Shamanism is the oldest spiritual practice of humanity and its practices are based on respect for ecology, recognition of the sacred, the need to expand consciousness, obtain answers in parallel worlds and practice unconditional love.
In the mid-1960s, shamanism was of fundamental interest to specialists in Anthropology or Transpersonal Psychology, the explorers of consciousness who sought to study the mystical states of consciousness conveyed by the traditions of humanity. For anthropologists, ethnologists and historians of religions, shamanism was a primitive form of religion, supplanted and superseded by modern hierarchical cultures.
Some 20 years ago, the books by Michael Harner and Carlos Castanheda opened the consciousness of individuals seeking personal and spiritual development to the ideas, beliefs, inspirations and direct experiences of shamans.
People have become increasingly eager to reconnect with these shamanic traditions. We have been witnessing a deep exploration of these areas, becoming a path of fundamental transformation and more and more people are exploring their non-ordinary states of consciousness to reach the knowledge and wisdom of the hidden world behind the veil. Since the late 1980s, this neoshamanism has been anchored in Western society, especially in North America, where many seek their traditional roots. The use of sacred chants accompanied by percussion instruments, maracas and drums, the knowledge of power animals, discovered through journeys in deep levels of consciousness, have returned to be very current recurring practices.
It is true that the indigenous people were largely responsible for keeping the flames of Earth Medicine alive, however, we know that shamanism does not refer only to indigenous spirituality, but to practices that originated in primitive, tribal, Paleolithic man and that spread even in our contemporary world.
The roots of shamanism are archaic and some anthropologists even think they go back almost as far as human consciousness itself. The origins of shamanism date back 40,000 to 50,000 years, in the Stone Age. Anthropologists have studied shamanism in the Americas: North, Central and South. In Africa, among the aboriginal peoples of Australia, Eskimos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Senegal, Patagonia, Siberia, Bali, Old England and around Europe, in Tibet where Bon shamanism follows the line of Tibetan Buddhism, that is, in all places around the world, its traces are present in the Great religions.
In shamanism, in different and distant parts of the world, we can see many similarities that are transversal in this spiritual practice, as is the case of non-ordinary states of consciousness (Refer to the point where we approached this topic).
Knowledge of Power Animals is also fundamental in this tradition. Through the use of drum beats, we can access what in shamanism are called power animals, which are the guardian spirits of our life, an intermediary to access other realities or for some reason they want to show us a message at a certain moment in our lives. In these journeys, the participant accesses the talents and characteristics of an animal that usually allows him to bring some significant message to his reality of his daily life. Interestingly, many people who are unaware of this language, spontaneously in some experiences connect with these power animals, thus becoming impactful experiences for those who experience them.
This is an exercise accessible to everyone, even those who do not have any experience to travel internally, often taking the form of an animal such as an eagle, a feline, a snake, or some other animals. From here we can understand the enormous importance and relationship that man has with the animal world.
Another transversal and fundamental resource in shamanism are the power instruments to induce trance states such as drums, shakers, didgeridoo, tibetan bowls and, in general, those instruments that are currently used in sound journeys inducing relaxation experiences, were used by ancient shamans. There are also other ways explored to access these non-ordinary states of consciousness such as dancing, breathing, the use of purification plants, entheogenic, medicinal, power songs also known as medicine songs, etc.
A characteristic of shamanism is its connection with its nature, with the seasons, with the natural cycles of life. In these traditions, great importance is attached to the celebration and honor of each of these cycles. Sometimes these cycles also include group or individual ceremonies and rituals, with a connection made to an ancient field of consciousness. This is called Rituals of Passage, the creation of a sacred space for the passage of energy, allowing each one to access these fields, becoming a bridge between Heaven and Earth. It allows the individual heart to open in order to create an environment for all human hearts to open and expand.
The few celebrations that still exist today are baptisms, weddings and birthdays. However, all life passages must be marked and celebrated. Some of the rites of passage that we should mark in our lives are puberty, menopause, marriages, separations, divorces, job changes, the end of a treatment or therapy, a specific cure from a situation or illness, a new relationship, etc.
Shamanism is growing more and more, due to the shortcomings of our current society, the lack of a sense of belonging, the distance from nature, the absence of rituals, the disconnection with the human being itself. Shamanism allows awakening this entire inner side of the human being, this reconnection with society, with nature, with ecology, with spirituality, with the cosmos, with the whole. In this sense, shamanism, being one of the oldest traditions of humanity, is a very contemporary practice, which allows us to rescue this sacred relationship between man and the planet that we so desperately need.
Religions in general are not concerned with ecology, not even with spirituality, as they are focused on their dogmas and beliefs of an eternal life outside this planet. Shamanic rituals can bring this awareness that we are just a microcosm, that we are part of something bigger, a macrocosm, that we are children of the Earth, that the Earth is not ours, but that we only belong to the Earth.
