Jungian shamanism.

Shamanism is typically defined by five features: a call via illness or accident, a method for entering altered states of consciousness, the quality of those states, a healing process, and psychic feats. The life and work of Carl Jung exemplified all five, including childhood dreams and waking fantasies, active imagination for inducing altered states, contact with unconscious forces and archetypes, a dual personality, dialogue with the inner world, use of these discoveries for healing, and reported psychic abilities like clairvoyance and out-of-body experiences.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The literature on shamanism generally describes a specially gifted individual who is able to contact and communicate with a realm where spirit beings offer wisdom and help, and who actively transmits this knowledge to others. There seem to be approximately five features that define shamanism: the necessity of a "call"--an illness or accident that signifies the necessity of the individual to work with the spirits; the method used to achieve communion with the altered state of reality; the quality of the altered state of consciousness (ASC); the process of healing that is utilized; and the psychic feats that distinguish the abilities of a shaman. Carl Jung displayed all five of these features in his life and psychotherapy, including dreams and waking fantasies in childhood; the use of active imagination in the induction of an ASC; contact with forces, knowledge, and power of the unconscious; a dual "personality," and the dialogue with the inner world--the unconscious, the realm of the archetypes; the use of these discoveries to counsel, advise, and heal; and psychic abilities, such as clairvoyance and out-of-body experiences.