Shaking

Here is information about the shaking of Shakers, taken from Clara Endicott Sears' Gleanings from Old Shaker Journals. (Houghton Mifflin, 1916).

“They beat the air with their arms, and writhed with horrible contortions, until a faintness came over them which developed into a trance-like condition, and falling to the ground they lay there as if dead. When consciousness returned, they were seized with violent tremblings and twitchings . . . As the bodily agitation diminished, they began to prophesy.” (Shaking Quakers)
“Some had their eyes fixed steadily upwards, continually reaching out and drawing in their arms . . . Near the centre of the room stood two young women, one of them very handsome, who whirled round and round for the space of fifteen minutes, nearly as fast as the rim of a spinning wheel in quick motion . . . several of the young people, both men and women, began to shake and tremble in a most terrible manner. The first I perceived was their heads moving slowly from one shoulder to the other – the longer they moved, the quicker and more violently they shook. The motion proceeded from the hed to the hands, arms, and whole body, with such power as if limb would rend from limb.”