Of Medicine Women and Priest Sorcerers
We travel to the Alpine town of Mondsee, Austria for an unusual annual conference: the International Meeting of Shamans. From every corner of the world these traditional healers and spiritual leaders gather to discuss their beliefs and techniques in a celebration of traditional religions.
The attendees are certainly an eclectic mix: medicine women from New Zealand and North Korea rub shoulders with priest sorcerers from the Navajo of America, the Sami of Norway and the Xhosa of South Africa. However, everyone gains from the sharing of cultures: as one shaman observes, 'all of us are from different lines of the spider-web but we all go to the centre of the spider in different ways of getting there'.
The participants have a busy schedule. They air their own scepticism about modern Western interest in indigenous beliefs and moot arguments against scientific condescension of their rituals. We are then given an unparalleled insight into shamanistic rites and, finally, how the mingling of practical medicine and religious belief can thrive in today's society.
10:00:00 - 10:00:22 - Shamans chanting/meditating and playing drums around a bonfire. 10:00:22 - 10:00:33 - Title screen. 10:00:33:05 - 10:02:27 - Mountains, caves, Stone Age cave-paintings, cult-sites, aerial shots of rock formations used for worship, totemic carvings, ritual clothes, liturgical instruments. 10:02:27 - 10:02:56 - Rivers and hot-springs. 10:02:56 - 10:03:11 - Indigenous peoples parade with spears. 10:03:11 - 10:03:21 - Sunset over mountains. 10:03:21 - 10:03:50 - Rhythmical music (especially drums). 10:03:50 - 10:05:38 - Interviews with shaman. 10:05:38 - 10:09:27 - Shamanistic rituals and interviews. 10:09:27 - 10:10:43 - Navajo sweat-lodge. 10:10:43 - 10:12:54 - Interviews. Nature GVs (caves, forests). 10:12:54 - 10:13:43 - Trials (e.g. knife-licking). 10:13:43 - 10:17:34 - Shaman lessons and teaching. How to become a shaman. 10:17:34 - 10:17:49 - Nature GVs: rock formations, the moon. Interviews. 10:17:49 - 10:18:34 - Interviews. 10:18:34 - 10:20:00 - Nature GVs and interviews. 10:20:00 - 10:24:22 - Shamans' relationship to animals. Shots of buffalo, swans, geese, giraffes, lions. 10:24:22 - 10:26:00 - Interviews, trances and rituals. 10:26:00 - 10:31:32 - Aerial shots of rivers. Plants, forests and mountains. Interviews. 10:31:32 - 10:32:14- Foggy landscapes. Interviews. 10:32:14 - 10:32:51 - Scientifically observed, drum-induced trance. 10:32:51 - 10:42:27 - Process of shamanistic diagnosis. Nature GVs.
FULL SYNOPSIS
10:00:00 - 10:00:22 - Shamans chanting/meditating and playing drums around a bonfire. 10:00:22 - 10:00:33 - Title screen. 10:00:33:05 - 10:02:27 - Mountains, caves, Stone Age cave-paintings, cult-sites, aerial shots of rock formations used for worship, totemic carvings, ritual clothes, liturgical instruments. 10:02:27 - 10:02:56 - Rivers and hot-springs. 10:02:56 - 10:03:11 - Indigenous peoples parade with spears. 10:03:11 - 10:03:21 - Sunset over mountains. 10:03:21 - 10:03:50 - Rhythmical music (especially drums). 10:03:50 - 10:05:38 - Interviews with shaman. 10:05:38 - 10:09:27 - Shamanistic rituals and interviews. 10:09:27 - 10:10:43 - Navajo sweat-lodge. 10:10:43 - 10:12:54 - Interviews. Nature GVs (caves, forests). 10:12:54 - 10:13:43 - Trials (e.g. knife-licking). 10:13:43 - 10:17:34 - Shaman lessons and teaching. How to become a shaman. 10:17:34 - 10:17:49 - Nature GVs: rock formations, the moon. Interviews. 10:17:49 - 10:18:34 - Interviews. 10:18:34 - 10:20:00 - Nature GVs and interviews. 10:20:00 - 10:24:22 - Shamans' relationship to animals. Shots of buffalo, swans, geese, giraffes, lions. 10:24:22 - 10:26:00 - Interviews, trances and rituals. 10:26:00 - 10:31:32 - Aerial shots of rivers. Plants, forests and mountains. Interviews. 10:31:32 - 10:32:14- Foggy landscapes. Interviews. 10:32:14 - 10:32:51 - Scientifically observed, drum-induced trance. 10:32:51 - 10:42:27 - Process of shamanistic diagnosis. Nature GVs.