o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e

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Remarks on Shamanism
Irom Discussion ol . Cheston Morris' Address |'The Relation ol the Pentaonal Do-decahedron
Iound near Marietta, Ohio, to Shamanism'| and Remarks on Shamanism, ProceeJins o| i|e
Americon P|i|osop|ico| Sociei, 6 (8qy). 8-qa.
THE account Dr. Morris has iven us as to what Mr. Williams related to him concernin the lile
ol an Indian youth ol the Nez Perc trihe has interested me exceedinly hy reason ol its strikin
similarity to what I have mysell heard, seen, and experienced amon the Zuni Puehlo Indians ol
New Mexico.
With these people, a child is not thouht ol, when lirst horn, as quite yet a livin mortal hein. It
is relerred to as it or the new hein, nor is any name iven to it until alter the lapse ol nine
days. It is supposed to he Ioi',vno and oi',ovwi--unripe and tender, or solt and susceptihle as
are erminatin seeds or unlinished clay vessels, until alter one lull day lor each ol the lunar
months ol its inter-uterine estation has passed. Durin this period ol nine days it is usually kept
with its mother, secluded lrom the outer world and lrom sunliht, in order that it may radually
hecome hardened to, and so, sale in the world ol dayliht--as these people term the scene and
condition ol mortal lile-that is, condensed to middle hein--as they lurther term men's
particular mortal existence.
At the close ol this ceremonial period the umhilical cord, which has meanwhile slouhed oll or
has heen removed and zealously cared lor, is ceremoniously huried in the soil at some particular
place, in order that thereat may he lormed the midmost shrine ol the child, and therein its
connection with the earth mother-as lormerly with its mortal mother-may he estahlished, and
that its vitality apart lrom her thencelorward, he maintained--hy thus placin within the lertile
hosom ol the Universal Mother, that throuh which erstwhile the child received separately, or
secondarily, its hein, nourishment and rowth, lrom its human mother.
Passin over many other ceremonials which attend the lirst namin ol the child and its
introduction to the Sun and to the trihe ol its descent on the early mornin ol the tenth day (that
is, at the end ol these nine natal days), a lew words relative to the meanin ol the midmost
shrine will serve to indicate what would likely he the symholic sinilicance to a people like the
Nez Perc and the Zuni Indians, ol such an ohject (whether natural or artilicial) as the one to
which Dr. Morris has called our attention.
He has quite accurately stated, in the theory he has advanced reardin this ohject, the view one
ol these Indians would hold, as to the meanin ol the nvmber ol its sides or laces and itsell. To
one ol them, a cuhe would not he representative ol six, its numher ol superlices, hut ol seven,
and a dodecahedron, not ol twelve, hut ol i|irieen. Ior, when an untutored or primitive man like
him contemplates or considers himsell or any other distinct thin, in his or its relation to space or
the surroundin directions, he notes that there is ever a lront or lace, a rear or hack, two sides, or
a riht and a lelt, a head and a loot, or an ahove and a helow, and that ol and within all these, is
himsell or it, that the essence ol all these aspects, in anythin, is the thin-itsell--that is, the thin
that contains their numhers or sum, yet is one hy itsell
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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This is indeed the very key to his conception ol himsell and ol everythin, in relation to space
and the universe or cosmos. He ohserves that there are as many reions in the world as there are
aspects ol himsell or sides to any equally separate thin, that there are as many directions lrom
him or his place in the world (which is his midmost or place ol attachment to the Earth-
mother) or lrom anythin in the world (which is its midmost or natural station) toward these
correspondin reions. Hence to him a plane would he symholized not hy lour, hut hy |ive, its
lour sides and directions thence, and its central sell-as was actually the notion ol the Prairie trihes,
a cuhe, not hy six, hut hy seven, as was the notion ol the Valley-Puehlos and Navajos, a
dodecahedron, not hy twelve, hut hy thirteen, as was the notion ol the Zunis, the Aztecs, the
Mayas, and apparently--lrom this example--ol the Mound huilders as well.
With all that I have thus lar said, I cannot yet have made clear to you the relation this supposed
connection ol heins and thins to their surroundins, to the reions in lront, hehind, at the riht
and lelt sides, and ahove, helow and within them, can have to the suhject under discussion. It will
therelore he necessary lor me to crave your patience while I enter a little more lully into a
consideration ol the heliels ol primitive man concernin |orce, |i|e, and |orm, lor it will he seen
that these heliels have a direct hearin on this apparently lantastic and mystic meanin ol the
numhers seven and i|irieen.
To the primitive Shaman, all lorce necessarily seems to he derived lrom some kind ol lile, since
he continually sees lorce as motion or stress oriinated in, or initiated as action hy, lile in some
lorm--his own, or some other. Now the supreme characteristic or concomitant ol his own or ol
any other lorm ol lile, is hreath, which like lorce or stress, is invisihle, hence he reasons that lorce
is hreath, and conversely that hreath is the lorce ol lile. He sees that this hreath enters into and
issues lrom every livin hein, and since every such hein has distinctive lorm, he lurther reasons
that every separate lorm, whether animate in our sense or not, has lile ol some kind or deree. He
has, lor example, no knowlede ol air--as a as--no knowlede ol it other than as wind, and no
conception ol wind other than as hreath, as the sort ol somethin that he leels when he hlows
upon his hand and knows ahsolutely that he or his own hreath is hlowin, and that this hreath it
is that is coexistent with his mortal existence.
Therelore, he thinks not only ol all lorms as livin, hut also ol the wind as necessarily the hreath
ol some livin lorm or hein. And since his own little hreath is so intimately ol himsell, he
naturally imaines that this other reater hreath must needs he as intimately that ol some other
and correspondinly reater and more powerlul--what thouh invisihle--hein. He also imaines
that this reat hein ol the wind resides in the direction whence comes prevailinly its wind or its
hreath. Now when he ohserves that there are prevailin or distinctive winds ol the diverse
directions,--that ol the north which hlows hardest ol them all and chielly in winter, that ol the
west which hlows more temperately and chielly in sprin time, that ol the south, which hlows
soltly and most lrequently in summer, that ol the east, which is aain more lierce and chilly, and
hlows mostly in autumn, he not only severally locates these winds in their various quarters, hut
also dillerentiates them, and helieves that the wind-hein ol the north produces cold and winter,
ol the west, moisture and sprin, ol the south, warmth, dryness and summer, ol the east, coolness
aain, lrost, and therewith the ain or maturin ol all rowin thins, and autumn. And so to him
the element ol the north world is wind (or air, hreath) preminently, ol the west world, water, ol
the south world, lire, and ol the east world, earth or its seeds, and that each ol these elements is
produced hy or is under the dominion ol the special wind-od ol its quarter, yet all comhine, in
the reular succession ol the seasons, to make this World ol the Middle what it is lrom year to
year . . . .
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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Now since the various animals are supposed, accordin to their kinds, to he especially resident in
one reion or another, not only is there attrihuted to the Great Bein or God ol Wind in a
particular reion, a lorm more or less like to that ol his supposed kind ol animal therein, hut also,
the clans are oranized with relerence, in turn, to the supposed relation ol their totems to these
various animals and animistic or mythic heins ol the special reions. And so, when, lor example,
a name is to he conlerred upon a child ol one ol these totems, some process ol divination must he
entered into to determine what shall he his relation to the creatures and the deilic hein ol one
reion or another, and correspondinly, ol course, to his lellows amon the clans. Ior it is held to
he essential that this sacred relationship he symholized, in some way or another, in the choice ol
his totemic name, and thus--as well as lor many reasons into a consideration ol which I cannot
enter here--must he divined. Now in this process ol divination, various instrumentalities are
employed. Ior example, amon the Zunis, wands painted in diverse colors--each color hein
symholic ol a special reion and plumed with appropriate hird leathers--are sometimes set up in
halls ol clay, each placed out on the lloor in the direction ol the reion to which the color ol its
wand relates it. Then it is noted which ol the plumes waves most actively in any wind (or hreath)
that may he stirrin. Irom this, the spiritual relation, so to say, or the source or totemic oriin ol
the child is divined, and he will he named, and to a certain extent the course ol his lile will he
determined upon accordin to this divination. Ior example, the Zuni totem ods ol the several
reions are. the Gray Woll lor the East or Dawn-Land, the Mountain Lion or Puma lor the North
or lierce Winter-Land, the Black Bear lor the Land ol the West or Niht, the sun-lovin Bader
lor the South or Summer-Land, the Eale lor the Sky and Liht, and the Burrowin Mole lor the
Under-Land and Darkness. Let us suppose that the plume on the white wand--the one that is set
up toward the east--waves most actively, then, what thouh the child helon to a clan or totem
ol one ol the other reions, he will nevertheless he rearded as spiriivo||, related to the Gray
Woll ol Dawn, and it will he helieved hy his lellows-and with their heliel he will himsell
hecome, as he rows toward puherty, more and more impressed--that he is destined lor
memhership in the sacred oranization or Shamanistic Society or Lode ol the Medicine-men ol
the East, or ol the Woll deity. Now when the ae ol puherty is attained, and the hoy is to he
solemnly invested with the arment or clout and the responsihilities ol manhood, he is . . .
required to pass throuh various ordeals, such as a period ol viorous lastin and purilication (this
hoth hy means ol emetics and puratives), and to retire to some lonely spot and there keep, day
and niht, lenthy viils, wherehy it is souht to diminish lor a time his earthly rossness, interests
and allections, to still his heart and quicken his spiritual perception and hearin ol the meanin
ol the Silent Surpassin Ones. This is in order that he may ain sin lrom or actually hehold one
ol the Beins who wield, in the reat quarters, the lorces ol nature, and who shall therealter he
his special Tomonowo or spiritual uide. It is also in order to aid him in seekin lor some
ohjective sin hy which this relationship to his Genius may he proven to himsell and made
manilest to his people. In a condition ol exaltation as he is--and I can attest to its ahsorhin
nature, throuh havin mysell endured such an ordeal--you can well understand that his
perceptions will hecome startlinly manilest in the various visions and sins he sees. These will
seem to him, I can aain personally assure you, lar more real than the most ahsolutely actual
thins he has ever heheld or experienced. Perchance he azes at the mist, or a cloud in the sky.
The cloud will surely seem to take the lorm ol a reat ray woll, and when he seeks lor some
token ol that God ol the Sky, a tooth-like lossil, a lew hairs mayhe, which he may lind on the
round nearhy or underneath the apparition, will he reverently accepted as potent amulets, and
he will hear them to the trihal Iathers or Shamans, and hy them they will he received as a sin ol
his Genius, and he will he releated to the phratral division or lode ol the Woll. Or aain, it may
he that he will lind a crystal, and hecause this crystal shines clearly and therein resemhles the liht
hy which we see and the eye throuh which we see--and hence is rearded as helplul in seein--it
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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will he rearded as a token ol seership, as a sin ol the Seein Spirit, and lortunate the youth who
is thus supposed to he endowed with the power ol penetration into the unseen. To ive yet one
more example, let us suppose that he linds a concretion exhihitin spiral or concentric lines. He
will reard this as a symhol ol the Midmost itsell, a token ol his relation thereto also--no matter
to what totem he may helon, or to what reion he may he related hy hirth. Ior the spiral lines
perceived in this crystal resemhle those ol the marks upon the sand produced hy the whirlin
ahout ol ohjects like red-topped rass hy the whirlwind, yet which are rearded as the tracks ol
the whirlwind od, whose hreath is the midmost ol all the winds ol the world.
Permit me to here ive parenthetically a strikin illustration ol the way in which these primitive
Shamans personily phenomena ol nature, hy instancin their personilication ol this od ol the
whirlwind. Ol all the winds ol heaven, the whirlwind alone is upriht--proresses as man does, hy
walkin over the plains. The whirlwind od is therelore endowed in part, with the personality ol
a man, hut like the eale, also, the whirlwind llies alolt and circles widely in the sky, therelore he
is endowed with the wins and tail, the head, heak and talons ol an eale. Since the sand which
he, the whirlwind, casts ahout pricks the lace as would minute arrows, the dreadlul wins ol the
od are supposed to he llinty, and his character warlike or destructive, as is that ol the eale, yet
ol all the Beins ol Wind, he is the most potent, lor he twists ahout or hanishes utterly lrom his
trail, either the north wind or the south, the east wind or the west, and overcomes even ravity--
the pullin-hreath ol the earth or under world--and therelore is the od ol the midmost amon all
the six ods ol wind. Thus, lucky in a purely practical way, is he who linds under iven
auspicious circumstances, his name-token in the shape ol a little concentric concretion, lor he
will he in the line ol ordination therehy, to the Central Council or Priesthood ol his people. . . .
Now I have one a lon way around the suhject in hand, in order to measurahly suhstantiate my
reasons lor thinkin that Dr. Morris is correct in his hypothesis as to the sacred and symholic
character and oriin ol the pentaonal dodecahedron which he has exhihited and commented
upon here to-niht. A liure even as elahorate and dillicult ol production in stone as is this, could
readily have heen lormed hy Indian artisans. Its shape miht have heen suested in the process,
perlectly lamiliar to them, ol knappin a hlock or cuhe ol stone, and alterwards hreakin away its
anles hy hatterin, to lorm a sphere, or, hetter still, hy the shapes ol halls ol clay--naturally
lormed round in the hands--and used as hy the Zunis in their processes ol name-divination just
descrihed, or aain, hy the shapes ol pentaonal or other like--ever sacred--crystals. The
scratchins or liures ohserved upon the various laces ol this stone are quite such as miht well
have heen drawn to dillerentiate them as hein related to one reion or another, and in all
prohahility the liures thus scratched were lurther marked with piments symholic ol the
dillerent reions, when this stone was used in such processes ol divination. Close ohservation ol
the more distinct lines ol these liures on the laces ol the stone, shows that they were made hy a
llint point, not a metal instrument, lor they are douhle,--that is within each one is a minute head
such as would he produced hy the lracturin ol a line point ol llint or other hard concoidal stone
when drawn over the surlace ol another stone like this,--and not simply V-shaped as would have
heen the case had a metal instrument heen used.
Some question may arise in the minds ol those who have listened to Dr. Morris' paper, and to my
comments thereon, as to the meanin ol the twelve laces in this particular specimen, since, as I
have explained there are only six reions, the north, west, south, east, upper and lower, that the
midmost is at once surrounded hy and contains within, itsell. But I lailed to say earlier and in the
proper connection, that to the primitive-minded man, as there is no lorm without lile, so there is
no lile-lorm, without due duality ol oriin--the lather and the mother. Consequently we lind that
o||cctloa o[ _acec _aglcs v vv vv v, , s s a ac c e e c c - -m ma ag g l l c c s s, , c c o om m _ _ c c ) )s s o o t t c c e e l l c c j jl l o o e e a ae e
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in relation to all thins, (with trihes ol primitive peoples like the Zunis ol to-day, and like the
mound huilders ol lon ao, who possessed and reverenced this ohject), the sexenary division is
duplicated, hut since there can he only one middle or content, the sexenary division is with them
symholized hy the numher seven, and when duplicated, we have, not lourteen, hut thirteen, that
is, six pairs which are visihle, hut only one lor the concentric or synthetic middle, since there can
he hut one actual centre or middle to anythin, even to the reat world.