Don't Put Wands in the Hands of Cavemen

[tama]

2. Few comments

"The problem there is that before the Indo-European invasions, there was no writing system in Europe. No writing means there are no historical records, no historical records means it’s pre-history; pre-history means that aside from archaeology and anthropological comparisons with other regions: we don’t know."

The article continues with discussion of Shamanism, from the Tungusian word "the one who knows". There are rock paintings and living shamanistic traditions in Northern Eurasia, and the "mythical" meaning of ancient rock paintings is clear to contemporary shamans. There have been oral histories of pre-Indo-European shamanistic peoples preserved in epics like Kalevala, and there is knowledge preserved in the structures and meanings of non-Indoeuropean languages themselves, if one is ready to listen. The knowledge is to be found in shamanistic journeys and in the thundering song and silence of woods.

There is lot more to time than we can think of (and theoretical physicists etc. can think plenty!), and interestingly in my non-Indo-European language the the word for thinking (ajattelu) and time (aika) share a common root, together with chasing/driving (ajaminen).

As for "Shamanism", it needs to be said that it is modern Western invention by Mircea Eliade, and more serious anthropology prefers the term "shamanhood" to describe ways of living that are dependent from shamans. And if you ask members of such tribes, they say they have no religion, only their shamans.

No doubt Wicca can claim that its true origin is in "shamanhood" and altered states of mind, and in that respect it is not different from other religions.