In many cultures, yes. Historical records show shamans and healers amongst many Indigenous peoples being paid for their work, often in goods such as shell money, skins or livestock, so the belief that “real shamans never charged” does not fit the evidence. Practice varied, though, and some peoples, such as the Lakota, hold that their sacred ceremonies must never carry a price, whilst freely given gifts are welcome.
Did traditional shamans and healers charge? #
In many cultures they did, and it was taken for granted. Of the Hupa of northwestern California, hunter-gatherers and fishers, the anthropologist Pliny Goddard wrote of doctors that “the first thing is the fee. That must be paid in advance.” It was usually a string of dentalium shells (used as money) and a deerskin blanket, and “The fee must be returned if the patient dies within a year.”1 Across that region, A. L. Kroeber wrote, “the shaman who failed to cure was forced to return the fee received in advance.”2 Amongst the neighbouring Yurok, also hunter-gatherers and fishers, the older accounts describe doctors as women, for whom the work brought both standing and wealth.3
Was payment ever thought necessary for the work to be effective? #
In some cultures, yes. Amongst the Navajo, who were herders and farmers rather than hunter-gatherers, Clyde Kluckhohn and Dorothea Leighton recorded in the 1940s that a fee “is always paid to the Singer, even if he is the patient’s own father; otherwise the rite might not be effective.” It was paid in cash or in kind, and varied with the singer’s reputation and the time involved.4 Amongst the Ojibwe of the Great Lakes, knowledge itself was paid for: Walter Hoffman wrote in 1891 that priests of the Midewiwin medicine society asked to be paid for each remedy or secret they passed on, and that this was “not entirely based upon mercenary motives”. It was believed that a remedy that had been paid for could not be passed on for nothing, “as then its virtue would be impaired.”5
Did shamans always charge? #
No. Amongst the Inuit, who were hunter-gatherers, the Danish ethnologist Erik Holtved found that a shaman was not paid when working on behalf of the whole community, but that in other cases the work depended on a payment that could be considerable.6 Amongst the Mescalero Apache, a helper at the girls’ coming-of-age ceremony has explained that families are not supposed to pay for ritual services in money, but give something useful, such as a horse or a tipi.7 So there is no single Indigenous practice, and no single Indigenous view.
Was it really payment, or something else? #
Often it was both payment and gift. Animism rests on reciprocity, on giving back for what we receive, and a fee or gift to a healer can be seen as part of the same give and take, as well as a way of supporting the person who does the work. Holtved records that amongst the Iglulik Inuit, a present to a teacher before training was explained as a gift to the novice’s future helping spirits, though in practice the teacher benefited from it too.8 See What is right relationship and reciprocity?
Why do some Indigenous people say ceremonies should never be charged for? #
Because for them, putting a price on a ceremony goes against the ceremony itself. In 2003 the Lakota spiritual leader Arvol Looking Horse wrote that “there should be no price tag allowed to participate in any of our Sacred Ceremonies”, and that charging for ceremonies “was never heard of before in our ancient ceremonial history”. He added that “Medicine People do need to survive”, and that gifts given “from their hearts” after receiving help, including money, were not a problem.9 Ten years earlier, a gathering of Lakota people had issued a “Declaration of War Against Exploiters of Lakota Spirituality”, condemning self-styled “New Age shamans”, the selling of imitation sweat lodges and vision quests, and Lakota people who exploit their own spiritual ways for gain.10
What does this mean for Therapeutic Shamanism? #
First, Therapeutic Shamanism does not take or sell any people’s ceremonies: it is deliberately culturally neutral, working directly with the Lower-WorldLower-World. The realm of Mother Earth: pure, unspoilt, wild nature, with no technology and no agriculture. Home of the Peoples and of our own Soul, and completely safe: feeling threatened in a journey is a reliable sign of not having reached it. Read the full answer and Upper-WorldUpper-World. The realm of Father Sky and of Spirit: spacious, rarefied and clear, layered in tiers, offering not escape but perspective. Not better than the Lower-World: we ascend rooted, and bring the gifts back down. Read the full answer rather than borrowing from a particular culture. Second, we don’t conduct ceremonies. We are a training college instead, and in most cultures training involved a fair exchange or payment for the training offered. See What is Therapeutic Shamanism?
