Qitsualik: Inuit shamanism and the code of silence
Posted: June 23, 2005
by: Rachel Qitsualik
Since the time when explorers first began to poke around the Arctic, and especially into Inuit culture, they have consistently exhibited a fascination with shamanism. Even today, shamanism-related questions are those most frequently posed. Today, especially, urbanites crave simpler spiritual answers than many organized religions are willing to provide. They often look to the cosmological systems of peoples closer to the earth, seeking something exotic, harmonizing, elitist - perhaps even a ''genuine'' source of magical power.
Unfortunately for such seekers, shamanism is the one topic Inuit traditionally do not talk about. The tendency of Inuit to avoid the subject has been a source of frustration to ethnologists since the 1920s. Some literature on the practices of angakkuit (shamans) has been collected, but it is far from complete, and most ethnologists are quick to bemoan the difficulty in getting any information at all. Still, the reticence of Inuit to discuss it has only served to make it more alluring. But why are Inuit so quiet about practices that, supposedly, served as the basis for their very cosmology and religion? After all, Christians are not shy to talk about Biblical miracles.
Firstly, the modern mistake has been in assuming that shamanism was religious at all. In truth, it was a jealously guarded ability, a supernatural specialization that only suitably talented individuals could learn. The way Inuit viewed their relationship to the ''hidden'' world remained independent of such practices, so that shamanism did not dictate Inuit cosmology, but only drew inspiration from it. Angakkuit (plural of angakoq, or shaman) have mistakenly been portrayed as priests. But they were more like tradesmen, specializing in the secret and dangerous powers of the world.
In ancient Inuit thinking, will is the wellspring of action, the means by which all things occur. The combination of intent and expression could warp reality to make it reflect the mind of an individual. That which was concrete, or corporeal, was most difficult to influence, while that which was ethereal (such as spirit) was more fluid and could be influenced with an errant thought or word. For this reason, an Inuk was very careful not to speak of angakkuit practices - and thus of the unseen powers dealt with by angakkuit - lest idle chatter attract such forces and bring their possibly malign influence to bear.
These days, Inuit elders are becoming less reticent to discuss shamanism. Perhaps they feel increasingly alarmed as they see their traditions eroding before their eyes, inspiring a sort of desperation, a hitherto nonexistent willingness to break the code of silence. It is better, some elders seem to feel, to talk about a secret tradition rather than lose it altogether....cont'd
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411127
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