Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Shamanic Journey – The Way of the Shaman

I still remember many years ago both the excitement and the trepidation I had upon enrolling in the Beginning Shamanism class at the Esoteric School. I had completed all the magic classes offered and was a bit scared of my perception of shamanism. I couldn't resist going down this path after all the life changing discoveries I experienced in the magic classes, but I admit now that I was somewhat intimidated and a bit skeptical that I could perform such shamanistic feats as going out of body, conversing with spirits and exploring other realms. It all sounded so mysterious.

I look back now and see that this class was a beginning, a Shamanic journey that started me on the road to following the way of the shaman. I did learn the lessons and techniques, but that class was the springboard for a lifestyle change. A shaman is an original researcher working in the Sciences of Religion and Magic. The shaman has meaningful direct communication with higher beings (and possibly lower level entities) to advance man's knowledge. The information obtained can be used just to increase the body of knowledge, for healing, divination, and many other things. Following the way of the shaman means that information is obtained from all sorts of physical and non-physical beings.

By learning techniques to interview and communicate with a wide spectrum of beings and expanding my spirit perceptics way beyond the 5 senses most of us use, I have found new meaning in Metaquiason (we are all one). Following the way of the shaman is a pathway of developing spiritually and embarking on personal inner growth. It also leads us to developing our inborn abilities, perceptic powers and seek power and help from all that is around us. In these present times where we are surrounded by electromagnetic fields of white noise and ruled by technology, many of us don't have a sense of the spiritual insights, powers and abilities that we were born with. The way of the shaman takes us back to a time when the abilities and powers we had were understood and not seen as something extraordinary, something to be feared or something that society shunned. It also leads us to discover who we really are, develop an awareness of how we are connected to everything and everyone else and find our places in the Universe.

If all this sounds intriguing, following the way of the shaman may be for you too. Developing your spirit perceptics is a place you can start exploring. Through the spirit perceptics shamans are able to gather much more information than is available to the 5 senses of the physical body. It takes time to develop these senses so don't be discouraged if you don't get the results you want in the beginning. Just keep practicing. An easy way to start is to learn to expand on a sense that you are already familiar with and use like hearing.

Exercise:
  • Sit in a comfortable, quiet location
  • Close your eyes and relax (maybe do some deep breathing)
  • Draw an imaginary circle about a foot in diameter around you
  • Listen to the sounds you hear within this circle and identify each
  • Start with the common sounds, ie – children laughing, leaves rustling, someone walking by. Then move on to more obscure sounds that we usually wouldn't notice, ie – the wind blowing softly, an ant walking
  • Then you can move on to widening your circle and doing the same thing.
  • See how big your circle can become. A block, 5 blocks, a mile?

The more you practice, the more you will stop listening with your physical ears and start listening with your spirit ears. This could be your first step on your shamanic journey, the path to following the way of the shaman.

If you find this is a path for you, check out the Basic Shamanism Homestudy course at the Esoteric School.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Or, visit our website for more great resources.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shaman2477/2717869545/

1 comment:

  1. I've been away from this (practice) for so long that I feel lost and not in control. The hardest part is quieting the mind - there is so much (worry) going on that distracts and takes me out of focus. I would like to hear more about quieting the mind.

    Thanks for your posts - they are very helpful.

    ReplyDelete

Have a comment, complaint, compliment, rant or rave? Tell us!