|
Shaman / Medicine Man
He had placed himself within the stone (cavern wall) of Mother Earth
until the time was once again ready for him!
The shaman of the past has re-entered the Earthen world. He has watched,
listened, and felt Mother Earth’s pains that humans have been giving
Her. Now he has come forth into this world again to teach the better
ways. Who will want to listen and who will want to receive?
In contemporary, historical or traditional shamanism practice the shaman
can fulfill the role of priest, magician, metaphysician or healer.
Knowledge of other realms of being and consciousness and the cosmology
of those regions is the basis of the shamanism perspective and power.
With this knowledge, the shaman is able to serve as a bridge between the
mundane and the higher and lower states. The shaman lives at the edge of
reality as most people would recognize it and most commonly at the edge
of society itself. Few indeed have the stamina to adventure into these
realms and endure the outer hardships and personal crises that have been
reported by or observed of many shamans.
A shaman may exhibit a particular magical specialty (such as control
over fire, wind or magical flight). When a specialization is present the
most common is as a healer. The distinguishing characteristic of
shamanism is its focus on a trance state in which the soul of the shaman
is believed to leave the body and ascend to the sky (heavens) or descend
into the earth (underworld). The shaman makes use of spirit helpers,
with whom he or she communicates, all the while retaining control over
his or her own consciousness.
In the old ways of a shaman one would be working with dreams and being
conscious and awake while dreaming at the same time. The ability to
consciously move beyond the physical body is the particular specialty of
the traditional shaman. These journeys of Soul may take the shaman into
the nether realms, higher levels of existence or to parallel physical
worlds or other regions of this world. Shamanism Flight is in most
instances, an experience not of an inner imaginary landscape, but is
reported to be the shaman’s flight beyond the limitations of the
physical body.
Traditional folklore or spiritual practices indicate a clear pattern of
traditions of ascent into the heavens, descent into the nether-worlds,
movement between this world and a parallel other world, are present in
its history.
TerryLee WHETSTONe |
Home
