Behind all the tales of these experiences, there is a person, mythic or actual, who sees, at least for a moment, not through a glass darkly but face to face. The stories of this experience also have in common certain features that appear world wide amongst diverse peoples.⁴ Those features may be called shamanic. That is, they pertain to an individual having a personal experience of a spiritual aspect of reality.

The word "shaman" is a Tungus Siberian word that has been used to describe a wide range of phenomenon. In earlier times druids, and sometimes heroes, seem to function fully as shamans, as defined by Mircea Eliade, in his definitive work Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. That is, they undertake a spirit journey into the other world, and return with spiritual gifts for their community.⁵

For the purpose of this study, I would define shamanism as a body of techniques that bring the individual into a personal and interactive contact with the spirit aspect of reality.⁶ This contact can involve the spirit journey, where the shaman enters the other world. It may include the shaman acting as an oracle, becoming possessed by the deity. A shamanic experience may arise spontaneously, or by using specific techniques. I stress the personal and interactive aspect because that is to me the distinguishing feature of shamanism.

A variety of shamanic features, such as spirit flight and journeying, totem animals, power over fire, initiatory illness and spirit marriage, are present in Celtic material.

It also seems clear to me that all the general features of shamanism are present in the accounts of druids we find in the Early Irish literature. As one example, we find the Druid Mog Roith engaging in spirit flight in Forbuis Droma Damhgaire,⁷ as well as having mastery of fire⁸, and using classically shamanic accoutrements, such as the encennach, the bird winged headdress. Bird features are the most common theme in shamanic costuming generally. The reason is not hard to imagine, given that spirit flight is central to shamanism. Even when it is not as elaborate a likeness as amongst the Yakut, where an entire bird's skeleton is made of iron, the headdress is often made of feathers and imitates a bird.⁹

In the later folklore there are fewer people one could argue were fully functioning shamans on all levels, yet one can argue that they are described as having, personal and interactive contact with the spiritual aspect of reality.

For example, in later times personal contact with the sacred occurs in periods of mass spiritual revival within a Christian context. In the writings of the Covenanters, we find vivid descriptions of union with Christ accompanied by enormous joy and a sense of illumination and oneness with creation.¹⁰ We also hear about the dark night of the soul, when the person coming into union with the sacred experiences severe psychological and sometimes physical torment.

Additionally, as primal aspects of Celtic practices became increasingly repressed, we find instances of contact with the other world that are more individual. The person experiencing contact with the sacred is not necessarily doing it to return with gifts for the people, as the shaman is. In fact, in some cases the dà shealladh, the two sights, are regarded as a curse rather than a blessing¹¹, in part, perhaps, because of the pain often experienced at the onset of these powers.

Shamanic cultures, which I define as those with practising shamans, are characterised by an ever-present sense of spirit manifesting in daily life. This seems to be a characteristic of Celtic culture, certainly as it is portrayed in early Irish literature, and much of later folklore. In such a culture, shamans are not the only ones to have spiritual experiences. While not everyone feels the call to become a shaman as a vocation, generally everyone uses shamanic techniques. For example, amongst Native American tribes, most people seek spiritual power and a connection with guardian spirits, obtained by the same shamanic techniques the shaman uses.¹²

In the 1690's in Scotland during a ceremony to receive a vision the person acting in the role of seer is no longer a druid, but one of the participants chosen by lot.¹³ This shows that any of them were believed to be able to have a shamanic experience in the right circumstances.¹⁴

The difference between a shaman and a person in a shamanic culture using the techniques is that the social role of the shaman is to use the spiritual power he gains to help the community. The shaman's spiritual experience is also unusually and consistently intense, in comparison with his fellows. I stress the consistent aspect of the equation because while many people in traditional cultures may sometimes experience an intense encounter with the spirit world, for the shaman it is a frequent occurrence.

In this paper, I explore two facets of my research into shamanic features in Celtic literature and folklore. These are shamanic initiatory crisis and the union with the spirit mate that may often feature as a prominent stage of that crisis.¹⁵

Shamanic initiatory illness is an experience of psycho-spiritual darkness and dissolution that tears down the old ego structure of the individual.¹⁶ The career of many shamans begins with this dramatic episode of altered consciousness that would often be classed by traditional Western psychiatry as a manifestation of serious mental diseases, like schizophrenia or psychosis.¹⁷

The distinguishing difference between this and the experience of a schizophrenic or psychotic person is that the shaman's illness is healed.¹⁸ He or she attains a passionate and personal relationship with the sacred. This relationship does not psychologically disassociate him from physical reality, but leads the shaman to greater effectiveness in the world.

Spiritual crisis may, like shamanic experience itself, also occur in people who are not shamans. When spiritual crisis occurs in people who are not acting as shamans, even down to the current day, it has been termed by some "spiritual emergency."¹⁹ The stories I focus on in this study are those that seem to me to show classically shamanic features, and yield some evidence of a shamanic culture surrounding the experience of the afflicted person. I will where appropriate, draw from folk tradition and other sources to amplify on certain points.

A related phenomenon in many cultures, also addressed in this paper, is that of the shaman acquiring power through union with a spirit mate.²⁰

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Footnotes