Urban shamanism distinguishes traditional
shamanism
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a Spirit world (Spiritualism), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as tranc ...
found in indigenous societies from Western adaptations that draw on contemporary and modern roots. Urban shamanism is practiced primarily by people who do not originate in a traditional indigenous society and who create unique methods that do not follow or claim authenticity in any prior tradition. Urban shamanism traces its beginnings to efforts by Westerners to come to terms with psychoactive plant experiences using their own modern frames of cultural reference influenced by, but outside of, the indigenous rites in which plant medicine is traditionally based. The related terms ''digital shamanism'' and ''digital psychedelia'' are
schools of thought
A school of thought, or intellectual tradition, is the perspective of a group of people who share common characteristics of opinion or outlook of a philosophy, discipline, belief, social movement, economics, cultural movement, or art movement.
H ...
born out of the convergence of
technological change
Technological change (TC) or technological development is the overall process of invention, innovation and diffusion of technology or processes.From ''The New Palgrave Dictionary otechnical change by S. Metcalfe. •biased and biased techn ...
s,
art movement
An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a specific period of time, (usually a few months, years or decades) or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defin ...
s, and
Eastern philosophies
Eastern philosophy or Asian philosophy includes the various philosophies that originated in East and South Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Korean philosophy, and Vietnamese philosophy; which are dominant in East Asia, ...
during the late 20th century. They parallel and are often associated with
technopaganism
Technopaganism is the merging of neopaganism and magical ritual with digital technologies. This may be through the use of technology merely as an aid, such as video conferencing for example, or it may be a worship of the technology itself. The int ...
. In practice, the digital
psychedelic
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary states of consciousness (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips").Pollan, Michael (2018). ''How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of ...
process is the fusion of the biological and technological to seek
self-knowledge.
See also
*
Cyberdelic
Cyberdelic (from "cyber-" and " psychedelic") was the fusion of cyberculture and the psychedelic subculture that formed a new counterculture in the 1980s and 1990s.
Cyberdelic art was created by calculating fractal objects and representing the r ...
References
*"Religion in Japan: Arrows to Heaven and Earth" by Janet Goff. ''Japan Quarterly''. Tokyo: Jul-Sep 1997.Vol.44, Iss. 3; pg. 105. (Reviewing ''Religion in Japan'', Cambridge University Press, 1996.)
*Roberts, T. B. (editor) (2001). ''Psychoactive Sacramentals: Essays on Entheogens and Religion.'' San Francosco: Council on Spiritual Practices.
*Roberts, T. B., and Hruby, P. J. (1995–2002). Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments An Entheogen Chrestomathy. Online archive
*Roberts, T. B. "Chemical Input—Religious Output: Entheogens." Chapter 10 in ''Where God and Science Meet: Vol. 3: The Psychology of Religious Experience'' Robert McNamara (editor) (2006). Westport, CT: Praeger/Greenwood.
*Hall, W (2005).
Crash Course in Urban Shamanism
*King, Serge Kahili (1990). Urban Shaman. Simon & Schuster.
{{Neoshamanism
Psychedelia
Neoshamanism
Modern primitive