3 Snippets about Shamanism

Collection: Spirituality

Shamanism is a hugely complex term, with many misconceptions. When I mention it, I usually get the following responses:

• Blank, puzzled or questioning look

• Oh you’re talking to trees!

• Is that a technique for dealing with shame?

• I steer clear of ghosts, I think they’re evil

• Ah sure, ayahuasca and peyote, cool man!

What is your honest first response?

So let’s have a closer look at shamanism as I understand it, what a shamanic practitioner does, and what shamanic techniques can help you with in a nutshell! If you like to know more, please sign up for the blog to dive deeper...

What is Shamanism?

In a nutshell, shamanism is a set of techniques to communicate with nature and the spirit worlds for reciprocal healing, empowerment, and guidance.

Such techniques are found all over the world, and archeological evidence shows they have been practised since the beginning of time.

It is a very pragmatic practice to connect to nature, which is considered to be alive and imbued with wisdom. Rather than being separate from nature, shamanism is all about immersion, participation, and unity.

Shamanic cosmologies see the world in terms of energy, and what introduced me to the shamanic path in 2005 was Jeremy Narby’s book The Cosmic Serpent. As fellow anthropologist, he set out to understand more about contemporary Peruvian knowledge that goes all the way back to their early ancestors. The “intertwined snakes” and “spirit beings beaming with light” that the Peruvian wisdom holders considered as the building blocks of life, have uncanny similarities with DNA strands and photons emitting light.

There are many other parallels with knowledge that neuroscience and quantum physics are only just beginning uncover, or should I say recover?

Enough to whet the appetite and learn more…

What does a Shamanic Practitioner do?

A shamanic practitioner works by asking for help from the spirits on behalf of individuals or the community.

Using ancient techniques to expand consciousness, such as rhythmic drumming, chanting, dancing, they travel to the lower or upper world with a clearly formulated ‘mission’.

In the spirit world they meet their guides (often in the form of animals or spirit teachers), who help them find answers to their question. When they return to ‘everyday’ consciousness, they bring this knowledge with them, to help self, other, nature and community regarding that topic.

That can be a connection to an animal guide or “power animal”, a concrete action to perform, insight regarding a decision, help to untangle a sticky situation with another person, information about health and wellbeing, ways to deal with loss and grief, steps for a healing ceremony… Literally, there is no topic off-bounds.

What Shamanic Techniques Can Help You With

It’s a practice to reconnect to your essential life force. Anywhere you feel out of kilter, off balance, lost, anxious, fearful, depressed, unsure [fill in your own words for a sense of something missing], you can learn how to tap into the wide web of information that can manifest in many ways.

To keep it personal, here is what shamanic journeys have helped me with:

• Fear of dogs 🐾

• Snake phobia 🐍

• Work decisions 🎓

• Relationship dynamics 👨‍👩‍👧

• Healing from ectopic pregnancy 🤰🏼

• Understanding my auto-immune condition 💊

• Soul retrieval of parts that had gone missing along the way 🌀

• Connecting to my spiritual lineage 🌱

• Ancestral healing ⏳

Let me know if you have any specific questions, and I can clarify more in future posts!

The small print...

• Read more about your own Soul Retrieval Healing Ceremony to retrieve your essential energy in a sacred healing space.