Since the beginning of time, Spirituality has been present in the human race; it is therefore an undeniable state of its nature and its capacity to interpret the cosmos, which gives a purpose and a meaning to its existence. This ancient Spirituality has always been linked to the understanding of the surrounding environment represented by the earth, which supports all of life, which is why we call her Mother Earth or Pachamama. It is the sky that provides the water that falls upon us and the Sun that is the source of life, and for this reason it has been called Father Sky and Father Sun. It is the wisdom cycles of Grandmother Moon that influence the ebb and flow of the waters in our oceans & seas as well as women’s monthly cycles.
Shamans are sometimes called seers, having the gift of “just knowing” or seeing with the third eye. These medicine people were called by the spirits to support & work with their community for healing illness, locating food/water, plant medicine, solving problems, finding lost people or objects, guiding the dying, celebrating the seasons, intervening tribal warfare, and bringing balance between the seen and unseen world. This work is not for personal power, status or privilege; it comes from a deep desire to serve the web of love light. By learning from the spirits and the unseen world, the shamans have, for thousands of years, helped their communities live in balance & harmony (ayni) with the earth and all living beings. Shamanism was the way of life.
In October 2004, thirteen grandmothers from around the world – the Amazon, Asia, Africa, Mexico, the Arctic Circle, and United States – gathered at Tibet House’s Menla Mountain Retreat in upstate New York.
They did not know one another but were mysteriously “called” to come together and share their combined wisdom. They formed an alliance to share their indigenous ways of peacemaking and healing with the world. They are committed to supporting people to reclaim their relationship with Mother Earth and restoring the essence of the feminine spirit. The Grandmothers agreed that without following the ancient ways of the world’s indigenous peoples, humans will not be able to break away from destructive habits and create the changes necessary for our survival.
Origin of Shamanism
Shamanism is the world’s oldest spirituality and is considered to have originated at least 40,000 years ago. It existed on every continent – Africa, Asia, North & South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe - and was practiced in every indigenous culture across the planet. Every culture has roots in Shamanism and every culture has had medicine people so it’s likely you have the seeds of shamanism within you.
Without the skills and ceremonies of shamanic cultures, people would have starved physically and spiritually. It continues today because it works and has seen a resurgence over the years. Shamanism is the most authentic and pure way to remember our roots, already forgotten by many in present times. However, “shaman” is an umbrella term used to describe a vast collection of practices and beliefs, many of which have to do with divination, spirit communication, and magic.
Nicholas Breeze Wood says defining shamanism is not easy. He explains “the word ‘shaman’ is a Western corruption of the word samaan or s’amanthe, from the Siberian Evenk people (previously known as the Tungus people), which got brought into the Russian language by early explorers of Siberia.”
A woman shaman in Siberia has a different name, udagan (or variations such as utagan, ubakan, utygan or utugun). This word probably originates from the Mongolian word Etugen which is the name of the ancient Earth-goddess. This name pre-dates all the words for a male shaman, which shows that female shamans have been around a lot longer than male ones have. Different tribal peoples have different names, for both male and female shamans, but the term “shaman” comes from ONE tribe in Siberia.
Some say the word is of India origin coming from Sanskrit s'ramana, which means a Buddhist monk. However, the Evenks were not exposed to Tibetan Buddhism and their language is not related to Sanskrit. So, it’s pretty near impossible for the word shaman to have Sanskrit roots.
The origin is that it was a general term for a Siberian tribal healer in Russia. The word does not belong to anyone except those Siberian medicine people. However, the word “shaman” was popularized by an early European researcher, traced back to the 1660s. It then migrated to the rest of the world where it morphed into a generic catch-all term that included animistic cultures.
"Time and space are always in ceremony for us! We are always in ceremony. Every moment is a sacred moment – a sacred space – when we recognize this, magic happens"
~ Q’ero Puma Fredy Quispe Singona
Animism & Nature Worship
Animism comes from the Latin word ‘anima’ meaning breath, spirit, life. It is the belief that all things – animate & inanimate – possess a spirit or an essence. Those who practice animism give reverence to objects, creatures and elements in their environment, recognizing the sentience of ALL things. Another phrase for it is Nature Worship.
Wood continues, “nothing is dead in the animist’s universe. All things in the universe – including the Universe itself – are understood to be alive and part of one great web of Creation. Everything has a soul – humans, animals, plants, rocks, rivers, mountains, clouds, stars, sun & moon. We live within a vast network of interconnectedness.”
All shamanic cultures are animistic but not all animistic cultures are shamanic. Therefore, a shaman has an animistic world view. A Siberian shaman performs many practices which had much in common with a Native American medicine person. Shamanism is a form of animism. This can be explained by saying that shamans also perform animistic practices.
Examples of animistic cultures (not shamanic):
The Mayan people of Central America
The Maori of New Zealand
The Aborigines of Australia
Tribal groups of Africa
The ancient Celts and Vikings
Some groups in India
Paganism, Wicca, and other “witchy” groups
South America including the Q’ero of Peru & Bolivia (although some say they are shamanic)
The tribes of North America
For example, the Native American tradition of a vision quest involves a trance with visions that arise spontaneously. Whereas a shaman calls upon spirit and intentionally goes into a trance where they go into the unseen realms where they meet with spirit (Gods/Goddesses, ancestors, shamans/healers of the past, nature spirits, elementals, etc.) to gain knowledge and power. Without the spirits, a shaman is nothing. And without the trance, it isn’t shamanism.
Wood clarifies the distinction: “Animistic cultures can have powerful magic, they can perform powerful healings, and they can have great wisdom, but their priests and healers don’t tend to go into controlled voluntary trance and go to the spirits - instead they tend to call the spirits into this world - which although extremely powerful, is subtilty different from shamanism, where the shaman goes to the spirits.” In other words, “the edge between what is shamanic and what is animistic is a very blurred one.” But simply put to be classified as shamanism, there must be a link to Siberia.
Whatever the socially accepted ethnographic term - witch doctor, curandero, sangoma, babalawo, angakok, sikerei, mu, boro ngua, miko, etc. - even if they enter trance states and communicate with spirits, if the lineage doesn’t originate from Siberia, they are not “technically” a shaman because the origination of that specific word comes from Siberia. Different cultures, different names, different emphasis, different rites, different flavors…yet the same experience. It’s like blues and rock’n’roll, they are similar since they’re both music, but they’re not the same.
Examples of shamanic cultures (origin from Siberia):
Tribal groups across Siberia, Mongolia & Tuva
Northern Asia, Central Asia, China, and parts of SE Asia
Himalayan traditions of Tibet & Nepal (Tamang Bombo) including Tibetan Buddhism
Northern parts of North America
The Norse Viking tradition where women called volvas sang, went into trance, and the spirits spoke through them. Unfortunately, this tradition died out over 1,000 years ago.
Some anthropologists consider some of the tribes from the Amazon Rainforest to be shamanistic, whereas others don’t because their medicine people go into trance with the aid of psychoactive plants. Amazonian culture arose out of animistic traditions intersecting psychoactive plants. There is nothing wrong with working with “plant medicine” as long as you honor & respect the wisdom of the plant spirit and lineage of curanderos (native healers). However, most shamanic cultures across the world do not take any mind-altering substances at all. Instead, they rely on the spirits working through them, aided by a combination of ceremony, song, drumming, and dancing. Medicine people work in partnership with their healing spirits.
Our ancestors did not practice animism for recreation. They followed it because it saved lives, healed sickness, and helped bring food & water to their table. It was essential for them to be connected to nature and the earth because their survival depended on it. They had the ability to be slow & silent in nature and listen to the compassionate spirit allies. This was taught generation after generation. They needed the spirits of the seen and unseen world to survive.
In contemporary culture, we don’t have indigenous elders, medicine people and wisdom teachers mentoring us from childhood. However, Beth Abernathy reminds us that “the spirit realm still calls those who are willing and able to work this way to be cooperative partners.” She continues, “the true acknowledgment that this is a genuine path tends to come from many life experiences over a more extended amount of time that strongly indicate the influence and call of the spirit world and the subsequent initiations.”
Abernathy has a different perspective from Wood. She says, “those of us who have experienced this call and work in this way now often use the term ‘shamanic practitioner,’ a term using an adjective rather than a noun and hence a description rather than a title.” She adds, “some of us have so many different ancestral lineage currents running through us that inform our practice that it can be difficult to know what to use. Some of us don’t self-refer as shamans – occasionally leaving that to our communities if they so choose – out of respect for traditional cultures.”
I tend to lean this way regarding the word “shaman” as it conveys a beautiful time-honored, Earth-based powerful tradition of present and past indigenous wisdom that is offered in service to the community. Being called by spirit can be a pull at the heart, a vision or dream, or through family lineage. Refusing the call can lead to a “wake-up call” such as near-death experiences, illness, physical deprivations, depression, psychotic breaks, dark nights of the soul, and accidents. What some call shaman sickness.
My call to spirituality & shamanism came very early in life, although I didn’t know it at the time. I loved spending time in nature – spending hours up in trees, digging in the mud, moon & sunbathing, communing with the elements, and talking to spirit. When our parents brought us to Pow Wows, I was mesmerized by the songs and dances of the Native people. I experienced shamanic “initiations” such as out-of-body experiences as a teen, night terrors, attacks by dark entities, dream dismemberments, near-death incidents, as well as heart-opening visitations by ancestors, Angels, and Jesus Christ. These encounters lead me into exploring the religions of man and ultimately the practice of mindfulness & yoga.
There were no local shamans to teach me in those early years, but I did have wonderful teachers of mysticism which ultimately led me down the shaman’s path and to my beloved first paqo teacher don Sebastian Pauccar Flores. Many “chance” meetings and “coincidences” lead to my first trip to Peru. Don Sebastian, written about in several books including the Andean Codex, is a world-renowned high priest, although I didn’t know that at the time. He was the one who initiated me as a pampa misayoc (Earth Keeper & Mesa Carrier) and alto misayoc (medicine person working with the community). I have been honored to work with several other paqo families. The thing they shared was those elders want us to share this knowledge with the world. It’s our planet, our home, our responsibility. Fredy Puma Quispe Singona said, "The fact that you have the intention to learn or open your heart to be here. I honor that, I do not have to trust. I know! I know I am meant to share this knowledge. I know I am meant to share this path. You left me there to keep this altar. You wandered away from our mesa. But now you have returned. And you will be the keeper of our mesa now, too."
While in this current life, I am not of indigenous heritage, I’ve had several past lives where I was a seer. I had at least 2 lives in Peru/Bolivia – where I was a female high priestess and also a male medicine man. I also have memory of a past life in India, several as Native American, and as one of the elders in Atlantis working with pyramids & crystal technology. Believe it or not, according to CRI Genetics I have a tiny percent of DNA left that ties me back to India as well as Peru.
Don’t become so spiritual that you are no earthly good.
The Evenk people of Siberia say: ‘A shaman sits on a different branch of the Tree of Souls to a normal person.’ They share a story about the souls of babies sitting like birds on the branches of the World Tree. Normal babies sit on branches in the tree, but shamans sit on their own unique branch. This story reflects the idea that to become a shaman, you are either born into it or the spirits choose you as an apprentice.
Keep in mind that becoming a shaman often includes a life full of “shaman sickness” from a young age - physical/mental illness, seeing/talking to spirits, possession, near death experiences (NDEs) particularly being hit by lightning, and other difficulties especially if one denies this assignment.
This requires disciplined work. Working in the unseen realm includes having dialogues with spirit, negotiating, and subduing or fighting them. So, a human teacher/mentor is helpful to introduce the apprentice to the spirits, and how to interact with the unseen realm. This deep level of work can be physically & psychologically dangerous and some shamans die in ceremony. If you have an authentic teacher with permission from their lineage to teach you directly, it is not cultural appropriation. It is cultural appropriation if you copy/mimic something without permission (i.e. from reading a book, watching a video, etc.) If you have the opportunity, work with an authentic teacher and learn what you can.
When spirit calls…answer!
If chosen by the spirits and you are called to walk a true shamanic path, just know that you will bare a heavier load than others. Shamanism is not a path of personal growth or personal healing…although, like practicing yoga, that is a byproduct. Shamans work in the community for the greater whole. This could be a small circle of family & friends to a wider national/global reach. It depends on your concept of “community.” I like the emphasis on commUNITY.
Now, if you choose to walk an animistic path, “seeing the beauty in all of your relations, seeing it in every being you meet from a raven to a rainbow, a starfish to a star” as Nicholas says, your life will be much richer, and you will feel the interconnectedness of this wonderful web of love, light & life. Either way, both traditions are beautiful.
Here is Nicolas Breeze Wood’s definition of animism:
Animism is the understanding that the physical world that we see all around us is alive and filled with an enlivening animating spirit – anima - and spirits which have individual personalities. You have a spark of life – the anima part of you – and you also have a personality, be it grumpy or kind, curious or fearful, happy or sad. In the animistic understanding of reality everything is like that, having both aspects – if you like, having both ‘anima and attitude.’
And his definition of shamanism:
Shamans are people who are chosen by the spirits and who are able to go into a controlled and repeatable trance state, at will, in which they ....
a) go on a spirit flight to the spirit worlds. There they meet spirits, whom they either work with, trick, negotiate with, or fight, in order to make physical changes in the ordinary world.
b) are at times taken over by their known spirit helpers - generally ancestral spirits of former shamans - who make use of the living shaman's body, to give advice or healing to members of the shaman's community.
c) In addition to entering trance, they have an animistic understanding of reality, and engage in acts of deliberate magic and ceremony, outside of a trance state, in order to create change in the world.
Shamans are ‘virtual’ healers.
Going to a shamanic healer is like going to a cyber-doctor who does not reside in the same time and space that we do.
Shamans gain knowledge and power by entering into the spiritual world in a deep trance-like state. Most Shamans have enhanced intuitive gifts and quite often have visions, vivid dreams or can communicate with Spirits in meditation - or throughout their daily lives. These powerful healers find their own way, style, or techniques for journeying to the spirit realms.
Once in the spirit world, shamans can channel guidance directly from your spirit guides or their own spirit team which includes spirit allies, power animals, ancestors, and other enlightened beings and energies. While in this meditative state, Shamans gain intuitive knowledge about how to help heal individuals. They pass this information and wisdom along to the person they are helping to heal at the time.
Shamanism involves engaging with spiritual realms and nature through rituals and journeying, while Reiki focuses on channeling universal energy for healing through light touch or distance. More people are familiar with Reiki touch as it more widely acceptable as a complementary treatment and is now offered in many hospitals (partial lists here and here).
Origin of Reiki
Reiki is a Japanese word composed of “rei” universal source and “ki” energy. Pronounced “ray-key”, it dates back to Mikao Usui (1865-1926) who coined the term after he was given this practice by his lineage teacher. While popularized in 1922, this healing modality is much older. In ancient Egypt, it was called KA. In China, it was known as Tao. In India, it’s called prana. In Andean shamanism, it’s called Kawsay Pacha. While there are many names, it is the loving healing energy of universal source. The theory is that a Reiki master can channel/transfer this universal life force to promote healing by increasing the flow and balance of energy (chi/qi/prana).
When Reiki is applied for healing purposes, it begins to transmute the energies of our body, mind and spirit. Usui Reiki is the most well-known practice. It is a natural art system using hands-on or distance healing, employing the loving energy that vibrates in all beings and things manifested by Source creator. The practitioner only guides the energy through intention.
Like all spiritual practices, Reiki has therapeutic benefits. Research studies have shown that Reiki lowers blood pressure, reduces stress and stress reactions, lowers respiration and heart rates, reduces pain and bleeding, helps to calm anxiety and alleviate insomnia, and raises the red blood cell count.
The “attunement” process is what separates Reiki healing from other energy modalities. Reiki symbols - Cho Ku Rei, Sei He Ki, Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen and Dai Ko Myo - are like keys that unlock different energies/vibrations of universal life force. Each attunement empowers certain “keys” in your energy system which corresponds to a higher vibrational healing energy.
The Hara Line is an invisible energetic spine or line of energy that connects the chakras and exists in the dimension of our intentions. It connects the heaven’s energies above & the earth’s center below by connecting 3 primary centers – head, heart & hara. Using intention, Reiki assists in aligning the Hara line.
Reiki vs. Shamanism
When people ask me what’s the difference between Restorative Yoga and Yin. I say they look the same from the outside but have very different experiences. It’s the same with Reiki & Shamanism. They are living practices. Different does not mean less than...just different.
According to Vlad Dimancea, “both Reiki and shamanism are spiritual practices used to place the physical, emotional, and energetic bodies into a state of healing. The divine energy is present in both disciplines as a force we can all tap into for guidance and inner growth.”
The difference is that shamanism believes the universal force created everything and it manifests through the natural elements – water, fire, air & earth – as well as the spirit realm. They work in collaboration with these forces. Shamans target specific goals or issues with their medicine using spirit connection and non-ordinary reality. First, they go into shamanic journey (an altered state of consciousness or deep meditative state). Then they become a conduit or “hollow bone” where the universal lift force (or spirit allies) guides them to what needs to be healed. It could be balancing chakras that are lacking harmony, clearing trauma in a client’s biofield, cutting energetic cords from toxic relationships, going back into a past life or ancestral karma to heal a debt, a soul retrieval to recover fragmented parts of the soul from trauma or abuse, or extracting energetic patterns/entities holding them back from their highest good.
In contrast, Reiki practitioners connect directly to the universal life force to restore balance as it has an innate intelligence and goes where the body & energy biofield need it. The energy of Reiki is always the same regardless of lineage. Reiki practice influences the whole system toward balance rather than targeting specific outcomes like in Shamanism.
What is Shamanic Reiki?
For those of us who practice Reiki or Shamanism, Shamanic Reiki can be confusing as these two healing modalities appear to be opposite approaches. Existing for thousands of years, both come from inner wisdom and human need to recover from injury or illness.
Shamanic Reiki is a unique spiritual blend that brings out the best of both practices by combining the physical elements from shamanism to connect to the spiritual world, followed by the Usui methods like hand positions and Reiki symbols. In other words, it is defined as the ability to channel internal energies (intention & thought) and external energies (elements of nature & spirit) for the alignment and balancing of mind, body & spirit.
Professional Therapy can help you process your experiences while Shamanic Reiki can get to the core issue that needs to be addressed and healed by removing the energetic imprint often associated with trauma. Shamanic Reiki assists in releasing unwanted energies and transmute them with the divine love-light (transfiguration). That healing can take place at a very deep spiritual, emotional, and/or physical level.
Dimancea further explains “even though Shamanic Reiki is based on Usui and uses its symbols, there are 3 key differences that make it unique:
Clearing energetic blockages by using the flow of universal life force energy together with shamanic methods of removing negative energy strings;
Accessing the astral world and healing past life traumas;
Learning how to bring back the lost parts of your soul while making it more resilient to future influences.
Shamanic Reiki serves as a bridge to the expansive field of energy medicine, where ancient healing practices blend with modern techniques to balance the body’s subtle energies.
The Benefits of Energy Medicine
Energy medicine can influence the energetic & physical body with some unique benefits:
Explore distance healing using shamanic journeying (astral travel);
Introduce various physical instruments (drums, flutes, rattles, sound bowls, etc.) to induce a trance state as well as working with “plant medicine” to access ancestral wisdom and restore health;
Connect with your spirit guides and power animal to access ancient wisdom;
Severing energetic cords (strings) attached to your body;
Clearing the chakras & energy channels from energetic blockages.
Transmute low & slow vibration (hoocha) into high vibe energy (sami) to heal trauma;
Removing or extracting negative spirits or destructive patterns of behavior. Sometimes this includes psychic surgery.
A soul retrieval where the client is guided on a shamanic journey into the underworld to retrieve soul fragments that have been lost.
It's important to acknowledge that Shamanism and Reiki are not quick fixes, but a collaborative process where your active participation plays a vital role. Shamanism and Reiki practice can complement one another and in doing so we discover the unity that exists within all healing techniques.
Core Shamanism & Cross-Cultural Energy Medicine
Michael Harner introduced a Western style of shamanism in the early 1980s. Stripped of all cultural aspects, core or contemporary shamanism teaches the basic model of journeying into the unseen realms and direct revelation. This would include modern traditions like Druidry and Celtic revivals since they are no longer living traditions which have been passed down from teacher to student. Often labelled Cross-Cultural studies because there is no specific indigenous lineage, no religious hierarchy, no dogma, it makes shamanic techniques accessible for all people to “live a rich animistic life and learn some simple shamanic first aid” as Nicholas says.
“How, in our modern world, can we find our way to understand the earth is a gift again, to make our relations with the world sacred again?”
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer
There are many kinds of energy work available. I prefer the term “Energy Medicine”, so I’m not limited to a specific technique. Each service is dynamic and may include healing practices to assist in transforming trauma, balancing, releasing, cleansing, healing, discovering inner gifts, self-empowerment, and spiritual counsel. A combination of modalities is usually stronger than just a single one. This healing works on all levels – physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual – to honor, transform, and restore balance and harmony. Energy medicine is a way to heal the wounds of your past and set a new course for the future, acting from a place of power.
As a shamanic practitioner, or Earth Keeper, I work with clients in partnership with my spirit team to assist in healing what is for the highest good. This could be a soul retrieval, finding lost pieces/fragments of their soul and reintegrating them back, chakra balancing, sound healing, or meeting your master guide & power animal.
So, if your InnerQuest includes clearing your body (yoga, energy medicine or end-of-life), or clearing your clutter, please keep me in mind to help transform your Inner Spaces & Outer Spaces.
The shaman’s drum is now beating in a new way. It’s time to go within and re-connect with nature. We have too much technology, urban living, noise & lights with no awareness of spirit, no ability to listen and pay attention. We are so disconnected from nature, yet we need the knowledge from the ancient ways in order to survive. It’s time to wake up. That wisdom is alive and available. It’s stored in the geometric nature by our ancestors and the sacred sites. All you need to do is stop and listen carefully.
Animism is a simple, yet reverent, practice of loving and respecting the web of life. It’s essential that we rekindle our relationship with the natural world around us (ayni), reconnect with earth-honoring ways of life, and return to conscious connection if we wish to change the world.
Comentarios