What is shamanism?
Shamanism is the most ancient form of spiritual practice. It is not a religion, it is a spiritual practice common to all traditional cultures all over the world, from North and South America to Europe, Africa, central Asia and Australia.
Shamanism is a way
of living in harmony with nature,
with other people and
with the Spirit world.
Shamanism believe that everything has a spirit. Not only humans and animals, but also plants, rocks, elements, places, houses, etc. have a spirit. It also believes in the interconnectedness of all beings – which means that not just what we do but the way we live has an impact on all things.
These concepts, old thousands of years, were the base of spiritual believes in traditional cultures and are now been embraced by quantum physics. Quantum physic states that everything is made of energy. Is that just another way to say that everything has a spirit – or prana, qi? And if everything is made of energy, doesn’t makes sense to interact with that energy in a harmonious and collaborative way?
Perhaps you are familiar with the Sanskrit word prana and the Chinese word qi. They are both translated as ‘energy’ or ‘life force’. While we normally speak about them related to human body and techniques to balance them for our health, both Hindu and Chinese traditions believe that also inanimate objects possess this life energy. So, also plants, rocks, places and inanimate objects have a qi or prana.
As a note of curiosity, the Chinese ideogram for the word qi represent the steam rising from boiled rice – confirming that qi is present in everything!
Shamanism is not a devotional path. It aims at creating harmony. When we interact with the Spirts, we want to establish a collaboration with them, so that we can access their help. I will explain in the next posts why this collaboration with Spirits is so important, and how we can benefit from working with them.
Shamanism is a practice that empowers us, who – with the shamanic journey – can directly access the guidance of the Helping Spirits to receive guidance and healing.
While it is a spiritual discipline, Shamanism focuses on obtaining practical and concrete results. In traditional cultures, shamans used their connection with the Spiritual world to find food sources, healing plants and methods, safe places to live and the knowledge to assure the well-being of the community. In the modern world, we can use our connection with the Helping Spirits to transform our life and live from our higher potential.