A word on shamanism.

[Shadow]

We've had many people who have come here recently saying things like I would like to follow a shamanic path, or something to that effect.  I would just like to say, no wouldn't like it, probably not even a little.

I'll try to explain this.

The shamanic path, in my experience, is not one that is simply chosen the way someone can, say, choose to become an Episcopalian rather than a Catholic.  It has been my observation that the path chooses the shaman not the other way around.  Becoming a shaman is an initiatory process that can take years, and those years are rough.  They can include years of pain, depression and self doubt, even madness to one degree or another.  Many who find themselves on this path deny the path fervently.  Of course denying it does no good, it isn't something you can simply turn away from and expect to just "get on with your life".  Many people who have tried to turn away from the shamanic path end up dead or insane.

For those who haven't read this http://branwenscauldron.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4136 it gives a brief description of just one journey.  This journey is highly initiatory but is by no means the beginning or the end of my personal initiatory process.  This journey is just one more step on the path that has been put before me.  It is not a path that I have chosen.  Believe me, I would not have chosen to go through the life I have lead to get to htis point.  It is the path which I have accepted and that acceptance has brought me some peace.

In many legends we hear of people who fall into madness or severe illness for long periods of time (the most usual is seven years).  Then if they survive they return to the community able to do shamanic work (healings, soul retrievals, etc.).  Of course they don't write stories about those who don't survive the first phase of the initiatory process.

Then after you come to realize and believe that you are on a shamanic path you get to deal with the rest of the world.  A world that believes, no matter how erroneously, that it has outgrown the need of shaman.

Of the pagan paths, (although, you don't have to be pagan to be a shaman) it is my belief that shamanism is the hardest to walk faithfully.

[Rowan CedarWolf]

I absolutely agree with you. I have met many "wanna be" shamans, very few are legit. I call what I do wicca with a shamanic flavor because of the type of healing and journeying I do. I meant no disrespect in any way and if I did inadverently offend I apoligize here and now.  I do not now or ever claim to be a shaman, I do however use some of the tools of the shaman, such as spirit medicine etc. I do not think I could walk the path of shaman, although in my eyes the ones that do are quite couragous and stong. I consider those that are shamans quite noble.

[Sewa Yoleme]

What Shadow said.  Seriously.

I'd like to underscore the notion that the shamanic call is really not a choice at all. Or rather, the choice is simply to accept the call or to reject it (and woe to those who choose the latter).

Now, many people are able to learn shamanic techniques and apply them to their lives in ways that are fulfilling and empowering. And I would say that a shamanic worldview, and the shamanic "toolkit," is often found underlying other spiritual traditions. But I think that's very a different thing from becoming a shaman.

For me, becoming a shaman depends on two factors: undergoing the initiatory "call," usually the prolonged series of trials that Shadow described so well; and being recognized by one's community as having a shamanic "ministry" (for lack of a better word) among them. In other words, very few shamans are solitaries---they are attached to a tribe or a community whom they serve.

Shadow is not exaggerating when he says that not all who experience the initiatory calling survive the process. I think part of the harshness is to open the individual to greater depths and breadths, to make him or her so sensitive and so strong (spiritually, emotionally, even physically) that one becomes able to withstand great stressors and sense great subtleties. And that can be a tremendous blessing in itself.

.:. Sewa Yoleme

[Anonymous]

For want of sounding stupid ......   I know absolutely nothing about Shamanism.   Obviously, I've never felt a calling towards Shamanism but I'd like to know a little more about it for pure interest.        Is there any literature that you can recomend ?

Many thanks      Kate.

[Sewa Yoleme]

Kate, I'm so sorry---I never saw your question back in June!

I've just answered a similar query from Aurora; see if my reply there helps clarify things for you. Here's the link to the post.

One of the references in that post is to a Shamanism FAQ that has a reading list, which is good to get you started until I can compile an annotated bibliography of books I've found helpful on the subject.

.:. Sewa Yoleme