Talk:Nagual
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[edit] General Comments
The Huichol people of Mexico have lived in the general area of the Sierra Madre Occidental chain, for at least 1800 years, and, throughout that period of time, the spiritual practice of shamanism has remained a fundamental part of Huichol cultural life. In particular, a lesser known type of shamanic practice has also survived into the present, called "nagualism," from Aztec meaning "something hidden." What is hidden from view is a carefully guarded, feared and esoteric spiritual technique, by which, these people believe that they can transform themselves into wolves and back again. This is probably a result of the hallucinogenic plants that they eat, which tend to confuse the issues of reality for these people. Outside of a few western scholars (e.g. Furst, Lemholtz),little of this specialized knowledge and technique has been fathomed into its specific details, and yet, some of its contours can be seen with what has been offered to researchers.
Information collected about nagualism or the rituals for becoming a wolf-shaman accentuates a fundamental knowledge of Huichol creation myths. According to one of its versions, the first people, who were half human and half wolf, lived miserably in darkness and hunger. After some time in that state, their situation was alleviated by Deer Person, Kauyumari, who had allowed himself to be killed by Kumukemai, the Father of the Wolves, and consumed for food. Interestingly, as they ate his body, it turned into the flora, peyote, and thereafter, the wolf people obtained fundamental knowledge about survival. After following the remaining deer out of the darkness into the peyote desert, the birthplace of the sun, the wolves were given the choice of remaining wolves or transforming into humans, of which, Kumukemai agreed to change into a human being. This allowed the deities an opportunity to teach him how to build a number of temples, places at which to offer blood to honor the gods and goddesses for granting the half human half wolf people the knowledge of healing, rainmaking, growing maize and hunting deer.
With this story in mind, we can begin to see how fundamental the relationship was formed between the wolves and the deer, a type of which, is based on a fellowship of reciprocity. Because of his self sacrifice, in other words, the wolves were saved from starvation, and, concomitantly, it became their obligation to ritually protect and uphold that sacred relationship or covenant. It is both a means of thanking the deer (or Game Master) for offering themselves as a continual source of food, and, as a blood sacrifice from the mixed bloods (wolf-human people) to the deities, to ensure the growth of agriculture (e.g. maize) and need for rain.
Now when the peyote heart was consumed, a fundamental and mysterious union was formed between the wolf people and the realm of the gods. It is exactly in this connection that Huichol initiates must recapitulate in order to become a wolf-shaman. Roughly taking six to ten years to complete, and, most of the time under frightening conditions, it is a task to be taken seriously, for if it is not done so, could eventually lead the initiate into serious personal harm and danger.
Again, the process of becoming a wolf, more or less, involves a ritual re-enactment of themes from this Huichol myth. The amount of shrines an initiate must visit corresponds to the same number of different colors wolves can be found to exist in that part of the world. Because each color represents a different degree of power, strength and wisdom, they are arranged in a heirarchy, from red as the lowest level, to that of the highest level of shrine represented by multicolored wolves. At all of these color coordinated shrines the goal is to develop a working relationship with the wolf spirits who variously offer tests of courage, not the least, of which, the initiate is eventually taken into their den by actual living wolves, to prepare him or her for the actual transformation into a wolf.
Here, at the highest level of initiation, atop the sixth (roughly around the sixth year of initiation), the wolves wait for the arrival of the moon, under which, to tell him or her to ceremoniously bath with a jamol plant, and, in two more weeks, during a full moon, the initiate is to do five somersaults, after which, he or she amazingly turns into a wolf.
It is at this point during the transformation that the wolf-shaman is not only given the opportunity to test the physical limits of his or her new body-to try his or her ability at catching a deer and digesting it raw-but, also, to ceremoniously appropriate a portion of the kill back to the ancestor gods, the mystical and original source of game animals. By offering certain portions of the deer-heart and blood-to the spirits of Kauyumari, the Deer Peyote Person, Kumukemai, the Wolf Father, Tatewari, the Great Transformer (allows the wolf-shamans to eat meat raw) or patron of hunting arts, and Takutsi, Grandmother Growth, not only accentuates the degree of indebtedness of that ageless bond, but, also, signals that the initiation process is complete, and, that he or she can become a wolf at will-although each period of transformation can only last for five days at a time, after which, the wolf must resume its human form-lest, remain solely as a wolf forever.
In conclusion, wolf-shamanism or nagualism, is an astute blend of myth, covenant and ritual for transformation. It is a reminder of the cultural richness and breadth of Huichol spiritual life, par excellence.
Bibliography:
Schaefer and Furst. People of the Peyote. Huichol Indian History, Religion and Survival. Univ. of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. 1996
Bernstein, Susan ed. Mirror of the Gods: Proceedings on the Huichol Indians. 1989
Larsen, Stephen. The Shaman's Doorway. Station Hill Press. New York. 1988
[edit] Vandalism in w
In the spanish version of this page, one subject begin to put bad references. In this case was the W reference ( nawal ), is a wrong spelling promoted by FDH, Frank Diaz Herrera, and the term Nawalli have not any reference in PAPER. Please check the spanish vandalism case,or the profiles of FDH and Darakan--Darakan
[edit] Nagual Band
Nagual is a psycho-folk band from Belorus Republic as well. Know more at http://nagualia.net/.
[edit] Merger
support Two spellings for the same idea. I've seen it more commonly with a "g" in both English and Spanish, so I think it should get merged here.--Rockero 04:23, 23 April 2006 (UTC)
support Carlos Castaneda uses both meanings presented here as Nahual and Nagual and spells them both as Nagual. Unless there are other more serious anthropological studies that suggest they have separate origins, I would say the two articles should be combined.It appears to me by reading these articles that both concepts could have derived from a same central belief and the difference is due to distance of peoples separated by natural barriers. That they are spelled differently does not make too much difference, as they would have become a Spanish loan-word from a native language that is pre-literate. I also have a preference that, unless shown false or unable to be referenced, the excellent history of the word on this talk page be included in the merged article as appropriate. L. Greg 21:20, 14 July 2006 (UTC)
support (but split)I suppose I can concede as do you make a good point esp. about including the history of the word on this talk page. At the same time I believe it important to make a clear distinction between the modern New Age definition and the older anthropological definitions.--Cyberhero 03:46, 15 July 2006 (UTC)
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- commentInterestingly, this article mentions a late 19'th century book that references Nahual in a manner similar to the one Castaneda meaning of 'a person of power' and in the article itself it mentions something similar to the earlier Castaneda contrast of 'tonal' (our normal world) and 'nagual' (a world containing the tonal but which also contains those things which can't be expressed in language). L. Greg 06:25, 15 July 2006 (UTC)
Support. It is extremely important that Castanedas ideas be kept separate from the concepts of mesoamerican religion since they are not really related at all. This, however, could be done by a different distinction than between nahual/nagual. I would propose that this article be renamed into somethin like Nagual (Castaneda) or Nagual (New Age). The same was done with the article on the Toltecs, where there is now an article on the actual Toltecs and another on Toltec (Castaneda).Maunus 09:08, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
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- I have changed my vote to support because I have now split out Castañeda related material into its own article at Nagual (Castañeda). Nagual is the most commonly used spelling for the concept in mesoamericanistics so I think both concepts should be treated here.
Oppose Nahual in this entry should be more about the supernatural shapeshifting spirit that is believed to exist in some areas of rural Mexico. Examples of Nahuales are like warewolves or vampire bats, though the larger meaning would encompass "Spirit Animals". Nagual, on the other hand, is part of the same cultural traditions but is not the same thing. Naguales are healers, witchdoctors, sorcerers, "Men of knowledge". Though some naguales may claim that they can transform into nahuales or have the knowledge to create nahuales, the definitions are clearly distinct. I think this entry should definitely be cleaned up as it does confuse these two DIFFERENT ideas, but given that these two different entities are NOT the same, the articles should not be merged. P.S.- The Indian tribe spelled "Yaki" on this page is wrong. It is spelled "Yaqui". ~~Flora (This comment by USer:65.98.196.2 moved here from Talk:Nahual)
oppose It is arguable whether or not Nahual and Nagual are the same idea. No one has any proof that the two words have the same origin. It is possible that the words sound the same and have similar meanings but are not the same thing. To be truly accurate we would have to speak to a Mesoamerican shaman practitioner who is versed in this sort of thing. Other wise all we have is second hand knowledge and it would be wise to at least make clear the various distinctions between these two words. (This anonymnous comment was posted by User:207.255.30.159)
[edit] Rewrite
I got really tired of looking at both of those really misinforming pages and boldly rewrote the whole thing and completed the merger. In doing so I put the Castañeda related material in a new article called Nagual (Castañeda). I think this puts us a step forward.·Maunus· ·ƛ· 11:46, 22 February 2007 (UTC)
