This initiatory death, like that of the Siberian shaman, has two specific marks not found elsewhere in combination: first, a series of operations performed on the candidate's body (opening of the abdomen, renewal of the organs, washing and drying of the bones, insertion of magical substances); second, an ascent to heaven, sometimes followed by trance journeys into the otherworld.
The revelations concerning the secret techniques of the medicine men are obtained in trance, a dream, or in the waking state before, during, or after the initiatory ritual proper.
In other places such as Antioch, where John Chrysostom taught these "mystagogical catecheses" were delivered before the initiatory rites were undertaken.
The Hindu passes from the initiatory level of "the student" (who is dependent on a teacher, or guru) to the ambivalent freedom of "the householder" to the great freedom of "the forest dweller" to the fullest freedom of the sannyasin (an enlightened ascetic).
Among Australian Aborigines, a person becomes a shaman through a ritual of initiatory death, followed by a resurrection to a new and superhuman condition.
Their material culture was limited, except in one respect: the ephemeral art produced for the celebrations of their initiatory cults.
Unlike the members of the three dvija ("twice-born") varnas Brahmans (priests and teachers), Kshatriya (nobles and warriors), and Vaishya (merchants)—Shudras are not permitted to perform the upanayana, the initiatory rite into the study of the Vedas (earliest sacred literature of India).
Whether this power is obtained spontaneously or after a voluntary vision quest, the future shaman has to undergo certain initiatory trials.
In the Mithraic initiation rites, it was not until one attained the status of the initiatory degree known as "Lion" that the neophyte could partake of the oblation of bread, wine, and water, which was the earthly counterpart of the celestial mystical sacramental banquet.
Such exclusive groups may understand their distinct status over against other groups on the basis of a divine mission in the world (e.g., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), of clan, social, or initiatory distinctions (e.g., totemic societies, gnostic groups), or by reference to certain ritual or ethical commitments and practices (e.g., Seventh-day Adventists) characteristic of the group.
"At [an] initiation ceremony they used the organs, in this case the heart, and forced people going through this initiatory process to eat it," Alfredo Castillo, the federal government's envoy to Michoacan, told a local radio station.
