All You Need To Know On Shamanism
Shamanism is an enigmatic ancient spiritual practice from various Tribes all over the World. Depending on what part of the world it was practiced during ancient times, the practice remained similar yet had slight vary based on the origin of its culture. In this article, I will walk you through various aspects on what I was personally taught by my Teacher and as well as what I have experienced as a Shaman Practitioner. In today’s time, you will not hear Shaman Practitioners address themselves as Shamans. An authentic Shaman is believed to get their spiritual gifts through family lineage or initiation by the Tribe. In today’s time, it is widely taught by the New Age Practitioners all over the world while keeping the teachings as traditional to its origin.
Shamanism is an ancient spiritual practice found in various cultures throughout the world as early as the Paleolithic Age predating all organized religions, and as early as the Neolithic period. The earliest known undisputed burial of a Shaman dates back to the early Paleolithic Age in what is now believed to be Czech Republic. ~ Wikipedia
Shamanism originated in Siberia where members of Indigenous Tribes would gather poisonous and highly psychoactive mushroom, Amanita Muscaria to journey into the other worlds. The noun is formed from the verb ša, which means, “to know,” so the term Shaman translates to, “one who knows.” Historically it is often associated with indigenous and tribal societies in which Shamans could connect with the higher realms and other worlds. They had the abilities to heal the sick, communicate with spirits, and escort souls of the dead to the afterlife. This practice was widely used in Europe, Asia, North America, South America, and Africa. It centered on the belief in supernatural phenomenon such as the world of gods, demons, and ancestral spirits.
In today’s time, Shamanism is studied and practiced as a life path, a form of a living experience, derived from harmony and balance. There is more to being a Shaman than having a fancy drum and rattle stick. It is a chosen path, a life changing experience and mission duty. Shamans believe that everything has a relationship with the spirit world and all matters and things. They seek to use information and guidance from non-ordinary reality to ordinary reality based on their own life experience and training. This perspective is not inherently contradictory of any religious practice that allows a person to be in direct relationship with whatever they perceive as a higher power.
Shamanic Portals
Shamans travel into places of non-ordinary reality to ordinary reality to experience past, present, and the future simultaneously and return to everyday life. A Shaman can explore portals between the physical world and the spirit world. In Celtic spirituality, these portals are considered thin veils where the two worlds meet or collide. In this portal, the flow of spirits and mortals can pass through with relative ease between the two worlds.
Duties of a Shaman
A Shaman looks after the health and wellbeing of an entire community, all plants, animals, the whole environment and medicines. It is not just privileged to any one individual or to a specific group. Shamans navigate through spirit worlds by inducing a trance and spiritual state.
This state is achieved through different methods, depending on the traditions of the particular culture. North American Shamans are known to induce a trance state through deprivation techniques like fasting and isolation. South American and Siberian Shamans are known to use hallucinogens and intoxicants to induce the trance state, which includes mushrooms, peyote, Ayahuasca, or alcohol, tea from the Banisteriopsis caapi plant, often referred to as yagé.
In order to communicate with the spirit or consciousness of these things, a Shaman will shift his or her own state of awareness through meditation, repetitive sounds such as that of the drum or rattle, or through the help of hallucinogenic plants. Shamans can see what is going on with you on a spiritual level. Hallucinogenic plants are not commonly used by practitioners today.
Who Can Become a Shaman?
In ancient times, there were a few ways one could become a Shaman. One was through initiation by other Shamans, through family lineage, via a mission calling, or simply taking solitary. They learnt to connect with helping spirits while journeying into other worlds through a trance state while learning their mystical ways. Shamans fit into different levels of spiritual practice, each specializing in different areas such as warding off evil spirits, acting as healers, and medicines.
Shamanic Healing
A Shaman is a specific type of healer who uses an alternate state of consciousness to enter the invisible world, which is made up of all unseen aspects of the world that affect us, including the spiritual, emotional, mental, mythical, archetypal, and dream worlds.
Shamans can direct and move energy to restore the harmony and balance within the individual; between the individual and the community; and between the community and the spirit world. They diagnose accurate seen and unseen energies at the root cause of the problem while finding out specific resolution to problems. Shamans may serve by removing energies that are inappropriately present, or by returning energies that have been lost.
Power Loss – Healing to gain vitality or zest of life. Recover chronic illness, depression, fatigue, low self-esteem, suicidal feelings and ongoing day to day misfortunes.
Soul Loss – Retrieving fragments of one’s Soul loss due to significant trauma, sudden shock (Soul shock), and major accidents.
Entanglement – Taking on energy that isn’t our own through intrusions, attachments, energetic cords, possessions or past lives of your own Soul that is attached in your auric field.
Family Lineage – Ancestral work to heal matters or things that bled from your family lineage, genetics, traumas, vows, all beliefs and influences, and all spiritual matters.
Power Animal – Retrieving and restoring one’s Power Animal so that the individual feels whole again.
Psychopomp – Assisting in roaming Souls or Spirits to safely cross over to the other side.
Environment – Restoring connection to the environment in all forms of nature such as Universe, planet, manmade features such as home, office or any habitat so that the individual feels more whole and complete in their physical essence.
Shamanic Journeying
Many Shamanic traditions believe that unseen reality is divided into three separate worlds, The Lower World, the Upper World, and the Middle World. Each world has distinct qualities, including particular gateways or entryways with a recognizable landscape.
The Lower World – sometimes known as the Underworld, although it is not a term highly used these days due to its negative connotation. The landscape in the Lower World tends to be earthy, filled with mountains, deserts, dense jungles, and forests. A classic example will be the story of Alice in Wonderland, where Alice descends into another realm through a magical tunnel.
The Upper World – an ethereal realm where the light tends to be bright through spectrum of colors such as bright lights and softer color hues. The landscapes in the Upper World can vary from golden or crystal city or simply in the clouds. In the Upper World, it is common to feel as if there is no earth beneath the feet. Classic example will be like the story of Jack and the Beanstalk where he climbs up the beanstalk and goes through a cloud layer before entering a new world.
The Middle World – a spiritual dimension of our physical world. Middle World journeying is a method for communicating with the spirits that live in all things present in physical reality. Shamans classically journey to the Middle World to find lost and stolen objects, to commune with nature, or to do long-distance healing work. Journeying in the Middle World consists of traveling through physical landscape such as garden, plants, trees, rocks, where you live and so forth.
The Middle World can be a little complicated, as there are many different types of spirits, some deceased that have not successfully crossed over to the other side. Some of these spirits do not know that they are dead.
Power Animals
Shamans believe that everything is alive and energy is carried through its power and wisdom. Power Animals are an important practice in Shamanism. They are their helping spirit, which adds power, protection and vigor to their practice and is essential for their successful journeys into the three worlds.
Shamans believe that everyone has a Power Animal. These animals reside within an individual adding the spiritual essence and power of that particular animal. They in return protect the individual from ailing illness, adding power and vigor to the individual and protection of a guardian angel. Some can have multiple Power Animals which give them additional power against illness or negative energy, along with its spiritual animal attributes of knowledge, wisdom, their strengths and weaknesses, their light and shadow sides.
This is very different from Animal Totem (Animal Spirit Guides). When a Power Animal embodies an individual, they will feel the impact from few days to a week. Whether they are small as an ant or big as an elephant, the embodiment has the same effect. Sometimes they get slightly sick as they incorporate the energies of the Power Animal. Then the body adjusts to the strength and vigor of the Power Animal, making them more powerful in every sense.
Childhood Lost Power Animals
Since everyone has a childhood Power Animal, one of the many reasons why a person is not aware of it is that they felt disconnection with them at some point of their life or they were simply never known to them. When a Shaman retrieves it back to them, they feel restored and whole again.
According to Shamans, if for whatever reason a Power Animal leaves and does not come back to take its place, the individual is then considered disconnected and disempowered, and can be susceptible to illness and bad luck.
My Calling As A Shaman Practitioner
My initial expectation of Shamanism was to retrieve lost aspects of my Soul. I knew based on whatever had shown up in the other healing modalities that my Soul was fragmented. During my Shamanic healing process, while retrieving my Soul, Black Panther and Hummingbird embodied me. At the time, I did not understand why this happened but I felt the effect of it for a week as the 2 Power Animals took home in my body. I began to look through various articles as to why they embodied me and then learnt that they are my Power Animals.
You see, I did not get a healing from an official Shaman otherwise I would have been explained what had occurred. Sometime later, I began getting downloads of Violet Flame and received official attunement in my Reiki Practitioner Program. It wasn’t a surprise when Black Panther and Master Saint Germain joined in during a Medium Reading and explained that I needed to fulfill my calling. This is how the journey to being a Shaman Practitioner began for me. During my Practitioner Program, I met my Shamanic Teacher, which all Shamans have, and no surprise that it was none other than Master Saint Germain.
Based on my research, I discovered that my Shamanic Tribe and origin is the South American Tribe. This knowledge is based from my Power Animals. Hummingbirds are known to travel from South America to Canada yearly, especially the ruby throat Hummingbirds. It is believed that a jaguar can take on the symbolism of all animals in the rain forest hence why South Americans considered him the ultimate animal in their Shamanic practice. It is believed that South American Shamans could transform into a jaguar during their trance state, which enabled them to be more powerful than ever. The Mayoruna for example, an indigenous tribe in the Amazon rain forest call themselves the, “People of the Jaguar.”
This concludes all you need to know about Shamanism. I hope you enjoyed reading this article and have a better-rounded idea on what it is. For more in-depth knowledge on Shamanism, there are some great articles in the web and as well as some good books. I hope this article finds you well. If you wish to have your Power Animal restored to you or to purchase any of my services, click here. Feel free to share this article if it resonates. Thank you and much blessings.
Know your journey, know your connection.
Twin Flame Union
