Introduction to Shamanism:
Shamanism is the oldest spiritual
practice that we know of today and it underlies the cosmologies of
indigenous peoples around the world.
From a shamanic point of view,
everything is alive and everyone is interrelated with everything else. This
does not only include our human relations, animals, and plants, but also the
beings and elements of nature – the rocks, stars, rivers, wind, fire, and
the earth itself. Shamanism recognizes that we live in a universe of both
ordinary reality, this physical world, and non-ordinary reality,
the world of the spirits. Knowledge of both these worlds is vitally
connected to the well-being of all.
To this day many
tribal cultures know the reality of a spiritual side of Nature and the need
to live in good relationship with those spirit beings. Despite the grievous
loss of many of the world’s indigenous cultures and their shamanic
knowledge, we still have access to our original spiritual roots. Our
ancestral worldview is not lost and there are many doorways left to us to
recover our heritage of ancestral wisdom.
At this time of world
wide environmental crisis, the ancient methods of Shamanism can play a vital
role in the attempt to restore balance and harmony with all our relations –
human, animal & plant – and with the Earth.
Shamanism provides us
with something that is otherwise largely lacking in our Western worldview
namely, a reverence for and spiritual communion with other beings of the
earth and with the planet itself. These ancient ways invite us to step out
of our normal realms of how we perceive and relate to the world, and enter
into an expanded openness of heart and consciousness. They provide us with
methods that give us the opportunity to heal the rift between Nature and
ourselves, a healing based on the simple understanding that actions have
consequences and that humankind must assume its responsibilities in the
unfolding of our global destiny.
The worldview of
shamanism provides us with an effective and profound way to reconnect with
Nature and embrace a sense of the infinite power and wisdom found in the
spiritual world. Following the lead of spirit, we can heal the wounds of
disconnection from Nature thereby enhancing our own well-being and that of
Mother Earth.
‘When people and Nature are in perfect harmony,
then magic and beauty are everywhere’.
