Shamanism
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org,
please feel free to visit the school website)
Introduction
The Roots Of Shamanism
Q’ero
Ayahuasqueros
Tuvan
Tibetan
Hawai’i
African
Australian Aborigine
Shamanism Today
Exercises
Exercise 1: Contacting Your Power Animal
Exercise 2: Pachamama’s Dream
Exercise 3: Ancestor Journey
“In shamanism everyone is his or her own prophet, getting spiritual revelation directly from the highest sources... The shaman is not trying only or mainly to achieve self-enlightenment. Shamanism is people directly helping others. It is a kind of spiritual activism in which one works with the powers that connect human beings to the incredible power of the universe—a work that involves journeying back and forth between realities."
—Michael Harner
Written by Devon Love
Introduction
Throughout time, humans have explored the boundaries of consciousness and beyond, and journeyed between the worlds of energy and form. Shamanism describes this practice, and the many forms it takes throughout the cultures of the world. Though originally a Siberian term describing “one who knows," in the English language, the term shaman (or shamanic practitioner) is used to describe a spiritual healer/practitioner who works with trance states. The shaman journeys through different realms of consciousness, working with energy on those levels, and returning to ordinary consciousness with information, energy or power.
Many different methods are used to facilitate the work of the shaman, some of which include drumming, rattling, chanting, singing, dancing, fasting, spending time alone in nature, meditating, and dreaming. Shamanism essentially involves mastering the techniques of dream, vision, and trance in order to enter into ecstatic states at will. Ecstasy is defined as reaching an altered state of consciousness in resonance with the energy of rapture. Through this state of oneness, the shaman connects with spirit energies, such as those of plants, stones, and animals, as well as ancestral and other beings, and forms alliances with these energies, sharing information and “power,” or energy with them.
The power itself can be used in many ways, both positive and negative, but is most often used for healing, and bringing wholeness and balance to an individual, family, community, or other entity. The shaman presides over many different life transitions, such as birth, marriage, coming of age, and death. The shaman is also consulted in times of illness, famine, or social unrest. Some of the most common rituals undertaken, aside from cyclic rituals and blessings, are those to find water, to find plants with certain healing properties, to find herds of animals (in hunting cultures), to intercede with the spirits to bring rain for crops, to extract unwanted spirits or energies from a person, and to retrieve parts or all of the soul of a person. In any area of the community where there is an imbalance within the natural order, the shaman is consulted to bring people into resonance with the unseen world because the cause of disease, famine, and other misfortunes is considered to be an imbalance in relationship with the world of spirit.
In his Article at , Robert Lohr gives a good description of shamans and their role in indigenous cultures;
“All over the world, there are literally thousands of documented cases of Shamans performing rituals and healing the sick, both the physically and mentally ill. Most shamans believe that they must have a close connection with nature because their guardian spirit usually is that of a plant or animal. Many say the guardian spirit takes the shaman to the other reality where they are given their needed knowledge and power through a "hole in the world." The shaman may also seek information to help their people and village. In various cultures, trances are induced by repetitive chanting, dancing and drumming. Some cultures also use natural psychedelic stimulants to actuate trances. The Shamans rely on alliances with spirits for their magic. They were believed to have the power to foresee the future, heal the sick and bring success to the hunting or fishing expedition. The Shaman was also thought to control the weather and affect what it does. Because of the close contact with spirits they were feared and lived away from the villages in the forests. The Shaman was responsible for traditional myths of death, rebirth, the connection between human and animals, and the connection between the natural and supernatural.”
There are three basic “worlds,” or levels of consciousness that the shaman explores in trance. These are virtually universal, though called by different names. They are:
The Lower World: A lower world journey will often involve moving through a known hole in the earth, such as a tree trunk, tree roots, a spring, a cave, a burrow, or some other kind of hole in the ground, and emerging into the lower world. This is the world most familiar to many of the shamanic practitioners working today. This world should be quite familiar before one attempts too much in the middle and upper worlds, although one who has done much personal work previously may be able to work easily in the other two worlds. The lower world is a place to meet and connect with power animals and other archetypal spirits who don’t choose to incarnate in a physical body. It is the realm of the past and the unconscious, the oceanic realm, and the home of emotions, as well as the origin of healing earth energy.
The Middle World: The middle world includes the world of form, as well as a parallel world sometimes called the astral plane. The middle world contains the thought forms which create physical reality. A journey into the middle world will often involve seeking answers to questions about life in ordinary reality. This is the place one might journey to find a lost person or object, or to find a water or food source. It is associated with the future, and if one is looking for what the future may hold, this would be the place to go.
The Upper World: The upper world is the realm of ecstasy, the origin of rapture, the home of highly refined and purified energies. This is the home of Buddha, Christ, other ascended masters, angelic beings, and our higher self. It transcends time and space, and experiences of miraculous healing and enlightenment originate here. It can be accessed by climbing a tree, a rainbow, a mountain, or clouds.
Embarking on the shamanic journey could involve being in a shamanic bloodline, being chosen by elders because of certain qualities and eccentricities of personality which reveal an aptitude for shamanism, or by being chosen by the spirits, and willingly, or unwillingly, being called to the journey. In most cultures, the shamanic initiation is preceded by a near-death experience, often a seemingly fatal illness, but sometimes a traumatic accident, or even a dream of death. In Breaking Open The Head (2003), by Daniel Pinchbeck, the author describes the common content of visions and dreams shared by many Shamanic initiates:
“Traditionally, the evolution from ordinary human state to shaman is marked by a series of visions and dreams of the novice being killed, dismembered, eaten, regurgitated, and put back together by the spirits. His or her bones are replaced with quartz crystals, precious metals, or similar magical substances. For instance in Borneo, according to Eliade, the spirits of past shamans come to the initiate, they "cut his head open, take out his brains, wash and restore them… they plant barbed hooks on the tips of his fingers to enable him to seize the soul and hold it fast; and lastly they pierce his heart with an arrow to make him tender-hearted, and full of sympathy with the sick and suffering."
A great many tribal religious systems stem from the journeys and wisdom of shamans, and most religions can be seen, in their purest form, to have roots in shamanism. As well as being masters of multidimensionality, shamans are masters of energy processes, learning how to become clear channels, and connect with various flows of energy, directing these flows for the benefit of themselves and others.
In this course we will take a brief, introductory look at the history of shamanism, peek into some of the various cultures with shamanistic traditions, and explore the reemergence of shamanism as a modern spiritual/healing practice. We will also do several exercises to discover our own relationship to energies, including connecting with the earth as Pachamama, calling a power animal, speaking with plants to discover what they have to say, and connecting with an ancestral guide.