Sacred femininity and authority: gender stratification in neoshamanic groups

Abstrakt

In all Western countries neoshamanic groups share an important charac-teristic: statistics demonstrate the significant prevalence of women. At the same time, neoshamanic groups also have inner power dynamics related to gender. Some authors argue that in small religious groups without charismatic leaders strong personalities may appear charismatic and occupy positions of high status. Such gender dynamics have been historically associated with a positional advantage to men, although in such settings charisma might be decoupled from gender characteristics that tend to disadvantage women. The article presents the results of research conducted on aneoshamanic group in Bratislava belonging to the FSS (Foundation for Shamanic Studies). In this environment, charismatic authority has been for a long time absent: according to the concept of core shamanism, being a shaman does not mean having a ‘gift’, and a leader is usually represented as a person who is just more skilled than other group members. However, during recent decades, a process of group stratification has resulted in the formation of new groups and the emergence of male charismatic leaders who initially did not represent themselves as charismatic. Current male leaders’ self-representations usually refer to inner qualities related to a combination of particular stereotypical gender characteristics. I argue that this image corresponds to (1) the intuitive way of knowledge/ emotions related to female characteristics and (2) the active position of urban shamans related to male characteristics. This combination follows from the specific ideology of urban shamanism as a kind of alternative healing aimed at the transformation of individuals and society.