Shamanism changed the way I viewed my world and the way I interact with it. I now have a holistic way of living my life. Humans are comprised of mind, body, and spirit. All aspects of a person must be addressed in order for to live in balance and for healing to begin from any illness. Shamanism, in conjunction with therapy, helped me rebuild my life.

Through shamanic practice, I discovered that being creative and making art can be healing. I was able to build new foundations from what was broken. I was given the gift of a tool that I can use in many ways to explore both my inner being and my participation in the world around me. This gift can be used to heal me both internally and externally. I have become psychologically resilient and accepting. Life is a process and changes every day. I do not hurry up and wait any more.

I have studied shamanism for over eighteen years now, but prior to that I knew about the spiritual being-ness of all living creatures because of my work in animal communication. My world view expanded after an encounter with a flock geese.

The Beginning of something new~

One morning I was at a local pond watching a flock of geese sitting out on the ice. I heard a voice in my mind, but it was different from what I usually experienced in a communication. I heard a voice in my head that introduced itself as the “Spirit of All Geese.” The spirit told me that speaking with individual animals is not the only way to connect with nature and Mother Earth. I could speak to them individually, or I could speak to the Over Soul of all the geese both past and present. The spirit explained that this Over Soul was the geese’s collective guardian spirit. I asked, “All Geese, what is your purpose in contacting me?” “All Geese,” told me to be ready, that there was more learning I needed to do. I would travel to worlds that I did not know existed to gain wisdom, insight, and lessons that I would use to help me and others.

What is shamanism?

The word “shaman” comes from the word saman of the Tungus people of Siberia, meaning “one who is excited, moved, raised”. The term “shaman” is a group classification that anthropologists use to identify healers in diverse cultures. The term is used for medicine men, witch doctors, magicians, seers, or sorcerers in many indigenous cultures in North America, Indonesia, and Oceana.(1)

 

The shaman’s role in society is a social one but more importantly it is a spiritual one. A shaman connects with animal spirits, ancestors and highly evolved beings that exist outside of normal reality. They are mediators between the natural world and the spiritual world. They travel to these worlds seeking wisdom, healing and answers for themselves and for others. (2)

 

The only way I found to learn shamanism was to practice it. I devoured many books on the subject, but in order to understand it I had to journey and explore the different worlds that make up the shamanic realms.

The Shamanic Journey~

At the heart of the shamanic practice is the shamanic journey or soul flight. The shaman enters a trance state. In this trance state, the soul leaves the body and journeys to realms outside of time and space. I use Native American drumming music to help me get into a trance state and begin to journey.

There are three realms in which the shaman travels – the upper world, the middle world, and the lower world. The upper world is where a shaman travels to seek enlightenment and higher knowledge in order to bring them back to ordinary reality. Here, all the blueprints for everything that has been and will be can be seen. The middle world parallels the world we in exist every day. The lower world is where animal spirit guides, spirit guides, and the dead dwell. (3)

 

Journey to the lower world~

In one of my first journeys, I met my primary spirit animal, Heron. Your primary spirit animal chooses you. You do not choose them. The experience itself was like a waking dream. The percussive beat of the drumming music I am listening to allow me to go into a trance state. Once in a trance state, I can feel myself lighter than air. My soul has left my body. I am flying. I am traveling to the lower shamanic realm. After I land, I find myself standing in a forest glade. It is more beautiful than anything I have ever seen. I happen to notice a hole at the foot of a large tree. I instinctively head towards the hole and travel down it (imagine Alice going down the rabbit hole). I find myself at the entrance of a cave when I come to the bottom. I walk through the entrance, and I am in a cavern. In the cavern, there is an underground lake which stretches out as far as I can see.

A Great Blue Heron stands on a point which is directly in front of me. The heron is larger than life. She pivots her head and looks at me sideways. In her gaze, I feel as if I have come home. This feeling is otherworldly but familiar. It is similar to the animal communications I have done over the years. “Who are you, Heron? What do you represent?” I asked. Heron replies, “I am you, and I am your teacher, protector, and friend in these worlds you will travel within.” Heron and I shared many things in the time I was in the lower realm. We talked about my soul’s purpose on this earth walk and the nature of the shamanic realms. Heron indicated to me that after this talk it was time for me to journey home. I left the cave and flew back to the real world. I awoke from my trance state. I came back understanding much more than I had when I arrived. I still had a long road of learning ahead, and I still do. Heron will accompany me in all my travels.

Becoming a shamanic practitioner is not like going to a university with set deadlines and graduations. The spirit realms teach what needs to be taught but not in the framework of mundane understanding. They choose the timing and teachings.

Journey to the upper world~shamanic death and rebirth

As I have journeyed, I have had many different types of experiences. There have been a few that have scared my psychic socks off. There was one that was particularly jarring to me. In this journey, I traveled to the upper world. There was endless blue sky and clouds. In order to get to the upper world, I rode on Heron’s back. Heron left me when we arrived. The world went from black to red. I felt my soul body coming apart. All that was left was a skeleton. After this occurrence, there was fright but also a strange joy. The skeleton me cavorted in the black/red world and as I frolicked (go figure) I felt myself being rebuilt.

When it was done, Heron came back and flew me back to the real world. I was left with an odd feeling for a number of days. I was different, but more me than I had ever been. I found out later that this journey is called a shamanic death and rebirth. It is an initiation into shamanic power. A practitioner sheds ego and selfhood and becomes connected to all beings and to the shamanic realms.

The death and rebirth process also gave me the capability to learn compassion for both myself and others. Rue Paul once said, “If you cannot love yourself, how the hell can you love someone else?” Being self-compassionate allows a shamanic practitioner to heal themselves and to help others. A person can give more help and assistance if they are not depleted themselves. Compassion is something that comes from experiencing the difficulties that come from living a human existence.

Soul Retrieval Journey~

Sometimes what happens in the spirit realms will run parallel to what happens in real life. The spiritual death and rebirthing sequence plays itself out in reality.  It certainly did for me after I left my second marriage.  I lost the belief in myself, my self-awareness, my confidence, and my soul. When I left the relationship my re-birthing began. I started to do shamanic journeying again. I took many journeys to the upper world seeking wisdom and answers on how to rebuild what I had lost. The spirit teachers instructed me to begin to look for my lost soul parts and once I found them, to reconnect them to my being. In shamanic practice this is known as “soul retrieval” When I find these soul parts during a journey I re-integrate them back into my soul body.

I found a special lost soul part on one such journey. I saw a small little girl crying and looking off into the distance. I asked her, “Can I help you, are you lost?” The little girl replied, “I am you and you found me. I want to come home.” I wrapped my arms around her and began to cry along with her. I then moved her back into me. She and I were reunited, and I tell her every day that I cherish her. I lost her during my turbulent marriage. The little girl represented the part of me that believed in magic and dreams. Re-integration is not an easy process but worth the effort. Each soul part that I put back makes me stronger and more resilient. It also gives me the strength and determination to help others whenever I able to.

Journey to the middle world~

Part of my healing process after leaving my relationship was relocating to another town in Massachusetts. I was lucky enough to move to a small cottage that was situated by a pond. I spent many afternoons there fishing and just thinking. One night while I was fishing, I happened to see a spider web. I felt the urge to do a shamanic journey and effortlessly I began one, I did not need the Native American drumming, it just happened.

In this journey, I was in the real world and the middle shamanic world at the same time. Both of these worlds exist side by side. The only way to describe it would be to imagine myself standing half way between a semi-permeable membrane. I could see the silhouette of a heron standing at the water’s edge on the other side of the pond. I knew Heron was with me on this journey. It was an overwhelming feeling of joy. I saw the spider web perfectly affixed in between two pond rushes. The sun was just beginning to set over the pond. The beautiful colors of the sunset lifted my heart, and I felt at peace. The spider web had small droplets of water on it. Like perfect tiny prisms, they caught the color of the sunset and made the web shine like a circle of crystals. I focused in, on what I was seeing and noticed the weaving of the spider web. The spider web I saw reminded me of the dream catchers I had made many, many years before my poor life choice, before animal communication and my shamanic practice.

 

Resources:

Smoley, R., & Kinney, J. (1999). Hidden wisdom: A guide to western inner traditions. New York: Penguin foot note (3)

Walsh R. MD, Ph.D. (1990). The spirit of shamanism. (1st ed. Ed). New York: St. Martin’s Press- foot notes (1), (2)