For many years now I have told people that I walk a shamanic path, that I practice shamanism, or simply that I’m pagan without any other qualifiers. Among the many reasons for doing so is the fact that the words “shaman” and “shamanism” are sometimes hotly debated terms. Some people seem to want to claim them as belonging only to a group of people who are specifically trained by an existing shaman in a specific culture. Others say basically that anyone can practice shamanism if they simply want to. Still others are adamant that their beliefs are not shamanic at all. I never wanted to be part of that debate, and I never really wanted to write this particular article.
Another reason is that, for many years, I felt as if I was only learning, not ready to do more than practice some of what I’d discovered on myself. Yes, there are things I’ve been able to do for a long time. Talk to the spirits that are everywhere. Sense people’s emotional states. Feel the natural energy of the world around me. Send energy into things with purpose; to heal, to aid, to protect. But I didn’t feel like I understood enough to do more than little helpful things. I didn’t feel ready.
And there is the widely held belief that a “real” shaman doesn’t claim the title. Partly, that’s because it’s not very humble to call yourself a shaman, a person who should be looked up to. Partly, it’s because in many cultures that’s a title bestowed by the shaman who taught you and/or the people you serve. Mostly, I think, it’s because a “real” shaman understands that it’s not exactly a wonderful thing to actually be. If you don't claim it, it might not be real.
And the last is simply that the spirits who guided me along my winding journey made it clear that it was not right for me to do so. That has changed.
I’ll get back to the spirits. First let me address the other reasons.
“Shaman” is a term being used currently to refer to people who use altered states of consciousness to communicate with spirits. Maybe they do other things, too, but that's what's basic. “Shamanism” is being used to refer to a wide variety of practices that have in common the belief that spirits are everywhere (or almost everywhere) and certain people can interact with them. If you’d like to trace down where it came from and which groups of people are applying it to themselves feel free to type it into a search engine. Give yourself time for the research. There’s a lot of it, and that’s not counting the word itself. For the sake of simplicity I’ll explain what I mean by shamanism.
- Spirits (or energy beings, or the divine, or the Force, or the interaction of quarks, or woo woo or the million gods) are in everything, every bit of matter and energy everywhere.
- All things are connected because the spirits (by whatever name) are all connected, the energy is all one.
- All people can perceive these spirits (or whatever you want to call them) to some extent, but often choose to ignore them. Mostly, I think, because it's confusing to do so. But the world of the spirits overlaps ours in the same way that the dimension of time interacts with the three physical dimensions that we refer to as space. (Look up string theory or m theory.)
- Tapping into that all one spiritual collective gives you information you wouldn't necessarily have access to when looking only at our perceived physical world (which may exist only because we spirits agree that it does). Everyone's interface for doing so is different mostly because of the language (words, or cultural overlay, or belief system, or ingrained thought pattern) we choose to use to try to describe the experience.
- Everything changes, even matter, even energy. The connected world stays connected but it is in constant motion, going from one state to another. We can navigate those moving currents or we can attempt to fight them, but we can’t change the fact that everything changes.
Let’s move on to readiness. I want to address this because I still don’t feel ready. There’s still a lot for me to learn. I haven’t perfected techniques, I get confused at some of the messages spirits give me, and that emotion reading thing doesn’t work all the time. Some days, I don’t feel very energetic. And I still get sick, which some people say is a sign that I’m just not doing the energy work right. But none of that matters, because everything is changing. All the time. I don’t have to know all the answers, I just need to know how to work with the spirits, the energy, and the way things change. That’s it.
As for what other people think about shamans who actually claim the title, well, they’re right. It’s not humble, it’s not a great thing to be, and it should be bestowed. Wait, what? Look. If you call yourself a shaman but no one thinks you’re a shaman, then it really doesn’t matter what you call yourself because no one will treat you like a shaman. The title has to come from somewhere. For me, it comes from the spirits, from the connected oneness of everything. I am the Creator’s shaman, exactly the person the Creator wants me to be. And what does that mean?
It means that I get to really sense the spirit world and the emotions of people around me, in great detail and sometimes with a hell of a lot of noise. It’s beyond confusing, most of the time. And worse, since most people are busy ignoring the parts of it they can sense, when I talk about it it sounds like I’m talking about imaginary things. There aren’t words for it all, and the close approximations sound, well, woo woo. I get to sound crazy for attempting to communicate it all, when I try to. Lucky me. So I either don’t talk about it (what I’ve done most of my life) or I accept that most people are going to choose to keep me (the crazy person) at arm’s length or further. Very lonely. Does that maybe explain why those chosen by the spirits as shaman don’t want to claim the title?
But there’s more. It means those spirits who can communicate with me can ask me to do things for them in this material plane. Thank everything that I get free choice about that, right? I can make bargains with those spirits so my life here is better. I’ll be healthy, wealthy and wise. Well? I’m waiting. And I’ll keep right on waiting because I am shaman, and the spirits chose me, not the other way around. My free choice was to either agree not to fight what the spirits want me to do or go crazy for real. Crazy as in self destructively psychotic.
So what do I need to do to stay sane? Mother Earth wants her servant to assist others in dealing with disease and injury and hardship, and I learn by catching pretty much everything and getting hurt. A lot. And I’m not talking just about physical illness and injury. I have a nice big tool box for dealing with such things now. Father Sky wants his energy worker to not talk about what he wants in this format. I’ve said somewhere before that he’s a harsh taskmaster, and I’ll leave it at that. Creator requires that I continue to learn, continue to grow, continue to listen to the spirits, continue to be the bridge I was transformed into. And maybe teach what I’ve learned to others who need to know. I have vows to keep, but I’m not required to share them. I am required to call myself shaman, claim the title, nevermind how other people choose to take that.
Before this devolves into a pity party I need to say that the greatest ecstasy I’ve ever felt was from moving energy at the command of the spirits. The greatest joys I’ve known have been from listening to the spirits as they help me help someone get through a hard time. My greatest comfort comes from understanding that everything changes, a knowledge that I have because I searched where spirits pointed me.
And my life has love, light, and a sincere appreciation for this world and the people and spirits in it. It comes from awareness of all the beautiful variations of all the beings (even me) who are connected to everything. The patterns are awe inspiring, exhilarating, glorious. I would wish you could see them all, but the price is pretty steep. And that’s okay because this world around us is beautiful, too. Enjoy that. Enjoy this life we’re living, this place we’re living on, and these people who surround us. I’ll be here to talk to the spirits for you, to journey to the spirit world seeking what was lost, to assist if you need it or want it, to teach you if you'd like to learn.
I am dwolf34. I am Reverend Wolfie. I am Di. I am Mother Earth’s servant, Father Sky’s energy worker, and the Creator’s shaman.
