Watchers And Shamans

Here are some various quotes about the biblical Watchers, Shamans, and the ancient tradition of Shamanism.

Gods of Eden: Shamans of Anatolia - Ancient Civilizations BC:

"I saw Watchers in my vision, the dream-vision. Two men were fighting over me...holding a great contest over me. I asked them, 'Who are you, that you are thus empowered over me?' They answered me, 'We have been empowered and rule over all mankind.' They said to me, 'Which of us do you choose to rule you?' I raised my eyes and looked. One of them was terrifying in his appearance, like a serpent, his cloak many-coloured yet very dark...And I looked again, and...in his appearance, his visage like a viper...and all his eyes..."

This is the testament of Amram, the father of Moses, translated by the Hebrew scholar Robert Eisenman. Amram's description of the watchers, or the fallen angels of the Nephilim is identified as Belial, the father of evil and the other Melchizedek, or Michael the Prince of Light. What is interesting about the testimony of Amram is its connection with other accounts of such walking "viper men" described in the book of Enoch. The accounts of such feathered serpent-men is thought to be a remote recollection of a fallen race, originally rooted in ancient Kurdistani myths and cosmology and passed down into ancient Sumerian folklore and subsequently into the biblical traditions of the Old Testament.

The descriptions by Enoch, one of the chosen in the Hebrew bible, records that the Nephilim, or the watchers, fell in an age long ago, with the onslaught of a great fire and deluge. Interestingly, the fall from grace of the Nephilim, is vaguely similar to earlier legends of the Annunaki gods of ancient Sumeria. According to sumerian tablets written in cuneiform, a group of 600 Annunaki decided to gift man with the knowledge and fruits of civilization and agriculture, and as a result of the transgression, the upper Annunaki of heaven led by An, threw the others down into the underworld.
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The story of the Nephilim watchers and many others probably recall a distorted memory of the shaman vulture men, who in ages long past gifted the people of the region with the secret wisdom of the "otherworld" (heaven/subconscious mind) through trance like states induced through hallucinogens at places like Gobekli Tepe and Catal Huyuk.

In later ages, the image of the Nephilim seems to have shifted to one of a confusing dichotomy, represented in the dual nature of the angels written about in the Enochian and Dead Sea literature. Both benevolent, gifting humanity with civilization and technology, yet on the other hand shown as being demon like, a curse, which simultaneously "tainted" the innocence of a simpler, natural life living as small tribes at one with nature. The punishment of the Nephilim shamans came in the form of a great deluge, or a mini ice age, as is the case in the Zoroastrian tradition.

Obviously, further research should be done to reveal exactly who the Nephilim shamans were, and what "forbidden" knowledge the priests possessed that could have inspired such stories in ages long after. Andrew Collins, a British science writer and historian delves more deeply into the Nephilim and Kurdish literatures surrounding the so called "watchers" in his book "From the Ashes of Fallen Angels".

The Forbidden Legacy of a Fallen Race By Andrew Collins:

"In spite of the fact that Christian art has invariably portrayed angels with wings, this tradition goes back no further than the third or fourth century AD. Before this time true angels (Cherubim and Seraphim did have multiple sets of wings) appeared in the likeness of "men", a situation that often prompted textual translators to add wings on to existing descriptions of angels. This has almost certainly been the case in the above account taken from 2 Enoch, which was re-copied many times during the early years of Christianity.

With this observation in mind, I felt that the statement concerning the Watchers dress having "the appearance of feathers" was very revealing indeed. It also seemed like an over-sight on the part of the scribe who conveyed this story into written form, for having added wings to the description of the two "men", why bother saying they wore garments of feathers? Surely this confusion between wings and feather coats could have been edited to give the Watchers a more appropriate angelic appearance.

Bird Shamans

Somehow I knew it was a key to unlocking this strange mystery, for it suggested that, if the Watchers had indeed been human, then they may have adorned themselves in garments of this nature as part of their ceremonial dress. The use of totemic forms, such as animals and birds, has always been the domain of the shaman, the spirit walkers of tribal communities. In many early cultures the soul was said to have taken the form of a bird to make its flight from this world to the next, which is why it is often depicted as such in ancient religious art. This idea may well have stemmed from the widely-held belief that astral flight could only be achieved by using ethereal wings, like those of a bird, something that almost certainly helped inspire the idea that angels, as messengers of God, should be portrayed with wings in Christian iconography.

To enhance this mental link with his or her chosen bird, shamans would adorn their bodies with a coat of feathers and spend long periods of time studying its every movement. They would enter its natural habitat and watch every facet of its life - its method of flight, its eating habits, its courtship rituals and its actions on the ground. In doing so they would hope to become as birds themselves, an alter-personality adopted on a semi-permanent basis. Totemic shamanism is more-or-less dependent on the indigenous animals or birds present in the locale of the culture or tribe, although in principle the purpose has always been the same - using this mantle to achieve astral flight, divine illumination, spirit communication and the attainment of otherworldly knowledge and wisdom."

The World of Shamanism: New Views Of An Ancient Tradition, By Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D: 

"John Perry described the renewal process as an experience of destruction followed by regeneration. Individuals undergoing it are overwhelmed by images in which they see both themselves and the world being destroyed. Yet this destruction is not the end but a prelude to rebirth and regeneration. Out of the images of ruin comes a sense of personal renewal and world regeneration. Images of death and rebirth are of course common in the shamanic crisis." (Pg. 111).

Video - Roger Walsh: The Spirit of Shamanism (excerpt) - Thinking Allowed DVD w/ Jeffrey Mishlove