Mary Magdalene as Shamaness (satire)

In Japan's ancient past, broken dolls representing an unknown fertility goddess are found in certain burial mounds.

This is also symbolic of female initiates in a shaman priestess cult: the broken dolls represent the psychotic break during initiation when initiates see visions.

Thus, it validates the connection between what is miscalled madness and shamanic initiation.

Indeed, some of the mad may be potential shamans who have lost touch with their ancient culture. With our drive to only produce productive members of society, we have stigmatized people needlessly.

Having said this, the story of Mary Magdalene might be the story of a shaman-priestess.

How so? Mary Magdalena might have been a priestess of Inanna.

With the help of God, Mary was healed by the Anointed One, and was supposedly worshipped by angels and celestial beings. This broke the mirror with which she viewed the world. Then she visited the psychic underworld of her mind, and returned healed.

This is not unlike the inner journey all women go through during their lives.

Certain aspects of madness such as mania, psychosis, hallucinations, and so on are a natural part of each of our lives. Indeed, we are all blessed with a spiritual side to our whole being when we are receptive to it.

If we only reflected on it to aid our spiritual journey through life, then much in our lives could be healed that remains unhealed because we have had the instruction thrown away by fearful Christians and misguided public health officials.

Thus, Mary's story is the story of all women. We only need look at it closely to see features of it in our own individual lives.

In my opinion, madness is a fact of life, and its stigma as "mental illness" ought to be removed by normalizing the use of the terms which have been used negatively, and thus use them for the benefit of society. Mild forms of madness ought to be put to good use before the misguided in society mistreat the mad.

I call upon people to treat the mad with kindness and respect.

For the days of shamans is over, and all that is left to do in life is to dance and sing for the greater glory of the divine and all that is holy.

---

Originally posted May 14, 2005 at 9:37 PM

Reference:

The Descent of Inanna: A Myth for our Times: http://storytreeaustralia.blogspot.ca/p/the-exultant-myth-cycle-of-sumerian.html

The Mastery of the Broken Clay Dolls: https://heritageofjapan.wordpress.com/just-what-was-so-amazing-about-jomon-japan/ways-of-the-jomon-world-2/jomon-crafts-and-what-they-were-for/the-mystery-of-the-clay-dolls/

Why the 3rd World is Fighting Modernization

1. The assumptions of the pioneers of scientific psychiatry about the negative influences of modern western civilization on mental health were not unfounded;
2. Rapid Westernizing modernization of tradition-directed societies has been shown to have pathogenic effects on social and mental functioning, and these pathogenic effects are especially deleterious for tribal societies.
3. The further exploration and identification of the psychiatric sequelae of rapid sociocultural change and the working out of preventive measures are today among the
   greatest challenges confronting transcultural psychiatry.
-- http://www.mentalhealth.com/newslet/tp9901.html

It is these three factors which have had Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and much of the 3rd World wonder if Americanization is worth the suffering.

For people not currently treated for mental illness but treated within the socio-cultural framework (via shamans and medicine men) are able to be integrated back into society, either due to remission of their transient psychoses or initiation into the magico-religious setting to replace the shaman they were "cured" by.

Yet it is the fear of psychosis felt by society which stigmatizes the mentally ill regardless of culture.

The true fear of undeveloped nations is that rapid urbanization would overwhelm the often underfunded and underdeveloped health-care system.

As well, the replacement of shamans and medicine men with psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers would imply that the ancient healers would become marginalized and not integrated into the urban landscape as a vital link to the nation's cultural traditions at first.

However, Africa seems ripe to have a civilized African be both priest and shaman, doctor and medicine man.

Indeed, it is possible to integrate cultural tradition with Westernized medicine, so that no loss of cultural tradition is incurred.

Let's hope that America does not force a loss of tradition in the new nations born in the ashes of Yugoslavia.

Let's also hope that both Afghanistan and Iraq manage to retain the best that is of imams and of psychiatrists to take care of the shell-shocked.

And let us hope that the Wahabis' influence dies so that the most enlightened of Islam revives the equality of men and women in their rich culture.