Shapeshifter. What an evocative word. Its meaning is almost immediately apparent. Or is it? The Chambers Dictionary (the first choice of many, apparently) does not mention such a thing under its entry for "shape":
Shape shãp, vt to form, to fashion, to mould into a particular shape or form; to give form to; to embody; to plan, devise; to direct; to determine; to purpose (obs). - vi to take shape; to develop; to give promising signs; to conduce (Shakesp); to become fit; - n form; figure; disposition in space; guise; form or condition; that which has form or figure; an apparition; a pattern; a mould (cookery); a jelly, pudding, etc, turned out of a mould.
Wow. So a shapeshifter could, if we went by the dictionary, be anything or anyone from the proverbial jelly wobbling on the proverbial plate, or at least the person who serves it, to someone influential in the world of haute couture. But that is not what the meaning is generally taken to be. Shapeshifter immediately makes one think of Native American shamans, taking on the persona of a wolf or an eagle, or perhaps something out of a horror film - who could forget, having seen it, the mesmerising transformation sequence in "American Werewolf in London"?
In the pagan world, shapeshifting is, in many senses, far removed from the world of Hammer Horror, with its werewolves and virgin-sucking vampire bats. In The Celtic Shaman1 John Matthews says: "It does not, of course, imply that you 'physically' change your shape; rather that you are identifying with the creature in question." He uses shapeshifting to describe the act of placing oneself in what one imagines is an animal's point of view - imagining what it must be like to see with their eyes, to feel with their limbs. As an example, one might choose a hound, and try to conjure up a world in which sight is now one of the least important senses, unlike the visually oriented human world - a world coloured by smells, where each living thing has a scent so distinctive and obvious it is possible to track one for miles, hours or even days after its passing. Or even, perhaps, the aforementioned bat, with its world revolving around the high pitched clicks and pings of sonar - not because it is blind, but because eyes are not the most useful organs in the dark, unless you are a creature that has evolved especially for this, like an owl. Matthews suggests an exercise in which the sensory perceptions of the chosen animal are so strongly evoked that the spirit of the animal merges with the practitioner, who can then partake of the animal's strengths.
I will admit to having long standing doubts about this. No disrespect to Mr Matthews, but how can we, as humans, possibly imagine what it is to be another species to the extent of the spirit of that animal finding us suitable housing, when so many of us have difficulty imagining what it is like to be another member of our own? This exercise does, as he states, constitute shapeshifting, for the practitioner is changing the form of his thoughts and senses, but could there be more to shapeshifting than this? What is it about the concept that sends a thrill down the spine, that has sparked so many myths and legends, so many stories? What aspect of shapeshifting has made it one of the most thought-provoking and envied abilities of a native shamanic practitioner?
Why should the question be so important? In this day and age, in the fluorescent-lit world of science and technology, what else could shapeshifting possibly mean? We have, mostly, gone beyond the times of men whose eyebrows met in the middle wearing fur on the inside of their skins, beyond the times of making the evil eye at the full moon for fear of what might be prowling beneath it. Should a creature such as a werewolf exist in this time, it is probable he keeps himself well hidden for fear of being caught and locked up in a lab somewhere. Laboratories all over the western world offer cash rewards for anyone who can demonstrate some sort of paranormal ability in controlled conditions. There has certainly been no report of any shapeshifters stepping forward.
There are many people out there right now calling themselves shamans. In some cultures the very word shaman is synonymous with shapeshifting. That in itself is important enough to make it an important question. Are those that send £200 to a PO box number in the back of some magazine they picked up in their local rock shop as deserving of the title as those who get dragged down the path kicking and screaming and crying for their Mums? Can a person who has seen a practising shaman dancing around in a mask and liked the look of it truly call himself shapeshifter because he went out and bought a drum with knotwork on the skin? There are those that do. Even more basically, are all shamans shapeshifters and are all shapeshifters shamans?
So what is it? Can there really be people out there who can take on the form of a wolf, a bear, a salmon, a mouse?
It has been a difficult question to address without taking the option of reading what other people have written of their own thoughts. To take that option would have been to shift my own thoughts, much as observation in the quantum universe changes that which is observed. In the end, I have come to the conclusion that there are two basic types of shapeshifting, both important, both valid, but costing different prices. All other forms of shapeshifting, be they astral or otherwise, can be accommodated within one of these two categories.
The first type is as Mr Matthews describes, but it is also more than that. It is the changing of the self, by the self, for the self, using the imagination of the self to construct another perspective complete enough to adopt as one's own. In this respect, Matthews is right to describe the exercise in his book as shapeshifting, but wrong to imply that this is the only shapeshifting exercise in the book. In this sense of the word, every act of magick is shapeshifting. Every time one changes one's mindset, one is shapeshifting. When someone imagines an animal in order to take on it's qualities, he is imagining the qualities. They are the qualities humans see in animals, not the qualities the animals see in themselves, if indeed they see anything of the sort. In that respect, the magician is changing the self using what is already contained within the self, but giving the new form an external shape to emphasise that difference. This sort of shapeshifting allows a magician to take on the apparent qualities of everything and anything and is extremely valuable and highly recommended as a magickal tool, as well as being relatively straightforward. There are more books than you can shake a stick at detailing shapeshifting exercises, and it is recommended that the interested reader seek out one with an approach that appeals2.
The form of shapeshifting in which a practitioner takes on the form of an animal in the astral, or during shamanic journeying, is of this sort. The imagination is wholly responsible for the changes in sensory perception. This is not to say that none of those changes accurately models the senses of the chosen animal. The imagination is a powerful tool, sadly underrated in modern times, and the more informed the practitioner is about his chosen animal, the more likely it is that his imagination will conjure up an accurate facsimile for him to wear. The change still has an internal source rather than an external one, however, a point with an importance which will become apparent in the following paragraphs.
The other sort of shapeshifting is a little different, and to demonstrate that difference there has to be a general understanding of the term "empathy".
Returning to our faithful dictionary, empathy is defined as "the power of entering into another's personality and imaginatively experiencing his experiences; the power of entering into the feeling or spirit of something (esp a work of art) and so experiencing it fully." The Greek roots of the word are en, in and pathos, feeling. Empathy itself is thus almost a concise term for the act of shapeshifting itself.
This is where things start to depend on your own beliefs, for the second sort of shapeshifting requires that you remove the word "imaginatively" from the above definition.
There was once an article, the reference long since forgotten, in which a member of the Society for Psychic Research propounded the theory that telepathy formed the basis for every other sort of psychic ability. It was an interesting theory, and the point was well made, but perhaps it is not telepathy but empathy which is required. To share thoughts with someone is to share some part of an experience, but a definite part. To share feelings with someone is to share a far less restricted part of that experience. Feelings colour thoughts, memory, experience itself. Many people have the ability to sense the emotional state of another person, especially if that person is a close friend or relation.
Take this a little further, and you have people who can not only sense the emotional state of close friends and relations, but who can sense the feelings of strangers, of almost anyone. A little further still, and there are people who can experience the feelings of others. Empaths.
We're not there yet, though. For an empath to be a shapeshifter he has to be able to take that experience and make it his own. He has to change the self using a form taken from outside the self. He has to use the feelings he senses to colour his own thoughts, to change the pattern of his mind to resemble the pattern of the one he is changing into. This does not mean he literally becomes the other person. To be the other person, he would have to discard all of his own life experiences in favour of those of the other person, which is highly improbable to say the least. He can become something similar, however, something not so far removed.
Empathically shapeshifting into another person is easier by far than shapeshifting into an animal. To accomplish that, the empath must adopt an entirely new way of looking at the world, completely unrelated to any of his own experiences, at least in modern times. Perhaps it was not so difficult back when hunting and gathering were a way of life, when the human existence was not so far removed from those of the other creatures man shares this world with. And, of course, this sort of shapeshifting can only take the empath into a creature he has met and experienced. This sort of shapeshifting will not allow the magician to take on the mindset of the dragon, or the wyvern, or an animal that lives on the opposite side of the world. It may, however, be the sort that is involved in deity possession, such as that found in Santeria and Voudon. After all, we all give the Gods faces specific to ourselves to some extent.
The price for this sort of shapeshifting is the ability to do it, is to be continually affected in a direct way by everyone else.
There are other practices which have been described as shapeshifting by some. Examples of these are given in many of the old folklore tales, and are worth a mention if only to explain why they are not really shapeshifting in the senses described above.
Witches were supposed to be able to change into their familiars, in times long gone, but it is generally accepted now that this was more a case of consciousness projection. Consciousness projection can be undertaken in two different ways; an image of the animal can be constructed in a different location from the practitioner, or an animal can be "borrowed", which Pratchett fans will know to be Granny Weaterwax's particular speciality3. Neither of these is really shapeshifting as such, because there is no change of form to the self. The practitioner is controlling a different form external to the self. An analogy can be made with driving a car - the practitioner's consciousness is in the driving seat, but is not really changed in itself. The latter of these two examples is more closely akin to shapeshifting than the former, as the different perspective produced by the animal's senses will have some affect. I hesitate to classify this as shapeshifting, however, as the change is taking place externally, outside the self. It can perhaps be best compared to the different sense of touch produced when wearing gloves; the inner hand is not changed, but it has an extra layer of sensation to work through. In the two categories of shapeshifting, the self is changed primarily in order to produce the experience, rather than being changed by the experience.
These two differing forms of projection are also separated by the requirement for empathy. While it is possible to construct an impression of an animal with only a cursory knowledge of its habits, such as can be gained from a television documentary (although the impression will not be very convincing), borrowing an animal obviously requires a certain gift for mental communication. It is interesting to ponder whether someone capable of borrowing an animal is also capable of shapeshifting. As a shapeshifter is required to be able to surrender the form of the self to another creature, while someone borrowing an animal can only do so if he is capable of maintaining the self despite the different sensory inputs, it is possible, perhaps, that the two skills are mutually exclusive.
We have gone some way to answering our questions, although our answers cannot be applied with any confidence to the magicians of yore, whose practices can only be guessed at from myth, legend, and what fragments of ritual survive in modern times.
Our questions were, is every shaman a shapeshifter? Yes, every shaman is a shapeshifter. Every practising shaman, that is, and not all shamans practise. Some just use the name. Is every shapeshifter a shaman? No. You don't have to be a shaman to be a shapeshifter. You don't even have to be pagan. Shapeshifting is something that many people do unconsciously, much of the time, as part of everyday social interaction. The dictionary's perspective on shape seems almost spot-on, in the end. In the pagan frame of reference, however, anyone who makes a deliberate effort to see the world through eyes other than those they normally use can be called a shapeshifter. Are there those that really take on forms external to themselves? Yes, I believe there are, and I do not believe that all of them do it deliberately. Neither do I believe that there are those who take on a different external form physically - although I am prepared to be proven wrong on this point. If any werewolves or vampires who are prepared to do just that would care to make themselves known, you can contact me. I promise to be discrete.
1: "The Celtic Shaman", John Matthews, Element Books, Earth Quest Series (1991). ISBN 1-85230-245-3
2: Ibid., but for those with an electronic connection to the ether, there is some good stuff by Redvane Fox at http://www.atheling.demon.co.uk/
3: Any of Terry-Pratchett's Discworld novels with Granny Weatherwax - e.g. "Lords and Ladies", "Witches Abroad", "Equal Rites"
Corvax can be contacted for further information whether you are one of the undead or not.