Shamanic origins of religion and medicine.

Abstract

When we mention "the world's second oldest profession," everyone understands immediately the ladies to whom we refer. But when we speak of "the world's oldest profession," these individuals are not so immediately identified. The world's oldest profession is that of the shaman or first professional, the shaman is ancestor not only to both the modern medicine man or doctor and the religionis priest or divine, but also ancestor in direct lineage to a host of other professional types. It would seem odd that both the doctor, the most secular-minded, and the divine, the most sacred-minded of modern helpers of people, should derive from the same source. But we can readily understand the seeming paradox when we recognize the basic nature and function of the primitive medicine man of shaman.