I believe that the
underlying emptiness in the materialistic western worldview has unleashed a
growing hunger for reconnection with our deepest selves. At some level we all
long to be held in the natural cycles and rhythms of our mother, Earth. Shamanism,
released from its cultural and tribal contexts, which vary across continents,
teaches that everything is connected. For sophisticated, urban dwellers to
relate to this, we’ve needed to make sense of it within our own cultural and
educational frameworks.
This includes the teachings
of scientific disciplines such as quantum physics. Its description of a field
of energy connecting all things echoes the fundamental shamanic principle of a
web of life. Psychology helps us understand the three shamanic worlds (lower,
middle and upper) in the light of major levels of consciousness. We can relate
to the idea of ‘spirit guides’ through the concept of archetypes as developed
by CG Jung. Ecology teaches
practical and spiritual ways of caring for Earth and deep ecology helps us to
understand that everything is alive and has soul. Cosmology is a window into
the mind-boggling extent of our connections to the universe.
While these materialistic
supports can help, shamanism is much more deeply rooted in the human body and
psyche than such an intellectual approach suggests. It arises from an ancient,
soulful, ecstatic, joyful approach to being fully alive and in ‘right
relationship’ with our world and does not need the findings of science for
validation.
Shamanic practices have
survived because they work. Many people find them strangely familiar. Perhaps
this is not surprising. As well as being encoded in our genetic history, some
of the most recognisable stories and images from major religions have a
shamanic sensibility. For instance, Buddha touched the earth and called upon it
to witness his enlightenment, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness and the
vivid and exuberant depictions of spirits and demons in Tibet grew from the
blend of the Bon shamanic tradition with Buddhism. All of these speak of deep
and ancient roots in the mysteries of Earth & Cosmos.
Urbanites who are drawn to
this today do not learn the tribal shamanism of old. Instead, they study a
neo-shamanism that is still embedded in the sacredness of life, nature and the
universe. Now we learn to be, not shamans, but shamanic practitioners, healers
or therapists.
While we are not chosen in
the traditional ways, I’m sure our decision to enroll in courses such as a
Certificate in Shamanic Practices is still guided by Spirit. The training of
today continues to be rigorous and transformative, based on surrender,
initiation and scrupulous purifying honesty. The capacity to balance the
energies of the dark, cavernous underworld, the spirit version of our material
Earth and the high vibrational world of the sky, happens paradoxically when
practitioners both surrender to and gain mastery over the powers generated in
these worlds.
One important, traditional
technique that is still taught is the famous Shamanic Journey. In altered
consciousness the soul travels on waves of sound produced by drumming,
clapping, singing or rattling. It is an effective way to directly access
personal and spiritual guidance. People who are drawn to a deeper exploration
of shamanism can learn to use this and other techniques to help their
communities and the planet in the time-honoured fashion.
Shamanic
techniques meet three fundamental human needs – for guidance (known in
shamanism as divination), healing and empowerment.
• Practitioners
seek guidance for their clients by journeying into the spirit world and
contacting guides for advice and direction.
• They
may seek healing for clients through soul retrieval. This is a shamanic method
of repairing the disconnection that can happen after trauma or suffering. Soul
retrieval offers a way of bringing a person back to wholeness.
• They
work to empower their clients through a journey to find and install a ‘power’
animal. This animal has an ongoing role in the person’s life and a loving and
reciprocal relationship develops.
Many
people today have persistent difficulties with the concept of power, often
because they’ve had negative experiences of someone else’s power over them.
In
a transcript of a radio interview Michael Harner, the Western
world’s foremost exponent of Shamanism, explains it in a helpful way, ‘…the person who's doing this work is drawing upon an
experience of power far beyond himself or herself...this power comes from
harmony…some people might say God, some people might say love. But this power
has tremendous strength, & so when you draw upon it, particularly for good
purposes, then this energy is there.’
more....
Like it or not, we are becoming ‘shamanized’. We are
experiencing an internal shift that will lead to the collapse of the space-time
reality that we think of as ‘normal’. What an opportunity to live in shamanic consciousness!
