Jim Morrison: The Modern Shaman – Echoes of the Sacred in Rock 'n' Roll

The Lost Paradise: Humanity's Primordial Bond with the Divine

It is said that at the beginning of Creation, humans could communicate directly with the gods.

Heaven, Earth, and Hell represented the Axis Mundi, and each individual could traverse this mystical axis at will, without hindrance.

When disease and death appeared on Earth, spread by enigmatic evil spirits, the gods bestowed upon humanity the first Shaman.[1] 

Due to human hubris or the recklessness of the first Shaman (or the Supreme Being), the gods grew angry and abolished humanity's right to contact divine powers.[2] 

In other words, access to the sacred was forbidden to man.

Eternal Nostalgia: The Sacred in Religions, Arts, and Modern Life

From those primordial times, humans retained a nostalgia for paradise and direct contact with divinity, a theme present in most religions and beliefs spread across the globe.

The arts, in turn, possess a mystical dimension; otherwise, what else could represent the aspirations of Blake, Huxley, or Morrison toward transcendence if not the burning desire to lift the dark veil that fell like a shadow over the Primordial Time, to discover the unknown, and to reestablish connection with the gods through music, poetry, symbolic paintings, or intellectual effort?

In fact, these nostalgias or aspirations are not absent from the consciousness of modern people who declare themselves secular or atheist.

As Mircea Eliade observed, “camouflaged religious behaviors […] are encountered […] even in movements that proclaim themselves secular or antireligious, […] nudism or movements for absolute sexual freedom are based on ideologies in which traces of the ‘nostalgia for Paradise’ can be discerned, the desire to return to the edenic state before the Fall, when there was no sin and no rupture between the pleasures of the flesh and consciousness.”[3] 

This viewpoint is absolutely valid for the Hippie movement[4] as well, which was to gain momentum less than a decade after Eliade's writings.

The Shaman: Master of Ecstasy in Archaic Cultures  

   

Among all those initiated into the sacred, the shaman held the most important place in archaic cultures.

Unlike sorcerers, healers, priests, or magicians, the shaman is not only initiated into the mysteries of the sacred; he can make direct contact with spirits, gods, or demons.

He can ascend to heaven or descend into hell.

All these events are possible because the shaman is the master of ecstasy.

He is the sole possessor of the techniques of ecstasy, meaning that the shaman (and only the shaman) can restore concrete communication with the transcendental world, as it occurred in the beginning times.

The shaman is a psychopomp, escorting the spirits of the dead to Hell; he is a priest, healer, mystic, poet, and musician.

Although considered a religious phenomenon specific to Siberia and Central Asia, shamanism in its broad sense (as ecstatic mysticism) is present in many regions of the world.

From Australia to Africa, from the Americas to China and India.[5]

The Initiation Ritual: Gateway to the Sacred

A central point in archaic beliefs is the initiation ritual, which represents both the ontological status change of the uninitiated (through symbolic death and resurrection, thus the neophyte becomes aware of the sacred) and a regeneration of the entire society by abolishing profane time and ritually reinitiating the Time of Dreams, that is, sacred, primordial time.[6] 

We will see that, from a mystical perspective, most of The Doors' songs follow a certain initiatory path. 

Divine Calling: The Path to Shamanic Initiation

Shamanic initiation follows the same schema as ordinary initiations. However, to be initiated into shamanic mysticism, the candidate must be chosen. Thus, it involves a divine vocation.

The vocation manifests through ecstatic dreams, illnesses (and especially overcoming illnesses), crises, or unusual events. Symbolic rituals may also be linked to the shamanic vocation.[7] 

The acquisition of shamanic powers is due to gods, ancestors, or animal spirits. In some cases, the souls of the dead play an important role.[8] 

We can discern such a type of initiation in Jim Morrison's biography as well.

During a car trip with his family, Jim witnessed the aftermath of a car accident in which several Indians lay gravely injured on the roadside.

Morrison speaks of this incident as a mystical experience, suggesting that it is possible one of the Indians died as the car passed the accident site, and his soul entered the body of the future lead singer of The Doors.[9] 

Although the possibility of possession by the souls of the dead is a common theme in archaic culture, it is only tangentially related to shamanic mysticism, as the shaman is not typically possessed by spirits; rather, through the techniques of ecstasy, the shaman subjugates the spirits or at most summons them to assist in mystical endeavors.

During initiation in some North American cultures, deviant behavior such as excessive rage, disturbance, or disintegration of personality may occur, leading to possession of the aspiring shaman by a spirit.[10] 

Becoming Spirit: The Transformative Trials of the Shaman

To be able to communicate with the spirit world, the shaman must become a spirit himself.

Therefore, shamanic initiation entails a more arduous path than ordinary initiation.

The shaman becomes spirit himself in the experience of ecstasy and is not merely a simple initiate into the sacred, like the other members of the tribe.

The pattern of shamanic initiation remains largely the same across all archaic cultures. The future shaman is torn apart by spirits or demons, his organs are replaced, he is cut into pieces and boiled in a cauldron, magical stones or metals are inserted into his body, he ascends to heaven or descends into hell, dies and becomes a skeleton—the contemplation of bones holding special symbolic significance; it is believed that bone is the essence of human and animal life.[11] 

The future shaman spends a period of instruction in hell, where demons and the souls of dead shamans reveal various secrets to him, then receives consecration from the Supreme Being when he ascends to Heaven.[12] 

Through these transformations, the shaman becomes “a man who can communicate personally with gods, demons, and spirits.

The various types of suffering endured by the future shaman are seen as so many religious experiences; psychopathological crises are explained as illustrating the abduction of his soul by demons or representing his ecstatic journeys to Heaven or Hell; physical pains are considered to be caused by the dismemberment of his body.

But whatever the nature of his sufferings, they play a role in his formation as a shaman only insofar as he attributes religious significance to them and, consequently, accepts them as indispensable trials of his mystical transfiguration.

For, let us not forget, initiatory death is always followed by rebirth.”[13]

The Fading Trance: Shamanism Through Time

After humanity's fall into Primordial Time, shamanic trance became the sole mode of communication with the beyond.

As expected, from that primordial moment onward, with the passage of time, the shaman's powers diminished; trance is achieved with difficulty, sometimes even simulated, and the use of narcotics[14] represents a decline of shamanism.

However, regardless of the intensity of the trance and shamanic power, the one performing the ritual is convinced of the religious value of his actions. Nevertheless, the shaman has always been an actor, an interpreter of his visions.

He interprets the deeds his soul performs before the audience gathered to partake in the shaman's contact with the sacred. The shaman narrates, dances, prophesies, and brings messages from gods, demons, or spirits. Among all elements, the most important is music.

Through music, through drum rhythms (the most common), individual or choral songs, songs with or without lyrics, the shaman initiates trance.[15] Therefore, music in any form is indispensable to trance.

“Listening to the sound of sacred instruments, the novice [or shaman, n.n.] falls into trance.”[16]

The Axis Mundi: Music as the Shaman's Vehicle

As we have seen, the shaman becomes a spirit and can traverse the world axis connecting Heaven, Earth, and Hell. The World Tree (symbolically described by the shamanic post) represents that Axis Mundi, and from its branches the shamanic drum is crafted. Indeed, the images described on the shaman's ritual costume[17], the shape of the scepter or the shamanic post[18], all these are representations of the Tree.

Being of sacred origin, the drum[19] s thus the vehicle through which the shaman reaches the Center of the World, where cosmic level ruptures occur and from which, through ecstasy, he can traverse realms inaccessible to ordinary mortals.[20] 

Musical magic allows the shaman to penetrate the mysteries of the universe and, once arrived at the Center, he actually regains the human condition from the beginning of creation.[21]

Ecstasy's Power: The Shaman's Role in the Tribe

“Ecstasy is nothing other than the concrete experience of ritual death or, in other words, the overcoming of the profane human condition.”[22] 

Through ecstasy, the shaman succeeds in fulfilling various functions that will help the tribe.

Once in trance, the shaman can determine the causes of illnesses or calamities striking the tribe (for example, scarcity of game, epidemics, etc.) and wage battles against other shamans or sorcerers threatening the community.

He succeeds in finding lost objects or spirits wandering from their bodies, bringing them back. In funerary rituals, the shaman guides the deceased's spirit to Hell. [23]

Echoes in Rock: Shamanic Symbols in Jim Morrison's World

Shamanism is a complex phenomenon that is not the central subject of our blog series.

Through this succinct description of the shaman's role and manifestations, we have attempted to highlight certain practices or symbols used by Jim Morrison in his work, which draws on elements that, lato sensu, pertain to shamanism.

In his creation, we discover archaic symbols such as: the snake, the lion, the leopard, the bird, the narrow gate, arduous passages, labyrinths, ritual death, ascension, descent into hell, fire, water, blood.

Then, in his stage performance, marked by the theatricality of shamanic rituals, we encounter elements of trance, prophetic dance, reverie, proclamation of omnipotence[24]: „I’m the Lizard King, I can do anything”[25].

It is interesting to consider C.G. Jung's opinion on reptilian symbolism. He suggests that dark images from the unconscious manifest during dreams in the form of reptiles, which take on the dimensions of monsters.

When such symbols appear in dreams, it is a sign that the dreamer has descended into an archetypal, primordial zone.

Moreover, Jung, referring to healers and sorcerers, considered that one who has succeeded in mastering these fantasies produced by the unconscious can have a hypnotic power over the masses.[26] 

Ray Manzarek, the organist of The Doors, compared the artistic experience in Morrison's presence to the ecstatic experience of Siberian tribes during shamanic rituals.[27] 

Morrison as Shaman: Bridging Worlds in a Desacralized Age

Jim Morrison crafted the image of an initiate into the mysteries, a specialist in the sacred during the desacralized twentieth century.

He passed beyond the Doors and attempted to express through music and poetry what he saw in the two worlds. He was akin to a shaman, for only the shaman is the one who knows and remembers[28], the one who ‘understands the mysteries of life and death,[29], the one who shares the condition of the spirit[30], the one who is not only ecstatic but also contemplative, a thinker.[31] 

The shaman (like Jim Morrison) is singer, poet, musician, diviner, priest, and healer[32], a guardian of religious and folk traditions, preserver of legends, centuries old.[33]

Bibliography

[1] Mircea Eliade, Șamanismul și tehnicile arhaice ale extazului, București, Editura Humanitas, 2017, pp. 77-78.

[2] Eliade, pp. 77-78.

[3] „comportamentele religioase camuflate […] se întâlnesc […] și în mișcările care se proclamă laice sau antireligioase, […] nudismul sau mișcările pentru libertatea sexuală absolută se bazează pe ideologii în care se pot desluși urmele «nostalgiei Paradisului», dorința de întoarcere la starea edenică de dinaintea căderii, când nu exista păcat și nici ruptură între plăcerile cărnii și conștiință”, cf. Mircea Eliade, Sacrul și profanul, București, Editura Humanitas, 2013, pp. 156-157.

[4] Mișcare influențată și de creația lui Jim Morrison. Lucru într-un fel paradoxal, dat fiind educația și proveniența burgheză a poetului, cât și a gândirii sale aflate la limita conservatorismului. 

[5] Mircea Eliade, Șamanismul și tehnicile arhaice ale extazului, București, Editura Humanitas, 2017, pp. 19-23.

[6] Mircea Eliade, Nașteri mistice, București, Editura Humanitas, 2013, pp. 44-46. Subiectul inițierii neofitului descrie un fenomen complex, cu particularități legate de zone culturale sau geografice. Cf. Eliade, pp. 238-241.

[7] Mircea Eliade, Șamanismul și tehnicile arhaice ale extazului, București, Editura Humanitas, 2017, pp. 74-75.

[8] Eliade,  pp. 106-108.

[9] Hopkins, Sugerman, p. 10.

[10] Mircea Eliade, Nașteri mistice, București, Editura Humanitas, 2013, p. 130.

[11] Eliade, pp. 176-178.

[12] Eliade, pp. 185-186.

[13] “un om care poate comunica personal cu zeii, demonii și spiritele. Diferitele tipuri de suferințe îndurate de viitorul șaman sunt văzute ca tot atâtea experiențe religioase; crizele psihopatologice sunt explicate ca ilustrând răpirea sufletului său de către demoni sau reprezintă călătoriile sale extatice spre Cer ori Infern; durerile fizice sunt considerate ca fiind provocate de dezmembrarea corpului său. Dar, oricare ar fi natura suferințelor sale, acestea au un rol în formarea sa ca șaman numai în măsura în care el le acordă o semnificație religioasă și, ca urmare, le acceptă ca încercări indispensabile transfigurării sale mistice. Pentru că, să nu uitam, moartea inițiatică este întotdeauna urmată de o re-naștere”, cf. Eliade, p. 176. 

[14] Mircea Eliade, Șamanismul și tehnicile arhaice ale extazului, București, Editura Humanitas, 2017, p. 381.

[15] Mariko Namba Walter, Eva Jane Neumann Fridman, Shamanism: an encyclopedia of world beliefs, practices, and culture, ABC-CLIO, Inc., Santa Barbara, 2004, p. 100.

[16] “Ascultând sunetul instrumentelor sacre, novicele [sau șamanul n.n.] cade în transă”, cf. Mircea Eliade, Nașteri mistice, București, Editura Humanitas, 2013, p. 125.

[17] Mircea Eliade, Șamanismul și tehnicile arhaice ale extazului, București, Editura Humanitas, 2017, pp. 174-176.

[18] Mircea Eliade, Nașteri mistice, București, Editura Humanitas, 2013, pp. 145-147.

[19] Toba poate juca  de asemenea un rol în prinderea spiritelor; este în același timp vocea spiritelor sau calul șamanului care îl poartă pe acesta în lumea transcendentală. Cf. Walter, Fridman, p. 95.

[20] Mircea Eliade, Imagini și simboluri, București, Editura Humanitas, 2019, p. 50.

[21] Mircea Eliade, Șamanismul și tehnicile arhaice ale extazului, București, Editura Humanitas, 2017, pp. 166-172.

[22] “Extazul nu este altceva decît experiența concretă a morții rituale sau, altfel spus, a depășirii condiției umane, profane”, cf. Eliade, p. 102.

[23] Fridman, p. 253.

[24] Cf. Eliade, p. 279.

[25] Celebration of the Lizard, Cf. Jim Morrison, The American night, New York, Vintage Books, 1991.

[26] C.G. Jung, Analiza viselor: Notele seminarului susținut între anii 1928 și 1930, București, Editura Trei, 2018, pp. 323-325.

[27] Hopkins, Sugerman, p. 136.

[28] Mircea Eliade, Nașteri mistice, București, Editura Humanitas, 2013, p. 196.

[29] Eliade, p. 196.

[30] Eliade, p. 196.

[31] Eliade, p. 196.

[32] Mircea Eliade, Șamanismul și tehnicile arhaice ale extazului, București, Editura Humanitas, 2017, p. 43.

[33] Eliade, p. 43.