Science and Religion, Modern Spiritualism, New Religious Movements

Agnieszka Pilchowa (1888-1945) was a renowned healer, herbalist, and believed to have uncommon clairvoyant abilities. The "Clairvoyant from Wisła" wrote many Occult novels, which were very popular in her time. Among others, in 1932-1933 she published a book in two volumes-Zmora: Occult Novel Based on Real Occurrences and The Dead Speak. Zmora can be translated as phantom or night terror in English, but it has a very specific meaning in Slavic culture that connects it with a personalized hallucination that occurs during an episode of Sleep Paralysis. The paper analyses outcomes like visions based on Pilchowa's experience of uncommon states of consciousness, preceded by the introduction of esoteric activity on the Polish-Czechoslovakian borderlands in the interwar period.

In this article, we explore the penetration of different shamanic currents in the new millennium in Spain, with a particular focus on the Region of Valencia. The traditions in this area differ from the shamanic traditions that had been previously adopted in two aspects: they are different shamanic currents and they follow their own settlement dynamics. By using a qualitative methodology based on a combination of thorough interviews and field observations, we have approached diverse neoshamanic manifestations in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017. We have used some of the interviews and observations of our field work. Our unit of analysis has been the Region of Valencia although the theory could be applied to the whole country. Besides, the information that circulates around websites and social media has been taken into account too. From the year 2005 on, new neo-shamanic currents have come to the Region of Valencia. That allows us to speak about a second phase in which the extension, institutionalization and settlement of the phenomenon occur together with a reconfiguration of the traditions that is shown in specific examples. All of this is shown through specific examples: the sakb'e, white way; the followers of Michel Harner and the Ayahuasca intake. The first two are centres/schools where training is given, that is, schools where the shaman's apprentice is trained in different techniques and trainings for a set period of time that leads to a degree that certificates the training has been completed. They are good examples of the process of institutionalization of the phenomenon. The third example illustrates how the ayahuasca intake is reconfigured through the case that is specifically presented in this article.

http://www.lectitopublishing.nl/Article/Detail/institutionalization-and-settlement-of-neoshamanisms-in-spain-the-case-of-the-valencian-country