Talking More About Shamanism
My Experiences
Okay, I’m stumped for now. It’s an overload of information, and I’m not sure this is the appropriate time to talk about shamanism in my book “My Psychic Life.” My experience has been spotty, and not often, though every time I have had an exchange in the ways of a shaman and on shamanic journeys, it has not been ordinary. However, I have to figure it is not all ordinary in the first place.
My quandary is I wanted to speak of those experiences even though I cannot now call myself a shaman. What is happening is I am being led to more and more information. So, I do a lot of reading and not so much writing, which I use as a discovery method anyway. It’s just the level of the writing that goes from my own journal to these pages at Medium to, finally, a book. I guess I just need to talk about it.
The one thing I am unable to do with what I might, at this point, call acceptable and most expected shamanic practices is to imbibe in hallucinogens. I am an addict. Period. No more discussion about it. I know first-hand what it is like to experience otherworldly exchanges.
So, because I don’t do that anymore, I also learned to be a medium without it. Now, I am in constant contact with folk in spirit. Even, sometimes with plants, sometimes with animals, a couple of times with my food (a chicken leg that talked back), and in the dream state with everybody. I can even claim to have once listened to a plastic lawn chair. It was an ugly business, which I don’t want to repeat, but I’m glad to have had the experience; tortured, grating sounds are what I remember.
I’m pretty much game for anything.
I think being a shaman might be like being a medium, just different names and a different sort of arena. Maybe.
This is going to have to be done, I think, with a whole lot more exposure to people who are shamans, both through reading their books, watching interviews, and perhaps training on YouTube videos. It might be that I need to attend some workshops and online training, which, thanks to Covid, are new modalities that can be used for remote learning.
In all honesty, I must report I heard a hoot of laughter from spirit when I spoke of remote learning. I am reminded that in my journey toward becoming a medium, it was what I learned in books; it was visiting other mediums, and the learning with my guide commenced when I became a medium.
These were not outrageous lessons. It was more to develop a focus and concentration so that I could hold a connection with spirit that began to last longer and be more productive. This is still going on. It was more to learn to read on the astral with the help of my guide. It became, in a sense, remote learning before it was the remote learning we experience online today.
What do people say? There is nothing new under the sun.
Thanks for reading. Comments?
The Links: 1. The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner — Link at Amazon 2. Foundation for Shamanic Studies founded by Michael Harner 3. Pure Shamanic Drum Journey — Deep Trance Meditation — YouTube 4. Fast Shaman Medicine Drum; 45 Min. Shamanic Journey — YouTube 5. The Reluctant Shaman: A Woman’s First Encounters with the Unseen Spirits of the Earth by Kay Cordell Whitaker — Link at Amazon
