Two-SpiritTwo-Spirit
Native American traditions accept the existence of a third gender that embraces aspects of male and female, and thus is termed two-spirit. Such people were called berdache by Europeans, but this term is considered by many to be disrespectful.
Most children or adults who exhibit cross-gender behavior are usually subject to criticism or social rejection. But some Native American traditions not only accept such persons, but even allow them to take on highly-respected roles as shamans or priests.
Wendy Susan Parker, in her brief but excellent introduction to the culture of the two-spirits entitled The Berdache Spirit explains -
In 1530, The Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca wrote in his diary of seeing "soft" native Indian males in Florida tribes dressing and working as women. Later, numerous reports by 17th century Spanish Conquistadors in the southwest, and 15th century writings by Catholic missionaries, French fur traders and British Colonists in the northwest confirmed the same phenomenon in other tribes. Cultural anthropologists later documented this "third gender" status in at least 120 other North American tribes and in numerous other cultures around the world.
They were named by Europeans as berdache" from the Persian "bardaj," originally a derogatory term meaning a passive homosexual partner usually a "pretty" or feminine young boy. Yet, Indian berdache are very different from the European view of "berdaj" as "sodomite heretics" as written about by the Crusaders invading Persia in the Middle Ages.
Instead, native cultures seem to embrace the notion of an opposite gender identity, different from one's anatomical sex WITHOUT any implied sexual preference. They were viewed by native tribes as having an almost Sacred" status for the most part. Indian spiritual philosophy not only accepts a "third gender" status, but almost encourages it. With few exceptions by some of the more warlike tribes like the Apache and Comanche, the berdache are found to comfortably coexist in almost every single North American tribe, especially in the midwest, great plains and the southwest.
Parker later explains the important roles available to two-spirits in native culture -
Unlike European Americans, gender or sexual divergence did not threaten the Indians. Berdache males in particular often became healers, surgeons, counselors, therapists, high religious priests, shamans, witch doctors and medicine men. They were regarded as a kind of "holy men." Berdache males could also become one of the multiple wives of Indian braves and, in rare cases, of genetic females who became "men" by proving themselves as warriors. The term berdache" is, of course, a generic one, as they were called by different -terms depending on the tribe. They were "winktes" in the Lakota Sioux, "Nadle" in Navaho tribes, "Shamans" in the Mojave and "Mahu" in the Polynesian culture of Tahiti.
Since the berdache could mix characteristics of both genders, they were viewed as having a special status as if "blessed" by the gods. They were thought to be the "middle gender," and seen as prophets and visionaries having an almost mystic and psychic vision into the future. They were often consulted by tribal elders and chieftains because they were thought to have a kind of "universal knowledge" and special connection to the "great spirit." (Full text available here .)
Two-Spirit Spirituality
To explain why two-spirits are accepted as priests and shamans, anthropologists have an interesting theory. They observe that the transgendered occupy a space between male and female. Because they dwell at the boundary between two realms, they are called liminal (from the Latin limen, threshold). Liminal persons are considered to be specially qualified to serve as mediums or go-betweens, interfacing between two realms. Therefore, shamans are thought to possess a rare ability to reach out beyond worldly boundaries, bridging the gap between man and the spirits, between man and nature, man and animals, past and future, and so on.
Philosopher Frithjof Schuon describes this liminal capacity in Light on the Ancient Worlds: New Translation with Selected Letters (World Wisdom, 2006) -
Behind every sensible phenomenon there lies a reality of an animistic order, which is independent of the limitations of space and time; it is by placing himself in contact with these realities or these subtle and supra-sensorial roots of things that a shaman is able to influence natural phenomena or fore tell the future. (Full text available here )
Two-Spirit Shaman
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Scholar Mircea Eliade described the general characteristics of shamans in his article for the Encyclopedia Brittanica. Some of those characteristics are shown below, each followed by my comments (italics in brackets) relating more specifically to the transgendered two-spirits -
A specialist (man or woman) is accepted by the society as being able to communicate directly with the transcendent world and thereby also possessed of the ability to heal and to divine; this person is held to be of great use to society in dealing with the spirit world. [Being transgendered, two-spirits are liminal, and therefore possessed of these capacities.]
This figure has special physical and mental characteristics: he is neurasthenic or epileptic, with perhaps some minor defect (e.g., six fingers or more teeth than normal) and with an intuitive, sensitive, mercurial personality. [Though not specifically mentioned, being transgendered certainly qualifies as a "special physical or mental characteristic."]
He is believed to have an active spirit or group of spirits to assist him and also may have a passive guardian spirit present in the form of an animal or a person of the other sex—possibly as a sexual partner. [Being transgendered, two-spirits do not belong to conventional culture; they inhabit their own worlds, somewhat like some modern transgenders who stay safely within a subculture of gender-divergent people where they are accepted and understood.]
By falling into ecstasy at will, the shaman is believed to be able to communicate directly with the spirits either by his soul leaving the body to enter their realm or by acting as their mouthpiece, like a medium. [Again, it is the two-spirit's transgendered liminality that is the source for such extraordinary abilities.]
The exceptional abilities and the consequent social role of the shaman are believed to result from his being the “choice” of the spirits, though the one who is chosen—often an adolescent—may resist his selection, sometimes for years. Torture by the spirits, appearing in the form of illness, breaks the resistance of the shaman candidate and he (or she) has to accept the vocation. [No one chooses to be transgendered; it is thrust upon them, usually as a condition from their very birth. Many trans persons resist initially and try to live a conventional life. They may struggle with gender dysphoria for years before finally succumbing to an overwhelming need to transition to the other gender.]
Resources:
Wikipedia includes articles on two-spirit and shamanism .
The North American Aboriginal Two Spirit Information Pages includes many helpful links about two-spirits.
Native American Berdach - Two-spirit People site includes many more good links.
Androgyne Online has more relevant links.
Anthropologist Lauren Hasten provides a scholarly discussion of two-spirits.