The shaman's use of animal language, or pre-literate languages, and other ritualistic methods of communication, like music and drumming, have parallels in the 'different space' created by the therapist in his or her office. In therapy, different forms of communication, the formulaic 'text' of conventional analysis, the release of drumming, or rhythmic pounding, and music play therapy for small children may be used to help the patient touch base with his or her emotions. But while the shaman channels the stories of others, as a tribal storyteller who uses different forms of communication for a collective, therapists help patients tell stories about their daily live struggles on an individual basis.

For example, sometimes patient's life stories are ineffectual, like 'I am a failure' or 'my mother never loved me.' (Hart, p.203) Although the therapist provides a kind of objective voice, and directs the person's speech, even the environment of the therapeutic room though alternative forms of therapy, the therapist does not enter into the shamanic trance, where he or she lets go of the body attached to the self, and returns, often with the aid of music, nor does the patient seek to come back seeking insight for anything other than his or her own life story, not the life story of the tribe. (Hart, p.204) Music can provide a source of common connection, but the common connection is not necessarily the goal of therapy, at least not out side of the Western cultural unit of the couple or family.

This contrast between the individualism of the West and the collectivism of the shaman's cultures does not mean that there are not parallels between the truth-seeking status of both therapists and patients in the formalized processes of therapy. For example, shamans have often cured themselves, come back, and use the...

Therapists have gone through the same process of maturing and life struggle as fellow human beings. But these struggles are private, rather than public like the shaman, just like the struggles of their patient.
However, Joseph Moreno's Candomble: afro- Brazilian Ritual as Therapy provides something of a challenge to the conventional ideal of therapy as an individualistic pursuit. Moreno suggests that tapping into a collective consciousness and feeling apart of something larger than the self can be helpful, and that the collective nature of ritual acts can be healing in an overly individualistic culture. Just like ritual can be healing as a way of reconstructing the past, so can therapy be a kind of comforting ritual or safe space to reconnect with the larger world, beyond the self and the family in a more positive fashion. However, because of the fundamentally different orientations of Western therapy, even music therapy, and shamanism, one cannot elide the two as similar types of rituals with similar goals. One ritual seeks to use its forms and techniques to communicate with the other side for the collective, the ritual of therapy seeks to heal the patient, perhaps in a social context, but always with the aim of helping the patient first. Perfect drumming, perfect ritual enactments are subordinate in Western therapy to the ultimate responsibility of the therapist that is the patient under his or her care.

Works Cited

Aiden, Kenneth. The Voice of the Forest: A Conception of Music for Music Therapy.

Hart, Mickey. "Shaman's Drum.'" Chapters 10 & 12. From Drumming at the Edge of Magic. Pp. 202-210.

Moreno, Joseph. Candomble: Afro- Brazilian Ritual as Therapy.