Lower Mushroom Shelter

Lower Mushroom Shelter is in the Cathedral Peak area.

Interpretation by Celeste Rossouw: The presence of a feline (lion or leopard), leaping towards a group of men in unusual postures, lifting each other up and somersaulting, demonstrates that this is not a depiction of San lifeways in a narrative sense. The San believed that if a trainee shaman or medicine man could not handle the stress and pain experienced during trance, he/she could become anti-social and dangerous, and could change into a feline. The red lines in the painting may represent “arrows of sickness” that could only be seen by shamans during a healing-trance. Shamans warded off this negative power that was seen in the form of dangerous arrows.