The shaman was found in all cultures and are known as medicine people and healers. These wise ones spent many years learning the rhythm of the earth and the healing power that it contained within. Teachings were passed on from generation to generation and much time was taken connecting to nature, and learning from Mother Earth and Spirit directly.
The title of shaman is typically reserved for indigenous people who learn from the land they are part of and that their family and ancestors have been part of. Those who are remembering how to listen to the earth and to Spirit do not take the title of shaman, but are called shamanic practitioners or shamanic healers.
Shamanic practice is a form of healing that focuses on the spiritual aspects of health. Illness comes from being separated from Source and from forgetting our spiritual nature. Separation from Source can lead to the taking on of invasive heavy energy and/or loss of parts of our spirit (i.e., soul loss).
A shamanic healer works as a bridge between the physical world and the world of Spirit. With the aid of nature and the spirit world, shamanic healers help to bring healing to the human luminous energy fields, removing heavy energy and retrieving lost soul fragments.
At the Andean shamanism workshop that I attended, the shaman told us that shamanic practice is simple and is based on three principles:
- Unconditional love, divine love;
- Everything has a spirit (including rocks, birds, trees and even inanimate objects) and can be communicated with; and
- Respect for nature.
In our modern society, many of us have forgotten how to listen and respect our earth and nature. We have forgotten that we are part of nature. We have forgotten how to listen. Shamanic practice is about remembering our connection and remembering to hear the voice of Spirit.
I believe that we are all in various stages of the process of remembering our divinity, and that we all have the capacity to hear the voice of Spirit. Spirit speaks to us through our intuition and through the gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) nudgings that we receive from our hearts.
I believe that humanity is in the process of waking up. We are all remembering. It is time for us to remember.
