Shamanizing in the Modern World

by Quynn Elizabeth

There are many culturally based names describing the ability of humans to align themselves with the force that moves through all things. It is fantastically special, and not special, all at the same time. The creative tension of revelation resides in us all. The ability to act in right manner, at the right time.

Popular literature tells us that "sama" was a Siberian Tungusic word that is the origin of the word "shaman", working with power. Another version is that "shaman" comes from "saman", a sanskrit word meaning exalted or ecstatic. The shamanic, or ecstatic, peoples of the world experienced generations of persecution because of their beliefs and techniques for healing. Many times shamanic culture has been described to the "civilized" culture for the first time by anthropologists who have no context for the "studied" peoples and their ways. The result has been that the ancient knowledge has been burned, destroyed and ‘misplaced", leaving modern seekers without maps or guides into the wilderness that our ancestors knew so well.

In respect for all the atrocities that have fallen on the backs of the ecstatic peoples of the world, the word "shamana" has been chosen to take us into a peaceful and balanced future. Shamana contains an appropriate element of humility for the honest essential exploration of that realm which is special and not special, all at the same time.

Today, many people, especially those of European heritage, believe that the world of Shamana is for "other" people. In many people's minds, this world of magic and balance in Nature does not apply to them. This leaves seekers feeling that they have no direct access to magic for themselves. Fortunately, this veil of forgetting is beginning to lift from the memories of our modern Mosaic culture.

All people of the Earth, at one time, were tribal people. A "Tribe" is defined in Webster's as "a group of persons, families, or clans descended from common ancestors and forming a community." For thousands, and thousands and thousands of years our ancestors lived, and flourished in small groups surrounded by Nature. Shamans occurred before there were cities, or any religion known to humans today. Imagine it. Somewhere in your tall family tree, your kinfolk were "shamanic"/ecstatic peoples: hunters, dancers, herbalists, ritualists, adept members of the animal tribes. Even if the dominant culture does not honor this wisdom today, we have this wisdom inside of us, in our DNA.

So, if this is true, then the shamanic world is not dead. We carry it within us. Consider it an atrophied muscle, just waiting to be used. There are signs when shamana begins to emerge in a person. Symptoms may be visions, dreams, hearing voices, ability to "go places" in the mind, "knowing things", premonitions, strange sickness, sleeps a lot- difficult to wake up, there are many, yet there is no precise formula.

Most "indigenous" mind has been suppressed and forgotten for many "western" affected people, but the wisdom is still alive. It hasn't gone anywhere, we have. We have forgotten that we have the ability to listen to the world, or we have been told that we were crazy for hearing it speak.

We live in a culture that has a long history of ruining people's lives, stealing their land and killing them for practicing the shamanic arts, sometimes even speaking of the Earth and all of its wisdom. It is proven that people who live through trauma are affected in ways that alter their personalities and their life survival techniques, known today as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. These changes are passed on through the generations. When people are persecuted, the most precious knowledge is what is bullied out of them, or the sacredness is somehow buried within the psyche, leaving many feeling crazy, depressed and angry. These things have happened to the people of Turtle Island [North America], Africa and ancient Europe, whose descendents now make up our modern Mosaic culture.

However, for the first time, the people of the many Earth Tribes can, and must, place attention on the atrophied muscle of our tribal ancestry. You are not crazy! Today, there is room for many spirit world travelers. In our ancestors’ times, everyone was a spirit world traveler, a dreamer, an initiate. Everyone knew that the world speaks.

Understanding our Dreamworld, Intuition, Imagination, and the Nature around us helps us reconnect with an ancient wisdom that lies within us at all times, so that we can speak for balance and peace.

Quynn Elizabeth is a shamanic intuitive and the founder of The Institute for the Shamanic Arts in Tucson, AZ. (October-April) & Portland (July-September). www.shamanworld.com.