A Way of Living
Shamanic healing has been around for thousands of years, not just in the Americas but around the world. It is sometimes dressed differently, it sometimes has different names, but the underlying philosophy remains the same. As shamanic healing relies heavily on the communing with other spirits in other realms that seems a good starting point.
Whether or not the spirit realm and spirits are real is a far reaching question for many, which brings with it complex answers and, often, inconceivable results for us as humans. The answer to such questions can have a major impact for our culturally shared beliefs, for the way we conduct ourselves in life, for how we relate to one another, to nature, and to all living things; such questions can and will impact on how we continue to exist from this point on. The difficulty we have here is that beliefs can and do change. What one believes today may not be what one believes tomorrow, and that is because beliefs are usually based on our communities’ beliefs. They are often a culturally based and shared opinion that we have adopted as a child. As we grow, we often start to analyse our beliefs and throw out the ones that no longer fit our understanding of life. So we can’t base all things purely on beliefs as they are too easy to change.
But what I have found is that we can base many things on our personal understanding or our personal perspective, and although the same experience will be different for all, it will nonetheless give us some central themes that we hold in common. Questions like: do we have a non-physical aspect that interacts with or affects our physical body? Or, do we have an aspect which has the ability to move freely on the earth without a physical vehicle? Or even, do we have a non-physical aspect that we can actually converse with and be heard? Questions such as these may seem mind-boggling to some, but are pretty elementary to others. So we need to look at why it is mind-boggling to one and not the other, and if we look deeply enough or raise enough questions, we will see it comes down to experience. From experience, I can say spirits are real. I have seen the spirits of deceased individuals since I was five years old. From a mental health perspective and from one who trained in mental health, I can say with much conviction that I am not deluded, I am not suffering with a psychosis or other mental health issue and I do not use substances to bring about such occurrences. So if I am wrong, there must be some other reason for these occurrences. These sightings have occurred all throughout my life. I am not able to will them to happen and they don’t happen all the time, but they do happen and they are natural occurrences that I have no control of. So with such experience throughout life, I cannot ever accept that spirit beings do not exist – they simply do and they exist in reality not in my imagination. To further support my theory, my experience and the theory of others, I will share one such experience which happened when I was only seventeen years old.
I was working in a nursing home for the elderly. I was working with a nurse at the time. It was late evening and we were turning an elderly man in his bed whilst changing his sheets. As I cradled the man in my arms so that the nurse could put the clean sheet under him, I felt something which is akin to a breeze when it touches your face. What I felt passed straight through my body. I felt it come out of my back. The feeling was so strong that I naturally turned my head to see what it was. At that particular time, I didn’t see anything. I only felt it. I knew what it was and said to the nurse, ‘You don’t need to rush, he has just died.’ In complete disbelief the nurse laid the man back down to check him, and upon examination she was able to confirm that the man had passed quietly away. What I felt was his spirit passing through me as it left his body.
Experiences like that never leave you. You don’t forget them and you certainly can’t deny them. Does this spiritual or energetic component relate to God or the Divine? I believe it does. I believe our spirit is directly related to the Divine, as we are all interconnected. Is it provable? This is where the difficulty lies. How can you prove such things other than relying on the experiences that people have? It is not necessarily measurable in the same way that science measures things in the physical realm, and we can’t set up an experiment with spirit, as not all see or sense spirit and we wouldn’t be able to determine imagination from reality. The current methods of studying our physical, tangible reality is so different to how we could study the spirit realm, especially as our belief systems and spiritual experiences are centered on the intangible. Assuming that we do have spirits that can communicate with us leads onto whether or not these spirits or spiritual forces can have an effect on healing, whether it be through direct techniques from themselves, or whether it occurs due to the beliefs of the practitioner, the atmosphere of the healing room or even the patient. These are all valid issues which require exploring, and through exploration, cross-cultural studies, examples, personal experience and the knowledge and wisdom of others, I will attempt to demonstrate to the best of my ability not only that spirits are real, but also the relationship between the spiritual realm and the physical realm and how spirit informs matter. With these important issues opened up it will permit us a deeper understanding of how shamanism and other healing practices help us to heal.
Shamanism is a way of living. It was a common practice in ancient times and still continues to be practised today. Some call it a religion, while others view it as a set of techniques and philosophies; how it is viewed is irrelevant to some degree. What matters is whether or not it has a positive impact upon our being in way of healing. Shamanism is based on interaction with the spirit world. In ancient societies the shaman played a key role within the community, acting as a spiritual leader, healer, herbalist and teacher among other things. They were highly respected by the community, and their gifts and their wisdom was honoured. It has been said that shamans are a type of medicine man or woman distinguished by the use of journeying to other worlds and through their personal healing journey. They journey by entering into an altered state of consciousness usually brought about via external sound and rhythm. It is the shaman we are going to concentrate on rather than a shamanic practitioner who uses some shamanic techniques.
Agreeing that spirit is real is one thing, but can the shaman really commune with spirit in order to affect matter? This is a question that will continue to be a rhetorical question for those whose culture understands shamanism and a mystery for other cultures. Shamanic cultures believe that not only does spirit affect matter (which includes our body) but that the spiritual realm and the physical realm are reflections of one another. It has been said that to understand the law of cause and effect, look to nature. In regards to shamanic cultures, to question these realities is as preposterous as asking a priest if God exists. The answer will always be, ‘Of course it does.’ Every religion and every belief system has its core beliefs and convictions and to question these often seems ridiculous to those who share such beliefs.
We are The Quantum Warrior, The Master Architect of our life – Braveheart
