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The Darkness of The Deep

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A Lonely Shaman: intro, shamanism 101


Not A Rockstar

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It wasn't until I was in my 30's that I knew what I was most like was a shaman. I was born a child of the wind and rain who danced with dragon flies in the sunshine and fireflies at night and never did fit in with my family, though, now, after almost 6 decades, I think they are alright with it. Nature, weather, animals all resonated with me far better than people. People could hurt you. Nature simply was what it is, no malice. Or so it seemed.

It worked out the way it needed to for me. I never had any idea about shamanism, beyond the word. My pursuits were into Christian origins and history and Egyptian thought to nearly the exclusion of all else. I took breaks along the years to look into palmistry and numerology and astrology and other things, but those were for some diversion. I think it was in the early 90's when I ran across some of RJ Stewart's work and found a small private forum he ran and heard about the Fae - the faery realms and energies and used my "walking" skills to explore some of the astral places he spoke of and set off a rather extreme period of learning about a great deal I never had been awake to before then. That whole body of lore deserves its own book, and RJ has already written some good stuff, so I will leave this there for now. Long story short, through it I was exposed to the ideas of present day shamanism, which is usually problematic. People today who just decide they want to be a shaman basically have to go out and steal from other traditional ways to cobble together their own paradigms and "ancient truth" to stand on and this causes a great deal of resentment and deception and actual damage to some gullible people in the public. Appropriation is rampant among "shamans" today, and I never understood why. It was a friend who I met through RJ Stewart's list who introduced me to Michael Harner and his "Way of The Shaman" for better or worse. In reading it and seeing plainly the things it was wrong about for me revealed to me that I actually knew this subject very well, very deeply, and that sent me off to find out my own answers as to why and from where and how. 

If you are really called to become a shamanistic practitioner, it is already in your bones, your heart, your veins. So is your training and your own ancestral song to be singing out here in the world. It is inside of you. This is what makes a shaman, not books or classes or mimicking what Native Americans or other indigenous religions do today. You need to remember and bring forward your own line into today and live that. We all have one at least. This was basically the earliest religious forms the race ever came up with no matter where it rose up and got going well at. You may not know for a long while where your own form originated from and it will take some forms very similar to other traditions, but, you have no need to be taking anything nor short-changing your own roots. They may not be from your literal genetics in this life either. You may have been born with the links and bonds from a past life coming forward again to bring some quality you had then into today. It is more a matter of waking up than it is to be learning something new and foreign to you. 

Is there a need for a shaman today? I would say yes, very much so. Perhaps more than ever, we need people who feel the earth and Nature integrally to themselves in today's world to be among those who stand up for her, and for a cleaner world and seeking to save threatened species. There is very much a need for us and for people who may not be fully awake to this inside of them, but who do respond to the cry for help from the natural world. At its most basic level, this focus and linkage of empathy to the world and nature is an easy third of the inner world of a shaman.

The next third is the health and well being of his/her tribal unit. A shaman served the people who supported that shaman. Historian, preserver of knowledge, herbalist, healer, priestly duties, this was what a shaman did for the tribe. The "journeying" through the use of drugs was supposedly for answers for troubles the tribe was facing. Most forms of shamanism do journey, but not all of them use hallucinogenic substances. Journeying has some hazards to it, it was not recreational with the shaman who went to do it. This is a very telling point to me about what a modern shaman is to be doing. You support your tribe. In my case, this is that circle of friends, co workers, and family who form their orbit around me. It is those who come into contact with me. This is my tribe, a bit more transitory and diverse than back in the ancient times, but, what I do and become is for that, not for me so much. That most, by far, have no idea they are interacting with a shaman is perfectly fine. What is critical is that I remember and serve honorably. This is not a religion as such. I do not need followers. What they believe is not relevant. 

The final third of what I see as the three pillars which support what a shaman is and does and serves is the arena of the dead and dying. It is considered a traditional role of a shaman to perform as a psychopomp. It is a strange word, which means to conduct the spirits of the dead to the afterlife. The word itself is Greek, I believe, but the idea of serving as a mediator between the living and dead tribal members has been there since the very earliest forms of animism and shamanism. I think it is safe to say that all forms did serve as a mediator, but not all served as a literal guide or escort for the deceased. I can read descriptions of doing this in some traditional forms, but, there are none in my own as such. On the other hand i find it simplistic to shift between the two realms and both seem normal to me. I also am ambivalent about "sending souls to the light". You won't find me with the group of New Agers wringing their hands over an alleged ghost and trying to urge it to move to the light and leave. That strikes me as stupid, to be honest. If it is not causing a problem I don't care where it goes, sort of like the same as when it was alive. Spirits see the light and the dark and go where they want. Leave them alone. That is how I see it. 

Another meaning for psychopomp is one who intermediates between the conscious and unconscious realms, and this is very applicable to the second pillar I wrote about above. I do this more than anything else, for myself and for others.

So, there are my ideas for the three main things a shaman does in assorted ways: he/she serves the world and natural order, he/she serves his own people, and he/she serves the dead and dying.

In my opinion, we do reincarnate, and shamanistic belief structures were fundamental to most cultures in the beginning, so it does not surprise me a bit to see a lot of it in manifestation even nowadays, though most would credit other things for it. I see it in hospice caregivers, that passion and strength to be with the dying through to their passing. I see it in many in the medical profession. I see it in some public servants, such as police and EMS. I see it in some teachers and historians. It is like an extra share of talent or depth in their chosen way of serving their tribe today. They may not be religious, shamanism really isn't religious anyway, but, they have an affinity with nature, an understanding of the pain in others, and a depth of compassion which can astonish you. It is just there, even if they would laugh to be told they may well have been a shaman many lives ago or had been affected deeply way back by their tribal faith in a good shamanistic leader or helper. 

This is apart from modern notions about "empathy" and being an "empath". That is another topic for maybe someday to write about.

If I wrote further about some of the passages all shamans go through on their way to waking up and becoming what they can be, it would startle a few to recognize seemingly random things which affect them deeply in their secret lives and realize what it really was and means. For most, though, it would seem like empty babble or applying meaning to random nightmares or experiences. This is the difference, A shaman perceives the reality under the apparent and the unconscious fabric of life. Others will not see it in the same way or depth at all.

I write to serve.

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If you are really called to become a shamanistic practitioner, it is already in your bones, your heart, your veins. So is your training and your own ancestral song to be singing out here in the world. It is inside of you. This is what makes a shaman, not books or classes or mimicking what Native Americans or other indigenous religions do today. You need to remember and bring forward your own line into today and live that. We all have one at least. This was basically the earliest religious forms the race ever came up with no matter where it rose up and got going well at. You may not know for a long while where your own form originated from and it will take some forms very similar to other traditions, but, you have no need to be taking anything nor short-changing your own roots. They may not be from your literal genetics in this life either. You may have been born with the links and bonds from a past life coming forward again to bring some quality you had then into today. It is more a matter of waking up than it is to be learning something new and foreign to you. 

I was just explaining this to someone in a PM. :lol:

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