What Everybody Ought to Know About Shamanism

What Everybody Ought to Know About Shamanism

by | Apr 26, 2022 | Community Conversations

Shamanism is all about relationships. In this post, we’re going to explore what a shaman is, what role shamanism has played in different cultures around the world, and lastly, how a shamanic perspective can be integrated into your life. 

So, what is a shaman?

Tracked back to the late 17th century through Russian etymology, the term shaman most likely originated in North Asia, where the Manchu-Tungus language described a personified version of the verb ‘to know’ (sa); the shaman is ‘one who knows’. Now, you may be thinking…the one who knows what? Perhaps we can think of it as the one who knows what we may not know.

What sorts of folks are there in your life that you look to for something you do not ‘know’? Perhaps a mechanic, or a doctor…you could think of anyone that you go to with trust. You trust that they know something that you do not. Now, when thinking of someone like this, there are aspects of training and experiential wisdom that are essential to trust building. This experiential wisdom, across pretty much every culture, looks like deep service in healing work for their communities. 

Shamans are found in many different traditions, spanning across each continent, often sitting at the intersection of healing, arts, medicine and ritual. Within many traditions, we see correlations between shamanism and community health; bridging art into medicine and healing into ritual can make a big impact on a culture. 

So, back to relationships. Bridging these oftentimes segmented and compartmentalized portions of society is the work the shaman does. Why? Because it’s important to understand (and tend) the relationships between and amongst all things. 

The Here & Now 

Alright, so maybe now you can feel more of a sense of what a shaman may be, and what role they’ve served their communities. Other than being vital contributors to the health of their community ecosystems, shamans are super connectors. They bridge realms, through and amongst dimensions, between and across species, and within many timelines. This is a way of being in relationship. 

Is there an animal spirit that you feel a strong connection to? How could you strengthen this relationship? Perhaps it’s drawing the animal, or doing a dance to embody the feeling that this animal evokes in you. 

At the end of the day, we are at a point in human history where it’s important for us to trust ourselves. We can begin to start sourcing internally what we’ve traditionally outsourced because we hadn’t invited our innate gifts to come fully online. 

The time has arrived to empower our inner knowing, so that we can walk through life in the right relationship with the part of us that ‘knows’. In essence, there is an aspect of us that is shamanic, and that has shamanic abilities. It’s time to invite ourselves into trusting what comes through, feeling empowered by our inner knowing, staying surrendered to the fact that oftentimes the more we know, the more we know that we don’t know…

Humility is key, let’s keep expanding, friends!

Build a Relationship with Ancestry You Can Be Proud Of 

Build a Relationship with Ancestry You Can Be Proud Of 

by | Dec 7, 2021 | Transitory Thoughts

Have you ever thought about your relationship to those that came before us? We’re talking about more than your family heritage or bloodline; ancestry can extend beyond one’s own personal family to encapsulate the vast expanse of the human endeavor. We can connect to each other through the preservation of traditions that ignite our souls from within. In this way, we can create stronger support systems across our human family, and forge futures within Lineages that resonate with our soul’s mission during this lifetime. 

 

That said, let’s start with an acknowledgement of our family heritage. For, this can be foundational for the way we relate to our human ancestors at large. Building a relationship with our bloodline is an integral piece of the personal puzzle; if there is any resentment or unresolved tensions in the family bloodline, this can result in stagnancy and potentially blood clots. Not healthy. The circulation of healthy blood (through our relationship with our own bloodline) is a personal experience. We’re not suggesting you pick up the phone and attempt to make amends with your Aunt Gertrude who betrayed your Father’s trust, whose resentment you continue to let live through you to this day. Instead, consider this an invitation to explore what forgiveness feels like, as you connect with Aunt Gertrude (for example) and her humanity. 

 

Keys for Harmonizing Familial Heritage 

 

→ Forgiveness : acknowledging any harm done to you or by you, knowingly or unknowingly, and forgiving and releasing it. 

 

→ Restoring Connections : Incorporating family totems into your altar or homespace, writing a letter to a family member, exploring some traditional music from your family’s country of origin.

 

→ Create a Vow : Invite yourself to identify a value or two that you hold, within the realm of families and communities. Create a vow for you to live that value and embody it every day. 

 

Alright, so once some of the keys mentioned are used to unlock some dormant spaces in our bloodline relations, we can begin to expand. Widening the scope of our human family, we recognize that there are myriad families to which we all belong. So, in our process of personal development, it’s essential that we forge new paths while sustaining a healthy relationship with one’s own bloodline. 

 

At the end of the day, it’s an exciting idea to think about making our ancestors proud. Regardless of your family heritage and what role your ancestors have played within the complexities of the human historical milieu, it’s likely they were doing the best they could with the resources they had available to them. Acknowledging the growth and trajectory of your personal journey, it may be that you’re ready to extend your reach beyond your family bloodline. Exploring human traditions that have been part of our evolutionary history is an exciting and empowering path to walk. Regardless of your heritage, you can unlock higher expressions of your DNA. And this, dear friends, is very exciting!