Curious, didn't the word 'shaman' come from Russia? That's what I was told, actually, told this by the person who used the term in reference to their self. But they knew the term was false, but as you say, 'general public' communications. But I am curious as to why or how the word is attached.
It's isn't Russian, it's from the language and practice of some of the indigenous Siberian tribes. There are at least as many of those as there are American Indian tribes, and I'm not altogether which one uses that word. The Wikipedia article says it's "loan from the Turkic word šamán", which is about as useful as saying that the word "priest" comes from an Indo-European word.
In any case, the word "shaman" originally described the spiritual practitioners of central-southern Siberia, and then was more broadly applied to anyone whose spiritual practice is based on what we in the West would call "astral projection" or ecstatic trance. Later it came to be used as a polite substitute for what had up to then been called "witch doctors", "medicine men", and the like, regardless of tribe or actual practice. It has been recently co-opted by the Newagers because apparently they don't know what else to call themselves; although "medicine person" seems to be a close second, I think "witch doctor" is a better fit.
I think among Newagers, the term began with Michael Harner and his white-bread version of South American "shamanism". It may predate that, but that's where I first heard about it.
The indigenous religion of Russia proper was a polytheistic paganism very similar to that of the Scandinavians. There was very little of it written down, certainly nothing like the Eddas or the writings of the ancient Greeks, and it was very unorganized, so not a lot is known about it for certain. To be sure, there are practictioners of "Slavic paganism" around today, but they are mostly Newage groups established since the fall of the Soviet Union, and from what I can tell, mostly the usual stuff, cobbled together from the work of various scholars, folk beliefs, and certain practices of the Russian Orthodox Church, all wrapped up in a big heavy coating of Theosophy. Strangely enough, I've never really heard of Siberian shamanism being part of this mix. Outside of small Siberian villages, shamans seem to show up mostly in wealthy American communities.
To be sure, Russian folk practices have their own fairies, notably the female spirits who move from the trees to the rivers, one way in the spring and the other in the winter, though I'm not sure which way is which; the household spirits, who are something like brownies; the guardian of the banya; and the one who likes to trick people who travel in the woods, and disguises himself as a mushroom. As far as I know, none of these fairy folk use reiki or Jewish shamanism
, and don't even get me started on Munay-ki!
I'm not sure about about that "fairy doctoring" thing, either. Fairy folk in all cultures are immensely fond of playing tricks on humans, by deluding their senses, and pretending to give them, say, a bagful of gold that, when the human gets it home, turns out to be nothing but rocks. If she's getting her "doctoring" techniques from the fairy folk, well, that explains a lot of the woo-woo stuff she's involved in.
Or maybe critter is right, that she has a sideline of doctoring sick fairies, and I bet
that's a hoot to watch!
I mean, come on, what am I to do.. bring my ailing fairies to her for doctoring? LOL Should I bring it in a paper bag? or a box? What is the right way of transporting an ailing fairy to the doctor?
Next topic for discussion: how many fairies will fit in a paper bag?
