Introduction to Shamanism
Shamanism is humanitys oldest spiritual tradition, dating back some 35,000
years to the first signs of human consciousness. It is not a religion, but a
spiritual technique a visionary technique of journeying "outside
of time" to the spirits for the purposes of healing and problem solving.
This works for people of all varieties of religious and spiritual orientations
or intellectual opinions about the nature of reality. The essence of shamanism
is cross-cultural; that is, no one person or group has possessive rights or
powers to utilize the concepts.
"Shamans are found in many cultures world wide, but the word shaman comes
from the Tungus tribe of Siberra. A shaman is a man or woman who heals the spiritual
aspect of illness: diagnosing and treating illness, divining information for
the community, communicating and interacting with the spirit world, and often
acting as a psychopomp, helping souls cross over to the other worlds."
(Ingerman, Medicine for the Earth, pg. 2)
Shamans typically contact the spirit world by entering into a trance state.
The most common way to enter this state, is to use percussive sound (i.e., drum
or rattle), and "ride" the sound waves into what Carlos Castaneda
called non-ordinary reality. Non-ordinary reality is subdivided into three areas:
Upper, Lower, and Middle Worlds. Sandra Ingerman and Michael Harner teach that
the Upper and Lower Worlds are where the helping spirits are, while the Middle
World is the spiritual component of our ordinary reality.
In the Lower World, the helping compassionate spirits usually present themselves
as animals. The terrain is usually experienced as jungles, forests, seas, mountains:
earthy type landscapes. The Upper World is usually experienced as a more ethereal
place where the compassionate helping teachers usually present themselves in
human form as deceased ancestors, religious leaders, or figures from history.
The landscape maybe crystal cities, ancient civilizations, or simple clouds.
The Middle World looks a lot like ordinary reality and this is where shamans
do long distance healing work and look for lost objects.
Shamans work to heal the spiritual aspect of an illness. The healing may or
may not effect emotional or physical pain. Shamans look for what is spiritually
out of balance. Curing happens from what the spirits will teach the shaman and/or
the client. The shamans power animal or teacher does the diagnosis.
Some types of general complaints and associated symptoms:
Loss of personal power power animal has gone away and no new one
has come to take its place. Symptoms: chronic types of illness, chronic depression,
chronic suicidality, and chronic misfortune.
Loss of soul essence soul essence is lost due to trauma. Part
of the soul retreats into non-ordinary reality because it could not survive
the pain of the trauma in ordinary reality. Symptoms: difficult time staying
grounded; feeling numb, apathetic, or deadened; chronic depression, immune system
weakness, chronically ill as child, gaps in memory, addictions, or abnormal
difficulty moving on after divorce or death of a loved one.
Spiritual intrusion intrusion comes into being from negative thought
forms. If you send angry thought forms to someone else, it may manifest as an
intrusion. An intrusion may also form by not expressing yourself, but instead,
stuffing emotions. Symptoms: localized pain or illness in the human body.
Divination client has questions that they would like spiritual
guidance on. The first part of this process is forming the question. Non-ordinary
reality is outside of time and space, so "where" and "when"
questions usually arent productive. Next, the shaman may go on a journey
on the clients behalf, or the shaman may teach the client to journey on
her/his own behalf to non-ordinary reality for answers from the helping spirits
or teachers.
In each of the above examples (and any time
a shaman works with a client) the shaman journeys to her/his power animal or
teacher in non-ordinary reality for a diagnosis and help in bringing spiritual
balance back to the client.
In our world today, there is a great longing inside of us for Divine contact.
Many of us have turned away from traditional spiritual practices searching
for something that will light our inner flame. The shamanic journey is an experience
of direct spiritual revelation. It can add depth and meaning to any spiritual
practice by allowing hands on experience of the Divine.