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Shamanism and the Shaman
The shamanic experience and shamanism
The
shamanic journey
A
shamanic initiation
Related topics
The shaman is an individual who has, what can be called, a profound
mystical experience that completely changes their life. The
experience amounts to more to having an accident, the
Ultimate Accident, where they are thrust into an alternative
reality. The original or true shamanic experience, is a mystical
experience where the individual has an experience of the Source of
Creation independent of any particular spiritual or religious
tradition including the traditions, social or otherwise, native to
the individual’s immediate world. Often this immediate world is the
shamans family, tribe or extended local family. The original and or
true shamanic experience was, and still is, probably the mystical
experience that is the purest and most free of any beliefs of mind.
The shamanic
experience and shamanism (Top)
It is said the original or
true shamanic experience because traditionally, a person became a
shaman only after they had some type of unexpected mystical
experience. One did not study or apprentice to become a shaman. The
original shamanic experience often occurred during an illness,
accident or some other mind shifting occurrence. The one who had the
experience did nothing to obtain the experience. That is, they were
not practicing any rituals, reciting any chants or prayers, not
doing nay drumming or anything to induce the experience. It was
after the experience the person became a shaman. Prior to the
experience, the individual did something else and most probably had
no desire, aspiration or even consideration of being a shaman. It
was something that happened to them. In essence, the experience they
had can be called the
Ultimate Accident.
There is a perception by many that shamanism is a practice that can
be learned much like any spiritual or religious tradition. Although
there are techniques and practices that are used by shamans and can
be learned by another, that does not make the practician of such
practices a shaman. To believe so is to greatly misunderstand the
whole idea of the shaman and the true shamanic experience. It is not
something mind can or does choose. It happens. It can be said one is
called by the Universe it its own time and one’s life is profoundly
and irrevocably changed by the experience. To think otherwise is not
to understand what the true shamanic experience really is.
Usually what happened in the tribe was that the individual underwent
some life transforming event. They then sought out the tribe’s
shaman, a medicine man or woman, a tribal elder or the like to
understand what they experienced. It was then an existing shaman or
similar person would take the individual into a apprentice
relationship. Yet the relationship was not to apprentice the
individual but help them to understand, access and use the power the
stumbled into. If the older shaman saw or use the relationship as an
apprenticeship, he or she was doing a disservice to the individual.
The primary marking point for the original or true shamanic
experience is this profound experience allows the shaman to
literally and figuratively “see in the dark” in the sense they can
see into the unseen Creation, the world that is dark to the human
experience.
It is figuratively “dark” because the unseen world is “dark” to the
human mind. That is, mind cannot see and/or understand what is in
the dark. There is no light available to the human mind to readily
see into this world. “No light available” means there is nothing to
provide the contrast to discern one object or entity from another.
This is what en-lighten-ment is all about. It is to “light up” and
see into the unseen world. Spiritual and religious traditions are
all about providing some type or kind of light to seen in the dark.
That is, they provided a way based on their tradition to provide
contrast to the unseen realms. How accurate they are is another
question especially when it come to creative endeavors.
It is literally in that after the experience the shaman retains an
ability to consciously venture into this unseen world. In this world
they do things that can influence or change what occurs in the seen
world. Or, they have “gifts,” such as the
siddhis and/or psychic abilities, which allow them to access
information about the past, present and/or future to influence a
individual or a situation. Exactly what “gifts” become available to
the shaman are unique to the shaman and the world in which he has
the experience. That is, if they live in a native tribe, the
expression of their gifts will be more of that related to medicine
man/woman or tribal healer. If they live in a modern urban area
their will be more in line with the understanding of that time and
place, maybe as a medical doctor, psychologist or the like - maybe
even a creativity consultant.
Many individuals have profound experience that amount to the
Ultimate Accident. In actually the door for such an experience
is opening and closing all the time. However, few are profoundly
changed by such an experience that they completely change their life
because of the experience. It is as thought a doorway within one’s
own mind must also be open when the experience happens to walk
through the doorway that is provided. The trick is to have both
doors open when one has the
Ultimate Accident.
Traditionally the term shaman refers to “seer in the dark.” However,
that concept changed over time. The typical current dictionary
definition of a shaman is that a shaman is a priest or priestess of
shamanism and the shaman is often seen as a magician for people do
know or understand from where the shaman’s powers come. Among native
tribes, the shaman was the tribal medicine man/woman or a wizard of
sorts. Shamanism is originally seen as a primitive, or the
primitive, religion of North East Asia and Europe from where the
term shaman as “seer in the dark” originated. Many of these tribal
religions held that gods, demons, ancestral spirits, and the look
work for the good or ill of mankind. The shaman was seen as the sole
medium through which these unseen forces/entities could be accessed.
In time shamanism referred to any similar religion such as certain
Indian tribes of the North and South America and/or the tribes of
Africa. .
The concept of shamanism is import to creativity for any creative
endeavor takes us into this unseen world. That is what the unknown
is. It is only the unseen realms of Creation out of which our
physical world and experience manifest. Any creative endeavor takes
us into this world whether we realize it or not. In reality, we all
are shamans. Or, maybe better said, we all have a shamanistic aspect
and we use subconsciously use it whenever we enter a creative
endeavor. We each enter the unknown and unseen realms to access what
we need to create what we desire. A shaman discovers this world and
an ability to enter it accidentally. A mystic develops the ability
to enter this world abased on the teaching and perceptions of a
particular religious and/or spiritual tradition. A conscious creator
develops the ability to enter this world through their creative what
they desire and by
holding their creativity sacred.
Since the shaman, mystic and conscious creator each have, or had, a
different reason and/or intention for entering the unseen realms,
often what one of them finds looks totally different and completely
separate from what any one of the others would find. Yet, they are
not. What is different is only their perspective and there are
multiple perspective from which to view the
creative/creation process. If we are able to become a
detached witness and stand apart from whatever we experience and
what we think and believe and look at (1) the entire
creative/creation process and (2) across Creation we will come to
see two primary things.
One thing we will see is there is a oneness to all of Creation.
Everything is ultimately connected to everything else. In this
regard we have either created, or agreed to participate in,
everything we experience. The second is we will see how mind limits
our field of view for the purpose of having the experience of
Creation. We will see the shaman, mystic, conscious creator, as does
each individual, are all accessing the exactly the same things. We
are only viewing them and applying them differently. These two
observations open the door to the untold
creative power/Creative Power and abilities. However, to claim
our birthright and access them and live with them in our life
and accept the changes and consequences that go with them is another
story. How we do that is
our life story and the story we tell.
The shamanic journey (Top)
The shamanic journey is a journey
of discovery and exploration into our unique experience of the
unseen world. It is a journey where we need to rely on our intuitive
guidance and internal compass to guide us in the darkness of the
unseen world, the subconscious world and the unknown. This journey
can be terrifying to our mind and is best done in a state of
creative play. In taking the journey we will have to face all
the reason why we lost the ability to be a state of spontaneous and
innocent childlike play of discovery and exploration of ourselves
and our world. It means we will have to face the
pain of the past and why we lost that ability. Yet the journey
offers an inner bliss and joy that never runs dry no matter what is
happening in our external world.
A
shamanic initiation (Top)
The shamanic initiation is really
about creating the circumstances for an individual to have the
Ultimate Accident. Shamanism by its very nature is unique to the
individual. The Ultimate Accident by its very nature is an accident
- it is not something you can really plan for happening. It just
happens. But as we can create an accident in a automobile, we can
create the circumstances that allow for the
Ultimate Accident.
The shamanic initiation is really about the rebirth of our
consciousness. It is to become the
phoenix and to voluntarily destroy ourselves to reborn from the
ashes. Since the shamanic experience it unique, there is no set
experience a shaman has, but there are common or “traditional”
elements that seem to cut across cultures. Experiencing the types
and kinds of experiences some shamans and mystics have allowed the
individual’s mind to accept the mystical world as his/her world.
That in turn opens the door for the
Ultimate Accident. However, it is not the shamanic or mystical
experiences we have that opens the door. What opens the door is to
return to the most mystical state of being and
most creative state of being - that state of the spontaneous and
innocent childlike play of discovery and exploration of ourselves
and our world. It is to take the shamanic journey.
Related
topics (Top)
The creative spirit and the spirit of spirituality/religion
Creativity and spirituality
Creativity and mysticism
Mysticism and the mystic
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