11 shamans in a Peruvian faith-healing organization say they have foreseen victory in our prez race

[bigtree]

10/30/2008

LIMA, Peru - Barack Obama apparently can count on the support of a majority of Peruvian faith healers.

Each of the 11 shamans in a Peruvian faith-healing organization said Wednesday that they have foreseen victory in the U.S. presidential race: nine for Democrat Obama and two for his Republican rival John McCain.

Blowing incense over a sacred llama fetus perched on a bed of coca leaves next to posters of the leading candidates, the shamans shook rattles, chanted "up, Obama, up!" and threw flowers at their images.

"Obama is growing stronger, I've seen that he has the spiritual support of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy to protect him," Juan Osco, president of the Apus-Inka healers association, told The Associated Press. "He's going to win."

Mary Gomez, a healer from the city of Chiclayo, said she has seen that Obama "will win and he will change history ... he is going to help all the Latinos living in the United States."

The shamans whistled, chanted and rubbed both posters with Andean spirit-totems, crucifixes, a statue of a dark-skinned Jesus and other idols to scare away bad spirits and negative energies they said might prevent a fair and democratic election.

"We are cleansing both of them so that on Nov. 4 the person that the U.S. really deserves wins," Osco said. "We have seen that if the election is not fair, there will be another global economic crisis, war and despair."


read: http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10854523

[shadowknows69]

1. I'll take a shaman's word over a TV pundit any day.

But I'm freaky like that.

[billyoc]

2. Well, if the Dead Fetus Cocaine Cult says it, it must be true!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Dogtown]

3. "sacred"

it was a 'sacred' fetus; nobody said dick about 'dead'.

[billyoc]

5. Hell, I missed that. That's even more magical!

:rofl:

[cliffordu]

18. LOL....Inca pep rally endorsed....

[billyoc]

26. lol, Nothing against these dudes, we're just a little top-heavy on fetus worshippers in El Norte.

:rofl:

[slampoet]

4. I guess the Pan-Pipe music in last night's 1/2 hour Ad swayed them.

[Bitter_Clinger]

6. If it works for them,

then there could be something to the Christian Right Wingers praying for a McCain/Palin victory so I would rather not put any stock into any of it. I will put forth my own efforts for Obama and not depend on the benevolence of a diety that can easily be disproved by science and intellect on any side. If I am going to be an Atheist, I am going to be an impartial and equal opportunity one.

[shadowknows69]

7. Imagine how pissed the Christian God will be if he's beaten by some Peruvian Pagans lol

[YOY]

8. "he has the spiritual support of Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy to protect him,"

I could have told you that...can I be a shaman too?

Although I'm pretty frickin' agnostic these days.

[shadowknows69]

9. I've taken enough psychotropic drugs in my day

that I think I might qualify as one by default lol. If seeing visions is a prerequisite still.

[crikkett]

21. I think you have to experience epiphany too

are you experienced?

[moggie]

10. That shows the difference between the US and Peru

In the US, most of the fetus-worshippers are McCain supporters.

[crikkett]

22. What a profound statement.

It's so gross I can't laugh at it, but it's funny because it's true. There's no smilie for my reaction.

[semillama]

11. off-topic, but here's an anthropologists pet peeve

These guys are not "shamans". Faith healers, ok. But the term shaman specifically refers to a northern Siberian religious tradition that spread into Alaska and eastern Europe among similar societies. Using the term "shaman" to describe any non-Western spiritual practitioner is at best a broad overgeneralization and smacks of probably unconscious and ingrained cultural prejudice, or at worst is simply a form of racism (in that the person using the term doesn't bother to find out any specifics about the spiritual practitioner, such as what they actually refer to themselves as).

ok, carry on.

[bigtree]

14. we mangle all sorts of words here in America

These folks, I suspect, feel free to call themselves whatever they please. You can make whatever judgments you want about what Peruvian 'shamans' practice, but they apparently don't think it's racism to call themselves shamans. And, they DO call themselves shamans and they call their rituals 'shamanistic' healing.

[knowbody0]

24. sigh

[semillama]

27. That's too bad

It implies to me that somewhere they lost contact with their traditions, and ended up using a term that doesn't really apply to what they are doing in the strictest sense.

Here's a very good book on the whole problem with "shamanism" :

http://www.waveland.com/Titles/Kehoe.htm

[bigtree]

28. they have taken an opportunistic path with their practices

. . . as have many other religions, beliefs, and spiritual; practitioners adopted bits and pieces of other religions and practices in their own rituals. I would give many of these Peruvians credit for actually believing in many of these (even if the practitioner is less than authentic in their expression of these).

But, I take your point. There is a wave of exploitation among those who adopt the term 'shaman' which needs to be taken into account when considering the authenticity of the practice implied.

[semillama]

29. Yes. The term has been so broadly defined

that it's lost most of its meaning. Gregorian Monks could be defined as having shamanistic practices, for example.

[conscious evolution]

31. The use of the word

shaman is probably a bit of marketing on their part.
Most everyone understands,to a degree,what a shaman is,but how many people would recognize the Incan? language word for what they are and/or do.

[marions ghost]

12. "we are cleansing both of them..."

good luck on that...

[central scrutinizer]

13. Paging Palin's Witch Doctor

He needs to get down there and cleanse that nest of pagans

[laststeamtrain]

15. K & R. Well, there you go. That tears it. It's over. n/t

[skooooo]

16. It makes as much sense as anything.

:thumbsup:

[NeedleCast]

17. Well, at least he's got that going for him

So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

[skooooo]

19. Haha...Bill Murray.

What a great movie.

[NeedleCast]

20. 11 Peruvian Shaman Agree

That Caddyshack is a one of the greatest comedies ever put on film.

[Tutankhamun]

23. I think the coca plant is only sacred if you find

rapture in hanging around people you can't stand, ripping them off and vice versa, and bickering constantly. If you're goig to be a "shaman" there are better plants (and fungi/succulents/etc.).

[rucky]

25. Are they accepting resumes?

I could totally do this job.

[Azlady]

30. Yep, the MAGIC just keeps happening! I love it!

[cherokeeprogressive]

32. And DUers laugh at christians.

Go figure.

[Cleita]

33. Here's a link with a video to

their manifestation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7699066.stm

[bigtree]

34. thank you

that was timely

That was quite a scene.