What is the Shamanic Journey and how can it enhance your life?
The Shamanic tradition goes back tens of thousands of years into the past. The word ‘shaman’ comes from Siberia and is the title given to a ‘spiritual healer’. The shaman was a man or a woman who had a recognized natural talent for communicating with the spirit world. They were trained under the guidance of an experienced shaman to eventually become their predecessor.
The shaman was an important part of the ancient community. They had the ability to connect with the spirits of the animals and nature in order to divine where the hunters needed to go to find the herds to hunt as well as the most auspicious times to plant and harvest the crops. They had the ability to communicate with the elemental spirits of nature to intercede on their behalf, as well as receive information and guidance from the ‘ancestors’.
Many times there were more than one shaman in the community, each having a unique set of skills. There was a shaman who was responsible for keeping those in their community healthy; through the use of their extensive knowledge of the plant world. This knowledge was both passed down from the elders as well as received first hand by communing with the spirits of the plants in order to gain greater wisdom and cooperation from the plant people.
Today in our modern world we are at a point in our evolution as a species where we are ready to ‘grow up’ and take responsibility for ourselves. Gone are the days where we have a need or a desire to seek out a spiritual guru, or holy person to give us our answers. As the great man, Mahatma Gandhi said, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.”
To this end, more and more people are seeking out the shamanic traditions as a way to reconnect with all of life. The traditional peoples have always known that everything, humans, animals, plants, trees, rocks, insects, all of the kingdoms are literally connected by what they called the ‘web of life’. And now in our modern scientific era, science has proven that this is true; everything is literally connected through the quantum field.
Many in the modern age has forgotten this connection. They have forgotten that rather than being given dominion over the Earth, (which by the way, I feel is a mistranslation) we were given stewardship over the Earth. A good steward takes care of all that they have been given stewardship over; they don’t rape, pillage, take advantage of and destroy.
We have become disconnected. Everything is compartmentalized, separated by gender, race, religion, country of origin, politics, etc. The majority of designations in our world create separation. Humanity in general is in a crisis and I believe this crisis has to lot to do with this disconnect. We are disconnected from each other, we are disconnected from the natural rhythms of the Earth, we are disconnected from the kingdoms of nature. Rather than working in cooperation and harmony, there is way too much of one faction trying to lord it over and to control the other.
People are craving connection; with themselves, with each other, with the kingdoms of the Earth and with the Earth herself. The ancient tradition of shamanism will do just that, bring you back into connection and harmony with all aspects of life.
There are several well know authors who have had a huge impact on distilling out the majorsimilarities of shamanismfrommany different cultures around the world. Michael Harner is an anthropologist who traveled the world getting to know the people and study their many different shamanic traditions. His teaching is called ‘Core Shamanism’, because he presents the basics of the shamanic traditions without the rituals that are unique to each culture. You can find out more here: www.shamanism.org.
There are two other teachers, both of whom have written many books, that have been instrumental in my shamanic journey. They are Sandra Ingerman, www.sandraingerman.comand Hank Wesselman, www.sharedwiscom.com.
The shamanic journey was the forerunner of our modern day guided meditations. But in my opinion the journey space is so much more powerful. Rather than listening to someones voice to guide you into and through the meditation, you listen to the rhythmic beating of a drum or rattle. This ancient rhythm is part of our genetic past. It’s embedded within us on a cellular level. It mimics the heartbeat of the Earth and for most people it will simply and easily carry them into the altered state of theta brain waves; giving them access to the shamanic journey state of awareness.
Before you embark upon a shamanic journey it is important to create a very clear intention for the journey. I like to write it down and say it out loud three or more times. You are always in control as you enter and leave the journey. I find that it is like a waking dream, where I am hyper-aware. After setting your intention and entering the journey space, you then open yourself to receive the information that you have requested; you allow it to unfold as it will.
While you are in this altered state; in non-ordinary reality, the laws of time and space as we experience them in our ordinary, physical reality don’t exist. It is possible to have an incredible amount of experiences and receive an amazing amount of information in a very short period of time as we know it in the physical world. I am most often amazed by the information and experiences that come through as I journey on behalf of myself and my clients.
I’ve never been big into fancy rituals. I like to keep things simple. Shamanism has been on the edge of my awareness for a very long time. Part of what kept me from persuing it until the past 4 years, was just that, not wanting to have to practice complicated rituals. And the cool thing is that I have discovered that there is no need to. Each person can take the basic practices and tailor them to suit their own personality and life style. If you enjoy creating complicated rituals then do so, if not keep if as simple as you would like it to be; it’s your practice, make it your own.
I would encourage you to investigate modern day shamanism. I think that you will find that it will enrich your life in so many wonderful ways. It will support you in connecting more fully with your helping allies in the spiritual realms. It will give you easy access to the answers and the wisdom you are seeking that will assist and support you as you journey through this life time.
Iam planning to offerintroductory Shamanic Journey workshopscoming up soon. Stay tuned and if you would like to be notified when they are scheduled, please follow this link to my web-site, http://debiemerson.com, enter your name and email and you will be placed on my email list. You will also receive an audio gift when you sign up.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this article and that it has inspired you to investigate and learn more about what the Shamanic Journey has to offer you.
Many blessings,
Debi