Week 4 Group Presentation Write-Up: Spirits Spirits Everywhere: Animism and Modern Interpretations -Brittany Carlson, Marisa Gee, and Tony Tran
This week our group was assigned to read ““We have Len
Dong Too”: Transnational Aspects of Spirit Possession”by Karen Fjelstad; The
Tarot Cards: “The Ancestor” and “The Ghost” from the Open in Emergency box;
and ““We are not alone” The Shamans of the World Tells Us” from The Scientific
and Medical Network and to explain how these readings connect to the theme of
Animism and modern interpretations. When discussing this topic, animism can be
defined as “the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural
phenomena (Oxford Dictionary).” or “the belief in a supernatural power that
organizes and animates the material universe (Oxford Dictionary).”Based on
these definitions, the theme of the week regards how society currently feels
about the spiritual energy and attributes associated with non-human objects and
occurrences.
The first reading was ““We have Len Dong Too”:
Transnational Aspects of Spirit Possession”by Karen Fjelstad. This reading
described how the len dong ritual spread along with the asian american diaspora.
Due to an influx of Vietnamese immigration due to the Vietnam War, many came to
the US and brought along their faith and practices. After the institution of
doi moi which opened relations between the US and Vietnam, Vietnamese Americans
were able to receive the proper supplies to engage in len dong. However, the
idea of having len dong rituals and temples for it in the US has been
critiqued. The argument is that they are not as spiritualistic and are more
materialistic than the len dong rituals held in Vietnam. How I see it is that
having a more fancy temple does not compromise the spirituality of the len dong
ritual. Having a more materialistic temple/ritual is to try to make up for not
having the temple/ritual being in Vietnam which seems more authentic.
Maximizing the spiritual materialism for temples in the US allows Vietnamese
Americans to feel as if they are reconnected with their long-gone homeland.
Certainly there will be backlash in the beginning but after some time, it will
be accepted by not only Vietnamese Americans, but also the Vietnamese back in
the homeland. My only worry is as len dong becomes more glorified and there is
more competition to take in more followers in the US, how well will the
spiritual aspect of the len dong ritual and dao mau religion still be
wholeheartedly practiced? How many are there just to enjoy the “exotic
performance”? Will modern followers actually have knowledge of what exactly is
happening during the whole ritual? Although the first step to doing len dong is
to have that spiritual connection, I feel like it is a responsibility of the
follower to know or want to know which spirit or deity they are praying or
asking towards during the len dong ritual.
The second reading was the two tarot cards from the Open
in Emergency box, which is a project that was published in January of 2017.
The aim of the project was to inspire people to rethinking mental health
through an arts-based self-care package for Asian American communities and the
deck of tarot cards was meant to artistically display the hidden aspects of
Asian American emotional, psychic, and spiritual lives, as well as the systems of violences that are inflicted upon them (kickstarter.com). The deck of tarot cards in general relates to the theme of the week because they are a modern interpretation of mental health and each card is used to represent something more than what is actually depicted on the card itself. As for the specific cards, “The Ghost” tarot card was used to represent the history and spiritual essence that the Ancestor of a person has left behind. which relates to this week’s theme of animism and modern interpretation because like with the concept of animism where non-living objects are given living attributes and used to represent something more than the object itself, the Ghost is used to represent something much more than a non-living being. “The Ancestor” tarot card is used to symbolize the melding of the past and present that someone experiences when trying to understand their history. This card relates to this week’s theme of animism and modern interpretation because like with the concept of animism where non-living objects are given living attributes and used to represent something more than the object itself, the Ancestor is also used to represent something more than just a deceased relative.
Asian American emotional, psychic, and spiritual lives, as well as the systems of violences that are inflicted upon them (kickstarter.com). The deck of tarot cards in general relates to the theme of the week because they are a modern interpretation of mental health and each card is used to represent something more than what is actually depicted on the card itself. As for the specific cards, “The Ghost” tarot card was used to represent the history and spiritual essence that the Ancestor of a person has left behind. which relates to this week’s theme of animism and modern interpretation because like with the concept of animism where non-living objects are given living attributes and used to represent something more than the object itself, the Ghost is used to represent something much more than a non-living being. “The Ancestor” tarot card is used to symbolize the melding of the past and present that someone experiences when trying to understand their history. This card relates to this week’s theme of animism and modern interpretation because like with the concept of animism where non-living objects are given living attributes and used to represent something more than the object itself, the Ancestor is also used to represent something more than just a deceased relative.
In the third reading,
“’We are not alone,’ Shamans of the World Tell Us,” by John Broomfield, a
former professor of with a New Zealand Maori spiritual background explains the
role and purpose of shamans and how they are expressly interrelated to our
natural environment and how the importance of shamanistic and spiritual
knowledge fit in the context of contemporary western science. Broomfield begins
by explaining the framework for which shamans operate as journeymen, guides,
shape shifters and edge- walkers. Everything in our natural world from animals
to plants to rocks to mountains all possesses a consciousness. This
consciousness made up by mind and spirit acts as a well of wisdom. These
bountiful sources of wisdom can be accessed through shamans and provide humans
with advice, healing and even warnings into the future.
Broomfield delves
into the role of the shaman next within the context of this natural
consciousness that surrounds us. Shamans are able to access this spirit realm
dominated by animism for the main purpose of healing individuals and groups of
individuals mainly by correcting an imbalance between the one who needs healing
and the natural world. The shaman must experience a journey induced by a trance
state in order to access this wealth of wisdom.
Lastly, Broomfield
provides commentary into how the spirit world and the knowledge of shamans fit
into our modern society, which over- values rational thought and science. He
emphasizes the importance of cultivating and maintaining a connection and
balance to the natural world and advocates that in institutionalized settings
of education, like UC Davis, that curriculum should include time spent outside
of the classroom directly in nature. He then goes on to explain that while
shamanism is not in the realm of science that this can serve as an advantage by
providing a complement to science, in essence it allows for a bigger more well
rounded picture of knowledge formation. Science, he goes on, in it of itself is
a culturally constructed concept most often than not with roots in ancient
spiritual knowledge that has diverged from its roots in favor of quantifiable
values. The hierarchy of science being a greater more substantial form of
knowledge than shamanism exists only in our minds and in our societies that has
limited us unfortunately further dissociating us from the natural world, which
ultimately will have devastating consequences.
The importance of
Broomfield’s work is to raise our awareness of the spirits in the natural world
both in a traditional educational setting and in our own day to day lives.
While not all of us are destined to be shamans, it is important to realize our
position in our global network, not only for our own health but the health of
all. All animals, plants, rivers and rocks, our physical landscape being on
Earth far longer than homo sapien, contain a spirit, a consciousness or a soul
interconnected to our own. Our individual and collective wellbeing is dependent
then on the wellbeing of the system as a whole. The signs of dysfunction and
disease in the form of mass animal extinction, climate change and ocean
acidification to name a few are there. Realistically, what can be done to help
raise awareness on a global scale in order to help pull the Earth back into
balance? And individually it is important to ask yourself what can you do to
help? Because to let this damage continue to occur and worsen is to disregard
our future, the very future that shamans devote their whole lives to protect as
Broomfield mentions their main purpose to access the, “vision of the ancestors
that guides the present generation into the unseen future, with one clear and
overriding purpose: the prosper the generations yet to be born.”
A class discussion
question from the reading about the practice of len dong was, “As more people
around the world begin to experience and acknowledge the Dao Mao religion along
with its Len Dong ritual and Hat Chau Van songs, is it ok for people to
treat it as an exotic performance? In other words, will people’s perception of
this religion get skewed?” A class discussion question from the readings about
the tarot cards that we had was, “What effect did creating the deck of Asian
American Tarot Cards to display the hidden aspects of Asian American emotional,
psychic, and spiritual lives have on the Asian American population?” The class
discussion question from the Broomfield reading was: “Take a minute to reflect
on your day to day lives or even special events. What instances can you think
of where you have felt the spirit of animals or plants or even mountains and
rivers?”
Sources Cited:
-Karen Fjelstad. ““We
have Len Dong Too”: Transnational Aspects of Spirit Possession.”
-Open in Emergency. “Tarot Cards: The Ancestor and The Ghost.”
-The Scientific and Medical Network. ““We are not alone” The Shamans of the World Tells Us.”
-Open in Emergency. “Tarot Cards: The Ancestor and The Ghost.”
-The Scientific and Medical Network. ““We are not alone” The Shamans of the World Tells Us.”
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