Shamanic Microscopy: Cellular Souls, Microbial Spirits

Abstract

In Amerindian ontologies, hallucinations or visions, rather than being dismissed as delusions or symbolic constructs, are recognized as means of perceptual access to physical reality. Lowland South American shamans claim to be able to diagnose and treat infectious diseases, and to assess the status of wildlife resources through interactions with pathogenic agents perceived in visions. This essay examines some perceptual capabilities that shamans might be employing to explore their physical reality. The structure of the eye affords a form of microscopy of retinal structures and of objects flowing within them, including cells and microbial agents during systemic infection. Lowland South American shamanic practices involve optical and physiological conditions that optimize entoptic microscopy. Images of those visions display the characteristic features of shadow formation, confirming their microscopic origin. This phenomenological access to the microscopic world and similarities with the panorama depicted by current microbiology indicate the commensurability of these forms of knowledge.

Wixárika Practices of Medical Syncretism: An Ontological Proposal for Health in the Anthropocene

“…This, then, is their medical ontology. Giraldo Herrera (2018), through the idea of 'shamanic microscopy' and referencing the skills of Wixaritari mara'akate (shamans), suggests that it may be possible that shamans can see and hence communicate with the microbial agents that live symbiotically with humans. While this idea attempts to explain shamanic health practice using the perspective of scientism, it also alludes to a more-than-human relationality.…”

Twenty Important Research Questions in Microbial Exposure and Social Equity

“…Many artists and designers have been working on projects that build awareness of the importance of the microbiome beyond pathogens: Host by Baum and Leahy and Richard Beckett ( 243 ), With Microbes by Ioana Man ( 244 ), and Subculture: Microbial Metrics And The Multi-species City by Kevin Slavin, Elizabeth Hénaff, and The Living ( 245 ). Additionally, and to diversify the audience of this kind of work, it is important to recognize that the interdisciplinary approaches to understanding the microbiome are part of people’s cultures and ancient practices across the globe ( 246 , 247 ). It is also important to expand the creative imagination around creative outputs to include them.…”