The emergence of shamanic practices in the modern world has brought a very ancient approach to the individual, one which has been in use on this planet for thousands of years, and which still works in a very practical way. In shamanic work, the healer and/or the patient enters an altered state of consciousness for the purpose of finding direction for healing, or finding lost energy, power, or vitality to facilitate the healing process.
Shamanic practices include:
In shamanic cultures, the core belief is that the waking world in which we live is not the real world, but an illusion. The Australian aborigines refer to the world which they access through altered states of perception as the Dreamtime. It is possible for us to be liberated from the blindness and confusion of our lives by connecting to this real world, to the wise and compassionate beings who live there, who are eager to help us and guide us in our lives.
Modern mind-body medicine has come to understand the central role of unresolved trauma in the genesis of a wide variety of diseases, including psychiatric and medical conditions. Shamans have known this for thousands of years. When we suffer a trauma, that is, an overwhelming event in which we feel helpless and very frightened, the shaman says that we survive this by splitting off a part of our soul. That part leaves, taking with it some of our essence, our vitality. During the trauma, we are not “all there” and often feel afterward as if some part of us died, that we are not whole any longer. Shamans treat this dilemma by restoring vital force either through Power Animal retrievals or Soul Retrievals. The shaman can “journey” (by going into an altered state of consciousness) to other realms to find lost soul parts of the patient, or to find helpful, powerful beings who present themselves as animal beings, such as the Horse, the Eagle, or the Bear. This is not a psychological treatment, not an effect on the mind or feelings alone, but an actual restoration of personal power. The effects of soul retrieval can be quite dramatic.
The shamanic practitioner can see in the person's body where there are negative energies, intrusions of thought forms or energies which are draining to the person. He/she then extracts this material with the help of spirits from other levels of being, and returns it to the Earth where it can be reintegrated into life in a less destructive way, or asks the helping spirits to transform the negativity into a more enlightened state of being.
Sometimes, these intrusions are actual beings, such as people who have died and not crossed over. These suffering souls attach themselves to a living person in order to sustain their energies, which they cannot do without a body. In this case, it is called possession. Depossession is more complex than extraction, but is a similarly compassionate action. The person who does not belong in the patient's body can be shown how to leave and how to find his/her place in the afterlife, where he/she belongs, instead of continuing to draw energy from the body of the patient. It sometimes happens that the addictive behavior of the patient disappears after the depossession, as if the drinking or self-mutilation the patient was doing was not really their own interest, but that of the now departed soul.
In a typical shamanic journey for a beginner, here is what happens:
While drumming or rattling (or listening to a recording of drumming or rattling) you visualize yourself going into a hole in the ground, a hollow tree, into a pond or some similar entrance point into the Earth. You enter a tunnel or cave that is very dark. You continue through the tunnel until you come to the end. You emerge into a natural setting of some sort. You step out of the tunnel into this beautiful place and look around, taking in the sights, the colors, the shapes. You listen to the sounds, sniff the air, touch the trees or bushes or ground. You take in the feeling of the place. This is the Lower World. This is where the Power Animals live. You announce yourself to this world. “I am here to find my Power Animal.” You notice which animals appear.
After while, you will find that one particular animal has appeared to you more than once. When one of them appears to you four times, he/she is your Power Animal. You can address him, asking him if he is to be your Power Animal. He will say yes if he is or say no or be silent if he isn't. Then you can ask what special qualities he has that he is bringing to you, adding to your abilities. You can ask what teaching he has for you. You can pull him toward yourself, taking him into your heart. Then you return back through the tunnel to your starting point.
For a more complete description of basic shamanic journeying skills, see Michael Harner's The Way of the Shaman or Sandra Ingerman's Basic Shamanism.
