Table of Contents
What are shamans ?
The Tungis word “shaman” means “one who sees in the darkness”. The shaman uses his ability to travel to a world not visible to the eyes, to find information there and to bring healing to the person seeking help.
The aspiration of the shamans is to guide the individual back to harmony and well-being.
What shamanism is NOT
Let’s start with what is commonly heard … Shamanism …
- is not a religion, sect or church
- is not a science, nor is it in competition with medicine or any religion.
- is no esoteric fuss and
- has nothing to do with “light and love” and loss of reality.
Shamanism is a world view
“Shamanism is a holistic nature-based worldview and way of looking at the world and the connections in nature (humans are a part of nature!), seeing something with different eyes and working with body, mind and spirit in a very practical way.
Jörg Mäsing, coach, management consultant and druid.
And, excitingly, has a lot in common with the world’s oldest healing art, Ayurveda.”
Everything is connected
In shamanism everything consists of three parts: Body, mind and soul.
And everything is connected with everything. It is like a big net. There are many nodes and at whichever point you pull there is a movement in the entire network. You influence the whole system, everything changes!
The North American natives say “Everything that casts a shadow has a soul”. That describes it quite well, and so the shamanic practitioner looks at his environment in a way that is not just about the purely material / external / visible. He looks beyond and / or behind.
So he is able to look at the momentary situation, the illness, the pain, the history of the person, with different eyes. He changes perspectives.
Four levels of observation
In the shamanic worldview, there are four levels that have very different ways of looking at things.
- The first level is that of the physical material, symbolized by the persona of the snake.
It considers “the obvious.” Instinct-driven. It is a matter of sheer survival. - Above this is the mental emotional level, symbolized as the persona of the predatory cat.
Curious. Questioning “why is what happening”. She sees well in the dark, in secret, finds what needs to be found. - The level above is the level of the soul – as a persona, for example, the eagle or another large bird.
Looking from the top, seeing the big picture, hovering above it all with a wide view, and then pouncing on something when it’s right and important. - Above this is the level of spirituality.
The holistic view, or the divine level, the great consciousness. The connection to and with everything.
From each of these levels, one and the same situation looks completely different, from different angles, with different emphases, with different requirements for one’s own needs.
And the bottom line is that it’s only really good when we manage to serve the needs of more than just one level.
This is exactly what shamanic practitioners do.
Everything has its own energy / spirit / will
Looking at current situations in life from a shamanic perspective is also so helpful because it involves looking at the details as well as looking at the big picture.
In their centuries of observation of nature, shamanic practitioners of all cultures recognized that everything material has its own energy and spirit/will.
Nature, people, stones, rivers, companies, houses, diseases, emotions, ancestors, beliefs, curses, etc., everything has its own energy, its own being, its own spirit.
And everything is interwoven.
For example, pain in the shoulder, from a purely medical point of view, can arise from tension or inflammation, and of course a visit to the doctor would be advisable.
From a shamanic point of view, the causes could be found on a completely different level. It could also be an energetic connection, to a person, a place, or a profound incident that finds its expression here.
Each disease has its own “ancient history” that goes along with it, with different energies.
Shamans, simply put, have found in themselves an access to find these different energies, to interpret them and to influence them.
Shamanism was given the same importance as Western medicine in the treatment of psychosomatic diseases by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1980.