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Classmate writing

Anthropologists use different terms to identify different types of religious specialists. The most common names are shaman, priest, and prophet, as well as other specialized religious roles, such as witches, mediums, sorcerers. One of the main differences between a priest and a shaman is that “shaman is a ritual practitioner whose status is acquired through a personal communication from a supernatural being, whereas a priest does not necessarily have a face-to-face relationship with the spirit world but must have competence in conducting ritual” (Turner, 1972). Interestingly, mediums, shamans, and prophets constitute a sub-type of a single religion. In comparison to priests, they communicate to deities and spirits “person-to-person”; while between the priest and the deity there is an institution.

            Among the Aguaruna of northeastern Peru, being a shaman has its dangers. People of this region believe that shamans are capable of diagnosing the cause of affliction and removing it from a person’s body. However, if they are not able to diagnose and remove it from the body, they believe that the illness is caused by sorcerers. The shamans do everything to discover and execute sorcerers in sake of the society’s benefit. When individuals are identified as sorcerers and are executed, the Aguaruna shamans face dangers and threats made from sorcerer’s family. In addition, sometimes the shamans use their power to bewitch their own clients. As the author states, “because shamans control spirit darts, people fear that a shaman may be tempted to use the cover of healing as an opportunity to bewitch his own clients for personal reasons” (Brown, 1989). When clients do not see any results when they go back home, they assume that it is the shaman who used his power to bewitch the client. In similar situations, shamans are executed the same way as sorcerers.

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