IDENTITATEA ŞI INFINITA DIVERSITATE A CONDIŢIEI ŞAMANICE
THE IDENTITY AND INFINITE DIVERSITY OF THE SHAMANIC CONDITION

Summary/Abstract: The ancestral spiritual experience, shamanism has always represented a fascination for the human being. Holder of a complex spiritual universe, the shaman is the master of ecstatic journeys, in the Upper world and in the Lower world, between Heaven and Earth. As Mircea Eliade shows, thanks to the experiences gained through "ecstatic trance", only the shaman knows the drama of the human soul, its instability and precariousness. The shaman is the great healer or the great physician of the soul. Starting from the belief that any disease is caused by a deficiency or a major spiritual crisis, the shaman descends into Hell to find the lost soul of the patient and bring it back to the body. The well-known play by Tennessee Williams, "Orpheus in Hell", illustrates the shamanic experience of Val Xavier, (also called Snake Skin), in order to save the soul of his lover – Lady; the modern version of Eurydice. In his capacity as a shaman, Snake Skin has the snake as a protective animal, but also as a master of initiation.The existence of the "animal double" in the character's destiny is the expression of the fact that shamanic powers are embodied in animals and that the role of the shaman consists in discovering them.The defining element of Val Xavier's existence is the guitar, since music is the language secret of the first artist – shaman of mankind: Orpheus!

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