Natufian Culture

Dr. Alice C. Linsley

Over a million years ago elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, water buffaloes and lions roamed the Judean Hills around Jerusalem. Remains of some of these animals have been found in Bethlehem, less than 5 miles from Jerusalem. The bones date to between 1.4-1.8 million years. The butchered remains of some of these animals are the earliest signs of humans living near Jerusalem.

A small Natufian sculpture (the Ain Sakhri Lovers) representing sexual intercourse was found in a cave near Bethlehem. The artifact dates to 9,000 years. Bethlehem has a long association with the biblical Horite Hebrew. Hur is said to be a "father" of Bethlehem. Salmon, a son of Hur (Hor), is called a "father of Bethlehem" in 1 Chronicles 2:54. 

Natufian territory

The British archaeologist Dorothy Gerrod coined the term "Natufian" while studying remains from the Shuqba cave at Wadi an-Natuf in Palestine. The term is derived from the place, but Natufian ceramics and stonework have been found in many locations ranging from Turkey to the Sinai.

The Natufians are an early biblical population. Their area included parts of Western Egypt (Fayoum Oasis), Palestine (especially around Mount Carmel), Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon between 15,000 and 9,000 years ago. Natufian territory is in the heartland of biblical Eden which extended from the Upper Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, according to Genesis 2:10-14.

When the Natufians lived in the Levant it received sufficient precipitation to sustain crops and orchards. Their diet consisted of meat, plants and fruits. They cultivated cereals which they harvested with sickle blades. Sickle blades are present at many sites within the Natufian heartland.

A human was buried with a juvenile dog at the Natufian site of Ein Mallaha (Davis and Valla, 1978; Tchernov and Valla, 1997). This is one of a relatively small number of Mesolithic burial sites indicating a close relationship between a human and a canine.

During the African Humid Period, the whole region from the Nile to the Jordan was wetter. There were abundant wadis, salt marshes, and swamps. This explains the abundance of tortoise shells found at Natufian burial sites.

The Natufians were baking bread 14,500 years ago. The bread was made from wild cereals such as barley, einkorn or oats, and tubers from an aquatic papyrus relative. These were ground into flour and baked in round fire pits made from flat basalt stones located in the middle of huts.

British Archaeologist, Graeme Barker, notes "the similarities in the respective archaeological records of the Natufian culture of the Levant and of contemporary foragers in coastal North Africa across the late Pleistocene and early Holocene boundary."[1]

Harvard Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology, Ofer Bar-Yosef, notes that microlithic forms such as arched backed bladelets and La Mouillah points, as well as the parthenocarpic figs found in Natufian territory, originated in the Sudan.[2]

The Natufians practiced the ritual removal of teeth, a trait of Nilotic peoples. Among the Nilotic Luo initiation involves the removal of six front teeth using the tip of a spear. This practice, called naak persists in some Luo clans, especially in Africanized Churches in Luoland, such as the Legio Maria sect. The Luo recognize “Kar-nak” to mean place of rituals.

It appears that the Natufians were originally a Nilotic people. This is further suggested by the fact that Natufian physiology indicates a Mediterranean type with negroid affinities. (See Marcellin Boule, Henri Vallois, and René Verneau, Les Grottes Palaeolithiques de Beni Séghoual, pp. 212—214.) [3]

Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA, Christopher Ehret, notes that the intensive use of plants among the Natufians was first found in Africa, as a precursor to the development of farming in the Fertile Crescent.[4]

Is there a relationship between the Natufians and the early Hebrew?

Bethlehem is associated with the Horite Hebrew in I Chronicles 4:4 which names Hur (Hor) as the "father of Bethlehem." Rahab of Jericho was the wife of Salmon, the son of Hur (Horite). Salmon is called the "father of Bethlehem" in 1 Chronicles 2:54. Rahab was the grandmother of Boaz who married Ruth. Salmon is a Horite name associated with Bethlehem in 1 Chronicles 2:51.

The Horite Hebrew were a caste of ruler-priests who were devotees of Horus and his mother Hathor. The oldest known Horite shrine city is Nekhen on the Nile and dates to 4000 B.C. The votive offerings there are ten times larger than those found elsewhere, attesting to the prestige of the shrine.

The prominence of the Horites is attested in Genesis 36 which gives the ruling line of Seir the Horite Hebrew. These people have been recognized as Abraham's kin, and the marriage and ascendancy pattern of the Horites of Seir is identical to the pattern of Abraham's Nilo-Saharan ancestors.

Decorated ostrich-egg vessels and ostrich shell beads have been found at Natufian sites and burial grounds. In ancient Kush, painted ostrich eggs were placed in the graves of children, symbolizing the hope of life after death.

Archaeologists working at Hilazon Tachtit, near the Sea of Galilee, believe that a Natufian woman buried there was a shaman. Here is the pertinent section of their report:

The goods accompanying the burial are also typical of shaman burials. Tortoises, cow tails, eagle wings, and fur-bearing animals continue to play important symbolic and shamanistic roles in the spiritual arena of human cultures worldwide today [e.g., (28)]. It seems that the woman in the Natufian burial was perceived as being in a close relationship with these animal spirits. Shamans are universally recorded cross-culturally, in hunter gatherer groups and small-scale agricultural societies (25). Nevertheless, they have rarely been documented in the archaeological record [but see (29)], and none have been reported from the Paleolithic of Southwest Asia. Perhaps, it is not surprising if clear evidence for a shaman comes from the Natufian, as the profound social and economic changes associated with the transition to agriculture [the Neolithization process (6)] surfaced during the Natufian and undoubtedly entailed equally substantial ideological changes (30, 31, 32). Whether the changes in the spiritual outlook preceded and triggered the economic changes (33) or vice versa, an inseparable interplay is clearly observed between ideological and socioeconomic change across the forager-to-farmer transition. The unique grave at Hilazon Tachtit Cave provides us with rare concrete evidence for those processes in their initial stages at the termination of the Paleolithic on the eve of the Neolithic transformation. (From here.)

The report assumes that the buried women held a shamanic worldview but makes no specific connections to shamanic practices. Shamanic practice involves mediation between the spirits of dead ancestors and the community. However, ancestor veneration, fetishes, and burial of animals also characterizes burials among populations that had priests. The offices of priest and shaman represent distinct and contradictory worldviews. Communication with spirits is a common practice among shamans. That practice was forbidden to priests, whose role was to mediate between the community and the Creator God.

If the Natufians moved into Galilee from the Nile Valley, it is likely that they had priests since that office originates in the Nile region. The practices associated with the priesthood of the ancient Hebrew include animal sacrifice, circumcision, concern about ritual purity, sacred moral codes, etc. 

It is interesting to note that the animals buried with the Natufian woman are mentioned in the book of Job and the genealogical information in the Bible reveals that Job was a Horite Hebrew. This woman's burial indicates that she was of high rank among her people. However, we should not assume that she was a shaman when the symbolism of the animals found in her grave is easily explained in the context of the religious beliefs of the Upper Nile. These animals were sacred to the ancient Nubians and Kushites who had priests, not shamans.

The two birds, which appear to be released from the woman's hand, likely represent the binary worldview of Abraham's ancestors and remind us of the two birds released by Noah. The leopard’s skin designated royalty and was worn over the shoulders by Kushite and Nilo-Saharan ruler-priests, with the paws crossed over the breast. The cow was the totem of the celestial mother who was called Hathor, the mother of Horus. Hathor's veneration spread throughout the ancient world with the dispersion of the Horite and Sethite Hebrew priests, her devotees.


Related reading: Natufian Burial Site in Galilee; World's Oldest Bread Found in Jordan; Shamanic Practice and the Priesthood; Boats and Cows of the Proto-Saharans


NOTES

1. Barker G, Transitions to farming and pastoralism in North Africa, in Bellwood P, Renfrew C (2002), Examining the Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis, pp. 151–161.

2. Bar-Yosef  O., Pleistocene connections between Africa and South West Asia: an archaeological perspective. The African Archaeological Review; Chapter 5, pp. 29-38; Kislev ME, Hartmann A, Bar-Yosef O, Early domesticated fig in the Jordan Valley. Nature 312:1372–1374.

3. The French School of Anthropology developed under the influence of Paul Broca. Boule studied the Peking Man fossils. Henri Vallois served as Chair of the Museum of Natural History in Paris from 1960 to 1967, and René Verneau studied paleolithic rock paintings in North Africa.

4. Ehret (2002) The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia

An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 3

 

A Burmese python, marked with gold paint, lives in a Snake Temple. 

Photo by Nicole Tu-Maung, 2018.

Alice C. Linsley

Genesis 3:1 poses the serpent as a source of occult knowledge: "Now the serpent was more subtle than any other wild creature that God made." The early Hebrew were critical of snake veneration/worship, called "ophiolatry".

The earliest known image of a serpent was found in a cave in Botswana. This stone carving of a python (shown below) dates to 70,000 years ago and was an object of veneration. In the San mythology, humans are described as the descendants of a primeval python.

The fat of the python is used in rituals throughout Africa. The Mofu shaman (Cameroon) mixes python fat with the blood of a sacrificed animal when offering prayers for rain. Rounded rain stones are placed in a stone basin. Then dry grasses are added, followed by a handful of brilliant green python fat and then the red blood. The man mixes all together with his hands while he prays for rain. When he has finished praying, he instructs his assistant to wash the stones carefully before they are returned to their hiding place.

Serpent symbolism is found in all religious traditions. Nāga is the Sanskrit word for a deity that has the form of a large snake. Archaeologists have found evidence of snake veneration in Bronze age Canaan. They have recovered serpent cult objects at Megiddo, Gezer, Shechem, and in the inner sanctum of the Area H temple at Hazor.

From ancient times the serpent is associated with supernatural wisdom. It is regarded as having powers to communicate, to deceive, to heal, to hide, to reveal, and to protect. This is the experience of shamans whose trance states induced by hallucinogenic substances induce communication with snakes.

In his book The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge (1999), Jeremy Narby tells of his fieldwork with the Amazonian Ashaninca and Quirishari shamans who seek knowledge through use of the hallucinogen ayahuasca, derived from a serpent shaped vine (shown below). 

Plants with similar chemical properties have been found in Africa and Asia, regions of the world where serpents are believed to speak through possessed people.

The Genesis story is critical of seeking knowledge from the wrong source; of gaining knowledge by occult means. The serpent represents a subtle supernatural power which is recognized in Matthew. Jesus gathers his disciples and gives them authority over unclean spirits. He sends them out as “sheep amid wolves” and exhorts them to “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matt. 10:16)

Serpents as a threat.

Serpents were a familiar threat to humans living in the equatorial tropics. Pythons lived in the Nile River and Horned Vipers buried themselves in the desert sands. The misstep of a traveler could be fatal. Abarea, a headman of the Galla in the northeast Kenya reports in Swahili, Nyoka ni adui, meaning "the snake is the enemy." Those who gathered fruit from trees ran the risk of being bitten by tree snakes. The serpent of Genesis chapter 3 appears to be a tree snake.

His target is the Woman who is to bring forth the Seed/Son of God (Gen. 3:15). This theme is picked up in Revelation 12 where John’s vision describes the Woman fleeing to the wilderness to escape the dragon who seeks to devour her son (Rev. 12: 4-6).

 

The Serpent is cursed/de-legged (Gen. 3:14-15).

There are many utterances against serpents in the Pyramid Texts. The original or primordial serpent is called Nehebu-Kau in ancient Nilotic mythology. This image of Neheu-Kau with legs appears in connection with Utterance 87 in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.

At one time this serpent was regarded as a good assisting presence at Heliopolis in the north, but at some point, he became associated instead with Elephantine Island (Yebu) far to the south. The ancient Egyptians believed that chaos dwelt south of Elephantine Island as a great river serpent called Apep or Apophis. This serpent is depicted as the enemy of the High God. In this image Apep attacks Horus in his solar boat.

The Genesis texts make it clear that the early Hebrew rejected belief in Nehebu-Kau as a deity because he was de-legged in Genesis 3 and banished to the remote South. Further, they anticipated a woman born of their ruler-priest caste to bring forth the Son of God who would crush the serpent's head. This early Hebrew expectation was expressed in Utterance 388 of the Pyramid Texts dating to 2200 B.C. "Horus has shattered (tbb, crushed) the mouth of the serpent with the sole of his foot (tbw)".

The enemy of God faces ultimate defeat. He will bruise the foot of the Woman’s Son, but the Son will crush his head. By all appearances, Jesus fulfills of the Horite Hebrew expectation of the Divine Seed who would crush the serpent's head. 

The serpent is never God’s equal since the creature is subservient to the Creator. The protective rods of biblical rulers such as Aaron and Moses were serpents whose divine authority proved superior to that of others. When the rods/staffs of Pharoah’s magicians became serpents, Aaron’s serpent swallowed their serpents (Ex. 7:12). The budding of Aaron’s staff represents victory of life over death (Num. 17:8, cf. Heb. 9:4).

The rearing cobra (Uraeus) on the Pharoah’s crown was a symbol of his authority, but his authority was inferior to that of the High God who delivers his people and gives victory over death through his Son.

In ancient Nilotic folklore the son of God is Horus who has a staff as a sign of his authority. In the Brugsch Papyrus (1350-1200 BC) Horus takes his staff in hand and says, “Praise be to thee, thou proper staff that protects the limbs, thou staff of sacred acacia… my protection is in my hand.”

This Hindu reference describes the subjugation of the serpent.

“The Ancient Man danced on the serpent, who still spewed poison from his eyes and hissed loudly in his anger, and he trampled down with his feet whatever head the serpent raised, subduing him calmly as if he were being worshipped with flowers. Kaliya, his umbrella of hoods shattered by the gay dance of death, his limbs broken, vomiting blood copiously from his mouths, remembered the Guru of all who move and are still, the Ancient Man, Narayana, and he surrendered to him in his heart." (Srimad Bhagavatam 10:6)

The theme of subjugation is taken up in Psalm 91, another Messianic passage: "They will bear you up in their hands, that you do not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and cobra. The young lion and the serpent you will trample down."

The totem of Horus is the falcon, known among many primitive societies as the snake eater (Levi-Strauss, From Honey to Ashes, p. 352.)

In another Nilotic tale, Apophis is a giant serpent that dwells south of Elephantine Island and is believed to be the cause of chaos. He is destroyed when Ra’s cat severs his slinky body. This tale speaks of the victory of divine order over chaos and confusion.

Ultimate victory over the serpent is foreshadowed in the narrative of Moses raising the bronze serpent over the poisoned people in the wilderness (Num. 21:9). Those who looked upon it lived. In his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus refers to this story. “No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.” (John 3:13-15)

Related reading: An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 1; An Anthropologist Looks at Genesis 2; Making Kin with Serpents in Myanmar; Pythons Used for Sea Navigation

Female Shamans, Not Women Priests

C.S. Lewis the Prophet

"...I heard that the Church of England was being advised to declare women capable of Priests' Order. I am, indeed, informed that such a proposal is very unlikely to be seriously considered by the authorities. To take such a revolutionary step at the present moment, to cut ourselves off from the Christian past and to widen the divisions between ourselves and other Churches by establishing an order of priestesses in our midst, would be an almost wanton degree of imprudence. And the Church of England herself would be torn in shreds..." -- C.S. Lewis, from his essay “Priestesses in the Church?”

Alice C. Linsley

There is so much erroneous information on the subject of women priests that there is little wonder that people are confused. The latest example is Joan Breton Connelly's Portrait of a Priestess. Connelly fails to make a distinction between shamans and priests. The "priestess" of ancient Greece was a shaman, a seer, and a wise woman, but not a priest who offered blood sacrifice for atonement.

Underlying shamanism is the belief that there are powerful spirits who cause imbalance and disharmony in the world. The shaman’s role is to determine which spirits are at work in a given situation and to find ways to appease the spirits. This may or may not involve animal sacrifice.

Underlying the priesthood is belief in a single supreme Spirit to whom humans must give an accounting, especially for the shedding of blood. In this view, one Great Spirit (God) holds the world in balance and it is human actions that cause disharmony and spiritual estrangement from God. The vast assortment of ancient laws governing priestly ceremonies, sacrifices, and cleansing rituals clarifies the role of the priest as one who offers animal sacrifice according to sacred law.

Blood sacrifices were not the norm in ancient Greece. Offerings were made of wine and grain. Connelly claims that women were present at blood sacrifices but she cannot verify that they offered the sacrifice. She concedes that they may have led the bull or sheep to the priest, but then she dismisses this by saying that the one who actually wielded the knife was a butcher of low social status, not a priest. Connelly's obfuscation reveals lack of hard evidence.

The women seers of the ancient Greek and Alexandrian temples and shrines did not offer blood sacrifice. They were seers and "wise women." One example is Themistoclea, the Pythia of Apollo at the Delphi temple in the 6th century BC. She was reputed to be wise in math, natural science, medicine and philosophy. She was one of Pythagoras' teachers. Diogenes stated that "Aristoxenus asserts that Pythagoras derived the greater part of his ethical doctrines from Themistoclea, the priestess at Delphi."

Serpent pillar that originally stood in front of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

Themistoclea has a later parallel in Hypatia who was at the Temple of Serapis in Alexandria. The Church Father Tertullian wrote in AD 197 that the temple housed a great library which contained the Old Testament in Greek (Septuagint). Hypatia was the daughter of the famous mathematician Theon Alexandricus (AD 335-405). Like Themistoclea, she too was a mathematician, as well as an astronomer and philosopher. Around AD 400 she became the head of the Platonist school at Alexandria. She imparted knowledge to people from all over the world who came to Alexandria to study. One of her students, Synesius of Cyrene, became bishop of Ptolemais in AD 410. He was an exponent of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity.

These were wise women whose advice was sought when people, especially rulers, were faced with big decisions, but they were not priests. They probably offered grain and oil offerings in the temples, as did many people who were not priests: warriors, nobles, commoners with substantial resources, etc.

Hupa female shaman. Photo Edward S. Curtis, 1923

Shamans are not Priests

Women have been shamans in many cultures, but never priests. Priests offer sacrifice and never go into a trance state to communicate with spirits. Shamans and priests serve a similar role in that they are mediators between the supernatural and their communities. However, priests are forbidden to participate in divination as mediums. The roles are the same, but their worldviews are very different. Shamans seek secret knowledge to determine what has brought disease, war and natural disaster to their communities. They believe such things are due to spirits that have been offended by human actions. Those spirits must be appeased. Only one Spirit is consulted by priests, and this Spirit never lies. That is why John urges his spiritual children always to "test the spirits."

I made the acquaintance of 2 shamans (one was Umani Lenape and the other was Sioux) and I have studied this. Shamans will tell you that the spirits often lie and they have to try to trick them to find out what is true and what is false.

To illustrate the comparison of apple and oranges, I refer to a textbook used at the university where I teach World Religions. In the section on shamanism, the author generalizes that shamans are the priests of the ancient world and that since there are Japanese and Korean female shamans, there must have been female priests. This is the politically correct thing to teach, but it is based on a false premise and employs an incorrect anthropological method. Here is the author’s reasoning in syllogistic form:

All shamans are priests.
Females are shamans.
Therefore, female shamans are priests.

Besides the poor logic, we have a problem of trying to compare two worldviews that are in stark contrast. While there are ways in which shamans and priests are similar, the distinction between their worldviews and their methods is clear. While priests and shamans serve similar functions in their societies as mediators, their worldviews are very different.

Women Priests in the Church

On the question of women priests in the Anglican Communion, it is necessary to consider Scripture, Tradition and the consensus of the Church Fathers. These authorities lump the innovation of women priests with heresy and regard the innovators as divisive.

John Chrysostom has explicit direction concerning women and the priesthood: “When one is required to preside over the Church and be entrusted with the care of so many souls, the whole female sex must retire before the magnitude of the task, and the majority of men also.”

He also wrote, “The divine law indeed has excluded women from this ministry, but they endeavor to thrust themselves into it; and since they can effect nothing of themselves, they do all through the agency of others.”

In his work "On Veiling Virgins" (9.1), Tertullian wrote: "It is not permissible for a woman to speak in church, nor may she teach, baptize, offer, or claim for herself any function proper to a man, and least of all the office of priest."

St. Athanasius said: “It is fit for us to adhere to the Word of God, and not relinquish it, thinking by syllogisms to evade what is there clearly delivered.” (Tract of the Incarnation). He also said: “Ask not concerning the Trinity but learn only from the Scriptures. For the instructions which you will find there are sufficient.” (Tract of the Holy Ghost) 

In his Oration against the Gentiles, Athanasius declared: “That the Scriptures are sufficient to the manifestation of the Truth.” While many women are recognized as having authority: Deborah, Huldah, and the Virgin Mary among them, not were priests. 

Speaking about the danger of innovation, St. Basil the Great said: “Everyone who steadfastly values the old ways above these novelties, and who has preserved unchanged the tradition of the fathers both in the city and in the country, is familiar with this phrase [with whom in the doxology]. Rather, it is those never content with accepted ways who despise the old as being stale, constantly welcoming innovation, like worldings who are always chasing after the latest fashion. Observe that country people cling to ancient patterns of speech, while the adroit language of these cunning disputants always bear the brand of the latest trends of thought. But for us, what our fathers said [the received Tradition], we repeat: the same glory is given to the Father and Son; therefore we offer the doxology to the Father with the Son. But we are not content simply because this is the tradition of the Fathers. What is important is that the Fathers followed the meaning of Scripture.” (On the Holy Spirit, translated by David Anderson, St. Vladimir Seminary Press, 1980)

“The dogmas of the Fathers are held in contempt, the Apostolic traditions are disdained, the churches are subject to the novelties of innovators.” St. Basil the Great, Letter 90, To the Most Holy Brethren and Bishops Found in the West.

Anglicans claim that their priests belong to the one universal Church and that the Eucharistic sacrifice is offered not only for those immediately present, but also for the whole Church. This cannot be true where the priest is a woman since she is not recognized as a priest by the universal Church. “Since the Church is universal,” writes Dr. C. B. Moss (1888-1964), “she requires a ministry which is universally recognized.”


Related Reading: Ten Objections to Women Priests; The Church's Consensus on Women and the Priesthood; Is "Male Headship" a Biblical Doctrine?; Orthodoxy Requires Binary Reasoning; Why Women Were Never Priests; What Christians Believe

.

The Cosmic Serpent Exposed

Serpent Symbolism, Part II
Alice C. Linsley

(For Serpent Symbolism, Part I go here.)

Background

Shamans of the Amazon drink or inhale the hallucinogenic ayahuasca, the principal ingredient of which is a serpent shaped vine. The effects of the ayahuasca drink appear in thirty to forty minutes and last approximately four hours. While under the influence of ayahuasca, they see serpents who teach them the medicinal and sorcery uses of other plants. The shaman is said to be able to see galaxies and planets, distant relatives, lost objects, the identity of an unfaithful spouse’s lover, the cause of a patient’s sickness and travel through time and space.

Aya and huasca are Quechua words meaning “soul” and “vine”. In Spanish the vine is called “soga de alma” – vine of the soul and also "soga de muerto" - vine of the dead. Ayahuasca is a mixture of 2 or 3 plant ingredients, sometimes more. The hallucinogenic ingredient is tetrahydroharmine (DMT), which when ingested is neutralized by the oxidizing action of peripheral monoamine oxidase-A (MAO-A), an enzyme in the lining of the stomach. Shamans circumvent the MAO inhibitor by inhaling or smoking the plant or by mixing the DMT with an MAO inhibitor that prevents the breakdown of DMT in the digestive tract.

According to the shamans, the cosmic serpent taught their ancestors which plants to mix to overcome the body’s natural protection. Combining ingredients allows the DMT in the ayahuasca to produce its hallucinogenic effect when orally ingested. The vine also contains harmaline which can cause vomiting and diarrhea, but it doesn’t have an effect on shamans who develop a tolerance to its emetic and purgative effects over time. However, they do not develop a tolerance for ayahuasca’s hallucinogenic effects.

In his book The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge (1999), Jeremy Narby tells of his fieldwork with the Ashaninca and Quirishari of the Peruvian Amazon. Through use of the hallucinogen ayahuasca, derived from a serpent shaped vine (shown on left), Narby encountered the metaphysical reality presented in Genesis 3: the beguiling cosmic serpent who "was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say...?"

Narby explains, “I began my investigation with the enigma of ‘plant communication.’ I went on to accept the idea that hallucinations could be the source of verifiable information. And I ended up with a hypothesis suggesting that a human mind can communicate in defocalized consciousness with the global network of DNA-based life. All this contradicts principles of Western knowledge.

Nevertheless, my hypothesis is testable. A test would consist of seeing whether institutionally respected biologists could find biomolecular information in the hallucinatory world of ayahuasqueros… My hypothesis suggests that what scientists call DNA corresponds to the animate essences that shamans say communicate with them and animate all life forms. Modern biology, however, is founded on the notion that nature is not animated by an intelligence and therefore cannot communicate.” (p. 132)

My hypothesis is based on the idea that DNA in particular and nature in general are minded. (p. 145)

According to my hypothesis, shamans take their consciousness down to the molecular level and gain access to bimolecular information. But what actually goes on in the brain/mind of an ayhuasquero when this occurs? What is the nature of a shaman's communication with the animate essences of nature? The clear answer is that more research is needed in consciousness, shamanism, molecular biology, and their interrelatedness. (p. 160)

Narby concludes: “All things considered, wisdom requires not only the investigation of many things, but contemplation of the mystery.”

To me the most interesting part is Chapter 6. Here we read:

I was sitting in the main reading room, surrounded by students, and browsing over Claude Levi-Strauss's latest book, when I jumped. I had just read the following passage: "In Aztec, the word coatl means both 'serpent' and 'twin.' The name Quetzalcoatl can thus be interpreted either as 'Plumed serpent" or "Magnificent twin.'" A twin serpent, of cosmic origin, symbolizing the sacred energy of life among the Aztecs?

It was the middle of the afternoon. I needed to do some thinking. I left the library and started driving home. On the road back, I could not stop thinking about what I had just read. Staring out of the window, I wondered what all these twin beings in the creation myths of indigenous people could possibly mean.When I arrived home, I went for a walk in the woods to clarify my thoughts. I started recapitulating from the beginning: I was trying to keep one eye on DNA and the other on shamanism to discover the common ground between the two. I reviewed the correspondences that I had found so far. Then I walked in silence, because I was struck. Ruminating over this mental block I recalled Carlos Perez Shuma's words: "Look at the FORM."

That morning, at the library, I had looked up DNA in several encyclopedias and had noted in passing that the shape of the double helix was most often described as a ladder, or a twisted rope ladder, or a spiral staircase. I was during the following split second, asking myself whether there were any ladders in shamanism, that the revelation occurred: "THE LADDERS! The shamans' ladders, 'symbols of the profession' according to Metraux, present in shamanic themes around the world according to Eliade!"

I rushed back to my office and plunged into Mircea Eliade's book Shamanism: Archaic techniques of ecstasy and discovered that there were "countless examples' of shamanic ladders on all five continents, here a "spiral ladder," there a "stairway" or "braided ropes." In Australia, Tibet, Ancient Egypt, Africa, North and South America, "the symbolism of the rope, like that of the ladder, necessarily implies communication between sky and earth. It is by means of a rope or a ladder (as, too, by a vine, a bridge, a chain of arrows, etc.) that the gods descended to earth and men go up to the sky." Eliade even cites an example from the Old Testament, where Jacob dreams of a ladder reaching up to heaven, "with the angels of God ascending and descending on it." According to Eliade, the shamanic ladder is the earliest version of the idea of an axis of the world, which connects the different levels of the cosmos, and is found in numerous creation myths in the form of a tree. (pp. 62 - 63)

I was staggered. It seemed that no one had noticed the possible links between the "myths" of "primitive peoples" and molecular biology. No one had seen that the double helix had symbolized the life principle for thousands of years around the world. On the contrary, everything was upside down. It was said that the hallucinations could in no way constitute a source of knowledge, that Indians had found their useful molecules by chance experimentation, and that their "myths" were precisely myths, bearing no relationship to the real knowledge discovered in laboratories. (p. 71)


Conclusion

Eliade and others have studied shamanic techniques of ecstasy among primitive peoples. (See also I.M. Lewis’ Ecstatic Religion, 1971.) Narby argues that shamans receive information from DNA in the form of visions. His conclusion is that nature is speaking. The illogic of this view never seems to occur to him. If this is nature speaking, then why must the shaman neutralize the natural enzyme MAO-A in order to gain knowledge? This is contrary to the biblical understanding in which knowledge and wisdom are not gained by a self-induced ecstatic state.

Consider the staretz, a spiritual adviser to whom priests, monks and laymen turn for spiritual wisdom and guidance. These men and women do not seek to steal knowledge by trances. Instead by constant prayer, communion with God in Christ, and study of Scripture, they gradually and steadily grow in holiness. They become, not the mouthpieces of serpents, but of angels.

(To read about the difference between priests and shamans, go here.)

Shamanic Practice and the Priesthood

Tungus shaman with a hide drum

Alice C. Linsley

A fundamental principle of cultural anthropology states that the study of extant primitive societies helps us to understand archaic societies and vice versa. This is especially the case when we compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges. What do I mean?

There is no benefit in comparing the practices of populations whose cultural frameworks stand in contrast. That is the case with the offices of priest and shaman.

Shamans and priests are the two oldest religious offices. They represent distinct approaches to the supernatural. In anthropological literature shamans are always presented in a positive light. That is rarely the case for priests. Why? The adversary would have us believe that the Church's priesthood is corrupt, false, perverse, and impotent.

Much of the anthropological literature about religious leaders suggests that female shamans in ancient Greece were "priestesses". However, they did not function as priests by any definition of that term. 

Women in charge of royal temples in the ancient world were administrators, just as an abbess is an administrator over a monastic community. An example is Sargon's daughter. She is called Enheduana in the literature. The term "en" in Ancient Akkadian refers to a royal official. Her name was Heduana and her appointment was a political move to consolidate Sargon's power in the south.

It is intellectually dishonest to misapply the terms "priest", "shaman", and "royal official". The sloppy thinking reveals ignorance of the distinctions. 

Hupa female shaman
Photo Edward S. Curtis, 1923

To illustrate the comparison of apple and oranges, I refer to a textbook that I used to teach World Religions at the university. The author generalizes that shamans are the priests of the ancient world and that since there are Japanese and Korean female shamans, there must have been female priests. in the ancient world. This might be politically acceptable in our egalitarian times, but it is based on a falsehood. This is the author’s reasoning in syllogistic form:

Premise: All shamans are priests.
Females are shamans.
Therefore, female shamans are priests.

The premise is false. While there are ways in which shamans and priests are similar, the distinction between them is clear. The priesthood's origins are among the early Semitic populations and those influenced by them. The cultural context of shamans is rooted in Altaic populations.

The offices of priest and shaman are probably the oldest known religious offices. Both serve as intermediaries between their communities and the supernatural. They share some common symbols such as the Tree of Life, and the Sun as the emblem of the Supreme God. However, they represent different worldviews, different ways of reasoning, and different practices.

Veiled Tungus shaman with drum

Underlying shamanism is the belief that there are powerful spirits who cause imbalance and disharmony in the world. The shaman’s role is to determine which spirits are at work in a given situation and to find ways to appease the spirits and restore balance or harmony. This often involves use of psychoactive substances to induce a trance state. Rarely, does the shaman perform blood sacrifice. The hides used to make their drums come from animals that have been hunted for food.

Underlying the priesthood is belief in a supreme High God to whom humans must give an accounting, especially for the shedding of blood. In this view, one Great Spirit (God) holds the world in balance, and it is human actions that cause disharmony. Priests are to discern the spirits, recognizing that evil spirits are the enemy of God. The ancient laws and received traditions governing priestly ceremonies, sacrifices, and cleansing rituals clarify the role of the priest as one who offers sacrifice for the people according to sacred law. 

Shamans tend to serve small tribal communities or nomadic clans, whereas priests historically serve at shrines and temples under the authority of high kings and rulers. Another difference is that gender-transgressive (cross-dressing, transvestite) shamans can be found among many populations around the world: Africa, Asia, and the Americas. However, the Bible forbids transvestism among God's people.

Drawing broad conclusions from comparison of apples to oranges violates a fundamental principle of cultural anthropology. It leads to generalizations that gloss over significant differences.


Related reading: Hallucinogenic Substances Found in 3000-year Hair of Shaman; Males as Spiritual Leaders: Two Patterns; Blood Guilt and the Priesthood of Christ; Why Women Were Never Priests; God as Male Priest; Female Shamans, Not Women Priests