Why Shamanism Now?

Would I go to a shaman for healing? YES! In a heartbeat! Especially if I were having physical pain or a dis-ease that is not responding to Western medicine. I have a friend whose daughter and spiritual guide often travel to Peru to a certain shaman, Don Diego, for healing. Remarkable changes have occurred in their lives. As one participant put it, "My personal experience was intensly profound and life changing. The degree of healing experienced is beyond the scope of explanation possible here. Mother Vine is truly a healer - physical, emotional and spiritual - for me." So, I am holding on to this information for a "just in case" moment. Just in case I find the money to travel there, I (and my husband, also, would love to participate) would go right now for the emotional and spiritual healing. Just in case I should become ill or a family member or close friend needs physical healing, I keep this website close at hand. There are trained Western shamans in our country, also, that are true healers. Michael Harner's shamanism workshops have trained many that are now practicing all over the country, if you so desire to check on some of them. I just happen to know someone personally who goes to Peru for healing, and that is why this particular shaman attracts me.

So, why shamanism? Read on........

From ancient times, shamans have worked with the spirits of nature for healing, survival, and knowledge. By learning from the plants and animals, from the rocks and mountains, from the winds and waters, and from the sun, moon, and stars, shamans helped their peoples live in harmony with the universe. In a world now out of balance, the way of the shaman can teach how again to respect nature, our Earth, and its inhabitants at a deep spiritual level. As our ancestors everywhere once knew, our survival depends on the survival of the other species.

Michael Harner, in the preface to the Third Edition (tenth anniversary edition of The Way of the Shaman), considers some reasons why this renaissance is underway. Harner finds that:

1. The Age of Faith has been replaced by the Age of Science wherein individuals no longer are as willing to accept spiritual dogma and insist instead on firsthand experience as a teacher of important truths. This is an impact of the experimental method.

2. Scientific experimentation involving observations made under the influence of LSD could be understood from a shamanic perspective.

3. Near-death experiences, made more common by medical science, turned out to be personal experiments that challenged existing understandings of reality and the existence of spirits, which were clarified from a shamanic point-of-view.

4. Shamanic methods involving journeying with the drum are safe and effective.

5. Shamanic methods work quickly and fit well into the fast-paced lifestyle of modern life.

6. Holistic health approaches have rediscovered ancient shamanic methods and their effectiveness and now incorporate them into practice.

7. We are rediscovering spiritual ecology, which requires that we again connect with our planet and its other inhabitants in order to maintain our survival.

To this list I would add several observations. Our concern for our damaged environment has largely come from our new “priests”, the physical scientists, who have been warning about global warming, pollution of air and water, declining resources such as petroleum, loss of ozone, and such for decades. However, these priests carry no sacred authority to underwrite their warnings. In fact, they have purposely distanced themselves from the sacred and have taken refuge in the secular and objective aspects of reality. Scientists’ conclusions are only as good as their latest observations, a point easily and frequently exploited by politicians. Scientists command no moral authority. In the United States they have little political power at present. Shamanism, designed as it is around an animistic philosophy, can provide a sacred charter for the ecological imperatives we recognize. Underwriting ecology from this deep, heartfelt perspective provides the moral basis for supporting sound ecological practice and feeds back to validate shamanism.

From: The Reawakening of Shamanism in the West
By Bill Brunton

You - a latticework of energies

My morning ritual is pictured above. Each day I start by sitting outdoors (along with my three dogs and a very special cat on my lap) and I commune with nature. I view nature, people, plants, animals, and everthing in the material world as energy. To connect with this energy, I light a candle, incense, and a white sage smudge stick. I begin by smudging myself by moving the smoke energy by using a feather. I smudge my four legged friends along with the area where we will be sitting. This creates a clean environment that is free of all negativity, and then I envision a pure white light of love surrounding us.

The four elements are being accessed - earth, fire, water, and air. We are all created from these elements and when we connect to them, spiritually and physically, we allow an energy medicine to come into our bodies and keep us whole and well.

In our modern world we live in, it can be a strange, unnatural, stress-filled environment. Many of us have lost our connections to nature. Our immune systems don't recognize this strange environment that our bodies are desperately trying to adapt to. It attacks what it doesn't know. Our chakras become unbalanced, and as a result physical and mental illnesses arise.

Everything is energy, or vibration. When we see this, we can understand why the ancient shamanic healing practices are now being introduced into modern cultures. According to Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, Nobel laureate in Medicine,"In every culture and in every medical tradition before ours, healing was accomplished by moving energy."

When you cultivate your capacity to weave these energies into a part of your life, you can be a more conscious and sensitive instrument of energy medicine than all other technologies combined.

When I enjoy my morning coffee and surround myself with my ritual candles, incense, etc., I am focusing on my body as a living system of energy, and I realize that this powerful energy is already inherent in my hands and in my very being.

Healing with Nature - Shamanism & Reiki

This is a picture of myself with my cat, Muffy, after her near death experience. Muffy had a stroke in February of this year, and she nearly lost her life. She was unable to eat or stand up on her own, and she really couldn't do anything but curl up and lie there in her little basket. One eye was terribly dilated and she couldn't see or hear. After intensive medical treatment involving IV's, medication, tube feeding and then hand-feeding liquids through a syringe, she began to respond and show some encouraging signs. Her vital signs were stable.

Major progress didn't occur, however until I began a therapy with her which is based on the healing elements of nature. I've not had any professional Reiki training, nor any in the Shamanic healing, but I had read enough about the two to know they work. Instinctively, I "knew" in my heart that the energies of nature could heal little Muffy. I began carrying her outdoors every single day, even on cold winter days. When it was cold, I wrapped her in a blanket just allowing her head to be uncovered. We ventured into the back yard and visited with tree spirits, father sun, and mother earth. The wind blew its magical breath on us, and I often felt Muffy inhale deeply taking it all into her tiny body. She enjoyed touching the flowers and plants with her nose, feeling the intense vibrations from the energies in the plants. On rainy days, we enjoyed the sprinkles of the raindrops, sending their healing waters down to us. The scent of the wet earth was stimulating beyond a doubt to my little cat. Her whole body, mind, and soul responded by healing itself dramatically each day.

Muffy is now doing very well. She has recovered and is enjoying her life again. We still go out and journey around the yard every day, and even at night. The stars, moon and night creatures we encounter all contribute to her well-being (mine, too, I might add!). As a matter of fact, she demands going out now,several times a day, and is VERY vocal about it, too!

I just thought I'd share this personal story with you to give hope to anyone who is suffering, or who has a four-legged or winged friend who may be in need of healing. Our connection to nature has its own way of healing us.

As a result of my experience with my cat's recovery, I have decided to take a class on Reiki Shamanic healing beginning in July with a wonderful woman named Shawna. She's a healer and a Golden Eagle minister and is the owner of Cassy's in Abilene, Texas. I don't know where this will take me, but for now I'm taking it one step at a time.