How does a person learn Shamanism

By admin · Saturday, December 12th, 2009

In the strictest sense, one cannot “learn” shamanism. Certainly, one can study shamanic practices from many cultures. One can develop a comprehensive understanding of ritual practices, symbolism, and mythology, and can learn to weld them together into a coherent whole. One can even learn the techniques for inducing in one’s self altered states of consciousness that allow for the perception of the spirit world.

Unfortunately, none of that makes a person a “shaman.” Even if you do all these things, and excel at them, you are still just a “metaphysically active person who is very knowledgeable about spiritual practices and ritual forms.”

While it may be frustrating to most modern seekers, what makes a person a “shaman” is being chosen by the spirits themselves. Yes, the techniques may be handed down from parent to child, or may be taught by an existing shaman to an aspirant, but if those in the other world don’t find the aspirant acceptable, they will not become a shaman.

The defining characteristic between the seeker and the shaman is that the shaman has an intimate, active relationship with some form of powerful spirit, totem, or deity. The seeker does not. An aspirant may be able to interact with that spirit, and may even be taught some things by the entity, but will in no way achieve the same depth of relationship, understanding, assistance, and instruction.

The only way to truly be “taught” to be a shaman is if the deity, totem, or spirit decides to teach you. That alone is the source of a shaman’s wisdom and ability. Shamanic practice is not something akin to western “hermetic magic”, where a person can theoretically study a body of existing work and reproduce its effects. Nor is it specifically a purely religious experience, where a priest leads others in forms of worship. Rather, it is an intimate intermingling of a person’s self and the being of the god, totem, or spirit, in which the shaman is instructed by the entity, and in which the entity may act *through* the shaman. The process usually results in a unification of purpose between the entity and the shaman, and, in the shaman’s perspective, a merger of the “spirit world” and the “physical world” into a coherent whole.

It can be a very rewarding path to pursue, and certainly a life changing one if one is accepted, but it is also a very challenging one, often brutally hard, with no assurance of success at the “end”. Even if one is not successful in truly becoming a shaman, one may, however, receive great benefit from the lessons learned in the attempt.

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