WHAT IS SHAMANISM?

The following excerpts are from Sandra Ingerman's book, Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner's Guide (Sounds True, Boulder, CO. Copyright 2004 Sandra Ingerman).

©2003 Mia Bosna

"Shamanism is the earliest spiritual practice known to humankind, dating back tens of thousands of years. Although the word 'shaman" is a Siberian word for a spiritual healer, shamanism has been practiced in parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, Greenland, and Native North and South American throughout history. The fact that the practice has survived and thrived for thousands of years speaks to the potency of the work.

"Shamanism teaches us that everything that exists is alive and has a spirit, and that we are joined with the earth and all of life via our spiritual interconnectedness.

"One of the beautiful aspects of the shamanic journey is the principle of direct revelation. The practice of shamanic journeying help us to part the veils between the seen and unseen worlds and access information and energies that can help awaken us and restore us to wholeness.

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Today, we know a lot more about shamanism as it was (and still is) practiced around the globe thanks to the work of anthropologists such as Michael Harner, PhD, founder of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies. In his classic book, The Way of the Shaman (Harper& Row) Michael Harner, PhD, tells us that shamans, "are keepers of a remarkable body of ancient techniques that they use to achieve and maintain well-being and healing for themselves and members of their communities."

Harner explains that, "Shamans have long believed their powers were the powers of the animals, of the plants, of the sun, of the basic energies of the universe. In the garden Earth, they have drawn upon their assumed powers to help save other humans from illness and death, to provide strength in daily life, to commune with their fellow creatures, and to live a joyful existence in harmony with the totality of nature."

To heal, shamans typically enter, at will, an altered state of consciousness to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire knowledge or power, or to solicit the help of the spirits.

Sandra Ingerman explains to us that, "Shamans heal emotional and physical illness by working with the spiritual aspects of illness. There are three common causes of illness from the shaman's view. First, a person may have lost his or her power, causing depression, chronic illness, or a series of misfortunes. In this case, the shaman journeys to restore that person's lost power. Or a person may have lost part of their soul or essence, causing soul loss,, which sometimes occurs during an emotional or physical trauma, such as accidents, surgery, abuse, the trauma of war, being in a natural disaster, or other traumatic circumstances. This soul loss leads to disassociation, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, illness, immune deficiency problems, addictions, unending grief, or coma. It is the role of the shaman to track down parts that have fled and have been lost due to trauma by performing a soul retrieval ceremony. The thirds cause of illness from a shaman's perspective would be any spiritual blockages or negative energies that a client has taken on due to loss of his or her power. These spiritual blockages also cause illness, usually in a localized area of the body. It is the role of the shaman to extract and remove these harmful energies from the body."

When a person studies shamanism, he or she will learn to access these hidden realities for the benefit of others. The Society for Shamanic Practitioners exists to help people who are exploring this path through education and community, as well as to help translate this ancient art of healing into a practice that can be used effectively in today's modern world. The Society holds an annual meeting each year in which shamanic techniques are taught.

There are many types of shamanism and many traditions of shamanic healing. The Society respects and embraces all the traditions, and it working to compile an online database/library of information about the various cultures and their unique practices. These different traditions, all of which are meant to connect humans with the spiritual world, include such things as the upper and lower world journeys of Siberian and Tibetan shamans, the Brazilian tradition of faith healing, the magic of Mexican curanderos, the sweat lodges and ceremonies of the Lakota Medicine Men which connect them to their creator, the Australian practice of journeying in the dreamtime, the Navajo chants and sand painting ceremonies, the connection with ancients spirits through Celtic shamanism, the art of healing using plants practiced by tribes in the world's rainforests, the art of dream healing from the ancient Greeks, and the healing dance of the South African bushmen. But the core of all shamanic practice is about helping and healing.

In his book, The Elements of Shamanism, scholar Nevill Drury reminds us that, "Shamanism is a visionary tradition, an ancient practice of utilizing altered states of consciousness to contact the gods and spirits of the natural world. ...It may be that the shaman is a healer, able to conquer the spirits of disease: a sorcerer, skilled in harnessing spirits as allies for magical purposes; or a type of psychic detective, able to recover lost possessions. At other times the shaman may seem to be somewhat priest like--an intermediary between the Gods of creation and the more familiar realm of everyday domestic affairs."