Today I find myself on the eve of participating in an online community course that could probably be described as shamanic in its content and ideology. It is a nature based teaching. It does not involve long hikes in the natural world or plant identification. Although it could include that. It is more to do with learning how ancient, and modern, native tribespeople live their lives by tuning into nature using all their senses. Not ‘just’ to learn the whereabouts of their next meal, or to protect themselves from the elements, but in a much wider context of finding balance and harmony for themselves and within their community. Accessing the natural, right brained, tribal state of mind they are able to enter into the consciousness of all things, have an eagle eye’s overview of the world, and open themselves up to the energetic reality of existence.
When I hear the word Shamanic I dismiss it as something I am not interested in. Been there, done that, it’s not for me, too many techniques, too complicated… too this, too that, my mind says. Had the online course been called The Way of the Shaman, I probably wouldn’t have read any further.
Yet I am beginning to realise that it actually encompasses not only the content but also the essence of what I have been trying to capture in all my seeking and searching. I studied under a spiritual teacher who worked shamanically for many years. I have been part of ayahuaska ceremonies in the Amazon rainforest under the guidance of native South American shamans. I have taken courses in animal communication, various energy healing modalities, and have experimented using painting and writing to express the essential nature of a place, a thing, a person, an emotion.
I hadn’t realised until now that what I hoped to find from engaging in all these explorations was a deeper connection. With myself, with others, with the world in all its forms.
So not only is this a reminder to not identify with labels, but to look beyond what I think I know, and to be open to a myriad of possibilities.
And to see that even though things may appear to be separate or unconnected, everything is interrelated and plays its part within a larger context.
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