Ancestral Wisdom: The Female Shaman In Cartoons
Wisdom and shamanism are deeply linked. Shamans are connected to nature and to the spirit of all things. Over the generations, shamans have cultivated their wisdom. The shaman occupies a very prestigious position in the aboriginal communities. He works with the mind, he knows how the mind acts and moves. So, a shaman is a person who can cure diseases that affect the soul.
Historically, a shaman is connected to nature and its movements. He is knowledgeable about herbalism and natural medicine, and he is willing to share his knowledge.
Shamans can seem like very mysterious characters. This is due, above all, to the connection they have with everything around them. This connection is achieved through constant meditation, but also through love for all growing and developing beings.
However, shamans get their knowledge through inheritance. What does that mean ? That wisdom is acquired through contact with these wise people of the past. Thus, for several generations, mankind has shared its knowledge with its children and nephews.
The knowledge a shaman possesses today is much greater than that of a shaman a century ago. Human knowledge accumulates and is refined each time it is shared. A shaman is that person who accumulates ancestral knowledge, and who is willing to use this knowledge to improve the world.
Even if they are rarely called that, the characters who fill the role of shamans are very present in the cinema. Usually, shamans are portrayed as old people full of knowledge, and in general, they represent a rather eccentric character. On the other hand, young people do not always take the learning of shamans seriously. This is why, very often, they have to face complicated situations which they could have avoided if they had listened to the shaman.
In reality, shamanism is often an exclusive practice, reserved for the male gender. However, this differentiation is not very common in cinema ; in several films, the character of the shaman is represented by a female character. In the rest of this article, we present some examples of female shamans in cartoons.
The cartoon Vaiana was released in 2016 under the direction of Ron Clements and John Musker. It tells the story of young Vaiana, the daughter of the chief of Motunui Island. The island being threatened, Vaiana must undertake a long voyage across the ocean. It is Vaiana’s duty to find Maui, god of the wind, and to return her heart to Tefiti.
Over the course of her life, Vaiana feels more and more drawn to the ocean, even though she cannot explain why. Only Tala, his eccentric grandmother, can answer this question. Tala is the only woman in the village who remembers the origins of its inhabitants. She knows that several years ago, the people of Montuni were explorers and sailors.
Moreover, Tala is the only one who knows how to solve the big problem that plagues the island. Gramma Tala, a connoisseur of ancient legends, is able to guide Vaiana and push her towards her destiny.
Brother Bear is an animated film written by Tab Murphy and directed by Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker. Released in 2003, Brother of the Bears tells the story of young Kenai, a child who desperately wants to become a man.
According to the customs of his village, Kenai must obtain a totem pole during his coming of age ceremony. The ancestral spirits thus reveal to him the female shaman of the village, Nanaka.
After unjustly killing a bear, K enai himself is transformed into a bear by the ancestral spirits. In this new state, Kenai feels lost. Soon, however, his helper, sage Nanaka, comes to him.
Nanaka tells him that he must head to a sacred mountain to reverse the spell. Nanaka explains to Kenai that her bear form is the work of Sitka, her recently deceased brother. If he hadn’t received Nanaka’s guidance, young Kenai would never have been able to move towards his destiny.
The Princess and the Frog is a cartoon released in 2009. Like Vaiana, this cartoon was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. The Princess and the Frog tells the story of Tiana, a young black woman who dreams of opening her own restaurant.
On an important party, Tiana kisses a toad who is actually a bewitched prince. Due to this spell, Tiana is transformed into a frog. Along with Prince Naveem, the bewitched toad, she must try to break the spell.
During their journey, Naveem and Tiana are accompanied by the crocodile Louis, an avid trumpeter, who tells them that the only person able to break this spell is Mama Odie.
Mama Odie is a volunteer voodoo priestess who lives in the Bayou, the swamp near the city of New Orleans. In keeping with the rumors that circulate in New Orleans and its surroundings, Mama Odie is very powerful.
A little crazy and quite eccentric, Mama Odie is a character full of wisdom. She makes sure that Tiana and Naveem find a solution to their problem on their own. She prefers not to solve all this with magic, because only then will Tiana and Naveem be able to know each other well, and then fall in love with each other.
As can be seen in these three examples, female shamans are willing to share their knowledge. They want to see those around them be happy and achieve their goals. These female shamans intervene actively in the course of the lives of the heroes or heroines of their respective networks.
Elderly wise women nourish their intelligence with the vast amount of experiences they have had over the course of their lives. Much of their knowledge comes from understanding a culture made up of magical elements. However, wisdom is also acquired with age.
You don’t have to be part of an Aboriginal community to find shamanic wisdom. Watch carefully, there are many experienced and wise people who are willing to help you choose which direction to take in your life. Just listen.
Our thoughts Dream catchers are powerful instruments derived from shamanic medicine, the origin of which is attributed to Native American tribes.
