JOSE AND LEFIA STEVETIS 185MAGNETIC AMD DYNAMIC: FEMININE AND
MASCULINE PRINCIPLES
Another way that people specialize is through their sexual
role. Being male or female is a specialty that brings unique
talents and abilities to life experience. On the other hand,
from a shamanic perspective, each is a polarization of the
other, half of the whole, and by definition an imbalanced
state of being. This does not refer solely to the sex of the
body type, but to the sexual orientation and identity of the
person occupying that body. Because a person is a woman
does not mean that she has a magnetic way of thinking and
because a person is a male does not mean he has a dynamic
way of thinking. There are males that are more magnetic
than some females, and females that are more dynamic than
some men. The important thing from the shamanic point of
view is the state of relative balance a person has or is able to
achieve in reference to both.
For shamans, this state of balance between the feminine
and masculine, magnetic and dynamic, yin and yang aspects
of themselves is of supreme importance. Many shamans have
believed that to be a truly excellent shaman, one must bring
together these polarities into harmony and balance. Histori-
cally, there are many accounts of shamans cross-dressing and
living as members of the opposite sex either for a time or
permanently. There are accounts of this ritualized merging
into the opposite sex among Native American shamans from
the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute tribes as well as South
American, Northeastern Asian, and Indonesian shamans.
This is not caused by a cross-cultural sexual disorder, but is
done purposefully as a practice to attain balance. Shamans
are looking for that supreme internal unity that brings to-
gether the male and female aspects within themselves into a
sacred marriage. They are so incredibly dedicated that they
are willing to take extremely challenging measures to reach
their goal of balance. Here is an example of that process in a
traditional context.
Mantuk was a powerful man, large by Eskimo stan-
dards, and an excellent hunter and fisher. Just last year,
he had won the intervillage competition for fish-laden-
sled-pulling and spearfishing. That was before he fell ill
with smallpox and lay in a coma for many days, awash in
deep visions and dreams. He was watched over by Pes-
tak, the village shaman, who gradually nursed him back
to health. Although Mantuk recovered fully from his bout