(THOSE PESKY INTRUSIONS)

Illness from the shamanic perspective has a limited number of causes. An individual may lose their spirit guardian or power animal, one or more of their souls may be lost or stolen, or there may be a foreign object in the body. In the case of soul loss, the shaman undergoes a journey to the realm of the spirits to fight for the soul and bring it back. Intrusions require a different technique, one that is widely used in shamanic communities throughout the world including North and South America, Australia and Siberia.

There are a few ways intrusions can enter a body. They may be placed there by spirits or 'shot in' by sorcerers. Sometimes without knowing it we harm others with our outbursts of anger or powerful negative thoughts. According to Harner (1980), "Power intrusions, like communicable diseases, seem to occur most frequently in urban areas where human populations are the most dense." Illness due to an intrusion is manifested by symptoms such as localized pain, discomfort and/or fever. Both the ordinary and non-ordinary aspects of the intrusion need to be treated. For example, in addition to shamanic treatment, antibiotics may be required to fight the infection.

From the point of view of the onlookers, extraction is one of the most glamorous and theatrical aspects of a shaman's practice. From the shaman's perspective this work is dangerous and physically demanding. First the shaman must locate the harmful, intrusive powers within the patient. He may use an entheogenic substance like 'ayahuasca' to see into the patient. Alternatively, in a shamanic state of consciousness, she may pass her hand or a feather over the patient's body attempting to discover any special sensation of heat, energy or vibration coming from a localized point in the body. Once that place is located, the intrusion can be removed.

Among the Jivaro and Conibo peoples of the Amazon, the healing shaman must see the intruding non ordinary entity within the patient's body clearly enough to determine whether he possesses the appropriate spirit helper to extract it by sucking. (Harner, 1980) The shaman rallies forth her spirit helpers to assist in performing the extraction. She sucks on the area of the body which has previously been identified as housing the foreign object causing the illness. In sucking she 'traps' the intrusion in her mouth and spits the object out. The shaman must take great care not to swallow the object or she may suffer the same illness as the patient. However in Peru for example, the shaman deliberately swallows the object in order to develop immunity to the illness and become more powerful. Rather like an immunization. The intrusion may take any number of forms including that of an insect, a piece of rope, feathers or hair.

In treating illness, shamanic extraction is not a substitute for allopathic medicine and should be used as an adjunct to a western orthodox approach. Shamans everywhere are concerned with the spiritual aspects of illness and disease.