LEARNING ABOUT SHAMANISM
We welcome beginners – but first please be sure to read the basic instructions below on how to complete a shamanic journey.
A shamanic journey involves lying down on a blanket on the floor and closing your eyes. The monotonous beat of a drum is used to shut off any sound that might distract your attention. You then visualize a journey to another world, where you can contact a guardian spirit for help with questions and problems. When the drumming ends, you bring your attention back to the room. We go around the circle, sharing our visionary adventures, or passing if we do not feel like doing so.
Here are the basic instructions for a first journey to the Lower World, which is an entirely separate world below this one:
1. Lie down and close your eyes, covering them with your arm or a bandanna. Then visualize a place in nature that is sacred to you. Search for some kind of opening downwards – a cave tunnel, the spaces beneath the roots of a tree, a rabbit-hole as in Alice’s journey to Wonderland, a well or pond to dive into, or something similar. Proceed down this passageway and keep going until you eventually see a light ahead, and then emerge into a completely separate world.
2. Look around for an animal and keep looking until one appears. When one does, ask it to show you around this new world.
3. After about 10 minutes, the drummer will beat out a signal to return, followed by a very rapid drumbeat for the quick journey home. Say goodbye to the animal, and return the way that you came. When you arrive back in your sacred place, open your eyes and you will be back in the room.
Not everyone is successful on their first attempt. Moreover, people may vary in how vividly or vaguely they experience their journeys. What is important is to eventually obtain practical results that improve your life and health.
In general, most people find it relatively easy to learn how to journey shamanically. A small minority may take a little while longer to do so. In either case, proficiency is gained by practice.
Questions about the nature of shamanic reality or religious belief in the spirits are a matter for the individual to decide. The question about whether you are making things up is a relative matter. On the one hand, you need to use your own concentration and willpower to initiate and continue a journey in accordance with your intention. On the other hand, things usually happen on a journey that you might not anticipate or predict – that, after all, is the purpose of the journey.
On subsequent journeys, you can ask an animal spirit for help with questions and problems. A power animal or guardian spirit is one who provides assistance and protection to you on a regular basis. It is possible to have several such spirits, specialising in different areas of your life and health.
You can also visit the Upper World in a similar manner, only this time by ascending upwards. You can climb a tree or a mountain, like Jack on his beanstalk; rise like Dorothy in a twister; or ask a bird or other animal to take you for a ride. Keep going until you pass through a layer of clouds, or other equivalent barrier, into a completely separate world.
Besides animals, you may also meet and consult spiritual teachers in human form, such as shamans and prophets of old, deities of different cultures and religions, as well as your own ancestors. The Other World of shamanism is an infinite source for receiving practical wisdom and healing power. In order to treat the sacred spirits with respect, it is important not to speak too casually about your experiences in public.
The basic instructions above are all you need to read and remember before attending the Circle. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them at any point during the evening. If you wish to learn more by reading, or to be taught in greater detail, see below.
Beginners may learn more by reading one of the following introductory books:
Tom Cowan's book, Shamanism as a Spiritual Practice (available from www.shamanism.org or your local library).
Sandra Ingerman's book, Shamanic Journeying: A Beginner's Guide (available from www.soundstrue.com or your local library).
Beginners may wish to be taught in greater detail how to journey:
-- if you are interested in being taught in a private setting,
please get in touch with our contact person Emily at www.goteamalist.com.
-- if you are interested in being taught in a workshop setting,
consult your local New Age publications and bookstores;
or look for the "Basic Workshop" on the website of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies at www.shamanism.org,
or on the website of "Down to Earth -- The Shamans Circle" at www.shamanscircle.com,
or on the website of Eye of the Eagle Center at www.eyeofeagle.org.