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Shamanism - connecting body, heart, soul and spirit:
Shamanism is an ageless Medicine Way of Nature
that transcends religion and all systems of belief. This holistic spiritual healing tradition is still in general use
today in some parts of the world. Since European contact, this Medicine Way has been practiced more
or less openly among indigenous people as permitted by Church and local political authorities. It is a healing wisdom
way of life that is devoted to service. Shamanism embodies universal wisdom that goes beyond
ethnic cultural borders. This is why we may have been immersed in identical understandings but under different descriptions.
Some historians believe the origin of the term shaman derived from
the Vedic 'sram,' meaning to practice austerities. For example 'asram' means an abode where spiritual disciplines are
taught and practiced. Others believe the term has its origin in early Indo-European languages. In
the Evenk language of Central and Northern Asia, shaman means 'the one who knows.' To shamanize
was to use out-of-body journeys to mediate between the seen and unseen worlds serving spirit, community and individual.
According to Shamanism everything has a Spirit,
a specific spiritual vitality. 'All the green,' those that walk, stand, swim, crawl, and flow including the clouds,
wind, rivers, stars and mountains. There is continuous interaction between different dimensions, forces and entities of the
cosmos. For the shaman/a humans, plants and animals are eternally connected through cause and effect.
Urban de-mythologized people of all cultures, for the most part, are unable to comprehend, let alone experience, these
energetic forces and characteristics of Nature without extended meditation time in Nature. Shaman/a have mastered the meditational methods of traversing the non-ordinary
dreamtime reality to bring health and happiness to the people. These methods may include fasting in the wilderness, chanting,
dancing and drumming. Psycho-active medicinal plants are not a requirement. Shaman/a have ancestral
or animal spirits which provide protection, assist traversing the dreamtime realms and guide in their healing work. The shaman/a
is a facilitator who lets the Spirits do the work.
Shamanism follows an unbroken wisdom-bridge stretching back into
Neolithic times. There are theories that the practice dates back at least 40,000 years when early humans experienced
a burst of creative development and suddenly began to explore spirituality, looked for understanding of life after death,
created more advanced tools and began to paint incredibly accomplished cave art. The traditional master shaman/a's
personal visionary experience and 'way of knowing' the energetic cause of illness or the problems of the people
is connected to the accumulated wisdom that derives from their ancestors, a line of succession from the mythological
origins of their society.
We must be respectfully grateful for this legacy of the Medicine Way of Nature traditional
aboriginal cultures preserved for the spiritual health of the people of today. More than ever, modern people need life
with soul. If we go back far enough this Medicine Way can be found in
the tradition of all cultures. Historically all societies have aboriginal origins and have a name for the Medicine Way
person who practices what today could be called shamanism. For example, sangoma in South Africa, folk healer
of Old Europe, wu of ancient China, dang ki of Singapore, dukun of Indonesia, karadji of Australia, kahuna in the Hawaiian
Islands, marakame in Mexico's Sierra Madre, paye of the Takana and taita of Columbia, curandero/a across South America,
yachak of Equador and the Ingano and shiripiari of the Campa in Amazonia. In Amazonia traditional indigenous
language groups have their own respective words as well as Spanish terms for Medicine Way healers. They may recognize
but seldom use the term Chamanista. North American natives do not use the term shaman/a to describe
their medicine men/women, healers or traditional holy people.
In ancient times the shaman/a was relied on to divine
intent of neighbouring tribes as well as location of food and the cause and cure if illness. If they were unsuccessful,
their life could be short. Shaman/a have exceptional courage, are not afraid of unusual spiritual
realms, are not faint hearted about unappealing things and know their role in their society. Following only the
Spirits - The Laws of Nature, they recieve protocols for ritual ceremony and healing. The traditional shaman/a
is a master of ceremonies, makes propitiatory offerings, removes toxic aggressive energy, recovers lost soul parts and conducts
healing for those who are committed to personal transformation.
Until modern times, the shaman/a was highly respected in their community due to possession of visionary power that enabled
communication with the Spirits that ruled the tribe's destiny. As well as healing illness, settling disputes, arranging marriages
and conducting ceremonies to ensure abundance of game or good harvests, they were responsible for teaching the youngsters the tribe's traditional
stories and accepted moral behaviour. Their word was law. Today the shaman/a's following is mainly due
to healing skills.
Shaman/a see both the physical and non-ordinary reality as a field
of forces. It doesn't matter if we believe in a spirit world or not, the results of their work is the same. They will not
try to convert you to a religion. They work to effect a cure of a spiritual/energetic source of illness regardless
of what the client believes. The shaman/a has no doubts. There always is a question whether the
client is truly committed to personal transformational healing.
By chanting, shamans use themselves as an instrument
to enter the primordial underlying level of all manifestation. In this state of shamanic unity consciousness,
at the finest level of intuitional feeling that the human nervous system is capable of, the master shaman/a
with pure intention changes the vibrational direction of energy to effect healing. These 'magic melodies' are taught
only by the higher energetic selves of the plants, animals, stones and other Laws of Nature. The apprentice receives
the chants directly from the spirits when the requisite level of illumination has been achieved.
Thankfully, although troublesome, many toxic spiritual energetic problems
in the Today World are 'garden variety,' caused by fear, competition, envy and resentment by family, business and social interactions.
Looks that kill, killing someone with kindness, running competing businesses out of town, willingness to step on others
to climb the corporate ladder, disrespect of others' Medicine Way experience and protocols are some current methods of sorcery.
Negative thoughts towards others is modern black magic. Some anthropologists maintain that sorcery was seldom prevalent before
the arrival of Europeans with their imported emphasis on ownership of property.
Master shaman/a, when not accessing dream-time realms
and performing ceremony and healing work, typically have a daily routine of family life and work which keeps them psychologically
balanced and grounded. They have an unpretentious down to earth manner having transcended the need for excessive
recognition and accumulation of property. The focus is mainly psychological rather than on worldly abilities.
Acutely aware of the weaknesses of the people, with laser sharp insight
into human behaviour, they can exhibit an outrageous scathing sense of humour which the so-called civilized may consider
politically incorrect. Although they find humour in humbling the pretentious, mostly they laugh at themselves for
their own humiliations. They often have a bawdy vitality. Shaman/a are human, which means they inevitably
make mistakes. Nature has the abilty to humble at every turn. Master healer-shaman/a are visionaries,
not saints or gurus. Their work is to help clients focus on their personal healing and spiritual issues.
Shaman/a are ordained by the Spirits. It is important
to understand that regardless of ancestral heritage, the license to shamanize comes from the Creator alone
by way of the Spirits - The Laws of Nature, through divine revelation in night-time dream visions and meditating
and undergoing austerities in the wilderness. Cultural or religious authority is not relevant. Shamanic ability
is 'received' rather than taught, given or taken. We don't hunt the Spirits, the Spirits find the appropriate person. Often
the future Medicine Way person is reluctant to accept the role because of the psychologically demanding nature of the
duties, but the Spirits may not give rest until they accept. Mentors can assist in interpreting visionary experience but essentially
shamanism is a personal quest.
Traditionally those who have received the gift 'to shamanize' spend
long periods of their life in training with mentors who practice what they teach. To become proficient and recognized
by the community as a traditional Medicine Way person requires rigorous apprenticeship involving long periods of
social isolation, sexual abstinence, strict dietary prohibitions against consumption of alcohol, sugar, salt, dairy, pork,
oil, spices and anything fermented. A common theme is near-death knowledge of the spiritual domains. If the apprentice, even
temporarily defaults on the prescribed rules and protocols of their training, the Spirits can take back all the attainment
of teachings, good luck and personal health. And sometimes the result of deviation from the apprenticeship protocols
can be death. The traditional Medicine Way is a hard school, a demanding vocation. You can't take anyone where you
have not yourself already had direct experience.
Traditionally the Spirits or the resident shaman/a
taught apprentices in their teen years with rigorous testing for suitability. Today, even in remote communities, few
aboriginal youth have interest in their society's traditional healing wisdom. It is rare these days for anyone, native or
non-native, to be willing to submit to extended solitary time in the wilderness to 'receive' the
magical songs, healing and ceremonial teachings and the Spirits authorization to practice the Medicine
Way. With the passing of legendary healer-shaman/a the awesome spiritual power they embodied is
next to lost forever to their community and humanity. Old-timers lament there no longer are any true healers who are
willing to undergo the regimen of rigorous apprenticeship required of their ancestors to strengthen and
purify sensibility to spirit teachers. Recognizing that it is next to impossible today to experience the pure natural
environment and stress-free way of living of the past, nevertheless, a few remaining traditional master shaman/a
are reviving interest by opening their doors for apprenticeship to outsiders.
The Spirits - The Laws of Nature
- give only what is needed, not what is wanted. For this reason 'wanabe' shamanism is empty. Those who
call themselves a shaman/a, medicine person or healer is advertising, to those who know, that the
focus is on ego. Genuine shamans have always been fewer than their imitators, who darken the essence of ancient
wisdom by performing ceremony to attract the attention of a gullible public.
The term shaman has gone 'hollywood' as in shamanic
financial consulting, shamanic sports coaching and shamanic business strategies,
ect. It is laudable to employ archaic knowledge of the principles of Nature to help others but does it involve shamanic
ecstatic experience journeying the dreamtime to identify and solve problems.
Neo-shamanism is popular through
seminar workshops and books due to seekers not being able to find true aboriginal master shamans. Prospective
students are welcomed even though they have not experienced any shamanic night-time dream
visions. The New Age romanticized way twists archaic spirituality into an exploitive marketable commodity. Intellectual
shamanism, although useful to train the mind, only takes the seeker to the threshold of the non-ordinary dreamtime
reality. Due to a lifetime of spiritual discipline some are rewarded with the ability to spontaneously enter shamanic
consciousness outside of night-time dreaming, either in deep meditation or daytime altered state of consciousness
'seeings from the heart.' But for most, daytime conscious imagination of chackras and light realms is invention. Representational
easy-chair shamanism is seductive but essentially empty of spiritual vitality.
Anthropological studies is not shamanism. Invoking 'borrowed' spiritual energetic forces that others
have described about their personal experience is not the Medicine Way. Repeating ceremonial form without
having experienced the transpersonal reality of the state of consciousness that underlies the ceremony is not
shamanism. Focus primarily on rules and protocols and moving people around in ceremony without understanding
or having been personally taught the original spiritual intent is not shamanism. Medicine Way elders
maintain that 'playing with the medicines' is potentially spiritually and energetically harmful to the seeker, their
family and the families of everyone involved. Witnessing traditional ceremony does not give authority to practice, let
alone teach others.
In our search for understanding of our personal dream vision shamanic
experiences, if we honestly look into our hearts, many of us have discovered that chasing after spiritual gurus
and medicine persons is an egotistical pursuit. It has been said, 'don't call any person Master, the humans will
disappoint every time, asking for money, sex or assistance in obtaining fame. Therefore put your trust only in the Great Spirit.'
Because the Great Spirit, by it's very nature is indivisible, and shamanic
dream visioning is a way of 'feeling' wisdom pictorially, it is impossible to experience shamanism
in an intellectual academic representational way.
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