A Shaman was a holy man or woman. More commonly the Shaman was a woman because according to Mrs. Ludson, "They were better dancers and faster at curing."
As a Shaman, a man or woman was trained for power. This power was used to dream of songs and dances and also used to kill or cure someone.
The Shaman's power was used to call upon their guardian spirit who had even greater power and would give the Shaman its biding. If the Shaman did not obey, he or she could be killed by the spirit.
Killing and Curing
Most patients of the Shamans were victims of curses put on them by the Shaman. The patient/victim had to pay the Shaman to remove the effects of the curse. To kill someone a Shaman would shoot a pain like a little burning worm, into the victim's body. This pain was too powerful for the soul to handle so the soul would leave the body. As the victim is dying without his soul, his family would come and arrange a price to pay the Shaman to cure him. If the Shaman accepted the offer she would attempt to cure the victim by taking out the pain and placing it in her own body or into water.
Shaman's sack
The process of curing a victim would follow the following steps. First the Shaman would come and see the victim. Next she would pray and request the assistance of her guardian spirit. When she reached the spirit the shaman would pray and sing to it within her heart, asking the spirit to search for the victim's missing soul. As long as the Shaman could see the spirit she knew it hadn't gone too far and the spirit could bring it back. Once the guardian spirit was back in the body, the Shaman would take her hands and dip them in cold water. Then the water would be thrown out or the Shaman would drink it.
The Shamans knew of the legendary crazy woman of the woods.
Guardian Spirits
Guardian spirits could be many different shapes. They were commonly in the form of animals. To appear less frightening the spirits would try to appear deer- like, calm, quiet and comforting. This made a new Shaman less afraid and more willing to do the biding of the spirit.The guardian spirits of Shamans stayed high in the mountains or near a lake. Mary's Peak, being the highest point in the coast range of mountains, was such a spirit place. At these places one could find any type of spirit to call upon. These were common visiting places for Shamans. These facts were well known among tribal members.
Not only Shamans had guardian spirits. According to Mrs. Ludson there were many people among the Alsea who were not Shaman but had spirits. One of these people was an old woman. This woman had a bad spirit which made her ugly and never able to have children. It was believed she had a wild, woodsman spirit At night the women would hear the spirit call her name from the woods. The spirit was said to be jealous and so he prevented her from having children.
Not all spirits were as mean as this one, in fact, many helped the people or Shamans.