A Shaman is one who develops a personal and intimate relationship with the Unseen world for the purpose of being of service as a healer. This relationship is cultivated experientially through self-induced altered states of consciousness, ritual ceremony, and refined energetic awareness.
Shamanism is not a religion, it is a spiritual practice grounded in a reverent awareness that the world is animated, conscious, and energetically interdependent.
Guiding Principles
1. Everything is alive (animation/vitalism). Everything manifests a physical form from the same animated essence. The shaman attends to this essence.
2. Everything is conscious (vigilance/observation). Everything watches us. The world is mirrored within us. The shaman learns to be a visionary observer.
3. Everything is interconnected (relationship/reciprocity). Everything responds to and is in interdependent relationship to everything else. The shaman is a mediator of these interconnections and interdependent relationships.
4. Everything transforms (movement/change). Matter is dense form of spirit. Spirit is the subtle form of matter. Everything is in vibrational flux. The shaman is an agent of change.
5. Everything responds to focused intention (mindful/attention). Proper intention and purity of motive are indispensable for all heartfelt shamanic practice. The shaman must thoroughly know him or herself in order to help others.
The shaman’s task is to come into right relationship and reverent communion with the Seen and Unseen world, so as to mediate between worlds on behalf of community.