Yanomami Shamanic Initiation: The Meaning of Death and Postmortem Consciousness in Transformation
Anthropology of Consciousness May 1, 2008 Zeljko Jokic
ABSTRACTThe main aim of shamanic initiation among the Yanomami people of the Upper Orinoco River region in Venezuela is the metamorphosis of the human body into a cosmic body, or what I term “corporeal cosmogenesis.” During the initiatory ordeal, the neophyte undergoes an intense experience of death through dismemberment by the spirits and subsequent rebirth, thus overcoming the human condition...