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Shamanic Healing

The earliest known herbalists of every culture were shamans – important men or women whose instincts were raised to a highly intuitive level through years of training to develop their inner eye. This deeper perception enabled them to communicate directly with the plant and spirit world, and to visit other realities through their own spirit allies.

Origins

Shamanistic practices are said to predate all organised religions, dating back to the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods. Many shamanic traditions, including European, Tibetan, Mongolian, Korean, Japanese, and Native American from both North and South America, originally came from Siberia and metamorphosed as they traveled to other parts of the world. African slaves took their shamanic traditions to America, where they merged divination and other rituals with Christian practices to produce, for example, Haitian voodoo (vodou), Cuban santería, and Brazilian candomblé. Elsewhere, shamanism became absorbed into religion, clearly shown in, for example, Tibetan Buddhism. In some cultures, the early shamans were known as priest physicians. They were also sorcerers, magicians, diviners; intermediaries between the mortal and the spirit worlds.

Contemporary Shamanism

Today, shamanism is still alive and well especially in Siberia. It exists in a variety of different forms, mainly among indigenous peoples in rural areas, often as the main form of treatment available. It is also found in cities and shantytowns, particularly in Africa, Central America and South America, where it is an important part of the culture and used alongside, or as an alternative to, any available modern medicine. Belief in witchcraft and sorcery, known as brujeria in South America, is still prevalent in many shamanic societies. Some cultures, including several from Africa, distinguish shamans who cure from sorcerers who harm, while others believe that all shamans have the power to both cure and kill. Shamanism is also still practiced in South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Inuit and Eskimo cultures, Papua New Guinea, Australia and Tibet.

The Shaman's Journey

In some cultures the shaman's powers are believed to be inherited, while in others a shaman follows a “calling”, sometimes from their dreams, and endures rigorous training. Initiation occurs often through a transformational experience, which could be a serious illness, or being struck by lightning. In North America, Native Americans may seek communion with the spirit world through a “vision quest”, while an aspiring shaman in South America might apprentice themselves to a respected shaman.

Shamans enter altered states of consciousness, often ecstatic trance states, journeying to the beat of a drum or rattle, or using singing, music, sweat lodges, vision quests, or fasting to communicate with other realms of reality and the entities that guide them (a teacher, a spirit guide from the animal or plant world or a totem), asking for wisdom and guidance. In this way they gain their knowledge and power. The shaman's journey is intended to help the patient or community to rediscover their connection to nature and spirit. In the Ecuadorian and Peruvian rainforests, shamans are known as curanderos. Some base their healing work on the use of ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic plant that can induce divine revelation and healing, mental and emotional as well as physical. Visiting an Ayahuasquero has become popular among Western spiritual seekers who can now go on tours into the jungle for just this purpose.

Other Native American shamans alter their consciousness through the use of mind altering plants such as psychedelic mushrooms, cannabis, San Pedro cactus, peyote, datura, fly agaric and salvia divinorum. In so doing, shamans can put themselves at risk. They therefore use rituals to protect themselves from enemies and rivals in the spirit and human world. Many of the plants they use are poisonous in large doses, and not being able to return from out of body experiences can be fatal. These plants are best used under the guidance of an authentic shaman.

Illness in shamanism is generally attributed to spiritual causes. It could be the bad will of another towards the patient, the work of evil spirits, witchcraft or divine intervention, and both spiritual and physical methods are used to heal, depending on what is recommended in the spirit world. In the healing rituals the shaman will “enter the body” of the patient to confront and banish the spirit responsible. Incense and aromatic plants are often burnt as tools of transformation to help transport the minds of the participants to another dimension – the origins of modern aromatherapy. Spells, incantations, amulets and ritual dances are used to dispel or placate the spirits thought to be responsible for the patient's ill health.

Shamanism Today

There has been a surge of interest in shamanic culture in the past few years, and many contemporary therapists are incorporating some of the traditional practices into their work. Some are attracted to healing practices from the East or Native American traditions, while others access the roots of European shamanism, with its mystical beliefs and practices that were suppressed by the Christian church.

In their healing work, a shaman can bring about transformation of the energy and experience of the patient. Loss of vital energy from stress, trauma, illness, or accidents can cause what is known as “soul loss” and this is remedied by “soul retrieval” where the energy and part of the patient's life that has been traumatised is returned and healed. Loss of power, caused by stress, pressure, abusive relationships, lack of love and support for example, leading to feelings of low self esteem, can be remedied through the shaman's connection to their patient's power animal; they can re-empower the patient through enhancing their own relationship to their power animal and enable them to make changes in their lives. Plant spirit medicine, in which the shaman calls on the healing spirit of a plant to help the patient, often forms part of the healing. Plant spirits can be summoned by songs. Totem items like rocks with special powers are also used.

A Tongan shaman in Zambia sits among his remedies, which include gourds and animal horns.

Peyote is used by Native American shamans to free their minds from everyday consciousness.