SHAMANISM - Shamanism Concepts, Practices, Shamanic Journey, Power Animals, Shamanic Drums, Rattles, Jewelry, Educational Resources - Shamanic Arts Studio, Boulder, CO

<body> <p>This page uses frames, but your browser doesn't support them. Please go to our homepage www.shamanicartsstudio.com for site and contact information.<p class="WebText" style="margin-right: 350" align="center"> <span style="font-variant: small-caps"><font color="#800000" size="5" face="Arial"><a name="Shamanism">Shamanism</a></font></span><p class="WebText" style="margin-right: 350" align="center"> <font face="Arial"><a href="#What Is Shamanism"><font size="2" color="#006262">What Is Shamanism?</font></a><font size="2"><font color="#006262"><br> </font><a href="#Fundamental Elements of Shamanism"><font color="#006262">Fundamental Elements of Shamanism</font></a><font color="#006262"><br> </font><a href="#Some Shamanic Concepts Defined"><font color="#006262">Some Shamanic Concepts Defined</font></a><font color="#006262"><br> </font></font><a href="#Shamanism and Art"><font size="2" color="#006262">Shamanism and Art</font></a></font><p class="WebText" style="margin-right: 350"> <b><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#800000"><a name="What Is Shamanism">What Is Shamanism?</a></font></b><p class="webtext" style="margin-right: 350"> <span style="font-family:Arial"><font size="2">Shamanism is an ancient method of spiritual communication—perhaps tens of thousands of years old—that is used for spiritual and physical healing, as well as for personal growth.  Shamanic practices exist many in tribal cultures world-wide and are experiencing a renaissance in urban cultures.</font></span><p class="webtext" style="margin-right: 350"> <span style="font-family:Arial"><font size="2">In shamanism, the shaman enters an altered mental state—typically by utilizing drums or rattles to create a sound field that changes consciousness.  The altered state, which is called a <i>shamanic journey, </i> is used to gain help and wisdom. It is called a journey because the experience is one of going someplace.  In the journey the shaman encounters <i>helping</i> <i>spirits</i>.  These spirits are experienced as a kind of consciousness that does not exist in a body and they provide help and guidance when properly approached. </font></span><p class="webtext" style="margin-right: 350"> <span style="font-family:Arial"><font size="2">For information on the history of shamanism and shamanic techniques see <a href="Resources.htm" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#800000">Resources</font></a>. </font></span> <p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -5" align="left"><font size="2" color="#CC6600"> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: italic">Magic Words</span></font><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">In the very earliest time,</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">when both people and animals lived on earth,</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">a person could become an animal if he wanted to</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">and an animal could become a human being.</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">Sometimes they were people</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">and sometimes animals</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">and there was no difference.</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">All spoke the same language.</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">That was the time when words were like magic.</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">The human mind had mysterious powers.</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">A word spoken by chance</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">might have strange consequences.</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">It would suddenly come alive</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">and what people wanted to happen could happen—</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">all you had to do was say it.</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: -10" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">Nobody could explain this:</font></span><p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 50; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">That's the way it was.   </font></span> <p class="MsoPlainText" style="margin-left: 75; margin-right: 350"><i><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">Nulungiaq</font></span></i><span style="font-family: Arial"><font size="2">, West Greenland Eskimo shaman<br> Translated by Knud Rasmussen <br> Quoted in Rothenberg, see <a href="Resources.htm" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#CC6600">Resources</font></a></font></span><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 350; margin-bottom: 6"> <b><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#800000"><a name="Fundamental Elements of Shamanism">Fundamental Elements of Shamanism</a></font></b><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 350"> <font face="Arial" size="2">While shamanic practices vary widely, they also contain a unifying set of <i>basic assumptions</i>: </font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"><font face="Arial" size="2">Everything that exists is alive </font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"><font face="Arial" size="2"> Everything can be communicated with, if approached properly.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2">There are other realities available to us in which we can travel. These are sometimes called Non-Ordinary Reality.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2">The residents (called spirits, for lack of a better term) of these other realities are sympathetic, for the most part, to humanity and want to be helpful, if asked.</font><p class="webtext" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2">Every human being has helping spirits, even if they are not aware of it. </font> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"><font face="Arial" size="2">True power involves a proper relationship to these other realities.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2">Illness, (psychological or otherwise) includes an element of power-loss or soul-loss.  Healing on the shamanic level is designed to regain power and the protection it provides—a form of immunity.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2">Illness can also occur because of power-intrusion in which vagrant spirits can come to reside uninvited in the body.  Healing involves returning the intruding spirits to their rightful place in the universe. </font> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"><font face="Arial" size="2">Shamanism deals with the spiritual aspects of health. Other related practitioners may deal with the mechanical and physiological aspects of health.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2">The realms that can be journeyed to have their own topography including a Lower, Middle, and Upper world.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 350"><b><font face="Arial" size="2" color="#800000"> <a name="Some Shamanic Concepts Defined">Some Shamanic Concepts Defined</a></font></b><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Core Shamanism</i>: the fundamental defining elements of shamanistic belief and practice as they occur almost universally across cultures, a term created by anthropologist Michael Harner.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Ecstasy</i>: The experience of being outside one's self, often joyously.  Found in shamanic journeying, skiing, and sex.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Lower World</i>: One of the shamanic realities.  To enter it involves an experience of going <i> down</i>, often through a tunnel.  It has many levels.  In it reside, typically, Power Animals and other healing and instructive forces. Not a negative place like Hell.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Middle World</i>: Ordinary reality experienced shamanically and therefore perceived in the spiritual sense.  Divination, extraction and other forms of healing are done as Middle World journeys.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Upper World</i>: To enter the upper world one journeys <i>up</i> from the Middle World. It can be a positive place but is not synonymous with Heaven.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Non Ordinary Reality</i>: the reality that the shaman journeys into. It does not follow the rules of Aristotelian logic.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"><font face="Arial" size="2"> <i>Ordinary reality</i>: Reality as we experience it in our usual state of awareness.  It adheres to the rules of logic.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Power</i>:  Fullness of life and immunity against negative spiritual influences.  It is gained by right relationship with the other realms.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Power Animal</i>: A guardian spirit or <i>familiar</i> manifesting itself as an animal who has compassion for a person and agrees to act as a guide, advisor, and healer.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Shaman</i>: (from the Siberian Tungus tribe): A person who contacts other realities for healing and wisdom in the service of his or her community. "Shaman" is a title conferred by the community, not a self-proclaimed one.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Shamanic Drum</i>: The sound of the shamanic drum is the “horse” on which the shaman rides to the other realms.  It is typically a one-sided hand drum, beaten in a monotonous rhythm with a soft mallet.  The drum contains much symbolism and power in its own right and paintings on the drums are typically a “map of the Universe” or representations of spiritual power.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Shamanic Rattle</i>: Rattles are used for communicating with spirits and for healing work.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Shamanic State of Consciousness</i>: An altered state of consciousness, not well understood neurologically, which provides the ecstatic experience of journeying to other realities which have a consistency and coherence of their own.  It is attained most commonly through the use of a Sonic Driver (q.v.) or in some cultures through the use of mind-altering herbs.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Shamanism</i>:  The belief system and practices of those who use an altered state of consciousness (the <i>Shamanic State of Consciousness</i>) in contacting other realities.  It is a method of gaining knowledge and is not in itself a religion, though the two tend to merge in tribal cultures.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>Sonic Driver</i>: Use of repetitive sound to alter consciousness, most typically with drums and rattles, but also through other repetitious sounds.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 25; margin-right: 350" align="left"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><i>World Tree</i>: The <i>axis mundi, </i>the interconnection between the worlds, used by some as a route in journeying to gain access to the other worlds.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 350"> <font face="Arial" size="2">For more information and history about shamanism consult the references in <a href="Resources.htm" style="text-decoration: none"><font color="#800000">Resources</font></a>.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 350; margin-top: 12; margin-bottom: 6"> <font face="Arial" size="2" color="#800000"><b><a name="Shamanism and Art">Shamanism and Art</a></b></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 350"> <font face="Arial" size="2">There is some speculation that art has its roots in shamanism. Shamanic art is rarely mere ornamentation, rather it illustrates what the spirits looks like, provides maps of the universe to keep the shaman oriented, and generates mandalas—symbols of wholeness which remind us our role in the universe. Shamanic art itself is one of the tools of the shaman just as the rattle and drum are.   This is true whether the art is on the cave walls of Lascaux (ca. 17,000 years old) or on a newly painted shaman’s rattle.</font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 12; margin-right: 350" align="center"> <font face="Arial" size="2"><a href="#Shamanism"><font color="#006262">Top</font></a></font><p> </body>