A Brief Introduction to Shamanism
Image by Garrett Jackson | garrettpjackson.com
Welcome to the first in what I hope will be a long series of writings on my new blog! It is wonderful to have you here!
I see a lot of bright, shiny faces out there, reading this. We've had some pretty wet, cloudy days here in southern Indiana recently. Although I embrace the weather, I know many of us prefer the sunshine. So hopefully, where you are, it's a bit brighter! And hopefully, you are shining your own light - that you are making it known in the world, however that looks for you. That is an incredible gift that we could all give to each other right now.
Today, I'm hoping to briefly introduce us to the practice of shamanism - what it is, why we would practice it, and how to get started on the path if you feel called to it. But, I want to start out with a little introduction to myself.
My name is Garrett Jackson. I am a practitioner and teacher of shamanism, living in Bloomington, Indiana. I have been on a conscious spiritual path since I was about 16 years old. I was raised Presbyterian, but I eventually came to be a member of the spiritual community. It has been such a rich path, and I have had the great fortune of studying with a great many teachers, like Radleigh Valentine, Charles Virtue, Sandra Ingerman - and, of course, with the most important teachers: the helping spirits that I have had or have relationships with.
Here, I'm going to bring in a little of what I've learned from these teachers thus far, so that we can start to cultivate an understanding (or a greater understanding) of shamanism. This is a very complex, ancient subject, so I am going to do the best that I can in sharing some fundamental information about it.
The word "shaman" itself comes from a Siberian Tungusic language (Evenki). Different meanings ascribed to it include "one who sees," "one who knows," and "one who sees in the dark" (and all of these, by the way, are true of the shaman). But, what's most important for us to understand at present is that the shaman (as I define it) is someone who goes into an altered state of consciousness and most often makes journeys into a spiritual realm - the Spirit World, this other world that runs parallel to ours. And on those journeys, the shaman can do a great many things.
Shamanism is a path of direct revelation, meaning that it allows for individual spiritual independence. In shamanic work, you get in touch with the helping spirits yourself. You gain spiritual knowledge through your own firsthand experiences. You can access guidance and healing help for yourself, as well as for others.
It is the oldest spiritual practice known to humankind. And we see shamanism, in past or present, practiced all around the world. The shaman, as Ingerman and the late anthropologist Hank Wesselman have pointed out, including in their book Awakening to the Spirit World, is a universal figure - one found in virtually every culture.
Shamans across time have filled many vital roles. They divine useful information for their community or for themselves. They perform spiritual healing work, by bringing soul energy back that may have been lost in a trauma, removing harmful energies that don't belong, or calling in many other kinds of individualized spiritual support for another. They perform ceremonies for their communities, such as those to welcome a child into the world, celebrate a marriage, acknowledge a death or a transition, or any other relevant purpose. They help to hold a balance between humankind and the natural world. And they can serve as a guide of souls, helping those who are dying to have a good transition Home, and assisting a soul that may have gotten stuck in that transition to move on into a transcendent reality. Shamans also embody their own inner divine light in order to ignite great healing for themselves, others, and all of life. That profound work can be called "transfiguration," or "healing with spiritual light." Clearly, the shaman and shamanic practitioner can wear many hats.
Shamanism is sometimes called a methodology. And while shamanic practice does contain many methods for accomplishing the goals outlined above (and more), shamanism is also a way of life. It's a way of relating to our environment, to all that is. It's a way of living in harmony with the energetic truths of our world. It's a way of living in harmony within our own selves. It's a way of using our words, our thoughts, our daydreams, and our behaviors in a way that serves not only ourselves, but our collective, and recognizing that we are connected in this big, tremendous web of life. It is such a gift, to walk in this truth, especially in these times where people can feel so disconnected. And I think the more that we can bring those daily ways of living in, the more benefit and beauty that we can bring to the collective.
I mentioned earlier that the shaman will go on journeys into the other realm. Again, these journeys can be done to access knowledge, guidance, healing help, and other forms of spiritual support. The journey itself - known as the shamanic journey - is a core feature of shamanism. To perform this ceremony, the shaman will enter an altered state of consciousness (which they access by way of either plant medicine ("drugs") or, as many do, by drumming, singing, rattling, chanting, and otherwise-monotonous sound), and in that slower brainwave, "take their bodies with them" on a sensorially-engaged "spiritual flight" into another reality. This other reality goes by many names, such as the Spirit World, the Other Side, or, in the words of Carlos Castenada (of whose work I am not a student, but whose terminological contributions here I surely appreciate and utilize), non-ordinary reality. Non-ordinary reality is parallel to our reality, which (again using a Castenada term) I call ordinary reality.
There is a cross-cultural understanding that, within non-ordinary reality, there are three worlds - the Lower, Middle, and Upper Worlds. I won't harp too much on these at present. But on a basic level, the Upper and Lower Worlds are completely outside of our physical space. They are realms entirely of unity, love, peace, and healing. In those realms, we can meet incredible helping, compassionate, transcendent spirits. There are spirits in animal form, such as power animals. There are religious figures, departed ancestral spirits that have transcended after death, or other kinds of teachers in human form that can offer us very powerful wisdom and healing help. There are many other kinds of spirits, too, but these are two classic ones that shamans work with.
The Middle World is the spiritual aspect of our physical world. Here, we have both light and dark, beauty and suffering, pain and blessings, and everything in between. When you journey in the Middle World, as a shaman might do to perform remote healing work, check in on somebody long-distance, or visit a space in nature that's meaningful to them, you can interact with spirit allies in nature. But there are some energies in the Middle World that are not quite evolved, not quite ready to help us (recall, now, the stuck souls that I mentioned earlier). That's another big subject. At any rate, it's important to know how to navigate this realm safely. When we work with the divine spirits who are ready to help us personally from the Upper and Lower Worlds, we can navigate both non-ordinary and ordinary reality more effectively.
So, this is what some of the shaman does, but personally, I feel that the shaman, even if they're not doing or saying anything, if they're just healing by their presence, healing by their light, that's such an incredible way of working - and one of the evolutions of our own consciousness at this time.
Some of you might be feeling quite called to shamanic practice or to learning a bit more about it. The way that I would recommend doing so is taking a look at shamanicteachers.com. There, you will find a circle of highly-experienced, well-trained teachers who are trained to ethically teach and/or practice by Sandra Ingerman, a world-renowned psychotherapist and shamanic teacher. We can help you to access this non-ordinary reality, meet up with your own helping spirits, explore living a shamanic way of life, and teach you advanced shamanic healing methods once you have the fundamentals down.
Shamanism is such a rich, difficult, expansive, intense, and truly beautiful and profoundly-ineffable path. It is an incredible practice of spiritual freedom, and an awe-inspiring way of love - accessed from both our world, and the world beyond.
I wish you many warm blessings, and I look forward to joining you in your further shamanic studies!
