturbs the Shadow Manitou. The Shadow Manitou walks around the wigwam of the Ojibwa but leaves no tracks. It tries to drive the soul to the land of the dead. If it does so, the body dies (Jenness 1935, p. 42). A good medicine man, if he acts quickly after death, can sometimes bring a soul back from the Land of the Dead. An Ojibwa Indian said, “Once I saw Owl do this. Tcètcebú was very ill. By the time Owl arrived where her father was encamped, she died. Owl tied a piece of red yarn around the girl’s wrist at once [to enable him to identify her quickly in a crowd] and lay down beside her body. He lay in this position a long, long time. He was still; he did not move at all. Then I saw him move ever so little. The girl began to move a little also. Owl moved more. So did the girl. Owl raised himself up into a sitting posture. At the same moment the girl did the same. He had followed her to the Land of the Dead and caught her soul just in time” (Hallowell 1955, pp. 174–175).

Some authors, such as Vecsey (1983), have interpreted the distinction between shadow and soul given above as a dual soul concept. According to Vecsey (1983, p. 59), the first researcher to record this was Schoolcraft (1848, p. 127). An Ojibwa informant told Schoolcraft that one soul left the body during dreams, while another soul remained within the body to keep it alive. Following Hultkrantz (1953), Vecsey