power animals

animal_ally intermediate shamanism single tradition · 1

Animal tutelary spirits that neoshamanic practitioners attempt to contact during journeying through altered states. These spirits serve as guides and helpers in Core Shamanism and related neoshamanic practices. They are contacted through drumming, rattling, dancing, chanting, music, or sometimes entheogens.

When

First attested
1980 CE
Attested period
1980 – 2020
Historical notes
Term popularized by Michael Harner in Core Shamanism system developed in the 1980s.

Sources

wikipedia (1)

Source passages

“One type of spirit that journeyers attempt to contact are animal tutelary spirits (called "power animals" in Core Shamanism). Core Shamanism, the neoshamanic system of practices synthesized, promoted, and invented by Michael Harner in the 1980s”

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