Shamanism & Theater
(Workshop at Łaźnia Nowa Theatre)
Is it only a placebo effect or theater?
“Oh, it is just hocus pocus or theater, a Placebo Effect just give me a pill and that’s that,” I was told many times by scientific, skeptic minded people from all walks of life. Implying that shamanic healing has no real curing and healing value. “What’s wrong with that?” I always reply. Scientific research proved again and again that the results were the same when half a test group was given sugar pills and half Aspirin pills, unbeknown to them. So why take a chemical if your mind can heal your body and emotions? Both, the shaman and the western doctor use theatrical effects to gain their clients trust and confidence. Think of it, both practitioners wear special attire, set up a special environment, perform rituals and create ceremonies. I believe that rituals, ceremonies and storytelling of all indigenous shamanic traditions are the foundation and inspiration for what we call theater and are used essentially as a tool for a large-scale community healing. I had a great example of it when I witness it first hand in Guatemala in Chichicastanego during the December 21, 2012 new 13th Baktun ceremonies, which my friend Tucker Robbins invited me as a consultant as part of a film crew documenting it on the invitation of the Queche’s spiritual leader Don Tomas who we hosted in New York a few months earlier. The stage was set in the middle of that large town square bounded by two old churches on both sides, built over ancient Mayan Sun and Moon temples. For twenty-four hours, groups of Queche Mayan shamans, children, men and women dressed in their best traditional colorful ceremonial clothing brought to life their twenty Naguals stories and shared the tribe’s heritage and wisdom. It was one of the most moving experiences I ever witnessed, one, which enabled me to enter into pure infinite dreamlike world, transcending limitations of time and space.
I stood there quietly and in awe, In the midst of large circles of hundreds of local and some tourists. It was two in the morning, at the last ceremony before the new Baktun begins at sunrise. In the background the voice of the master of ceremony came strong through the many loudspeakers as he was narrating the ceremony and engaging the audience with their creation story and teaching. All the while the hypnotic marimba xylophone rhythm helped us all enter into a trance. Heavy clouds of thick smoke covered the entire square, rising from the multi color candles and copal balls that were put into the five bonfires. The strong distinguish scent of the copal filled the chilly air and our nostrils. Moving rhythmically in circles some of the participants offered the raging fires devotional prayers and asked personal questions. They stopped, looked into the flames patterns, colors, and directions and waited for answers. Others moved from one fire to the 21 next to feed and stoke them to keep them alive. Dancers wearing animals and deity masks brought them into life as they shapeshifted into them with great agility from one side to the other of the square. There were a few moments that time truly stopped and I found myself transported into an infinite mystical reality. The young and old audience seemed wholly immersed in the unfolding saga as they followed the teaching, gaining knowledge of their calendar, deities and heritage. They also I sensed gained affirmation in their tradition, pride in who they are and strengthening their self-identity. As the sun rose in the east above the town’s cemetery, the ceremony ended. The big crowd started marching down the hill and then climbing up into the cemetery. As they passed between the graves they paid respect to their ancestors on the way to the first ceremony of welcoming the new Baktun. Truly a mesmerizing collective healing materialized.
There is plenty of scientific research today that proves without doubt that the mind, body and spirit connection is responsible for creating demonstrable physical changes in our physical and emotion bodies, on the cellular and hormonal level for humans and perhaps animals and plants too.
Both the shamanic and theater practices aspire to circumvent our skeptical, cynical and critical logical mind–our Gatekeeper–by creating a sacred non-ordinary space and reality in which physical life and belief system can be challenged and transcended. And they successfully achieve it through the use of emotional, non-verbal, symbols and sensual engaging narrative. Their storytelling are helped by special effects, lightning, and enticing décor arrangements. They use the voice, songs and instrumental sounds. In both the main characters are hiding themselves behind animal or human masks, or paint their faces while wearing special wardrobe. It enables us to challenge and transcend our limiting physical world and belief system and enter us into a time and space where everything is possible. Dream a different life dream and create magical transformation, as it a liven all our senses to response, including that mysterious “sixth sense’ of vision and knowing.
Is it only a placebo effect or theater?
“Oh, it is just hocus pocus or theater, a Placebo Effect just give me a pill and that’s that,” I was told many times by scientific, skeptic minded people from all walks of life. Implying that shamanic healing has no real curing and healing value. “What’s wrong with that?” I always reply. Scientific research proved again and again that the results were the same when half a test group was given sugar pills and half Aspirin pills, unbeknown to them. So why take a chemical if your mind can heal your body and emotions? Both, the shaman and the western doctor use theatrical effects to gain their clients trust and confidence. Think of it, both practitioners wear special attire, set up a special environment, perform rituals and create ceremonies. I believe that rituals, ceremonies and storytelling of all indigenous shamanic traditions are the foundation and inspiration for what we call theater and are used essentially as a tool for a large-scale community healing. I had a great example of it when I witness it first hand in Guatemala in Chichicastanego during the December 21, 2012 new 13th Baktun ceremonies, which my friend Tucker Robbins invited me as a consultant as part of a film crew documenting it on the invitation of the Queche’s spiritual leader Don Tomas who we hosted in New York a few months earlier. The stage was set in the middle of that large town square bounded by two old churches on both sides, built over ancient Mayan Sun and Moon temples. For twenty-four hours, groups of Queche Mayan shamans, children, men and women dressed in their best traditional colorful ceremonial clothing brought to life their twenty Naguals stories and shared the tribe’s heritage and wisdom. It was one of the most moving experiences I ever witnessed, one, which enabled me to enter into pure infinite dreamlike world, transcending limitations of time and space.
I stood there quietly and in awe, In the midst of large circles of hundreds of local and some tourists. It was two in the morning, at the last ceremony before the new Baktun begins at sunrise. In the background the voice of the master of ceremony came strong through the many loudspeakers as he was narrating the ceremony and engaging the audience with their creation story and teaching. All the while the hypnotic marimba xylophone rhythm helped us all enter into a trance. Heavy clouds of thick smoke covered the entire square, rising from the multi color candles and copal balls that were put into the five bonfires. The strong distinguish scent of the copal filled the chilly air and our nostrils. Moving rhythmically in circles some of the participants offered the raging fires devotional prayers and asked personal questions. They stopped, looked into the flames patterns, colors, and directions and waited for answers. Others moved from one fire to the 21 next to feed and stoke them to keep them alive. Dancers wearing animals and deity masks brought them into life as they shapeshifted into them with great agility from one side to the other of the square. There were a few moments that time truly stopped and I found myself transported into an infinite mystical reality. The young and old audience seemed wholly immersed in the unfolding saga as they followed the teaching, gaining knowledge of their calendar, deities and heritage. They also I sensed gained affirmation in their tradition, pride in who they are and strengthening their self-identity. As the sun rose in the east above the town’s cemetery, the ceremony ended. The big crowd started marching down the hill and then climbing up into the cemetery. As they passed between the graves they paid respect to their ancestors on the way to the first ceremony of welcoming the new Baktun. Truly a mesmerizing collective healing materialized.
There is plenty of scientific research today that proves without doubt that the mind, body and spirit connection is responsible for creating demonstrable physical changes in our physical and emotion bodies, on the cellular and hormonal level for humans and perhaps animals and plants too.
Both the shamanic and theater practices aspire to circumvent our skeptical, cynical and critical logical mind–our Gatekeeper–by creating a sacred non-ordinary space and reality in which physical life and belief system can be challenged and transcended. And they successfully achieve it through the use of emotional, non-verbal, symbols and sensual engaging narrative. Their storytelling are helped by special effects, lightning, and enticing décor arrangements. They use the voice, songs and instrumental sounds. In both the main characters are hiding themselves behind animal or human masks, or paint their faces while wearing special wardrobe. It enables us to challenge and transcend our limiting physical world and belief system and enter us into a time and space where everything is possible. Dream a different life dream and create magical transformation, as it a liven all our senses to response, including that mysterious “sixth sense’ of vision and knowing.