consciousness. This especially applied to healing of the
body, mind, and spirit. Shamans needed their spiritual
abilities (altered state of consciousness) to contact the
Otherworld to determine the cause of any illness and
what herbs or practices were necessary to treat the
disease.
When tribes or clans became too large for the shaman
to do all the work alone, this responsibility was
frequently divided into two separate categories: priest-
magician and healer. However, people in both categories
were instructed in the same practices. For example,
although healers focused on the healing arts, they also
understood that a strong connection with spirit or the
Otherworld and the magickal energy of that world were
necessary for any healing to take place.
Throughout history, cultures continued to have their
priest-healers who were required to know magick
themselves or work closely with those who did. The
ancient cultures of Sumer, Babylonia, Ur, and Egypt had
groups of priests, healers, and magicians who were
trained in certain temples and expected to work
together. We know this because of the surviving clay
tablets and papyri. Even the ancient Greeks had their
shamanistic equivalents, particularly those who worked
in the sacred asklepieia, or temples of the healing god
Aesculapius. The patients in these Greek temples were
treated by physical methods, magickally induced dream
therapy, and communication with Aesculapius.
This treatment of the whole person by spiritual
connection, physical methods, and magickal spells
continued in the Middle East and Mediterranean areas
until the end of the fifth century BCE, when Hippocrates
of Cos appeared. His admonitions that only the body
was involved in physical illness and that spiritual and