Shamanism by Susan Leybourne
Ever since the dawn of time there have existed within society certain individuals,
Both male and female, who have been blessed or perhaps cursed with the ability to see spirits, heal the sick, prophesy and do battle with negative forces on many different planes.
The popular name for this ancient craft is shamanism. The word shaman comes from the Tungus people of northeastern Siberia. It is the function of the shaman to gain knowledge and
Information using altered states
of consciousness which involves varying degrees of trance, brought about
by drumming, chanting, ritual and sometimes the ingestion of certain hallucinogenic
herbs or fungi, although the latter is not strictly necessary. Nowadays
most people have heard of shamanism and can imagine housewives in designer
jogging suits and anoraks bashing a drum on Brighton beach waiting for
some thing spiritual to happen. Then again others may imagine North American
Indians dancing around a campfire invoking the power of the sun. Both are
equally correct; shamanism is however very much a solitary activity!
No human being can teach the Shamanic techniques necessary to bring about healing or magical results as most of the information comes through communication with spirit guides on the inner planes within the shaman's head.
If the truth were known there is more and more information Flooding in from the astral planes ready for use on the physical plane, and so it is for the right people to be open to the subtle vibrations of the spirits wishing to work with us. As modern day spiritualists will confirm everyone has a spirit guide and many spirit helpers, who come and go from time to time .in the shaman's view of reality it is during the transition phase between one spirit helper leaving and a new one taking its place that illness can occur; this is when a person is dis-spirited (without a spirit guardian or power animal). Shamans believe that it is very important to keep the attention of one's spirit guardians by speaking to them regularly so that they will not become bored and wander off. The first signs of someone becoming dis-spirited are lack of interest, loss of memory, depression and the onset of ill health, both physical and mental. It is when this happens that the shaman must journey to the under world to contact a new spirit guardian for the patient or retrieve a lost one that has gone astray. When a spirit guardian Has bee contacted it must be brought back to the earth plane and physically breathed into the patient, usually into the chest or through the top of the head, often both.
There are many levels or planes that a shaman will journey to during his trance states. Shamans may go upwards to higher worlds to contact guides, learn philosophy And wisdom or the shaman may journey downwards to the underworld to meet power animal, gain information about physical conditions and magic.
A shaman who makes regular visits to other worlds will find that the guides met and information gained during such visits will become more and more solid. Most people experiencing a vision for the first time will almost always believe it to be imaginary but with practice the otherworld will become as solid as this one.
Through working with astral forces the shamanic practitioner will also gain more power in the physical world. Remember astral material is pliable and can be shaped to physical needs and desires. Seeds planted on the underworld if regularly watered will always bear fruit in the physical world. All human beings consist of various bodies, physical, etheric, astral, a consciousness and a soul. With the average person the etheric body is hard and impenetrable, this is not the case with shamans,
Clairvoyants, mediums, and magicians. In their case the etheric body is softer than most, allowing astral information to flood in, clairvoyance, telepathy and contact with the spirit world, and the more you use the techniques of shamanism the stronger you will become on the inner planes.
In future articles I will be looking at Shamanic techniques you can practice for yourselves as well as exploring many other avenues of new age thought both theoretical and practical. Until then blessed be.
Susan Leybourne