| There
is only one great thing
The only thing
To live,
To see the great day that dawns,
And the light that fills the world.
- Inuit song
Shamanism is the oldest spiritual
tradition on the planet, the ancestor of all
spiritual paths. When you trace your bloodlines
back through time, back to the continent where
your bones and genes originated, you will discover
all of your people living shamanically. Our ancestors
relied on the practices of shamanism to communicate
with the unseen world, locate wandering herds
of animals and hidden medicinal herbs, solve
problems using spiritual oracles and heal illness.
It is because shamanism worked so well that our
ancestors survived the rigors and wilds of Paleolithic
and Neolithic living. Imagine the mile high wall
of ice that our European ancestors had to live
with during the ice age and the wooly mammoths,
cave bears and cave lions running wild.
Shamanism was the way of life.
And now in a planet out of balance and harmony,
there is a revival of interest in its healing
ways. Many people are finding themselves called
to the shamanic method of problem-solving and
curing illness, to meet and work with their helping
spirits.
The calls that we receive to create
significant change in our lives or to walk a
spiritual path are wondrous. Where do they come
from? How do we answer? What happens if we ignore
the calls we hear?
In my work with people over the
last thirty years as a vision quest guide and
shamanic teacher and healer, I have had an intimate
role in helping others from all walks of life
listen to the calls they are receiving. Some
are called to give voice to their creativity
or spirituality, improve their work or family
situation, others are called to live what their
soul came into this lifetime wanting to express.
My
call to shamanism came when I was two or three,
living in Michigan. I had a deep rapport with
the spirits of nature and spent a lot of time
in my own places of power talking with the
moon, trees, birds and the spirit of the great
lake. My deepest alliance was with them. There
were no words for this, only the most passionate
feelings of intimacy. I felt their love and
compassion for me; I was seen by them for who
I was and who I would become. Entwined
in the mysticism of nature, I was being called
by the spirits.
Answering the call to the spirits
may be gradual, sudden or even on again, off
again. For me it has been a continuum of finding
my way in a very secular culture and answering
the spirits on ever stronger and deeper levels
of commitment. There were no shamans available
to train me as a child. My maternal grandmother
taught me about herbs, migrating birds and vegetarianism.
My mother insisted we see osteopathic doctors
so there were some alternative medicines around
me, but I had to come to California to find earth-based
healing and shamanism.
The
trail led me to Evelyn Eaton, O’Shinnah Fast Wolf, Raymond Stone and
finally to Michael Harner and Sandra Ingerman.
They pointed the way for me but the discipline
and dedication of fully answering the call was
up to me. A Chinese proverb tells us “teachers
open the door but you must enter by yourself.”
The helping spirits also have a
large role in the inner calls we hear. In shamanism
there is the understanding that it is the spirits
who choose and make the shaman.
They
may call us in our day or night dreams and
in our yearning to be of service as a healer.
They may speak to us through the spirits of
nature in encounters with stars, trees and
wild animals. They may call us through magical
synchronicities — the right book, email
or workshop flyer is given to us in an exact
moment of inner readiness. We may also experience
the call as an inner understanding that the healing
spirits are present here and now in our lives,
inviting attention and connection with them.
The call may be a whisper, a shout,
or an unnamable tug on the heart.
Some get the call to the shamanic
path through abrupt events such as emotional
crisis, life-threatening illness and near-death
experience. There can be a spiritual dimension
to misfortune, calling our attention to the need
to find greater spiritual meaning and healing
for our lives.
One
of the commonly asked questions I hear when
I am teaching shamanism is whether or not an “ordinary person” can answer
his or her call to shamanism and still retain
their daily life. Yes. People from all different
backgrounds and professions — lawyers,
nurses, doctors, professors, nuns, mothers, writers,
fathers, carpenters, architects — learn
shamanic pathways and apply that practice to
improve their lives. Shamanism has survived for
40,000 years because each person becomes his
or her own spiritual authority. It presents a
spiritual methodology that can change and heal
our lives
After
you hear a spiritual call, you have choices.
You can say to the caller, ah sorry, you have
the wrong number. Or you can use call waiting — can you hold please,
I’ll get right back with you … in
a year or two or ten. You can use call forwarding — oh,
my son/daughter/partner/friend is better at this
spiritual path than I am so, here honey, this
call is for you. These are all variations on
the theme of refusing the call. This choice can
be dangerous as well as soul-numbing. It can
lead to depression, accidents, and illness as
the life force is dammed up and thwarted.
The
other choice is — oh,
it’s the spirits calling. I think I want
to take this call, better take this call, need
to take it, have been waiting for this call.
Yes!
Why answer the call from the helping
spirits? Because you are receiving it. It is
an honor and a humbling privilege to partner
with them and work with full compassion on behalf
of ourselves and others who are suffering and
asking for help. In my experience, we are not
given calls and longings without also being given
the help we need to fulfill them. In answering
the call, the healing spirits will then be able
to help you learn, help you grow, help you heal.
What, gentle reader, is the call
you are hearing?
(530)
938-4777
beth@shamanicuniverse.com |
