Shamans perform healing work, working mostly
on matters of the soul and spirit. Medicine men/women perform
healing work typically with the body. These healing paths are
fully braided in indigenous cultures wherein the concept of
holistic medicine has prevailed for many millennia.
Traditional shamans usually are chosen by the Elders at an early age and undergo a lengthy apprenticeship, sometimes lasting 20 years.
What many of us who perform spiritual healing work are today
are shamanic practitioners.
I use the word shaman as a shortcut to quickly move to the concept of healing work.
We act as healing practitioners
using the shamanic healing tools we have been taught by persons
who are not necessarily shamans, and perhaps not indigenous
either.
We are very serious about our work. Many of us consider it
to be quite sacred work. Our teachers are quite serious too;
no certificates, funny hats, glowing wands, nor weekend miracles.
Long term courses of study are the norm. Our teachers generally
have had some sort of apprenticeship with indigenous shamans,
and have studied extensively in the landscape and in the indigenous
culture. They have learned and have been initiated and pass
on to us what they are able to under the restrictions, if any,
imposed by their teachers. Most all of the teachers guide us
in the universal ways of indigenous shamans and not any specific
set of peoples, say the Aino of Hokkaido, or the Tuva of Siberia.
These universal ways, called Core Shamanism by Michael Harner,
one of my teachers, are practiced by all shamans regardless
of their locale. These ways include recognition of worlds other
than our own “ordinary reality”. The other worlds
are sometimes referred to as “non ordinary reality” in
which the compassionate helping spirits reside. Shamans travel
or “journey” to those worlds to obtain information
and help from the spirits. They are very often accompanied
on their journeys by rapid percussive drumming, rattling, or
other repetitive sounds. Shamans perform healing work such
as power animal retrieval, soul retrieval, extractions, depossessions,
and various healings. It is important to note that the shamans
do not actually do the work; they communicate with the spirits
who provide the information and do the work. The shaman is
the conduit, the hollow bone, through whom the healing work
is accomplished.
Few shamans, if any, involve themselves in negative work
such as casting spells. This work is not healing work and its
accomplishment is left to the sorcerers.
My work as a shamanic practitioner involves various healing
modalities. Please see the following information. Preferably
the healing work is carried out here on our land but I can
travel to any place where you feel the most comfortable. In
fact, healing work can often be best accomplished in the presence
of your community of friends. Your comfort, openness and trust
are vital to embarking on a path of healing. I have worked
extensively with persons having chemical addictions, mostly
in AA.
Please call or email for
further information or to set an appointment. Fees are on a
sliding scale.
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