Shamanism is an ancient method of spiritual communication—perhaps tens of thousands of years old—that is used for spiritual and physical healing as well as for personal growth. Shamanic practices exist in many tribal cultures world-wide and are experiencing a renaissance in urban cultures.
In shamanism, one enters an altered mental state—typically by using drums or rattles to create a sound field that changes consciousness. The altered state, called a shamanic journey, is used to gain help and wisdom. It is called a journey because the experience is one of going someplace. In the journey the shaman encounters helping spirits. These spirits are experienced as a kind of consciousness that does not exist in a body. The spirits provide help and guidance when properly approached.
Concepts Defined
Core Shamanism: the fundamental defining elements of shamanistic belief and practice as they occur almost universally across cultures, a term created by anthropologist Michael Harner.
Ecstasy: The experience of being outside one's self, often joyously. Found in shamanic journeying, skiing, and sex.
Lower World: One of the shamanic realities. To enter it involves an experience of going down, often through a tunnel. It has many levels. In it reside Power Animals and other healing and instructive forces. It is not a negative place like Hell.
Middle World: Ordinary reality experienced shamanically and therefore perceived in the spiritual sense. Divination, extraction and other forms of healing are done as Middle World journeys.
Upper World: To enter the upper world one journeys up from the Middle World. It can be a positive place but is not synonymous with Heaven.
Non Ordinary Reality: the reality that the shaman journeys into. It does not follow the rules of Aristotelian logic.
Ordinary reality: Reality as we experience it in our usual state of awareness. It adheres to the rules of logic.
Power: Fullness of life and immunity against negative spiritual influences. It is gained by right relationship with the other realms.
Power Animal: A guardian spirit or familiar manifesting itself as an animal who has compassion for a person and agrees to act as a guide, advisor, and healer.
Shaman: (the word is derived from the Siberian Tungus tribe): A person who contacts other realities for healing and wisdom in the service of his or her community. "Shaman" is a title conferred by the community, not a self-proclaimed one.
Shamanic Drum: The sound of the shamanic drum is the “horse” on which the shaman rides to the other realms. It is typically a one-headed hand drum, beaten in a monotonous rhythm with a soft mallet. The drum contains much power and symbolism. Any painting on the drums is typically a “map of the universe” or some representation of spiritual power.
Shamanic Rattle: Rattles are used for communicating with spirits and for healing work.
Shamanic State of Consciousness: An altered state of consciousness, not well understood neurologically, which provides the ecstatic experience of journeying to other realities which have a consistency and coherence of their own. It is attained most commonly through the use of a Sonic Driver (q.v.) or in some cultures through the use of mind-altering herbs.
Shamanism: The belief system and practices of those who use an altered state of consciousness (the Shamanic State of Consciousness) in contacting other realities. It is a method of gaining knowledge and is not in itself a religion, though the two tend to merge in tribal cultures.
Sonic Driver: Use of repetitive sound to alter consciousness, most typically with drums and rattles, but also through other repetitious sounds.
World Tree: The axis mundi, the interconnection between the worlds, used by some as a route in journeying to gain access to the other worlds.
MEDICINE WAYS OF THE CHEROKEE
CHEROKEE MEDICINE PEOPLE
Medicine people are still today very active in the lives of the Cherokee people. Cherokee Medicine People can be either male or female. The Cherokee Medicine People are taught their practice for many years. They are required to learn and remember the ancient teachings that has been passed down for centuries by elder medicine people, who learned from their elders. Much of the Cherokee medicine formulas has over the years been documented in Cherokee syllabary writing in books and ledgers. The writings in these books are closely guarded and those who have not be trained are forbidden to read the books. It is believed that the medicine will be no good if not read and spoken in the Cherokee language.
CHEROKEE MEDICINE PEOPLE
Medicine people are still today very active in the lives of the Cherokee people. Cherokee Medicine People can be either male or female. The Cherokee Medicine People are taught their practice for many years. They are required to learn and remember the ancient teachings that has been passed down for centuries by elder medicine people, who learned from their elders. Much of the Cherokee medicine formulas has over the years been documented in Cherokee syllabary writing in books and ledgers. The writings in these books are closely guarded and those who have not be trained are forbidden to read the books. It is believed that the medicine will be no good if not read and spoken in the Cherokee language.
Fundamental Elements
- While shamanic practices vary widely, they also contain a unifying set of basic assumptions:
- Everything that exists is alive.
- Everything can be communicated with if approached properly.
- There are other realities available to us in which we can journey. These realities are part of "Non-Ordinary Reality." "Ordinary Reality" is life as we typically experience it.
- The residents (called spirits, for lack of a better term) of these other realities are sympathetic, for the most part, to humanity and want to be helpful, if asked.
- Every human being has helping spirits, even if they are not aware of it.
- True power involves a proper relationship to these other realities.
- Illness (psychological or otherwise) includes an element of power-loss or soul-loss. Healing on the shamanic level is designed to regain power and the protection it provides.
- Illness can also occur because of power-intrusion in which vagrant spirits come to reside uninvited in the body. Healing involves returning the intruding spirits to their rightful place in the universe.
- Shamanism deals with the spiritual aspects of health. Other related practices may deal with the mechanical and physiological aspects of health.
- The realms that can be journeyed to have their own topography including a Lower, Middle, and Upper world.
Soul Loss
The Nature of Soul Loss. Many clients will intuitively identify particular experiences as leading to soul loss: the breakup of a marriage or other important relationship, physical trauma such as a car wreck, or psychological trauma such as incest, rape, or emotional abuse. From a shamanic viewpoint soul loss is more than a metaphor; rather it means that everyone dissociates a part of their vital essence (soul) from their physical body in order to cope with major stresses In most cases a spontaneous re-integration occurs over a period of time—this is a part of the normal process of grieving for instance, but in other cases some intervention is necessary. In many instances shamanic soul retrieval is the most effective and timely means of assisting the client.
Sandra Ingerman, internationally known instructor and practitioner of shamanic methods and a long-time faculty member of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, has investigated the shamanic treatment of soul loss intensively. Ingerman states:
The phenomenon of feeling dissociated is a common complaint for people surviving physical and emotional abuse as well as other traumas including accidents, illness, surgical operations, and loss of loved ones and important relationships.
Survivors of such traumas as these often psychologically "leave" in order to live through the incident, and remain disassociated—that is they feel that their essence or being is not whole—that parts of their essence have separated from their bodies and have not returned. One reason that psychotherapy may fall short of success in cases where clients have suffered childhood as well as adult trauma is that not all parts of them are "home"—the parts that escaped to survive have never returned. (Newsletter, The Foundation for Shamanic Studies, Vol.1, No.2, Fall 1988.)
The goal of soul retrieval is to bring these dissociated parts "home."
Identification of Soul Loss. The following symptoms are typical: 1. Significant physical or psychological trauma. 2. Feelings of unreality and dissociation, particularly in otherwise functional people. 3. Feeling “disconnected” from the body, 4. Depression.
Treatment of Soul Loss. For clients who are open to shamanic work and concur that soul-loss is an adequate definition of their problem, shamanic soul retrieval can be invaluable. After soul retrieval people typically report such things as, “I feel alive again,” “I feel more self confident,” “I don’t worry like I used to.” Soul retrieval can also enhance psychotherapy (The two methods are not in competition; they often have different goals.) As Sandra Ingerman puts it, “You can’t work with someone [a soul part] who is not there.”
In shamanic soul retrieval, the practitioner goes into non-ordinary reality to find the lost soul. When the soul is found, the dissociated element is informed about its situation and invited to return. Then the soul is brought back and returned—brought home into the body of the client. Typically the returned soul has been arrested in its development at the age when it left. The client has to be prepared to nurture and help the returning essence to grow—and is also likely to some degree to re-experience the feelings of grief, anger, etc. that occurred at the time of the loss. It is important that the client be supported through this period and it is useful if the client is part of a supportive community, and/or in psychotherapy.
Magic Words
In the very earliest time,
when both people and animals lived on earth,
a person could become an animal if he wanted to
and an animal could become a human being.
Sometimes they were people
and sometimes animals
and there was no difference.
All spoke the same language.
That was the time when words were like magic.
The human mind had mysterious powers.
A word spoken by chance
might have strange consequences.
It would suddenly come alive
and what people wanted to happen could happen—
all you had to do was say it.
Nobody could explain this:
That's the way it was.
Nulungiaq, West Greenland Eskimo shaman
Translated by Knud Rasmussen
Translated by Knud Rasmussen
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