What is Shamanism?

Shamanism is the most ancient spiritual practice known to humankind and is the ancestor of all our modern religions. As a method, it is a form of meditation combined with the focused intention to accomplish various things. As a spiritual practice, shamanism can become a way of life that may utterly transform the one who practices it.

The word “Shaman” comes from the language Evenki peoples, a Tungisic tribe in Siberia. This is a word whose meaning has to do with esoteric knowledge and extraordinary spiritual abilities and as such is Shaman is often to defined as an intermediary between the human and the spirit world. In shamanic cultures, the word “Shaman” has come to mean “the one who sees in the dark “or “the one who knows.”

Most of what we know about the ancient practice of Shaman of them comes from the ethnographic fieldwork done among the tribal peoples of Siberia, Asia, Africa, Australia, Greenland, Saami of Lapland. The existence of technical papers, monographs, and books about shamanism is only expanding, but suffice it to say that we have come to know that the shaman is a universal figure found in virtually all the world’s cultures.

Soul Retrieval

Most of us are looking for a strong sense of self. We find that the only feelings of wholeness come from within. We find that outer security is false and that we must feel secure inside ourselves. When we are all here, or home, it’s much easier to feel peaceful and secure and in harmony with the greater whole, the universe. We can look to nature to give us an example of this.

When parts of the soul split often vanish into non-ordinary reality, leaving a person in a weakened, dispirited condition, it is the job of the shaman to restore wholeness. In order to bring back what is missing, the shaman must leave everyday consciousness and venture into the spirit world. From the classical shamanic viewpoint, the spirit world is a complex, multidimensional land full of potential dangers for the uninitiated. Only a shaman is able to navigate skillfully among the beauties and the dangers found there. For thousands of years, the shaman’s calling has been to journey to the inner spirit world in order to obtain information for healing and to retrieve the lost souls of clients.

Past Life Regression & Progression

Hypnotic regression is the process in which a person in hypnosis recalls a memory or series of memories from the subconscious mind. While in hypnosis a person’s awareness is heightened and memories can become much more vivid. Also, there is easier access to the emotions. And because of the heightened suggestibility that occurs as the subconscious mind is accessed, insights can have a much greater impact than they would normally have.

Major events from childhood and infancy, both positive and negative in nature, can have a tremendous impact, and expectancies that result from these experiences continue to affect us in our lives. Events in extreme cases can serve as an imprint, a powerful single impact learning experience that greatly influences our ways of experiencing ourselves and the world. Much hypnotherapy is about dehypnotizing ourselves from the limiting influences of significant negative experiences from the past. In many cases, a potent aspect of effective hypnotherapy can be regression to facilitate more thorough and lasting results.

Rites of Passage

Ceremonies that mark important transitional periods in a person’s life.
Rites of passage usually involve ritual activities and teachings designed to strip individuals of their original roles and prepare them for new roles.