Neoshamanism

[1] Three writers in particular are seen as promoting and spreading ideas related to shamanism and neoshamanism: Mircea Eliade, Carlos Castaneda, and Michael Harner.

In it, he wrote that shamanism represented a kind of universal, primordial religion, with a journey to the spirit world as a defining characteristic.

[11] Influences cited by Harner also included Siberian shamanism, Mexican and Guatemalan culture, and Australian traditions, as well as the familiar spirits of European occultism, which aid the occultist in their metaphysical work.

Wallis writes, By downplaying the role of cultural specificity, Harnerism and other neo-Shamanisms can be accused of homogenising shamanisms and, worse, ignoring the people whose "techniques" have been 'used' (others may be correct in preferring the terms 'borrowed', 'appropriated', or 'stolen').

[10] In traditional contexts, shamans serve an important culturally recognized social and ceremonial role, one which seeks the assistance of spirits to maintain cosmic order and balance.

Traditional shamanic initiations often involved pain and fear,[21] while neoshamanic narratives tend to emphasize love over negative emotions.

[1] And while traditional shamanic healing was often tempered with ideas of malevolence or chaos, neoshamanism has a psychotherapeutic focus that leads to a "happy ending.

[8] In ancient Mesoamerican cultures, cacao was revered as a sacred plant, central to rituals aimed at connecting with the divine.

The Maya and Aztec prepared cacao as a bitter beverage, believed to embody a plant spirit that bridged physical and spiritual realms, symbolizing life and fertility.

Participants consume "ceremonial cacao" in group settings that integrate meditation, music, and movement to promote emotional release and "heart-opening" experiences, aligning with New Age spirituality's therapeutic focus.

[25][26] New Age retreats that offer experiences purporting to be vision quests, sweat lodges, and shamanic initiations, usually lasting a weekend or a week, are also popular.

The nontraditional structure contained some 60 people and was located at a new age retreat center called Angel Valley, near Sedona, Arizona; participants paid approximately $10,000 per person to attend.

"[29][30][31] Native American scholars have been critical of neoshamanic practitioners who misrepresent their teachings and practices as having been derived from Native American cultures, asserting that it represents an illegitimate form of cultural appropriation and that it is nothing more than a ruse by fraudulent spiritual leaders to disguise or lend legitimacy to fabricated, ignorant, and/or unsafe elements in their ceremonies in order to reap financial benefits.

[32] Additionally, Aldred notes that even those neoshamanic practitioners with "good intentions" who say they support Native American causes are still commercially exploiting Indigenous cultures.