Flight of the Shaman

Flight of the Shaman

Jessie Oonark, Stone cut and stencil, 1970
The Winnipeg Art Gallery

The story of Ice Age Shamanism in America is written into the archeological record. This record has been buried and folded into the land of this continent over thousands of years making it a challenge to read. What we know from the archeological record is augmented by observations of contemporary, or more recent peoples, who practice what is believed to be a similar shamanic spirituality. In Canada, Alaska and Siberia the traditions of the ancient northern hunters persist today.

One critical skill of the Shaman is the Shamanic journey or flight. In the book, The Coming and Going of the Shaman: Eskimo Shamanism and Art, by The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Jean Blodgett, the Curator of Eskimo Art describes shamanic flight.

“Shamans could fly to the moon, to the sun, to the heavens, and to the underworld. They visited deities above the earth and below the sea. They flew or descended to the bottom of lakes and to the lands of the dead, both in the sky and underground. They might fly through space or around the earth. They were transported by spirit helpers and benign deities. They also traveled from one earthly local to another; from Canada to Point Barrow, from the Diomede Islands to St Lawrence, or even from Alaska to San Francisco and back.”

The Coming and Going of the Shaman: Eskimo Shamanism and Art
by The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Jean Blodgett, the Curator of Eskimo Art