What is Shamanism?
Michael Harner- "A Shaman is a man or woman who is deliberately changing his or her state of consciousness to communicate with an otherwise hidden reality in order to get informations and knowledge for his or her community."
Tom Cowan- "Shamanism is the intentional effort to develop intimate and lasting relationships with personal helping spirits by consciously leaving ordinary reality and journeying into the nonordinary realms of the spirit world"
Shamanism is a spiritual practice dating back to prehistoric times. It has been practiced by indigenous people throughout the world. The practice of shamanism uses drumming, song, and dance to place a shaman in an altered state of consciousness so that he/she can communicate with the spirit world and seek aid from
the helping spirits. This is done for purposes of healing, divination, and self exploration.
The spirits that are worked with in shamanism are those of our
spirit guides, power animals, ancestors, and the spirits of nature and the land.
When a shamanic practitioner calls upon their spirits it is done as a
partnership. The relationship between shamanic practitioner and spirit is the
same as any relationship in life- it is founded on establishing a bond of
friendship, trust, and respect. A shamanic practitioner is quite simply a liaison
between those that reside in ordinary reality and those that reside in the
spirit worlds.
The practice of Shamanism believes that every physical illness has a spiritual illness or imbalance that causes it. Shamanic practitioners enter non-ordinary reality to work in conjunction with spirit guides and spirit helpers to remove harmful energy and to restore a clients personal power and strength. This enables physical,
mental, and emotional healing to start by removing the spiritual illness at its core.
