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the path of the shaman

role of the shaman

The role of the shaman is to communicate with the spirit world, respecting the spirit of the ancestors, as well as living in harmony with nature. Ancestors are the spirits of people who have gone before us. They have lived in this physical world and have gained the knowledge and awareness that we are now here to learn before moving on to the unseen realms. By tradition, shamans study the customs of the animals that live on their land. Animals are believed to have a purity of purpose that could help humans know much about their own spiritual potential. During trance states induced by meditation or sacred rituals, the Shaman contacts his power animal and travels with him through the inner planes. This animal spirit, literally or symbolically, gives the shaman important information about his own nature, the nature of the person seeking healing or advice, as well as the needs of the community.

Shamans have many different roles, but they all serve greater purposes in building bridges between the physical and non-physical worlds, serving the earth and humanity, and touching the Divine so that healing can occur.

The Shaman is above all a healer and all cultures have natural healing traditions; modern medicine grew out of the skills of the herbalist, the medicine man, the white witch, and the medicine man. The Chinese symbol for Yin and Yang is a powerful sign of balance. The areas of black and white are evenly distributed, and there is a bit of each color residing within the other. Chinese medicine has tried to maintain that balance of Yin and Yang for thousands of years. Chinese doctors rely on energy meridians, or energy circuits, that run through and around the physical body. When there is an imbalance, these meridians become blocked or distorted and disease can result. The original imbalance may be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual.

A shaman can also be the fool, clown, or court jester who uses skill, wit, and humor to entertain or diffuse potentially dangerous situations or promote learning or spiritual healing.

Many shamans were seers, visionaries, and psychics whose knowledge of human nature, intuition, and divining power are valued by others. These shamans developed natural abilities of clairvoyance, clairaudience, and awareness that are latent within all of us.

Shamans’ capacity for clear vision often stems from their ability to reach altered states of consciousness that give them a larger picture of the world and see beyond the daily events of community life.

Can anyone be a shaman?

Some people are born shamans and others become shamans through training that brings to life their shamanic potential. For most people, the path to being a Shaman is a slow process that does not always involve personal trauma. In becoming a Shaman, one has to find a balance between the logical, reasonable and rational side of his personality and his instinctive, intuitive and irrational personal characteristics. Shamans must be aware of the full range of human emotions: feeling them, living with them, and drawing motivation from them, while also having the wisdom to know when to simply acknowledge their own emotions and ignore them. To regain contact with the natural world and to find places of stillness and truth that enhance their power of vision, many would-be shamans withdraw from community life for a period of time.

Fasting, meditation, prayer, and travel generally facilitate visions during which the spirits of the natural world can visit the seeker, providing protection, wisdom, and awareness. During a vision, the shaman sometimes connects or reconnects with special guides (an ancestor, animal, plant, stone, or some other aspect of nature). Awakening the inner shaman often comes with increased creative power and ability, reversing the natural instinct to belittle our own qualities in these areas. Creativity opens other dimensions and expands consciousness. Those who feel that their shamanic nature is awakening after a period of crisis in their life would do better to fully accept it rather than fight it. Many people find that their intuition expands when they focus on their own spiritual growth, self-healing, and personal development. All people have a range of psychic senses that are just as real and important as their five physical senses. Not all of us have the same gifts and abilities in all areas, but we all have psychic abilities that can be expanded.

be a shaman today

Shamans have always been described as wound healers, those who provide healing to others as a way of healing their own similar wounds. Being a wounded healer does not require one to harm one’s own life in order to understand another’s problems or help another to heal. All that is required is the willingness to heal oneself while following a shamanic path and drawing wisdom from personal experiences. Disharmony and disease are often the result of an internal conflict between the body, mind and spirit or between understanding and acceptance.

The shaman must negotiate a balance of body, mind, and spirit, as well as help others find that balance. The body, mind and spirit have the ability to stay healthy; when this ability stops working, spiritual and energetic forms of healing can stimulate it again and restore balance.

Modern shamans come from all social backgrounds and cultures. Their jobs, however humble, seem to give them the opportunity to serve other people or the environment. Many modern shamans choose to remain invisible and practice their skills without being noticed. However, with experience and an increase in their awareness and skill, they tend to move into jobs that allow them more opportunities to better express their healing and creative abilities. Shamans must live in places where they can best serve other people and facilitate their own spiritual growth. People who do their best to heal themselves and follow their spiritual path naturally become spiritual teachers to others.

The call to shamanic spirituality

“I feel the pull of the search signal.

I feel you calling in the song of the stream.

I feel flames in the shadow cast before me as I walk

and by the sun behind me warming my back.

I feel you calling in the wind that caresses my face.

I feel you calling in the sound of my feet

walking on the Sacred Mother Earth.

I feel you calling in the hummingbird cloud

floating in the sky above.

What are you calling me? I asked.

Life, answered you.”

-black moose

Shamanic spirituality has evolved globally over the centuries. Today, the Shamanic-Soul is no longer just the soul of specific people. It is an expression of the collective spiritual longing of countless seekers after truth. Transcending national borders and religious divisions, contemporary shamanism is an experiential path of transformation that invites us into a deep and living relationship with nature and the Divine Source of all that is.

Contemporary shamanism is a creation-focused pragmatic tradition that allows one to explore the lower, middle, and upper worlds and enter into a deep relationship with the inner truth of the heart; with the ancestors, stones, plants and animals allies; with the earth, the sky, the moon, the sun and the stars; with the One Source of all that is.

The methods of shamanism may have changed over time, but the goals remain the same: to love and accept oneself and others unconditionally; to live fully, with joy, passion and creativity; grow in wisdom by studying the living book of nature; and enter deeply into the reverent awareness that everything is alive, conscious, and interconnected.

The Shamans of the International School of Shamanism believe:

The Supreme Creator or Great Spirit is the Source of all that is, all that was, and all that will be.

The Great Spirit is in everything and everything is part of the Great Spirit.

In the concept of sacred reciprocity: Today for you, tomorrow for me.

The Sun is our symbolic father and the Earth is our symbolic mother.

We embrace and emphasize the highest good of all, a vision based on the concept of unconditional love and acceptance of self and others.

Everything is interconnected in a living energy field. Everything is alive and conscious.

Everything is related. We are all sisters and brothers.

Life is a sacred ritual. Life is in this moment. Life is the way and the teacher.

We are a divine spark in essence. Each person is a spirit within a body.

That the secret of wisdom is not in looking for the right answer but in asking the right questions.

That no one has all the answers but together we can all learn from each other.

May the experience of others serve as a guide for all on this sacred journey.

Those who answer the inner spiritual call must rediscover for themselves the paths that lead to the path and begin their ascent towards the highest good of all towards a deeper communion with the Great Spirit.

Each spiritual seeker must make his own path to the truth of his heart. Here, in this sacred place, the spirit of wisdom, the shaman within, awaits a joyous discovery and blissful reunion.

With unconditional love and acceptance, joy and anticipation, we eagerly await your longing for further study, prayer, meditation, shamanic journeying, fasting, and most of all, selfless service.

We honor all the spiritual expressions of the Great Way. We recognize that ours is only one path and surely not the only one.

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