Goethe and Shamanism

Author(s): Gloria Flaherty

Source: MLN, Vol. 104, No. 3, German Issue (Apr., 1989), pp. 580-596
Published by: Johns Hopkins University Press
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 GoetheandShamanism

GloriaFlaherty

Shamanism has manifesteditselfin the past in most culturesthe

world over, and it stillmanages to persistnowadays in various,al-
though not always readily recognizable forms.There are women
as well as men who serve their fellow human beings as wizards,
diviners, medicine men, healers, and performers. Those indi-
viduals exhibitearly on in theirlives an inherentneed as well as
abilityto induce in themselvesexperiences of depersonalization,
fragmentation,weightlessness,ascensionism,and bilocation. De-
spite the potentiallypainful crashingduring subsequent re-entry
into reality,theywho go to the brinkof madness and manage to
returnare supposed to be able to relate theirexperiencesin a way
that somehow touches their compatriots and does them some
good. The shamans prognosticatethroughtheirvisions. Or, they
wield and bend the futurethroughtheircommunicationswiththe
spirit world. Or, they provide catharsis through ecstatic rites
grounded in drugs,alcohol, or the kindsof vestibularstimulations
that come from freneticdancing to loud music and fluctuating
lights. They are usually accomplished masters of ventriloquism,
sleightof hand, make-up, costume, and multifariousother theat-
rical tricks.
Such practitioners,as well as theiraudiences, have aroused the
curiosityof intellectualsat least since the fifthcenturyB.C., when
Herodotus told about the death-defyingfeats of the Scythian
soothsayersand poets, Aristeas and Abaris. Herodotus also re-
ported on the delight the Scythianstook in the effectsof sweat

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 M L N 581

bathsand in the deep, long inhalationof burninghemp.1In recent

years,classical scholars have not only continued to study Herod-
otus, but they have pointed out numerous other "shamanistic"
practicesduring antiquity.Some attributedthe rise of the late Hel-
lenisticnovel to the trancesof shamans, while others saw in those
trances the origins of theater.Still others believed shamans were
responsible for the very creation of Greek mythology.Biblical
scholars have produced similar kinds of thought-provoking
studies.2
The phenomenon of shamanism has also received increasingly
close attentionby scholars from many other disciplines as well.
Historiansof literaturehave sought the roots of certaingenres in
it,and historiansof art have looked at cave paintingsand artifacts
in comparable ways. Musicologistshave concentratedon the in-
strumentsand the performancetechniques.3The number of dis-
sertationsin anthropologyalone is staggering,foragain and again

' TheHistory,trans.George Rawlinsonand E. H. Blakeney,2 vols. (1926; London

and New York, 1949) 1: 292-93, 301, 313, and 316.
2 Arthur 0. Lovejoy and George Boas, Primitivism and RelatedIdeas in Antiquity
(1935; New York, 1965) 288 and 315-16. Eric RobertsonDodds, The Greeksand the
Irrational,Sather Classical Lectures 25 (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1951) 135-78.
Clyde Kluckhohn,Anthropology and theClassics(Providence, 1961) 5, 19, and 23.
Karl Meuli, "Scythica,"Hermes:Zeitschrift Philologie70 (1935; Nendeln,
furklassische
Liechtenstein, 1967): 121-76. Robert Ranulph Marett, ed. Anthropology and the
Classics:Six LecturesDeliveredBeforetheUniversityofOxfordbyArthurJ. Evans,Andrew
Lang, GilbertMurray,F. B. Jevons,J. L. Myres,W. Ward Fowler(1908; New York,
1966) 18, 44-65, 66-92, 93-120. Erwin Rohde, Psyche:Seelenkult und Unsterblichkeits-
glaubederGriechen, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (1898; Darmstadt,1980) 2: 69-70. ErnestTheo-
dore Kirby,"Dionysus: A Study of the Bacchae and the Origins of Drama," (Diss.
Carnegie-Mellon University,Pittsburgh,[1970] 1972) 33; "The Origin of the
Mummer's Play," Journal of AmericanFolklore84.333 (July-September 1971):
276-78; "The ShamanisticOrigins of Popular Entertainments,"The Drama Review
18.1 (March 1974): 5-15; Ur-Drama:The Originsof Theatre(New York, 1975): esp.
1-32. Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology (1959, rev. ed. 1969,
reprint, 1976): 229-81. Matthias Hermanns, Schamanen-Pseudoschamanen, Erliser
und Heilbringer: Eine vergleichendeStudiereligiiserUrphdnomene, 3 vols. (Wiesbaden,
1970) II: 343. Mircea Eliade, Myths, Dreamsand Mysteries:TheEncounterbetween Con-
temporary Faithsand ArchaicRealities,trans. Philip Mariet (1960; London and New
York: 1975) 45; Shamanism:ArchaicTechniquesofEcstasy,trans. Willard R. Trask,
rev. and enl. ed. (Princeton, 1974) passim. Arvid S. Kapelrud, "ShamanisticFea-
tures in the Old Testament,"Studiesin Shamanisn,ed. Carl-MartinEdsman (Stock-
holm, 1962) 90-96.
3 Nora K. Chadwick,"Shamanisn among the Tatars of Central Asia," TheJournal

of theRoyalAnthropological Instituteof GreatBritainand Ireland,66 (January-June

1936): 81, 93, and 102; Poetryand Prophecy(Cambridge, 1942) 12, 54, 71, and 99;
Chadwick and Victor Zhirmunsky,Oral Epics of CentralAsia (Cambridge, 1969)
234-67. A. T. Hatto, Shamanism and Epic Poetryin Northern Asia (London, 1970) 1-7.

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582 GLORIA FLAHERTY

someone professingto be a shaman turnsup in a South or North

America Indian, Siberian, Lapp, Near Eastern, or Africantribe.4
Although such writersoften cite 18th-century sources, it was not
theirintentionto put those sources into historicalcontext.
My aim withthis paper is to begin tryingto do just that. After
presentingsome brief background on the kinds of information
about shamanism available in the 18th century,I shall turn to
Goethe, who never remained obliviousto intellectualtrends,and I
shall relate some of what he had to have knownabout shamanistic
vestigesstillextantduring his lifetime.Then, I shall ever so briefly
surveyGoethe's own literarycorpus accordingto whathad already
become the shamanisticparadigm.
Although the manner in which shamanismis treated nowadays
mightlead people to thinkotherwise,18th-century interestin the
subject was all-pervasiveand extraordinarilyintense. The age of
explorationwas well underway,and those who soughtinformation
about the non-European world had to acclimatethemselvesto the
languages and customsof the peoples whose land theywere mea-
suring and mapping out. They were often at the mercyof those
strange people and their inexplicablyeffectivemeans of healing
and solving problems. Whatever mockery might have existed
ceased as soon as European lives were saved. And, that would
seem to have happened fairlyoften.The reportsand travelogues
that those men sent back to Europe, whethercontainingtruthor
bravado or a mixtureof both, served to whet the appetite of their
contemporaries,who persistedin demanding additional informa-

Wilhelm E. Muhlmann, Die Metamorphose der Frau: Weiblicher Schamanismus und

Dichtung,2nd rev. ed. (Berlin, 1984) 67-69. Wilhelm Muster,"Der Schamanismus
und seine Spuren in der Saga, im deutschenBrauch, Marchen und Glauben" (Diss.
Graz, 1947) 98, 139, 179-82. Andreas Lommel, Shamanism:The BeginningsofArt,
trans. Michael Bullock (New York and Toronto, 1967) 25 and 137; Schamanenund
Medizinmdnner, 2nd rev. and enl. ed. (Munich, 1980) 162-206. Curt Sachs, Handbuch
derMusikinstrumentenkunde (Leipzig, 1920) 110-14. Felix Hoerburger,Der Tanz mit
derTrommel, Quellen und Forschungenzur musikalischenFolklore 2 (Regensburg,
1954) 14-16. GilbertRouget,Music and Trance:A Theory oftheRelationsbetweenMusic
and Possession, trans. Gilbert Rouget and Brunhilde Biebuyck (Chicago and
London, 1985) 125-33.
4 In addition to publications like Douglas Sharon, Wizardof theFour Winds:A

Shaman'sStory(New York, 1978) 4, 49, and 150, there are the various works of
Carlo Castaneda, which spurred Richard de Mille to produce Castaneda'sJourney:
The Powerand theAllegory(Santa Barbara, 1978) and to edit The Don Juan Papers:
FurtherCastanedaControversies (Santa Barbara, 1980), esp. pp. 68-90. See as well,
James Sidney Slotkin,ed., Readingsin EarlyAnthropology (Chicago, 1965) 175-243.

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 M L N 583

tion. In many instances,the motivationwas purely mercantileor

political,but not always.
While some Europeans continued to mock whattheyconsidered
puerile trickeryand ignoble gullability,others began taking sha-
manisticpracticesseriously.More than anythingelse in the 18th
century,shamanismseems to have epitomizeda grand confluence
of human activities.Intellectualsof all pursuitsand persuasions,
except, perhaps, the followersof Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-
1778), studied and discussed it. Theologians and philosophersin-
vestigatednot only its relationshipto superstition,but more im-
portantly,its relationshipto religiousenthusiasmand the kind of
spiritpossession that necessitatedexorcism,all of which were ex-
periencinga new boom in the late 18thcentury.Physiciansstudied
shamanismso as to learn more about the powers of the mind over
the body, and about madness and about ecstaticstates,mass sug-
gestion,and psychopharmacology,especiallythe smokingof some
kindsof plantsand the drinkingof a brewconcoctedout of certain
mushrooms. Ethnographers and anthropologistsobserved sha-
manism as possiblybeing one of the major links connectingthe
inhabitants of Asia and America across what were soon to be
named the Bering Straits.
Classical archaelogistsand philologists,whose workwentbeyond
that of Johann Joachim Winckelmann(1717-1768), could not re-
frain from making comparisons to remotestGreek antiquityand
itsfrenziedrevelerswho traveledto the lands of the gold-guarding
griffinsand the one-eyed Arimaspi. Nor could theyrefrainfrom
thinkingabout Epimenides and his long sleep, or Orpheus and
belief in the transmigrationof souls, or Pythagorasand his tripto
Hades where he saw Homer and Hesiod doing penance. On the
other hand, 18th-centurymusicians and musical theoristsmade
comparisons between what theyread about shamanismand what
they knew about oriental music, specificallyTurkish, and how it
was applied, what with itsJingling-Johnnies, to whip up soldiers
into battle-readyfrenzy.Aestheticiansas well as studentsof litera-
ture and theater also hoped to profitfrom the steady stream of
reportsabout shamans.5Dramas were even writtenon the subject
by playwrightsas diversein talentsas August FriedrichFerdinand
von Kotzebue (1761-1819) and Catharine the Great (1729-1796),

5 See my article,"The PerformingArtistas the Shaman of Higher Civilization,"

MLN, 103.3 (April 1988): 519-539.

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584 GLORIA FLAHERTY

the smart German princess from Anhalt-Zerbstwho encouraged

the academic expeditions from 1768 to 1774 into the interiorof
Russia because of the potential power that that new knowledge
could bring her.6 I
Interest in such matters became so veryintensein the late 18th
century that the word shaman,whichderivesfromthe language of
certain Siberian tribes,began to be used as a generic termto de-
scribewhatotherAsian and Americantribescalled ojun,kam,bi, or
piaye.Until well afterthe middle of the 18th century,the shaman
was also stillbeing described by the word giocolarein Italian,jong-
leurin French,Gaucklerin German, and wizard in English,the last
of whichis presumablystem-relatedto the preceeding.7One of the
reasons that shaman,or, better,Schaman(n)won out over all the
others mighthave been that most of the courageous young men
who ventured forthinto the wilds of Siberia, Tibet, Turkey, the
South Seas, and North as well as South America happened to be
either German-born, German-trained, or in the service of the
Hanoverian kingsof England.
The universitythat was most involved withtrainingpeople for
such expeditionswas the newlyfounded one in Gottingen.Conse-
quentlyit was to Gottingenthatalumni sentartifacts,books, manu-
scripts,and reports of their scientificfindingsand observations.
Particularlyloyal was the Russian contingent,which had initially
been supported by Catharine's academy in St. Petersburg.Baron
Georg Thomas von Asch (1729-1807), who studied medicine in
Gottingenunder Albrechtvon Haller (1708-1777), was the leader
among them. His doctorate broughtwithit the compulsorycom-
missionin Catharine's army,which he used in order to widen his
circleof contactsthus enabling him to send all kindsof thingsback
to Gottingenregularlyfrom 1771 to 1806.8
As a result,Baron Asch had great input as regards the medical
and anthropologicalwork being done there. For example, within

6 Catharine penned Der Betriiger, Der Verblendete, Schamann,all

and Der sibirische
three of which were published in St. Petersburgin 1786. Among Kotzebue's plays
of related interestare Graf Benjowsky(Leipzig, 1795) and La Peyrouse(Leipzig,
1798). I discuss the popular receptionand intellectualevaluationof those worksin
my"Empathyand Distance: RomanticTheories of ActingReconsidered,"Romantic
Drama, ed. Gerald Gillespie.
7J.S. Ersch and J.G. Gruber, AllgemeineEncyclopddieder Wissenschaften und
Kiinste,pt. 3 (Leipzig, 1832), s.v. Orakel, pp. 301 f.
8 Arnold Buchholz, Die Gittinger Russlandsammlungen GeorgsvonAsch,Ein Museum
der russischenWirtschaftsgeschichte des 18. Jahrhunderts (Giessen, 1961) 16, 27-39,
passim.

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 M L N 585

fiveyearsof the date thatProfessorJohann FriedrichBlumenbach

(1752-1840), the acknowledged founder of anthropology and
leading expert in travel literature,requested some Russian and
Asiaticskullsof him,Baron Asch managed to send twenty-two. He
also sent along whateverhuman curiositiesand monstrositieshe
could find. Needless to say, the ones he sent were all dead. The
most startlinglyimpressiveof Asch's missives,however,contained
the complete outfitof a shaman fromthe Tungus that somehow
failed to make it to the compulsoryfuneralpyre. Having been de-
scribed as "wohl das altesteund schonsteStuck dieser Art,das in
die wissenschaftlichen Sammlungen Europas gelangte,"it has re-
peatedlyappeared as an illustrationin 20th-century books and ar-
ticles dealing with shamanism.9Interestinglyenough, the outfit
was transportedby Karl Heinrich Merck (f1.1780s) of Darmstadt,
who had studied medicine in Giessen and Jena before being al-
lowed to engage his scientificwitsin greaterRussia, thanksto the
intercessionof his veryinfluentialuncle.
And now, I thinkit is appropriate to turnto the evidence about
Goethe himself. As far as his flirtationwith Gottingen is con-
cerned, it reputedlybegan when he was a mere schoolboy.He ap-
parentlyhad wanted very,verymuch to studyat the new univer-
sity,whichimpressed him as well as mostof his contemporariesas
being at the forefrontof intellectualand scientificinvestigations.'0
Since his conservativefather refused, he was forced to go else-
where. The young Goethe mighthave complied withhis father's
wishes, but he never relinquished his curiosityabout what was
going on in Gottingen.He subsequentlytried to keep up withthe
resultsof the experimentsand discussionsthattook place there.As
an adult, he visitedin 1783, during a tripto the Harz region,and
he got to know even bettersome of the professors,among them
not only Blumenbach, but also Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

9 CIBA-Zeitschrift
4.38 (October, 1936) 1322. GuntherSchmid,Goetheund dieNa-
ed. Emil Abderhalden (Halle, Saale, 1940) 66
Eine Bibliographie,
turwissenschaften:
and 490. As regards Blumenbach, see Hans Plischke,Die Ethnographische Sammilung
derUniversitdtGottingen, und ihreBedeutung(Gottingen,1931), passim,
ihreGeschichte
as well as Hermann Quantz, "Beitrag zur Geschichtedes Blumenbachschen Mu-
seums in Gottingenim 19. Jahrhundertund besonders seiner Ethnographischen
Sammlung unter Ernst Ehlers," Gottinger ed. Hans Plischke
Vlikerkundliche-Studien,
(Leipzig, 1939) 289-304.
10Gedenkausgabe der Werke,Briefeund Gesprdche,ed. Ernst Beutler, Vol. 10: Dich-
tungund Wahrheit, 2nd ed. (Zurich and Stuttgart,1962), pt. 2, bk. 6, p. 266. Julius
Zeitler,ed., GoetheHandbuch(Stuttgart,1917) 2: 50-52.

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586 GLORIA FLAHERTY

(1742-1799). Goethe did not see the renowned shaman outfitbe-

cause it only arrived sometime around 1788. In 1801, however,
when Goethe once more visitedGottingen,he was taken to what
had in the meantimebecome a veryprestigiouscombinationmu-
seum and library. He must have then seen the shaman outfit,
always prominentlydisplayed, for he reported that his attention
was drawn immediatelyto the costumesand artifacts.Like so many
of his generation,he recognizedthe connectionbetweenthe popu-
lace of the Siberian expanses and the North American aborigines.
Blumenbach, withwhom Goethe continued to correspond,also
occasionallyvisitedWeimar. In a letterGoethe wroteto Schilleron
October 15, 1796, we read that Blumenbach not only stopped by,
but "er hatteeinen sehr interessantenMumienkopfbey sich.""1In
subsequent years, Goethe often referredto Blumenbach's inter-
estingcollectionof skulls.'2Since Blumenbach was in charge of the
libraryin Gottingen,he allowed Goethe to borrowas manybooks
as deemed necessary.And, he also helped get Goethe elected as a
scientistto the learned societycentered there.
Blumenbach,the moverand shakerhe seems to have been, went
on to attractinquisitiveyoung scientiststo Gottingenand to inspire
them to go out exploring theirworld. Among his many disciples
were Friedrich Hornemann, Carsten Niebuhr, Ulrich Jasper
Seetzen, Alexander von Humboldt, and Adalbertvon Chamisso.13
Many of their lettersand reportswere made public in the Allge-
meinegeographische Ephemeriden,whichwere published by the rela-
tively well-funded and well-situated Geographical Institute in
Weimar in the 1790s.'4 As the records at the Zentralbibliothek der
deutschen Klassikin Weimar show, Goethe also borrowed many of
the books theywroteor the ones writtenabout them.'5
Those libraryrecords also indicate that Goethe's command of

11 Gedenkausgabe derWerke,Briefeund Gesprdche, ed. Ernst Beutler, Vol. 20: Brief-

wechselmitFriedrich Schiller,2nd ed. (Zurichand Stuttgart,1964), No. 225 (Goethe's
letterto Schiller,October 15, 1796) 253.
12 Ibid., No. 821 (Goethe's letterto Schiller,July 12, 1801) 866.
13 Hans Plischke, JohannFriedrich Blumenbachs Einflussauf dieEntdeckungsreisenden
seinerZeit,Abhandlungen der Gesellschaftder Wissenschaftenzu G6ttingen,Philo-
logisch-HistorischeKlasse, Series 3, No. 20 (G6ttingen,1937) 10, passim.
14 See, forexample, "Ubersichtder GeographischenVerlags-Werkedes F.S. priv.
Industrie-Comptoirszu Weimar,"Allgemeine geographischeEphemeriden 6.4 (Weimar,
1800) 357-65.
15 I was privilegedto use the library'sown interleafedand annotatedcopy of Elise
von Keudell, Goetheals Benutzerder WeimarerBibliothek,ed. Werner Deetjen
(Weimar, 1931) 37, 78, and 104.

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 M L N 587

18th-centurytravel literaturecoincided with his medical and an-

thropologicalstudies as well as withhis theatricalpursuits.Of the
words he often borrowed, I should like to concentrateon two as
examples of the kind of informationcirculatingand available to
him. First,there is Johann GottliebGeorgi's (1738-1802) Beschrei-
bungallerNationendesRussischen Reiches,whichappeared at St. Pe-
tersburgin four volumes from 1776 to 1800. Georgi's firsthand
observationsled him to treatshamanismas a primordialreligious
formin whichmales usuallydominated femalesin spiteof the fact
that they tended to be equally effectivein healing, divining,and
prognosticating.One descriptionhe gave is as follows:
Die SchamanenbeiderGeschlechter sind gemeineLeute,welchesich
wederdurchEhelosigkeit, nochbesondereRegelnoderLebensart, son-
dernblos durchdie Kleidungund bessereKenntniss der Lehrenund
der Gebrauche ihres Glaubens unterscheiden.Sie leben von Ge-
schenkenund Opfern,mussenaber gewohnlichdie Handthierung
ihresVolkszu Hulfenehmen,jagen, fischenec. Alteunterrichten die
Jungenin allem was zum Glauben und Betruge gehort.Weil die
Priesteralleinim Besitzder Lehresind,so werdensie als Mittler zwis-
chendem Volkund den Gottern, zu versohnen
die die letztern wissen,
gefurchtet und geehrt,aberauchwegendes beschuldigten Misbrauchs
ihresAmtesnichtseltengehasset.Die grosseAnstrengung der Krafte
beyihrenGaukeleyen bringtvieleum die Augen,das istaberEmpfeh-
lungfurihrAnsehenbeyden Geistern. Weiles beyihnenaufzufalligen
Berufankommt, so sindihrerbaldwenige,baldviele.Einigetreibenihr
Amtbissie sterben, andereubergebenes andernbeyihremLeben.Sie
sindtheilsEnthusiasten, theilsBetruiger,meistensbeideszugleich.'6
Georgi did not overlook the importanceof theircostumesand the
requisites they always used, like their tambourines, rattles,
feathers,bangles, fetishes,and dolls or puppets. Nor did he over-
look the subtle formstheyadopted in order to continue theirage-
old practiceswithoutthreatof punishmentfromthose purported
cultural superiors who had strongergods or who knew how to
make "biggermedicine."That, of course, goes to show thatalready
in the 18thcenturymost people were aware of the movementun-
derground and the quiet adaptation of the shaman. In likening
such practitionersto whatcontemporarywesternEuropeans called
enthusiasts,Georgi made a very clear and importantconnection

16 Pt. 3, 377.

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588 GLORIA FLAHERTY

between religion,psychology,anthropology,philosophy,and the

arts. Goethe frequentlytook out of the Weimar libraryand had in
his possession the volume of illustrationsaccompanyingGeorgi's
trilingual report in.order to satisfyhis own interestsand then
eventuallyto help prepare for several Maskenzfige russischerVliker
to make Maria Pavlowna (1786-1859) feel at home and wanted.
Many of the illustrationsdepict shamans and shamankasof various
tribes.17
The second such work I should like to mentionis Peter Simon
Pallas's (1741-1811) Bemerkungen auf einerReisein diesfidlichen
Stat-
desRussischen
thalterschaften Reichesa.dJ. 1793-1794.18 Pallas, whose
explorationsof the entireRussian Empire were warmlysupported
by Catharine the Great, supplied many illustrationsas well as a
fairlyobjectiveaccountingof the differentkinds of quasi-medical
faith-healinghe encountered. Although Pallas himselfdid not be-
lieve in the transmigrationof the soul, or any animisticview, for
that matter,he did relate verycarefullywhat he experienced and
what he was told out in the field.
Pallas fullyacknowledged the shaman's use of theatricaltech-
niques while also allowingfor narcoticsof several varietiesas ways
of reaching the ecstaticstate. Unlike his predecessors,he showed
understandingand even a certainamount of warmthforthe prim-
itivepractitionerswho had allowed themselvesto be Christianized
in order to be able to continue fulfillingsomethingthat seemed
very necessary for their particularkind of society.Like the very
earliestobserversof the phenomenon,he remarkedabout the role
of faithin the entireprocedure. He wenta step further,however,
and related it to the human imaginationand its needs: "Bey ei-
nigen dieser Leute wtirktder Aberglaube auf ihre eigne Einbil-
dungskraftso stark,dass sie selbst uberaus schreckhaftund vor
Kleinigkeitenfurchtsamsind."'9 The shaman's posturingsin the
illustrationsthat Pallas provided had to have at least attracted
Goethe's attentionif theydid not appeal to his creativeinstincts.
Goethe continued to borrowmanyvolumes fromthe librariesin
Weimar. While some of his requests reveal his undaunted efforts
to masterthe Russian language, othersunderscorehis constantre-

17 Keudell, No. 641, p. 104, and handwrittenreferenceson the interleaf.

18This work, published in Leipzig in 1799, was reviewed anonymouslyin the
Allgemeine geographischeEphemeriden 5, No. 1 (Weimar, 1800): 55-82.
19Pt. 3, p. 62.

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 M L N 589

working of past intellectual as well as personal experiences.20 The

writings of Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) come up again
and again. Most important as regards shamanism are two of
Herder's works in particular. In one of them, namely, in Vom Geist
der EbraischenPoesie, published in Dessau in 1782-1783, we see that
Herder antedated some of the Biblical scholars of today. Rather
than paraphrase, let me quote the entire passage:
Auch in diesem Ereigniss sehe ich nichts,was nichtder Seele eines
Schamanen ahnlich ware. Man lese Reisebeschreibungenaller Lander,
wo es noch dergleichengibt: mitErstaunen siehtman, welchergewalt-
samen Zustande der Einbildung sie fahig sind. Ihre Seele wandertaus
dem Korper, der leblos daliegt,bringtNachrichten,was sie an dem, an
jenem Ort, wo sie jetzt gewesen, gesehen habe? Das sind sodenn ihre
Weisssagungen,die das Volk verehrt,und bei denen oft die klugsten
Reisenden staunten. Alle nehmlich bewunderten die Anstrengung
dieser Menschen, einen gewaltsamenZustand, gegen den diese Vision
Bileams ein Kinderspielist.Warum solltealso die Gottheit,die sichjetzt
der Stimmedieses schlauen Weisssagersbemachtigenwollte,der wirk-
lich nichtzu fluchen hinzog, nichteben des Weges gehen, der ihm der
gewohnlichste,der auf ihn der wirksamstewar? Ein furchterliches
Phanomen musste ihm unterwegsaufstossen:er horte und sah in wa-
chender Vision wirklich,was hier erzahlt wird; wie klein ists aber fur
uns zu fragen: Ob die Eselin wirklichgesprochen?und wie sie gespro-
chen? ob und auf welche Art ihr Gott Vernunft,menschlicheRed-Or-
gane gegeben? u.f. Dem Schamanen sprachdie Eselin der Vision,d.i. er
horte Stimme und sah Erscheinung; uns darf und soll sie nichtspre-
chen, wenn wir nichtauch Schamanen werden wollen.21
Herder's study of shamanism dated from the 1770's at least,
when, we should not forget, he traveled to Strassburg after a stay
in Paris where he was in the company of people like Denis Diderot
(1713-1784), who shared his interest in the topic. Nor should we
snicker, by the way, over Herder's defense of the genuineness of

20 Maximilian von Propper, "Miszellen: 1. Goethes

Anlauf, sich mit der russis-
chen Sprache zu befassen; 2. Alt-Weimarim Spiegel jugendlicher Einfalt (Aus
einem unveroffentlichten Brief Maria Pawlownas); Zu einer hasslichenGoethe-Le-
gende," Goethe Jahrbuch97 (1979), pp. 235-43. Schmid-Abderhalden,Bibliographie,
pp. 74, 491, 522, 527, 532, and 544, provides informationabout Goethe's associa-
tion with ethnographersas well as his familiaritywith their work. Goethe often
referredto his own clairvoyanceand rationallyinexplicable experiences; the one
that seems particularlypertinenthere was recorded in Tagebuchder Italienischen
Reise,dated September 11, 1786: "Es istmir,als wenn ich hier geboren und erzogen
ware und nun von einer Gronlandfahrtvon einem Walfischfangzuruickkame."
21 SdmmtlicheWerke,ed. Bernhard Suphan, Vol. 12 (Berlin, 1880) 159.

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590 GLORIA FLAHERTY

the Ossian renderingsbyJames MacPherson (1736-1796). Herder

must have sensed that somethingdeeper could have been and,
mostlikely,was operative.Perhaps he even thoughtof transmigra-
tion, or reincarnation, or other elements from the shamanistic
paradigm. Herder's Ideen zu einerPhilosophieder Geschichteder
Menschheit,which appeared in Riga and Leipzig from 1784 to
1791, summed up everythingthat the finest 18th-centuryminds
had come to thinkabout shamanism.Even if Goethe did not, con-
traryto so many claims, help writethat work,there is more than
enough proof that he read it during his youthand, furthermore,
thathe repeatedlyborrowedit fromthe Weimar libraryduring his
matureyears.22
In the Ideen,Herder contended thatmore than three-fourths of
the people on earth stillbelieved in shamans. If the details of the
actual practicesdiffered,he argued, it was onlybecause theywere
formedaccording to the location,climate,and particulargenius of
the people. Shamanism continued to be practised, he stated, in
Greenland, Lappland, and Finnland, along the coast of the Arctic
ocean, in Siberia, on the continentof Africa,and throughoutthe
whole Western Hemisphere. In the Far East, Herder went on to
explain, shamanism persisted in isolated places privatelyamong
simple people because its practicein public had been suppressed
by more orthodox religionsand more artificialpoliticalsystems.
According to Herder, nothingat all was explained by calling a
shaman a tricksteror a deceiver. Although that mightbe true in
manyregards,he continued,shamans are of the people and there-
fore themselveshave been deceived by the traditionalpreconcep-
tions of their tribes.Otherwisethere would be no reason why an
initiatewould endure the fasting,solitude, emotional stress,and
physical exhaustion so as initiallyto summon his tutelaryspirit.
Nor would it otherwisebe reasonable for him to repeat those de-
bilitatingeffortsagain and again throughouthis life in order to
intercede with the spirit world on behalf of other tribesmen.
Herder then wrote:
Die kUltesten
Reisendenmustenbei manchenGaukelspielen dieserArt
erstaunen,weil sie Erfolgeder Einbildungskraft
sahen,die sie kaum
mbglichgeglaubthattenund sichoftnichtzu erkiarenwussten.Ueber-
hauptistdie Phantasienochdie unerforschteste
und vielleicht
die un-

22 Schmid-Abderhalden,Bibliographie,
p. 71; Keudell, No. 72, p. 13, and No. 552,
P. 91.

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 M L N 591

erforschlichsteallermenschlichen denn da sie mitdem

Seelenkrafte:
ganzen Bau des Korpers,insonderheitmit dem Gehirnund den
Nervenzusammenhangt, wie so vielwunderbareKrankheiten zeigen:
so scheintsie nichtnurdas Band und die GrundlageallerfeinernSee-
lenkraftesondernauchderKnotedes Zusammenhanges zwischen Geist
und Korperzu seyn,gleichsam die sprossendeBluthederganzensinn-
lichenOrganization zumweiternGebrauchder denkendenKrafte.23
Knowledge about shamans had proliferatedto such a degree in
the late 18th centurythat Herder's deep and abiding interestin
themwas inevitable.Also inevitablewas thatGoethe, the humanist
and the scientist,became involvedwiththe shamanisticresearchof
his times.EverythingGoethe consciouslyor, perhaps, even uncon-
sciously,absorbed fromthat research,he verydefinitelyincorpo-
rated into his own poetic corpus. The sheer amount of evidence
precludes the possibilityof an occasional coincidence. Goethe
knew about shamanism and regularly availed himself of that
knowledge.
An example from 1774 is Die Leiden desjungen Werthers. The
titularfigure exhibitsjust about everysingle one of the commonly
recognized shamanic characteristics. There is the deep-seated, un-
controllableurge to solitude or abnormal social relations,in addi-
tion to the kind of emotional instabilitycharacterizedby habitual
daydreaming,introspection,and wild swings of mood due to a
particularlysensitivenervous system.Physicaldysfunctionmani-
festsitselfin a malaise that cannot be overcome, even with rest,
relaxation,and a regulated diet. Werther'ssexual immaturity is as
evident as his latentandrogyny,homosexuality,or pederasty.His
constantattractionto children,especially boys, is not considered
healthyby, for example, the physicianwhose view is lightlydis-
counted for being that of "eine sehr dogmatischeDratpuppe."24
Werther describes that male professional's arrival by writing:
"Vorgestern kam der Medikus hier aus der Stadt hinaus zum
Amtmannund fand michauf der Erde unterLottensKindern,wie
einige auf mir herumkrabelten,andere mich nekten und wie ich
sie kuzzelte,und ein grosses Geschreymitihnen verfuhrte"(48).
The interest in play, games, and even dolls underscores the
strongtendencyto assume roles and enact them. Like a shaman,

23 Sdmmtliche Werke,ed. Bernhard Suphan, Vol. 13 (Berlin, 1887) 307-08.

24
2 pts. (Leipzig, 1774, reprint,Dortmund, 1978) 48-49. Page numbersgiven in
the textreferto thisedition.

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592 GLORIA FLAHERTY

Werthercarefullydefinesthe space in whichhe acts out his drama

as well as seeing to the costume, properties,lighting,and timing.
One need only thinkof his carefullystaged death scene. Among
the other diverse artistic aptitudes are poetic susceptibility,
dancing ability,and a high enough level of musical know-howto
permittuningof the clavichord(37-38, 90).
There are many additional elements similarto those found in
contemporary18th-centurymaterialstreatingshamanism.Practi-
tionerswere oftenviewed as being parasites,thatis, necessary,yet
livingoffthe labors of theirfellowtribesmen.The work ethic ob-
viously does not govern Werther, who not only does little or
nothingto earn his living,but also uses Wilhelmto convey his fi-
nancial needs to his mother. He does not bother to writeto her
himself,but then,he has long had problemsdealing withwomen.
Frequently,Wertherdescribes his existencein termsof imprison-
ment or entombment,much like the shamans and other oracles
who were subjected to the mysteriesin caves and other kinds of
tightlyenclosed, womblike spaces.25When absolutelydistraught,
however, he reports that he, like the Boetian followersof Tro-
phonius and others seeking metaphysicalanswers,wished to visit
"die Bergwerke im **schen" (144). Furthermore, intuition,
feelings,and hunches are much more importantto him than the
scientificdeterminismor the male-dominatedNewtonian view of
the world that led to the rejection of midwives,herbalists,and
witchesso as to develop the medical profession.26Wertherhas a
verystronginclinationto want to believe in spiritsand to want to
have them animate his world. Early on, he queries, "ob so tau-
schende Geister um diese Gegend schweben,oder ob die warme
himmlischePhantasie in meinem Herzen ist, die mir alles rings
umher so paradisisch macht" (10). As thingscontinue to go rela-
tivelywell, he remarks,"Kein Wortvon der Zauberkraftder alten
Musik ist mirunwahrscheinlich,wie michder einfacheGesang an-
greift"(67).
Trees, which have always representedthe three cosmic regions
-hell, earth,and heaven-through whichthe shaman flies,pro-
vide Wertherso much consolationthathe oftendescribesthem or

25 For
example, p. 19. See Werner Dankert, Goethe:Der MythischeUrgrundseiner
Weltschau(Berlin, 1951) 106.
26 I have taken up
such mattersin "Sex and Shamanism in the EighteenthCen-
tury,"Sexual Underworlds oftheEnlightenment,
eds. Roy Porterand George Rousseau
(Manchesterand Ithaca, 1987), pp. 261-280.

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 M L N 593

lamentstheirbeing chopped down (52, 140, 149). He even dreams

of gaining the wingsof a bird so as to be able to transporthimself
through those cosmic regions (93). His somnambulisticleanings
seems to strengthenduring timesof fullmoon, althoughhe never
fullysucceeds in releasing his soul for travelthroughthe cosmos:
"Und wenn ich fur Mudigkeit und Durst manchmal unterwegs
liegen bleibe, manchmalin der tiefenNacht, wenn der hohe Voll-
mond uber mir steht, im einfachen Walde auf einem krumge-
wachsnen Baum mich sezze, um meinen verwundetenSolen nur
einige Linderung zu verschaffen,und dann in einer ermattenden
Ruhe in dem Dammerscheinehinschlummre!"(101).
Many 18th-century observerscreditedshamans withremarkable
surefootedness, even at the height of frenzyduring seances in
which psychotropicdrugs were used. It was difficultfor Christian
Europeans to understandhow such great physicalcontrolcould be
paired withecstasy.This idea appears in Goethe's novel when the
narratorrecountshow Wertherdealt withhis frustrations immedi-
atelybefore committingsuicide: "Man hat nachher den Huth auf
einem Felsen, der an dem Abhange des Hugels in's Thal siehtge-
funden, und es ist unbegreiflich, wie er ihn in einer finstern
feuchtenNacht ohne zu sturzenerstiegenhat" (208).
Goethe also has Wertherhave manystrangeout-of-bodyexperi-
ences. Wertheroftenrefersto himselfas a dreamer or as hovering
above and beyond the real world (36). He described the ecstasyhe
experienced while dancing with Lotte as, "Ich war kein Mensch
mehr" (38). Elsewhere,he wrote,"und seitder Zeit konnen Sonne,
Mond und Sternegeruhigihre Wirthschaft treiben,ich weis weder
dass Tag noch dass Nacht ist,und die ganze Welt verliertsich um
mich her" (45). Occasionally,Werthercompares himselfto those
persecuted by evil spirits,or, he claims, "ich werde gespielt wie
eine Marionette"(125). Lotte was the only one withthe power to
recall him to the consciousnesslevel of everyday,middle-classre-
ality,but that power dwindled aftershe-as we have to read be-
tween the lines-consummated her marriageto Albert.Virginity,
along with the entire female reproductivesystemand its lunar
cycle, were acknowledged as being magical or at least profound
and inexplicableby those who believed in shamans,as well as those
local sovereignswho stilldemanded theirfirst-night right.There-
after,Wertheroften complains, "das Herz istjezo todt, aus ihm
fliessenkeine Entzukkungenmehr" (157).
Werther'ssuicide comes afterwhat I call his swansong during

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594 GLORIA FLAHERTY

his last visitto Lotte on December 21. It happens to take place at

the portentous winter solstice,which the shamanisticpagans of
northernEurope avidlycelebrated.Her suggestionsfordistracting
the obviouslymentallydisturbedyoung man worsen his condition
instead of improvingit. First,she seeks refugeby playingthe clavi-
chord. Then, she asks him to read from his translationof some
melancholysongs about love, valor,and crossingthe Great Divide
to join the ancestralspirits.They are fromOssian, the purported
Celtic shaman,bard, seer-poet,so aptlyforgedby MacPherson and
so hotlydebated by criticaltheoristsall over Europe. Whetheror
not Wertheris supposed to recognize them as forgeriesmakes no
differencesince they impact on his nervous systemquickly and
irrevocably.As soon as he takes them into his hand, "ein Schauer
uberfielihn," and then,his eyes well up withtears (192).
Wertherbegins a heartfeltdramaticreading. Method actor that
he is, and has always been, he empathizes with the role so com-
pletelythathe gets carried away by it,transmitting his own enthu-
siasm to Lotte, who happens to be sittingnext to him on the sofa:
"die Bewegung beyder war furchterlich.Sie fuhltenihr eigenes
Elend in dem Schicksalder Edlen, fuhltenes zusammen,und ihre
Thranen vereinigten sie. Die Lippen und Augen Werthers
gluhten an Lottens Arme, ein Schauer uberfielsie, sie wollte sich
entfernenund es lag all der Schmerz,der Antheilbetaubend wie
Bley auf ihr" (205-06). Her attemptto keep him at bay by sug-
gesting he continue fails miserably.The power of the shamanic
words-as contemporary reports repeatedly stressed-was too
strong for either party to remain rational enough to resist.
Wertherwas the firstone offthe sofa onto the floor forwhatturns
out to be a rather torrid,yet short love scene: "Ihre Sinnen ver-
wirrtensich, sie drukte seine Hande, drukte sie wider ihre Brust,
neigte sich mit einer wehmuthigenBewegung zu ihm, und ihre
gluhenden Wangen beruhrtensich. Die Welt vergieng ihnen, er
schlang seine Arme um sie her, presste sie an seine Brust, und
dekte ihre zitterndestammelndeLippen mit wuthenden Kuissen.
Werther!" (206-07). Lotte regains her senses and, suddenly real-
izing she is on the floor withWerther,pushes him away so thatshe
can leave. When she tells him she will never see him again, he
stretchesout his arms towardsher. He thereupon remains immo-
bilized, as if in a trance,on the floor withhis head on the sofa for
longer than half an hour.
Goethe's Werther is the perfect example of an unsuccessful

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 M L N 595

shaman. The 18thcenturyoftenread thatthose shamanicinitiates

who feltcalled would perish if theycould not cure themselvesby
shamanizing.And, Goethe had to have known that,especiallyin
the early 1770s, during the heightof the so-called academic expe-
ditionsin Siberia. All the ecstatic,trance-likestatesthatGoethe has
his Wertherwork himselfinto fail to unleash the kind of poetic,
musical,mimetic,and dramaticgiftsthatmightenable him to cure
his own self-inducedmadness and self-destructive tendencies.Nor
is Werther capable of transmittinghis trance to others so that
somethinggenerallybeneficial results for the whole tribe or so-
ciety.Wertheris a big loser in the game of brinksmanship,not only
by falling over the brink himself,but by taking along with him
everybodyelse who has been nice to him, or who has cared about
him.
Goethe's interestin shamanismremained so intensethatwhathe
read by the ethnographersand anthropologistscontinued to infil-
trate, as it were, his literarycorpus. In addition to Der Zauber-
lehrlingof around 1797, there is the textbookexample of a sha-
manka inevitablycondemned to early death because of genetic
problems deriving from incest. That is the quasi-androgynous
Mignon in WilhelmMeistersLehrjahre.Although she suffersfrom
epileptic seizures, poor eye-hand coordination,convulsions,and
strange muscle spasms, she can, for example, perfectlyperform
theEiertanz.The musicalinstrumentshe playswhiledancing is the
one the 18th century most closely associated with archaic sha-
manism,as it was known at the time,namely the tambourine.At
the cast partyaftertheirpremierperformanceof Hamlet,shejoins
withthe Harper and Felix, who playsthe triangle,yetanothersha-
manic instrument,fora performancethatincreasesin velocityand
ferocity:
Die Kindersprangenund sangenfort,undbesonderswarMignonaus-
gelassen,wie man sie niemalsgesehen.Sie schlugdas Tamburinmit
und Lebhaftigkeit,
aller moglichenZierlichkeit indem sie bald mit
druckendem Fingeraufdem Felleschnellhinund herschnurrte, bald
mitdem Ruckender Hand, bald mitden Knochelndaraufpochte,ja
mitabwechselnden Rhythmen das Pergament baldwiderdie Knie,bald
widerden Kopfschlug,baldschuttelnd die Schellenalleinklingenliess,
Instrumente
und so aus dem einfachsten gar verschiedene Tone her-
vorlockte.27

27 Gedenkausgabe derWerke,Briefeund Gesprdche,ed. ErnstBeutler,Vol. 7: Wilhelm

MeistersLehrjahre,2nd ed. (Zurich and Stuttgart,1962), bk. 5, chap. 12, p. 350.

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596 GLORIA FLAHERTY

When Serlo chides the intoxicatedMignon for seating herselfin

the place reservedforthe ghost,she casuallyreplies,he would not
do her any harm, for he was a relative:"Er ist mein Oheim."28
The childrenthereupon make believe theyare puppets, a stan-
dard procedure for initiates,according to many 18th-century re-
ports.The noises theyemit-much like shamanicventriloquism-
are accompanied by spastic movementsthat intensify.Then, we
read the following:
so sehrsie an-
Mignonwardbis zur Wutlustig,und die Gessellschaft,
fangsuberden Scherzgelachthatte,musstezuletztEinhalttun.Aber
wenighalfdas Zureden,dennnunsprangsie aufund raste,die Schel-
lentrommel in der Hand, um den Tisch herum.Ihre Haare flogen,
und indemsie den Kopfzuruckund alle ihreGliedergleichsamin die
Luftwarf,schiensie einerManade ahnlich,derenwildeund beinah
unmoglicheStellungenuns auf alten Monumentennoch oftin Er-
staunensetzen.29
As the partybegins to break up afterothers have performedand
the ghost's scarf has been found, Wilhelm Meistersuddenly feels
himselfbeing grasped painfully.What Goethe's textsuggestsis the
kind of ritualisticsexual cannibalismconnectedto some versionsof
shamanism: "Mignon hatte sich verstecktgehabt, hatte ihn ange-
fasstund ihn in den Arm gebissen."30
And then, there is the lifelong interest Goethe showed in
mattershavingto do withDiderot and Renaissance Neo-Platonists,
like Pico della Mirandola, and thatlegendaryshaman who, aston-
ishinglyenough, has managed to become the chief representative
of the Enlightenment'sstrivingfor the rationalkind of knowledge
associated withall of modern European thought.Goethe's Faust-
whichbegins withreferencesto waveringforms,alludes to song as
the most powerfulmeans for transcendingplace as well as time,
and structuresall spiritualmanifestationsin the shamanicwaysre-
ported to western Europeans of the 18th century-will have to
remain the subject of yetanother paper or book.
UniversityHall 1609
UniversityofIllinois
Box 4348, Mail Code 189
Chicago,Illinois60680

28 Ibid.
29Ibid.,350-51.
30Ibid., 351. Also, compare footnote26 above.

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