Shamens practiced three main elements:
1. Trance
2.Spiritual flight
3. Insight
Shamens could induce into a trance through various methods such as fasting, chanting, dancing, drumming and taking hallucengic drugs. Once they achieved an altered state of consciousness the shamen could mentally 'fly' where they could communicate with nature spirits. Shamanism goes back as far as 40,000 years and traces of it have been found all across the world and some even exist today.
At this time there was no organised religions and many people believed that humans and animals existed on the same plane. Early writings depicte forests and wild animals with men working in harmony with them. For people the image of forests resembled the otherworld, a sacred place where the dead went as spirits to live.
Stoneage people believed in magic and certain wise men as having shamanic powers with the ability of transforming into animals using incantations. In Yorkshire there is evidence of a deer skull that dated back to this time being used for magical purposes either for a hunting ritual or a transformation.
This was the time of the Druids. Druids were seen as powerful and important figures in the community with imense powers of good and evil.It was at this time the Legend of Merlin arose. Historians now believe that Merlin was based on a real person living between 6th century AD, who lived in a forest with animals and acted like a druid. Merlin was seen as a miracle maker, master of spells and a fortune teller.
