D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
June
2009
The Shaman's Path
Awakening the powers within.
Story and photos by Jesse Wolf Hardin
The shaman is one who senses the unseen, inner, spiritual and energetic in order to stimulate changes in the visible realm: the physical and sometimes ailing body, the culture, the environment, and the course of events. Shamanic understandings and techniques can aid not only the dedicated shaman, but also the everyday woman or man seeking a more wholly sensed, engaged, committed and satisfied life.
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A shaman's medicine wheel. (Photo
by Jesse Wolf Hardin) |
In the pitch dark beneath a blanket of stars, an orange glow sloshes up the sides of straight-sided volcanic cliffs, casting a circle of light around those clustered by the talkative fire. These same cliffs soften, deepen and then return to the ears the sound of a primitive frame drum, in a steady, inexorable rhythm that derails the rational process and frees both heart and mind — the eternal, unhurried heartbeat of a truly living planet. A circle of seekers focus their attention in the story-laden Gila forest, next to the same wild river where the ancient Mogollon peoples drummed and prayed up until a thousand years ago.
Regardless of their recognition or stature in their society, such individuals tend to cast large shadows. They are often the ones who find life so beautiful that it's almost excruciating, and pain so significant that they have to act to heal and mend the rips. Their intent — and their intensity — can either make them stand out in a crowd or help them remain invisible. No matter what their "day jobs," their real work is ecstatic, going again and again to the edge where magic happens, and acting as in intermediary between the different ways and "worlds," between the spirits and the people. They are agents in one way or another of awakeness, reintegration, healing and transformation.
The assembled are modern-day students on a weekend intensive. Those who have answered the calling, undergo personal transformation and receive the necessary training will be considered shamans, a Tungus word meaning simply "to know." In other times and places they might be thought of as Medicine Men or Women, Visionaries and Diviners. The Celtic name was Geilt, a word denoting that the shaman was not only wild and crazy but also a poet. Likewise, the Ojibwa of Native America had what they called the "jugglers of the hidden truth," the Jes' sakid, and in Sumatra the term used was Sibaso, "the one with the word." It was Lupa, "the mad one," to the Malayans. Dibia, to the Igbo of West Africa. Angakok, to the Inuit Eskimos. The Dreamer or Oko-jumu, in the Andaman Islands. The aborigines of Australia have their Dreamwalkers, the Karadji, also know as the "clever men," while women get their due among the Araucanians of South America with the shamanic Machi. In Korea, females are Mudang, and males Paksu.
What most of these shamans from around the world share in common is a worldview on which all practices are based, and upon which all results depend. These include the "knowing" that all things are in some way fundamentally alive and inspirited, with a collective if not always individual awareness. That all things are both interconnected and interrelated. That the unseen and the immeasurable can affect physical and visual reality, and that those unseen energies and patterns can in turn be influenced by the efforts of the practitioner.
It is these rudimentary understandings that motivates the shaman's dedication, their contribution to the harmony and balance of the body, mind, spirit, community and land. They may do this through trance healings or plant spirit medicine. Through the calling forth of ancestral, repressed childhood, cellular and planetary memories and knowings. Or personal counsel and direction. Public speaking, teaching and performance. The interpretation of omens and signs. Divination and forewarnings. Community building and helping to naturally heal the sick.
Essential to the traditional indigenous practitioner was and is a near-death experience, either unintended or ritually undertaken. For the Yakut shaman, this means a "death" that includes dreams or daytime visions of dismemberment. What actually dies in that moment of transition is not the body yet, of course, but harmful habits and illusions, a process as crucial for the neo-shaman as it was for her ancient predecessors. In the heat of the crucible, what actually perishes is the illusory and irrelevant, and what is sustained is what is most real, the very truth of one's being. Thus unencumbered, the shaman can arise from the coals stronger, more intuitive and directed than ever.
This process can be powerful for every person interested in self-improvement or self-actualization. Instead of being facilitated by a serious illness or near-death experience, the condition for rapid change, cleansing, empowerment and growth may come with the aid of an emotional breakdown or the collapse of the normal support systems. It may manifest in the form of a long-treasured husband or wife suddenly passing away, or simply having an affair and applying for a divorce. Or by leaving a career with security and a high income in order to do something one loves that pays little and provides no retirement security. Characteristically, it is whatever is required to derail us from the one-way track — suspending certainty and inciting reappraisal and redirection — causing us to regain trust in our abilities and potentials, to follow our callings and heed our hearts at any price.
Regardless of the degree of their trauma or source of their shift, the shaman's first charge is always to heal (make whole) his fractured self, because only then can he credibly heal (make whole) other people and the larger community. This does not mean simply the alleviation of natural ailments, but a healing of the soul that can turn any persistent diseases or difficulties it can't eliminate into spiritual boons and practical learning experiences.
This gathering of the parts of the self/soul is often described as a "flight," in many instances astride a drum, which serves as a visual metaphor for the enlargement and thus transportation of consciousness: the ability to access, integrate and actualize all the parts of the whole self, while accessing the full height, depth and breadth — the innumerable manifestations and realms — of the whole of creation. This oobe is not an out-of-the-body experience, however, so much as a journey beyond the limitations of the immediate physical body, and out into the greater planetary and spiritual self. And it is in fact not so much a matter of traveling as broadening and infusing, extending one's consciousness out into the larger world that we are both a corporal and spiritual/energetic part of: ecstatic transport, simultaneously rooting and stretching, grounding and soaring.
Needless to say, after the reintegration of one's lost parts, or after any successful healing, the shaman can still help the person or situation return to a state of balance. Nor is the subject's own involvement over. We still need to commit to a partnership with power, acting on what we see, manifesting our visions, correcting our misalignments and imbalances, employing our expanded awareness for the good, using our fears as fuel for positive movement and change, and living our dreams.
While not everyone is meant to be a full-on shaman, shamanic practice can vitalize and deepen anybody willing to authentically do the work. Even for those with other callings, it can serve as an energetic vehicle, assisting passage through the portal of the feeling heart, taking us into deeper connection with the miraculous, inspiring us to take responsibility as conscious co-creators of multi-dimensional reality and our wonderful shared world.
The hopeful result of shamanic study and practice is: An understanding of the fundamentals of pan-cultural cosmology and nature-informed practice. Deepened connection to whatever you choose to call Spirit, God or Magic. Heightened skills for affecting the world. Furthered ability to heal and bring to balance both individuals and the society of which we are a part. New means for improving relationships with co-workers, allies, friends and spouses. More intuitive presence in personal business, which can lead to better decision-making and a deeper measure of mission success.
Nature-based shamanism offers a means for re-creating primal/primary ritual, ceremony, practice, tradition and tribe true to our usually mixed-blood ancestry and these contemporary times. Enlisted to reconnect rather than disembark or transcend, such shamanism may be even more important now than in our tribal and prehistoric past. At its most vital best, it can lead to the recognition and affirmation of our latent, pre-existing shamanic abilities, propensities and potentials — and to the development of personal criteria for its honorable application in these times of personal and global transformation, unequaled struggle and unparalleled reward.
We awaken to the shaman now, under virtually the same stars as the ancestors, penetrating the same darkness with the same insistent light.
Jesse Wolf Hardin is a teacher of Anima nature-informed practice and author of seven acclaimed books. He and his partners offer online Shaman Path, Medicine Woman and Path of Heart correspondence courses as well as healing consultations. Hardin resides at the Anima Sanctuary, a botanical refuge and ancient place of power where he co-hosts wilderness retreats, vision quests and workshops such as the Shaman Path Intensive, July 2-5, and the Medicine Woman Gathering, Aug. 7-12. For information, write Anima Learning & Retreat Center, Box 688, Reserve, NM 87830, or see www.animacenter.org