Interfaith Voices: Shamans have been around since the dawn of mankind | faith and values

Shamans, in one form or another, have been around since the dawn of mankind, ministering to the physical, psychological and spiritual needs of indigenous peoples around the world.

Since everyone has indigenous roots if you look back far enough, we are all beneficiaries of shamanism. It is said that there are no fools in the native world, because they are quickly eaten alive.

In recent times, shamanism has gained mainstream media attention at least to some extent, but it is rarely considered a religion. Painting his body, wearing skins and horns, and shouting nonsense is by no means a fair or accurate depiction of a shaman. Shamans are a rainbow of humanity with the common characteristic of having gone within to find truth and freedom that the outside world cannot bestow.

Authentic shamans have their feet firmly planted in the loving Earth while their heads drift among the stars. Shamans have shown what human potential really is, while helping those who are ready to heal and understand. This is because the true faith of the shaman lies in his personal connection to Spirit and in the awareness of the unity of all in our common connections to Spirit.

There are many names for God, some indescribable, all insufficient, but Love is my favorite. So I wonder what is the most loving piece of information I can pass on to my community of shamanism readers right now?

And it is this: We are continuous beings. We go through life after life in an endless stream, forgetting our past, clouding the future, not remembering what it is between lives, what our intentions were for this life…so we get stuck in endless fantasies of the fear of death.

It may sound amazing, but shamans actually accept that we are continuous beings and thus begin to remember who we really are, what we have done, and more importantly, what we came here to do. The main personal practice of the shaman is to erase his connection with Spirit and by allowing time to do so, these memories arise.

Shamans see that words and speech can only help to understand an important but small step. A more important stage occurs when one performs a practice, and then it is better for the body to internalize it.

The simple act of sweeping the air in front of your solar plexus will begin to cleanse and activate your own connection to Spirit. Try it several times, with the intention of feeling a connecting fiber, a kind of umbilical that attaches somewhere to the Universe.

The Divine is something that we can access at will. Rather than letting your mind race on worries like when you lie awake trying to fall asleep, instead allow yourself to fantasize about what you really want to do or be or just find out what awaits you in your life. imagination if only you let it play.

Shamans consciously undergo a personal transformation. That is, shamans are aware of the process by which self-transformation occurs and how it is analogous to societal and cultural transformations. Shamans see how there is a sudden collapse of internal systems and there is a strong tendency to come to a new configuration. This is similar to how a caterpillar enters its cocoon and transfigures into a beautiful moth.

Did you expect a butterfly? A great shamanic teacher, Sandra Ingerman, says that for this time we simply need to radiate our Love everywhere without discrimination, allowing our Light and Love to reach where it is most needed. So be it.