Working with/training with a Shaman

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AnaisStar
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Working with/training with a Shaman

Post by AnaisStar »

Trying to revive the Shamanism section as it's always very quiet around here. :flyingwitch: I had a friend recently who went on a yoga retreat and part of it was they worked with a Shaman who did a mediation with them, and then a ritual blessing and cleansing. So got me thinking if anyone else has had experiences.

I just started studying Shamanism and found that Ive been doing mostly a shamanism path but didnt know it. I was just doing what felt right to me, and what I was drawn to and drawn to perform. So now Im eager to learn more about continuing on a Shamanism path. So its mostly been me on my own, reading, studying, journeying, etc.

Has anyone done any work with a Shaman? Or trained with a Shaman?

How did you find this person, and what was the experience like for you?
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Kassandra
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Re: Working with/training with a Shaman

Post by Kassandra »

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Thanks for trying to revive this forum, as this is a great subject. Here are a few of my thoughts on this.


Old-School Shamans

Since it is such a community-based path, to really learn it, it seems the best way is to get in good with a certain culture to work with an authentic shaman. But bear in mind, even people from that culture will have great difficulty working with their own shamans. True shamans will put wanna be students through many, shall we say, "endurance tests" to see if they're really serious about committing to an apprenticeship. You don't just walk up to one and say, "Teach me stuff." They'll be like, "Why should I waste my time when you're just going to hit the road as soon as the going gets tough with me (and it will get tough with me)?" Shamans are not known to handle their students with kid gloves. They are rough on them because shamanism isn't a cutesy, fluff bunny path. So, even people from their own cultures have a hard time getting a shaman to commit to teaching them anything (unless it is that shaman's own family member). You have to earn your way into working with a real shaman, and then, you'd better stick to your word, or they will get angry that you wasted their time.

Also, most shamans aren't taught to have this "white magic" "black magic" mentality prevalent in most Western neo-pagan paths today. That has been a recent invention. Sometimes, shamanism involves working with some pretty dark, powerful spirits which could kill you, or kill the person you're trying to help, or both. It could get tricky, much like dealing with the jinn of the Middle East. So, a shaman learns to have a healthy respect for dark energy and live in peace with it. I am somewhat acquainted with a woman who thought shamanism was so neat that she proceeded to ingratiate herself with the Lakota nation tribe members in her region (by sleeping with one of its spiritual leaders, lol, but anyways...). She got in over her head, nearly killed herself in a sweat lodge incident involving entities she didn't have the proper grounding and experience to deal with. Yeah, sleeping with the head shaman didn't give her the free pass in the spiritual world she apparently hoped it would, haha. Shamanism isn't for dilettantes.

Shamans study for decades, through much trial and error. They devote their entire lives to it as it is considered by most cultures to be a "family line" kind of thing, not something you just wake up one day and choose to "be," like an accountant or something. In fact, many shamans go through a near-death experience, known as "shaman sickness," and that's how they discover it is their soul purpose in this lifetime to work as a shaman. Sometimes they get struck by lightening, no joke. For some reason, getting struck by lighting, and/or getting deathly ill from a mysterious illness no doctor could heal --and then surviving it, are worldwide hallmarks of being called to shamanism, in totally different cultures. Maybe that's why true shamans tend to favor giving others endurance tests before accepting them as students. Perhaps they remember their own "initiation" by the universe into shamanism, and misery loves company, lol.



Contemporary Shamans

Today, traditional shamans are also dying out fast. So, good luck finding one. But there are "weekend workshop shamans"-a-plenty, so those are easy to find (and become). I don't know where you live, but they are just a Google search away here in America, around every corner. A lot of them here will say, "Well, I was a real shaman in my past life, so I don't have to study that hard to be one in this life. It just comes automatically to me." All I'll say is, you get what you pay for, and by "pay" I mean if you are taught by one of these types you will get exactly what they "put into" their shaman title, which ain't much.

Now, anthropologist/psychologist, Alberto Villoldo, spent a lot of years living and studying with native shamans, in his case those of Peru. So, I respect his work and what he has to say, though I find his Four Winds Society just a little too New Agey (and expensive) for my taste. But, he did put forth a lot of effort to learn shamanism authentically and that says a lot. Michael Harner and Sandra Ingerman also have made significant contributions toward research and dissemination of shamanic information, as well. There are a few others. The trouble is, all these guys have to spread their teachings via mass media, so you lose the valuable experience and personal touch of working with a real teacher. Shamanism has always been a hands-on-teaching path.


Basically, I think if you accept the limitations of how shamanism is taught and learned today, what with the dearth of authentic shamans available and the geographical (and financial) limitations involved to reach the ones who still are, you should be able to enjoy what you learn and find it somewhat fulfilling, maybe even help a person here and there along the way with what you've learned.

Anyway, those are just my two cents for what it's worth, lol. As to your original questions,
AnaisStar wrote:Has anyone done any work with a Shaman? Or trained with a Shaman? How did you find this person, and what was the experience like for you?
I haven't been struck by lightning or anything yet, thank goodness, so no, that would be a negative at this time. :wink:




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AnaisStar
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Re: Working with/training with a Shaman

Post by AnaisStar »

Oh great reply thank you.

Im a little weary of the weekend Shamans. Haha. I guess I can explore whats out there.

I teach Yoga so Ive been researching the idea of Shamanic Yoga and how the two relate. Pretty interesting. I bring that up because while researching it this morning I came across a great article by Villoldo, so its interesting to see you post his name here. Ill have to look into him a little more.

Thanks for the advice.
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corvidus
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Re: Working with/training with a Shaman

Post by corvidus »

A very old thread, but I'll add my experiences to it for posterity :P
AnaisStar wrote:Has anyone done any work with a Shaman? Or trained with a Shaman?
I have done some work with a Shaman. I met him a few years ago, and after getting to know him and a few of his friends, was invited to visit them all in Europe for an 'exclusive' ceremony. Six days of philosophy, and then a shamanic ceremony. It was one of the most influential events in my life :)

Typically, any real work with a Shaman makes use of Sacred Plants. Tobacco is considered one, and is a bit more 'gentle' on the mind than the others. The intention of the ceremony we did was the pursuit of wisdom towards knowledge and understanding of the Divine.
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Naudia Threng
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Re: Working with/training with a Shaman

Post by Naudia Threng »

I didn't even realize there was a Shamanism section. And I'm a student of shamanism!

The shamanistic path has changed a wee bit. Kassandra Mentioned the "Old School" shamans and the "Contemporary" shaman. But, there is an inbetweener. While most practices of old school shamanism are no longer acceptable in modern culture (i.e. mutilation, starvation, abandonment), the base practices have still been kept up. In ancient times, in order to be a shaman you had to go through a near death experience and then go through a violent and often painful apprenticeship. Nowadays, solitary shamanism is much more common. Shamanism itself is not a Religion, but an ancient method of healing. Shamans are healers first and prophets second.

It is often hard to find shamans nowadays though. It requires work and dedication to follow the path. Few shamans actually use drugs to bring on the SSC anymore. Science has shown that the brain can create its own SSC inducing chemical. This proves that mother nature finds that there is a point in going into SCC and reaching the Under and Uperworlds. Shamanism was bred to change with the clans needs and it does so now. It withstands nature, because it changes. Nature will tear down anything that does not change with the changing of the world.
Last edited by Vesca on Mon Oct 26, 2015 12:45 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Poster is a student of shamanism.
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sillyoldman
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Re: Working with/training with a Shaman

Post by sillyoldman »

Azure Lily I am very interested in your statement that old school shamanism practices are no longer acceptable in modern culture.Could you please explain mutilation starvation and abandonment a little farther.
just a silly old man who knows nothing and has everything to learn.
Vesca
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Re: Working with/training with a Shaman

Post by Vesca »

sillyoldman wrote:Azure Lily I am very interested in your statement that old school shamanism practices are no longer acceptable in modern culture.Could you please explain mutilation starvation and abandonment a little farther.



Just a silly old man who knows nothing and has everything to learn.

Tell us a bit about yourself in the introductions section, we would love to get to know you!
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nightshroud
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Re: Working with/training with a Shaman

Post by nightshroud »

Um, hello can, I come in? *opens door*

Hi everyone.
I'm interested to learn about shamanism but umm I'm nervous about asking.

Um, if anyone is willing to work with me I won't hit the road when things get tough.
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Crazy Cat Lady
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Re: Working with/training with a Shaman

Post by Crazy Cat Lady »

I would also love to learn more about shaminism. I'm pretty sure it's not my path, but I'm starting to think my hubby might be an....accidental? Natural? Shaman... I'm going to be doing a lot of research to see if this really fits or if he is something else. His entire life is a near death experience (his doctors have *no* clue what to do with him and he has random medical crises that start and stop inexplicably, ive personally witnessed him recieving last rights on at least a dozen occasions) he Astral projects and does all sorts of stuff that way, communicates with 'stuff' and animals, uses (and is able to 'borrow' 'life energy' [his words] at will), and has numerous spirit guides, does some healing, has prophetic dreams/visions, and learned it all through intuition and his guides. On a few occasions he has channeled *something* accidently. Well, not accidently so much, just *he* wasn't planning it, lol. I'm going to dig into this a bit, as it looks like a possibility on the surface. It might give us a bit of direction for more intentional learning.
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Re: Working with/training with a Shaman

Post by SpiritTalker »

I feel learning thru intuition is the most authentic means of truly knowing something. And a guide is one of the best teacher-companions out there. It takes spiritual wisdom to walk the fine line between what is real amidst realms and what is misinterpreted imagining. We still have to function in the mundane as well. It's like walking on a teeter totter. There's a point where if you go too far out gravity pulls you into a slide with your arms windmilling for that precious balance.
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