2. M. Harner, “A Core Shamanic Theory.” 3. Cowan, Shamanism as a Spiritual Practice.

A cornerstone ethic of the use of shamanic healing practices is to engage in treatment only at the request of the patient (in the case of minor children, at the request of a parent), for practitioners should not try to presume what is ultimately good for someone else. An underlying philosophical factor, particularly in life-threatening situations,

Involuntary spirit possession connected to illness is characteristically the occupation of an individual’s mind/body by spirits (souls) of deceased humans who have remained in the Middle World.

In shamanism a kind of karmic reciprocity is recognized. More specifically, what a person sends out spiritually to others, whether with hate or compassion, will return in a like manner, but multiplied in its effects. Thus a sensible person who is shamanically trained scrupulously avoids hostile spiritual activities. To do otherwise is not only unet

In order for these intrusive spirits to have enough power to penetrate the body of a person, they generally must be sent by another person or persons. This can be done either consciously or unconsciously. In indigenous societies, such intrusions are commonly the result of conscious hostile spiritual acts by sorcerers.

Separate from soul loss, and very important as a factor leading to illness, is the loss of personal spiritual power—a consequence of the individual having lost the protection of a personal guardian spirit to help ward off illnesses, injuries, and adversity in general. However, even the retention of such spiritual power and protection is usually not

Soul loss commonly manifests as a “dispirited” condition, the degree of which depends upon the severity of the loss as well as the history of previous soul loss. A person who with a history of significant soul loss frequently can be characterized as “not being all there,” an apt phrase that may represent an unconscious awareness in our culture of t

Spiritual factors that can contribute to, or bring about, illness are of two main types: (1) those that involve a loss by the patient of a spirit important to the patient’s well-being; (2) the acquisition by the patient of a spirit detrimental to the patient’s well-being.

For the shaman, one of the significant reasons that prayer is often of limited success is that the compassionate spirits of the Upper and Lower Worlds are not all-powerful outside the realms in which they dwell. Since their power to affect circumstances in the Middle World is limited, they characteristically need ordinary-reality allies to help cre