What Shamanism Means to Me

The role of the shaman is simply to be a conduit for compassionate helping spirits to provide healing, guidance and messages. Compassionate helping spirits can come in many forms – angels, deceased loved ones, a person who lived on this earth in another time in history, a power animal, or something we have never experienced in this ordinary reality. Our spirit helpers often come with different “medicines” or strengths. For example, if we look at power animals – the healing of a spirit helper in the form of a swan may bring forth very different gifts than a healing of a spirit helper in the form of a horse. Each one is with us for a reason, to help us along our path in this ordinary reality, and it is up to us to connect with them on a regular basis to better understand what medicine they bring to us. Some spirit helpers stay with us our entire lives, while others come and go as we need their help and support. Think of these spirit helpers as a team of angels that have been given to us to help us along our journey in life.

Growing up, I always believed I had God’s angels taking care of me, and now being a shamanic practitioner, these spirit helpers, to me, are God’s angels. I understand that everyone has their own religion or faith, and shamanism is not that. It is a way of life, a way of being, and a way to fully understand that everything on this Earth has consciousness – animals, plants, rocks, water, wind, fire, the Earth itself.  The list can go on, but let’s stop for a moment and think of what our world would look like if every single person who lived on Earth knew this and intricately felt it within their soul. Would we take better care of everything around us? Would we “speak” to everything that crossed our path? Would we “listen” for messages from the consciousness of others – like trees or mountains?  What if we all stopped and did this on a regular and daily basis, what would our world be like then? I imagine it would be more peaceful, loving, and healthier. It would be a slower pace, and instead of everyone striving to accumulate wealth, perhaps we would strive for communion with nature, for peace, and to “get our love out” into this world.

Let your mind go to this peaceful place, and imagine what it would look like for you. If each of us were able to do this regularly, the world around us would look very different. Perhaps we would experience a world we could  gracefully enjoy being a part of, and perhaps we would actively choose to be a part of nature and enjoy it, instead of what many of us do at times in our lives….let life’s stresses and worries take over our ability to connect with nature, ourselves and others. We are meant to be human beings and it is a beautiful thing to be connected to the universe in this way.