Shamanism and Music

Shamanism and music combined thousands of years ago. By observing nature, shamans perceived that the power of sound could be used to help and heal others. The first drums and musical instruments were put to shamanic use, as were many of the early singing traditions. According to Tuvan musicologist Kira Van Deusen, "In a shaman's world music operates in several ways. It helps the shaman and other participants in a ceremony to locate and enter the inner world, opening the inner, spiritual ear and eye. Musical sound calls helping spirits and transports the shaman on the journey. Both the rhythm and the timbre of musical sound help heal the patient through the effects of specific frequencies and musical styles on the human body."(1)

Music is an essential tool in shamanic ritual and healing work. Music is the carrier of the specific intention or desired outcome of the ritual. Music is used to contain the energetic or spiritual aspect of the sacred space, which is defined physically by the assembled people who participate. Dance and song propel the ritual process forward by providing a vehicle for self-expression within the sacred space. Together the musicians create the necessary container that channels the energy generated by the performance in ways that the shaman can guide toward the ritual's intended outcome.
 

Three elements are constantly interacting in communal healing rites: the shaman who guides the flow and pattern of the ritual, the musicians who contain the sacred space, and the gathered people who participate. Interaction between all three elements is necessary to maintain the energy, flow and intention of the ritual.
 

Music is also used to crack open the part of the self that holds emotions in check. For example, in funeral rites among the Dagara people of West Africa, drumming and singing are used to open the mourners to grief. Grief is then channeled in such a way that it will convey the newly deceased soul to the afterlife. Without the help of the drummers, musicians and singers, the powerful emotional energy cannot be unleashed. If not channeled properly, grief is useless to the dead and dangerous to the living. According to Christina Pratt, author of An Encyclopedia of Shamanism, "This musical container of the ritual space must be maintained continuously. The musicians do not rest as long as the ritual continues, though the ritual may last one to four full days."(2)
 

Shamanic Music
 

Shamanic music is traditionally performed as part of a shamanic ritual; however, it is not a musical performance in the normal sense. According to Scottish percussionist Ken Hyder, who has studied with Siberian shamans, "musical considerations are minimal in shamanic performance. The shaman's focus is on the spiritual intention or the energy of what is being played. When the performer concentrates on the spiritual aspect of playing, it allows the music to become very loose, spontaneous, and innovative." Hyder explains, "My approach to music making changed decisively following my experiences in Siberia. For me it starts with the dungur [drum] and the expanded possibilities of variation arising from its superficially apparent instability. And it continues to open up with other musicians being equally free in themselves and in the context of a group. That opening up has the capacity to expand and expand further making the playing fresh, different and spontaneous each time."(3)
 

Shamanic music is improvised by the shaman to modify movement and change while actively journeying into the spirit world. It is a musical expression of the soul, supporting the shamanic flight of the soul. Sacred music is directed more to the spirit world than to an audience. The shaman's attention is directed inwards towards communication with the spirits, rather than outwards to any listeners who might be present.
 

Another way that the shaman expresses their experiences in the spirit world is through their physical movements in this reality. In their journeys, shamans are often flying, running, crouching, stalking and fighting unseen spirits. All of these movements are acted out for all to see in a shamanic performance.
 
A shaman uses various ways of making sounds to communicate with the spirits, as well as relate the tone and content of the inner trance experience in real time. Sound is regarded as one of the most effective ways of establishing connections with the spirit realm, since it travels through space, permeates visual and physical barriers, and conveys information from the unseen world. Shamans may chant, clap their hands, imitate the sounds of birds and animals, or play various instruments. Of particular importance are the shaman's drum and song.
 

Each shaman has his or her own song. It announces the shaman to the spirits and proclaims, "this is me; please help me." The song is usually sung near the beginning of the ritual and is often accompanied by drumming. Singing brings the heartbeat and body into resonance with the song similar to entrainment with the pulse of the drum. As the shaman's song invokes the intended spirits, the shaman comes into resonance with these spirit energies as well.

Shamanic experience can be expressed in many ways: through writing, art, and film, however it must be created after the fact. The one artistic medium which can be used to immediately express shamanic trance without disrupting the quality of the shamanic experience is music. The shaman's use of sound and rhythm is an audible reflection of their inner environment. This is the traditional method for integrating shamanic experience into both physical space and the cultural group.

1. Kira Van Deusen, Singing Story, Healing Drum: Shamans and Storytellers of Turkic Siberia (McGill-Queen's Press, 2005), p 108.
2. Christina Pratt, An Encyclopedia of Shamanism (The Rosen Publishing Group, 2007), p. 128.
3. Ken Hyder, Shamanism and Music in Siberia: Drum and Space. Tech. 11 Aug. 2008. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

Myth as a Map for Inner Journeys

Shamanism is based on the principle that innate wisdom and guidance can be accessed through the inner senses in ecstatic trance. Ecstatic trance is an academic term referring to those inwardly focused experiences of cosmic oneness, that mystical connection to a living, intelligent Universe that exists within each of us. Practitioners enter altered states of consciousness in order to perceive and interact with the inner world of the self. The act of entering an ecstatic trance state is called the soul flight or shamanic journey. 

 

The capacity to enter a range of trance states is a natural manifestation of human consciousness. A landmark study by Michael Winkelman, one of the foremost scholars on shamanism today, reveals that the cross-cultural manifestations of basic experiences related to shamanism (e.g., soul flight, death-and-rebirth, animal identities) are rooted in innate functions of the brain, mind and consciousness.(1) The inherent ability to enter trance states makes us human, not shamans. What makes shamans unique is their mastery over an otherwise normal human trait. It requires a great deal of training, practice and devotion to master any expressive art. Shamans master the art of ecstasy to see the true nature of the Universe.
 

Rhythmic drumming is a simple and effective way to induce ecstatic trance states. When a drum is played at an even tempo of three to four beats per second for at least 15 minutes, most people can journey successfully even on their first attempt. Transported by the driving beat of the drum, the journeyer travels to the inner planes of consciousness, using myth as an inner map to guide their journey. Myth is the reality of the soul, just as history is the reality of the temporal world.
 

The Shaman's Mythic Cosmos
 

According to shamanic cosmology, there are three inner planes of consciousness: the Upper, Middle and Lower Worlds. There are numerous levels in both the Lower and Upper Worlds and they exist outside of time. The upper or celestial realm is the home of the Star Nations and Thunder Beings--a related family of divine beings who bring about weather changes and sustain life on Earth. This shamanic realm relates to our higher self or superconsciousness. It is the domain of divine archetypes such as angels, deities and evolved teachers. They may include great spiritual teachers such as Jesus, Buddha, Lao-Tzu, and so on. In this realm are the archetypal patterns or original energetic blueprints of everything that has or will ever exist. The celestial realm forms the matrix of possibilities that correspond to the world we experience through our mind and senses. All situations, conditions and states of being are a manifestation of a world of archetypes--as above, so below. Every event in the visible world is the effect of a "seed" image or pattern in the unseen world.

We can journey to the Upper World to acquire archetypal knowledge, to bring a vision into being, or to influence events in the material world. By interacting with the archetypes, we interact with their counterparts in the outer world. We can also go there for inspiration, insight, or to find ways to restore balance in the world. As anthropologist Felicitas Goodman points out, "One of the most pervasive traditions of shamanic cultures is the insight that there exists a patterned cosmological order, which can be disturbed by human activity."(2) When harmony between the human realm and the original intended pattern is disturbed, we can journey to the celestial realm to bring back the balance. To journey up, you can visualize a tree or ladder that you climb up, soar on the wings of an eagle, or simply lift off the ground and rise into the air. Once you get to the upper realm, the landscape is typically more ethereal, higher in frequency and scintillating in light.

The Middle World is where spirit meets matter and is related to our ego or conscious self. The Middle World can be thought of as a non-ordinary mirror of ordinary reality. It is the spirit counterpart of the material realm and the inner region most like outer reality. The middle realm is so parallel to the world in which we live that a skilled journeyer can travel across it and visit all the places, people and things they know in ordinary reality. Spirit journeys in the Middle World provide a means of travel and communication without cars, planes or cell phones. It is a means of exploring our temporal landscape to find the location of healing herbs or lost objects, or to establish communication links over great distances.

To take a Middle World journey, simply imagine yourself walking out your front door and traveling through the landscape very quickly to look for something you have lost or to reach a distant destination. However, I do not recommend journeying to the Middle World unless you have a very good reason to go there. Unlike the upper and lower realms, where everything is guided by benevolence, the middle realm does not have benevolence or ethics at its core. That does not mean that it is a bad place. Rather, it is a place that mirrors what is happening in ordinary reality--the chaos of our times. It is a place full of risks and hidden dangers, such as holes in the ground that can entrap you. Traveling in this realm can be tricky even for an experienced journeyer. Moreover, the spirits who dwell in this realm cannot provide the wisdom, healing and empowerment you find in the Upper or Lower Worlds.
 

The Lower World relates to our unconscious mind. It is the realm of animal spirits, spirit guides and the ancestors, the place to which human spirits travel upon physical death. This inner plane is the domain of power animals, also known as guardian spirits, spirit allies, totem animals and tutelary animals. A power animal is the primeval oversoul that represents the entire species of that animal. A spirit journey to the Lower World is generally undertaken to seek the help and guidance of one's power animal, to connect with benevolent ancestors, to recover lost power, or to find and return a sick person's wandering spirit. Moreover, just to clear up any misconceptions, the shamanic underworld is not associated with anything dark, sinister or evil. That concept belongs to a completely different, often monotheistic religious belief system and cosmology.

For your first journeys, I recommend traveling to the Lower World, using the technique taught by the late Michael Harner. Founder of The Foundation for Shamanic Studies, Harner was widely acknowledged as the world's foremost authority on experiential and practical shamanism. To take a Lower World journey, Harner suggests that you visualize an opening into the earth that you remember from sometime in your life. The entrance could be an animal burrow, hollow tree stump, cave, and so on. When the journey begins, you will go down the hole and a tunnel will appear. The tunnel often appears ribbed and may bend or spiral around. This tunnel-like imagery is related to the central axis that links the three inner planes of consciousness. Enter the tunnel and you will emerge into the Lower World. The terrain that you traverse is typically very natural and very Earth-like.

 

The three cosmic realms are linked together by a vertical axis that is commonly referred to as the World Tree or axis mundi. The roots of the cosmic World Tree touch the Lower World. Its trunk is the Middle World, and its branches hold up the Upper World. This central axis (spinal column) exists within each of us. Through the sound of the drum, which is invariably made of wood from the World Tree, the shaman is transported to the cosmic axis within and conveyed from plane to plane. As Tuvan Siberian ethnomusicologist Valentina Suzukei explains, "There is a bridge on these sound waves so you can go from one world to another. In the sound world, a tunnel opens through which we can pass, or the shaman's spirits come to us. When you stop playing the drum, the bridge disappears."(3)

 

The Inner Journey

 

The shaman traverses the inner planes in order to mediate between the needs of the spirit world and those of the material world. It is an inward spiritual journey of rapture in which the shaman interacts with the inner spirit world, thereby influencing the outer material world. In the shaman's world, all human experience is self-generated. Experience is shaped from within since the three realms or resonant fields that define our experience of reality exist within each of us.

 

The essence of shamanism is the experience of direct revelation from within. Shamanism is about remembering, exploring and developing the true self. Shamanism places emphasis on the individual, of breaking free and discovering one's own uniqueness in order to bring something new back to the community. Shamanic practice heightens the ability of perception and enables you to see into the deeper realms of the self. Once connected with your inner self, you can find help, healing and a continual source of guidance. To practice shamanism is to reconnect with your deepest core values and your highest vision of who you are and why you are here.

 

We can engage the blueprint of our soul path through the vehicle of journeying. Shamanic journeying is a time-tested medium for individual self-realization. We can journey within to access wisdom and energies that can help awaken our soul calling and restore us to wholeness. It heightens our sense of mission and purpose, empowering our personal evolution. I invite you to try a shamanic journey.

1. Michael Winkelman, Shamanism: A Biopsychosocial Paradigm of Consciousness and Healing (Praeger, 2 edition 2010), p. 38.
2. Felicitas D. Goodman, Jewels on the Path: A Spirit Notebook, vol. II (Cuyamungue Institute, 1994), p. 55.
3. Kira Van Deusen, "Shamanism and Music in Tuva and Khakassia," Shaman's Drum, No. 47, Winter 1997, p. 24.

Honoring the Spirits of the Home

Shamanism is a way of perceiving the nature of the universe in a way that incorporates the normally invisible world where the spirits of all material things dwell. Shamans have different terms and phrases for the unseen world, but most of them clearly imply that it is the realm where the spirits of the land, animals, ancestors, and other spiritual entities dwell. Spirit encompasses all the immaterial forms of life energy that surround us. We are woven together into a net of life energies that are all around us. These energies can appear to us in different forms, such as spirits of the land or spirits of the home. Spirits of the home are the spirits that inhabit our place of refuge: where we live, where we work and where we play. These kinds of spirits share our homes with us and help us in our times of need.
 

Honoring the spirits that share our homes is important for our well-being. House spirits in many ways are the heart of the house itself and can affect the home's atmosphere as well as influencing the occupant’s moods and physical health. All homes have spirits, and in many cases there are layers of spirits. Spirits of the home are the echoes of people, of events, of ideas which have become imprinted upon a location, for better or for worse. House spirits may manifest as vague feelings or impressions associated with an area, but more often they appear with a clear physical form. Spirits of the home may be the manifestation of a home's spirit or they may be a spirit that is strongly tied to a home, but either way they have the ability to influence a person or family's luck, health, and mood. Most homes will have several different spirits associated with them, usually at least one with the home itself and in homes with an attached yard possibly more.
 

Honoring the spirits of a home is much easier than most people realize. It requires being open and aware of their presence without judgment or expectation. Know that the spirits are there and acknowledge their presence. Be respectful of them in word and action. Here are some good ways to honor the spirits of your home:
 

Cleanse Your Home
 

Honoring the spirits of your home begins with cleansing your abode. Your house holds the energies of all your emotional ups and downs. It collects the energies of all of your houseguests, domestic disputes, family emergencies, holidays, and so on. Picking up negative energy that is not ours can make us less balanced and can cause blockages to the natural flow of energy in our body. We may feel tired, unbalanced, anxious, depressed or even sick. The most important thing you can do is to smudge yourself and your home each day. Smudging is a method of using smoke from burning herbs to dispel negative energy. Sage, cedar and sweetgrass are traditionally used for smudging. To smudge, light the dried herbs in a fire-resistant receptacle, and then blow out the flames. Then use a feather or your hands to fan the smoke around your body and home. I recommend cracking a window or door for ventilation and for releasing unwanted energies.
 

Bless Your Home
 

Blessing a home, similar to cleansing one, is merely working to keep certain energies flowing within the house. We perform blessings on our homes to attract harmony, happiness, and prosperity to our dwelling and that can be done as often as we feel the need to. Many shamanic practitioners recommend the use of holy or consecrated water for blessing a home. The practice of charging water with intention, words, and sound is widely practiced in indigenous cultures throughout the world. In fact, people have believed in our ability to influence water since the days of antiquity. The Christian tradition is the obvious example, with the ongoing performing of rituals that turn regular water into holy water. Essentially, holy water is water with salt added during a rite of blessing. Learn how to make your own consecrated water, and use it for cleansing, protection and blessing. Pour some holy water into a spray bottle. To bless and protect your home, spray holy water around the perimeter of your dwelling and yard. You can also incorporate an incantation or spoken prayer into your blessing. This can be as simple as saying, "I bless this home with happiness. I bless this home with love. I bless this home with prosperity…"
 

Make Offerings to the Spirits
 

Offerings are a beautiful way to acknowledge and honor your household spirits. Giving and receiving are an essential part of any relationship. Anything can be used as an offering, but food is common in many cultures across the world. A simple way to incorporate food as an offering is to simply leave a portion of your meal for the spirits near the hearth or on an altar. An altar is any structure upon which we place offerings and sacred objects that have spiritual or cosmological significance. It represents the center and axis of your sacred space. A simple altar can be created with a cloth, a candle and other symbols that mean something to you. Offerings can be made weekly, monthly or annually and might include fresh flowers, herbs, incense, fruits, milk, or wine. The offerings serve as an acknowledgement and sign of gratitude for the spirits presence and beneficial activity.
 

Listen to the Spirits
 

Developing a relationship with your house and its spirit is very important for your home is your sanctuary; it keeps you safe and warm and protected from the elements. Let your home speak to you. As shamanic practitioners, we are often able to hear things that others cannot. And we know that it is not uncommon for spirits to speak up when they want something specific. Our houses can be the same way. Take some time to sit quietly in your house and listen to it. Be open to communication and let it tell you what color walls it was happiest with, what kind of music it prefers, or what holiday traditions it was fondest of; and let these messages guide your offerings.

 

As with any relationship it takes time and effort to build a connection with your house spirit, but it is worthwhile. Most home spirits are more open to human connection than the spirits of the land. Keep in mind that spirits choose to come into relationship with the person seeking. You can seek a connection, but the spirits must choose. Respect and connection to spirits is what makes for an authentic relationship, which is what the shamanic practitioner yearns for in a society that has severed itself from nature and spirit. Humans have lost touch with the spirit world and the wisdom of inner knowing. The spirits, however, have not forgotten us. They are calling us to a path of environmental sanity, to rejoining the miraculous cycle of nature.

Calling the Spirits

The opening of sacred space for ceremony or spiritual work is essentially an invocation, calling in the spiritual energies of the seven directions: East, South, West, North, Above, Below, and Within. Calling the spirits is an ancient shamanic rite that is practiced cross-culturally to access and honor the powers of creation. Inviting their presence, participation, and assistance not only aligns us with their power, but also is a way of giving energy that helps revitalize these primal forces. 

Calling in the directions is a spiritual activity in and of itself. The orientation embeds you in the living web of life, yielding greater awareness and perspective. It imparts a comprehensive recollection of the basic experience of being fully human. The ritual grounds you completely into the present moment to begin your day or to begin a specific shamanic practice. 

The specific words of your invocation to the spirits do not matter. What matters is that your prayer comes from the heart. You must show the spirit world you have passion and heart. The energy that comes in from the source is directed through our hearts. Your heart must be clear and open in order to receive spirit. You must open the heart, empty the mind, and go deep within. 

Make sure you have everything you need before starting. Gather together your ritual items and set up an altar. Although an altar is not essential, it provides us with a focus to pray, meditate, and listen. An altar is any structure upon which we place offerings and sacred objects that have spiritual or cosmological significance. It represents your world center. I use a Navajo rug for my altar. I lay the rug in the center of my sacred space and place a stone, a vessel of water, a lit candle, and a feather upon it to represent the four elements: earth, water, fire, and air. You can also place photos of loved ones on your altar so that they are included in your prayers.

1. To perform this ritual, relax, purify (smudge), and center yourself as you would for other spiritual work. When you are ready, begin your invocation. There are no rules or restrictions governing this process. On most occasions, a sacred circle is cast in a sun wise direction, whether in the northern or southern hemispheres. Some people like to start in the direction of the current season: Spring = East, Summer = South, Fall = West, and Winter = North; however, I usually begin by calling the spirits of the East.

2. In a group ritual, I like to have the participants stand in a circle or medicine wheel and face each direction in unison. Use your right hand, or hold a feather in your right hand, to fan smudge offerings to the East. You can also offer a pinch of tobacco or corn meal to each direction. An offering is usually made with the right hand. If you have a rattle, shake it four times to open a portal in the East to the spirit world. Using words, chanting, or song, invite the benevolent spirit powers associated with that direction to participate and assist in the ceremony. Welcome the spirits with an open heart and mind. Some people will whistle or make animal sounds to call in spirit helpers. Trust your instincts and intuition in this process.

3. Pause after calling the spirit helpers of the East and listen for any guidance or wisdom that direction has to share. The spirits will always respond when you call them. Sound does not just travel out into oblivion. There is a call and then a response. Pay attention to any guidance that comes to you. Communication may enter your awareness as a flash of color in your mind's eye, a visual symbol, a tingling of the spine or an inaudible sound heard deep within your soul. It may be visual, auditory, intuitive, or some combination of these. Sometimes it is just a knowing that your helping spirits and guides are now around you. You may feel energy flowing into your hands, feet, or arms or showering down through your crown. When I channel spirit energy, I often feel chills and goosebumps.

4. Next, pivot around clockwise and repeat the same procedure to summon the spirits of the South, the West, and the North. After that, summon Father Sky above and Mother Earth below. When invoking Father Sky, reach to the heavens; when invoking Mother Earth, reach down and touch the ground where you stand.

5. Finally, face the center of the circle (if you are in a group or in a medicine wheel) and bring your hands to your heart to invite the spirit of Within. Call upon the spirit of divine unity that flows from within the center of your being where the six directions meet. Welcome the gifts of balance, oneness, and connection with all things, for all things are one and all things are related.  

6. When you have finished your spiritual work, sacred space must be closed. Follow the same procedure as for the opening, but in reverse order. Begin by thanking the spiritual energies of Within, Mother Earth and Father Sky, and then the North, West, South and East in a counterclockwise movement. Shake your rattle to say farewell to the spirits. As you rattle, give thanks to all your relations for the needs met. The phrase "all my relations" is used at the end of a prayer in many shamanic traditions, for all living things share in the relationships of life on Earth. Express your gratitude to the archetypal elements and helping spirits for being with you and send them off, releasing their energies to the seven directions.

Honoring the Ancestors on Samhain

Samhain, or Halloween as it is now called, is a celebration observed in many countries on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observance of Allhallowtide, the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed. The origins of Halloween customs are typically linked to the Gaelic festival Samhain. Samhain is one of the four cross-quarter days (the midpoint between two seasons) in the medieval Gaelic calendar. Samhain marked the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year. It was seen as a liminal (or threshold) time, when the "veil" or boundary between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at its thinnest, making it easier to communicate with those who have left this world. It is also the season of divination, using the connection across the thin veil to ask the spirits for answers. 

According to Irish mythology, Samhain (like Beltane) was a time when the 'doorways' to the Otherworld opened, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world. Samhain was essentially a festival for the dead. Samhain was marked by great gatherings and feasts and was when the ancient burial mounds were open, which were seen as portals to the Otherworld. Some Neolithic passage tombs in Ireland are aligned with the sunrise at the time of Samhain. The souls of dead kin were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality, and a place was set at the table for them during a meal. Mumming and guising were part of the festival from at least the early modern era, whereby people went door-to-door in costume reciting verses in exchange for food.
 

Honoring and Connecting with the Ancestors
 

To honor your forebears, create an ancestor altar with a cloth, a candle and photos of those loved ones who have passed, whether that be ancestors of blood or kin. Include memorabilia and other items that you connect with the departed, and light the candle. You can spend some time with each picture and with each item, connecting with those, or name those ancestors whose names you know followed by "may they be remembered." Dedicate a round of drumming to your ancestors and their memory. When you have finished, put out the candle. You may want to leave the altar in place for the rest of Samhain, or until it feels right to take it down.
 

You can connect with your benevolent ancestors by taking a shamanic journey to the Lower World -- the realm to which departed souls travel upon physical death. The desire to communicate with our ancestors is an innate part of the human experience. Benevolent ancestral spirits can guide, protect and heal the living. Your ancestors and the collective spiritual power of all those who went before you reside in the Lower World. When your own time comes to pass on, you will become part of this vast collective unconscious. If you embark on a journey with the intention of connecting with those who have passed, they may come to meet you. Keep in mind that spirits choose to come into relationship with the person seeking. You can seek ancestral spirits, but the spirits must choose. Have a happy and soulful Samhain!

The Sweat Lodge Ceremony

In September of 1991, I began hosting a weekly teaching sweat lodge ceremony on four acres of secluded, unimproved forest land that my wife and I owned near Bend, Oregon. The ceremonies were conducted by Wasco elder Les Thomas and Oglala Lakota elder Don Fasthorse. Many people gathered to learn, and then left the group to teach others. The sweat lodge or inipi is as a spiritual purification ceremony of rebirth, rejuvenation, emotional release and awakening. The ceremony serves to cleanse the body, mind and spirit while opening a path of communication between the spiritual and earthly realms. The intense heat generated by steam created from pouring water onto heated rocks is meant to encourage a sweating out of toxins and negative energy that create imbalance in life. Sweat lodge ceremonies are traditionally held for a variety of reasons: before warriors go into battle, before and after major rituals like vision quests or for personal purification.

Sweat lodges are unique dome-shaped structures approximately four to five feet high at the center. They are constructed from supple willow branches and covered with rugs, furs and blankets. When a sweat lodge is built according to tradition, it looks like the body of a turtle. This is because the structure represents Turtle Island or Mother Earth. Entering the lodge symbolizes going back into the womb. It provides a safe and secure place to pray for self, others and all our relations. During the ceremony, spirits are invoked, drums are played and songs are sung. Spirits will enter and sing along with the participants and may even talk to them as well. If a person is not ready to hear the spirits, the spirits may not let that person hear them. Only those who are ready to hear the spirits may hear them because that is how compassionate the spirits are.

The Lakota term for sweat lodge is inipi, which translates to "Stone People Lodge." The Stone People, who are often referred to as the "grandfathers," come from the womb of our Mother Earth. The purpose of the inipi is to return to the womb of Maka (Earth) to be recreated. The Stone People become alive again when their spirits come into the Stone People Lodge. Then you can visit with them and tell them your problems. Then the power that pollutes our mind can be released. The fire from the womb of the Earth Mother will come in and destroy bad thoughts and words. Only good thoughts and words will remain. The spirits of the Stone People return our power to us. That's what Spirit does -- the Stone People, fire, water and green (the plants). The inipi is a place of healing, of purification and of prayer for all life.

A sweat lodge typically has four doors (or rounds) to the four directions (or winds), represented with colors, spirit guides and different elements. The number four has long been considered a sacred number in shamanism and Native American spirituality. All events and actions are based on this number because everything was created in fours. The Great Mystery reveals itself as the powers of the four directions, and these four powers provide the organizing principle for everything that exists in the world. There are four winds, four seasons, four elements, four phases of the moon, four stages to humanity's spiritual evolution, and so on.

The whole process is modeled after the Medicine Wheel, which is a universal symbol that can be found in many Indigenous cultures around the world. The Medicine Wheel represents the natural cycles of life and the basic way in which the natural world moves and evolves. The Medicine Wheel represents the archetypal journey each of us takes in life. This journey has four stages or rounds, each associated with a cardinal direction. Four rounds signify fullness, wholeness or completion.

Love, Nature, Magic: Shamanic Journeys into the Heart of My Garden

In her new book Love, Nature, Magic: Shamanic Journeys into the Heart of My Garden, Maria Rodale takes the reader on an unusual autobiographical journey through her life. Rodale combines her love of nature and gardening with her experience in shamanic journeying, embarking on an epic adventure to learn from plants, animals and insects--including some of the most misunderstood beings in nature. Maria asks them their purpose and listens as they show and declare what they want us humans to know. From Thistles to Snakes, Poison Ivy to Mosquitoes, these nature beings convey messages that are relevant to every human, showing us how to live in balance and harmony on this Earth.

Rodale is the former CEO of now defunct Rodale Publishing, famous for magazine titles such as Men's Health, Runner's World, and Prevention, and also books including Al Gore's blockbuster, An Inconvenient Truth. Her approach to storytelling is fascinating and unique. She tells us at one point that her original intention was to write a straightforward book about plants, animals and insects, but somehow somewhere along the way she took a different path. The book is less of a single narrative than a series of episodes. In her garden, she periodically slips into a shamanic state of consciousness and communes with nature beings like bat, vulture, mosquito, mugwort, aspen, dandelion and milkweed. This allows her to transition easily from a mundane activity like weeding into a serious topic such as the genocide of Native Americans.
 

This is a beautiful book by a thoughtful author whose writing is both humorous and uplifting. However, it can be uneven at times. Some of the creatures she gives voice to are so preachy as to feel contrived--like the fireflies pleading against the use of pesticides and forever chemicals. At other times her thoughts flow so fast and free they are difficult to follow, like where she jumps from feminism to overpopulation to mosquitoes laying eggs in car tires. But overall she skillfully weaves together snippets of science with thoughts of nature and human existence in the future and episodes of her own life. She also gives voice to some of nature's most overlooked organisms with a wonderful imagination.
 

Rodale is hopeful and optimistic about the future. As she concludes at the beginning of her book, "I now believe it's possible to create a new Eden where knowledge is not a sin, desire is recognized as part of our human purpose, and love and understanding are the original blessings to be nourished and cultivated in the garden of our lives." To learn more, look inside Love, Nature, Magic: Shamanic Journeys into the Heart of My Garden.

Four Steps for Shamanism in Daily Life

Rhonda McCrimmon is a prominent shamanic practitioner and founder of the Centre for Shamanism in Kirriemuir, Scotland. In a recent interview for the British daily newspaper, The Guardian, McCrimmon shared four practical ways to use shamanism in your everyday life:
 

1) Connect with the elements
 

Spend a few moments each day connecting with one of the four elements -- earth, air, fire, water. Notice details, like, is the wind gentle and what direction is it blowing in? Feel the water pass your lips when drinking, flow down your throat and enter your stomach while giving thanks for the nourishment it provides. Breathing crisp winter air with your eyes closed and feeling what emotions that brings up for you that can then be released on the out breath. Walking barefoot on grass and thinking of your ancestors walking the same way giving thanks for their life.
 

2) Listen to the beat
 

Try listening to steady drumbeats, breathing deeply and slowly for five to 10 minutes. Take time to notice how you felt during and afterwards -- this can be developed into shamanic journeying for yourself when you feel ready. This is good for regulating and de-stressing after a hard day.
 

3) Practice gratitude
 

Daily gratitude practice for the earth, the land and the ancestors. Gratitude is good for our body, mind, soul and community, and is great for lowering anxiety.
 

4) Get to know your guides
 

Invite your shamanic guides to make themselves known to you. A guide supports you in your life. Although your guides are always with you, whether you know them or not -- they might be an animal you see all the time or that you have an affinity with -- it can take time to build a relationship with them. You'll know you have met a guide when they appear in your mind unbidden and you feel them around you in difficult moments.

What Happens During a Shamanic Journey?

Shamanism is based on the principle that the spiritual world may be contacted through the inner senses in ecstatic trance. Basically, shamanic journeying is a way of communicating with your inner or spirit self and retrieving information. Your inner self is in constant communication with all aspects of your environment, seen and unseen. You need only journey within to find answers to your questions. You should have a question or objective in mind from the start. Shamanic journeying may be undertaken for purposes of divination, for personal healing, to meet one's power animal or spirit guide, or for any number of other reasons. After the journey, you must then interpret the meaning of your trance experience.
 

When we journey within, we are engaging the imaginal realm. Imagination is our portal to the spirit world. Internal imagery enables us to perceive and connect with the inner realms. If a shaman wants to retrieve information or a lost guardian spirit, "imagining what to look for" is the first step in achieving any result. According to C. Michael Smith, author of Jung and Shamanism in Dialogue, "The shaman's journey employs the imagination, and the use of myth as inner map gives the shaman a way of imagining non-ordinary reality, so that he or she may move about intentionally in it." By consciously interacting with the inner imagery, the shaman is able to communicate with spirit guides and power animals.
 

Communication in non-ordinary reality is characteristically archetypal, nonverbal and nonlinear in nature. The images we see during a shamanic journey have a universal, archetypical quality. Imagery from these experiences is a combination of our imagination and information conveyed to us by the spirits. Our imagination gives the journey a "container," which helps us to understand the messages we receive. It provides us with a way to understand and articulate the experience for ourselves and to others.
 

To enter a trance state and support your journey, you will need a drum or a shamanic drumming recording. Shamanic drumming is drumming for the purpose of shamanic journeying. A good shamanic drumming recording should be pulsed at around three to four beats per second. There should be a call back signal near the end of the track, followed by a short period of drumming to assist you in refocusing your awareness back to your physical body. You may also rattle, chant or sing to induce trance. There is no right or wrong way to journey. Be innovative and try different ways of journeying. Many people need to move, dance or sing their journeys. My first journeys were supported by listening to a shamanic drumming recording, but now I have much stronger journeys when I drum for myself.
 

What you will experience

Ecstatic trance is not always what many people anticipate it to be, and sometimes there may be doubt that anything at all takes place. There are, however, some key indicators that confirm a transcendent state of consciousness. Once you enter a trance state, the rhythm or sound of the drum tends to change. The drumbeat may appear to speed up or slow down, while the sound may grow louder, softer or disappear. You may experience a change in body temperature, feel energy flowing through your body, or find yourself twitching, swaying or rocking. It is not uncommon to hear sounds or voices. You may even smell specific aromas. You may see colorful patterns, symbolic images or dreamlike visions. Some people may find that they have a highly developed inner vision, while others may rely more on an inner voice of insight, or an inner feeling of certainty. Be prepared to experience ecstatic trance with any of your senses.

The Origin of Disease and Medicine

An excerpt from The Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees by James Mooney
 

In the old days, the beasts, birds, fish, insects, and plants could all talk. They and the people lived together in peace and friendship. As time went on, however, the people increased so rapidly that their settlement spread over the whole earth, and the poor animals found themselves cramped for room. To make things worse, Man invented bows, knives, spears, and hooks, and began to slaughter the larger animals, birds, and fish for their flesh or their skins. The smaller creatures, such as the frogs and worms, were crushed and trodden upon without thought, out of pure carelessness or contempt. So the animals resolved to consult upon measures for their common safety.
 

The Bears were the first to meet in council, led by old White Bear. After each in turn had complained of the way in which Man killed their friends, ate their flesh, and used their skins for his own purposes, it was decided to begin war at once against him. Once the angry crowd calmed down, White Bear told them that the human beings had a decided advantage -- the bow and arrow. So the Bears decided to make their own weapons.
 

However, the Bears had a problem. Their claws made it impossible to properly draw back on a bow. Some of the younger Bears thought of cutting their claws, but White Bear objected, " If we cut off our claws, we will all starve together. It is better to trust the teeth and claws that nature gave us, for it is plain that Man's weapons were not intended for us."
 

No one could think of any better plan, so the old chief dismissed the council and the Bears dispersed to the woods and thickets without having concerted any way to prevent the increase of the human race. Had the result of the council been otherwise, we should now be at war with the Bears, but as it is, the hunter does not even ask the Bear's permission when he kills one.
 

The Deer next held a council under their chief, Little Deer. After some talk, they resolved to use their magic. Thenceforth, if a hunter wished to kill a Deer, he must take care to ask their pardon for the offense. Any human hunter failing to do so would be stricken with rheumatism. The Deer sent notice of their decision to the nearest settlement of Indians and told them at the same time what to do when necessity forced them to kill one of the Deer tribe. No hunter, who has regard for his health, ever fails to ask pardon of the Deer for killing it.
 

Next came the Fish and Reptiles, who had their own complaints against Man. They held council together and determined to make their victims dream of snakes twining about them in slimy folds and blowing foul breath in their faces, or to make them dream of eating raw or decaying fish, so that they would lose appetite, sicken, and die. This is why people dream about snakes and fish.
 

Finally, the Birds, Insects, and smaller animals came together for the same purpose. They decided to spread disease among the humans. They began then to devise and name so many new diseases, one after another, that had not their invention at last failed them, no one of the human race would have been able to survive.
 

When the Plants, who were friendly to Man, heard what the animals had done, they determined to defeat the latter's evil designs. Each Tree, Shrub, and Herb, down even to the Grasses and Mosses, said, "I shall appear to help Man when he calls upon me in his need." Thus was medicine born. The plants, every one of which has its use if we only knew it, furnish the remedy to counteract the evil wrought by the vengeful animals. Even weeds were made for some good purpose, which we must find out for ourselves. When the doctor (shaman) does not know what medicine to use for a sick man, the spirit of the plant tells him.
 

Source: James Mooney, The Sacred Formulas Of The Cherokees. Published in the Seventh Annual Report, Bureau of American Ethnology, pp. 301-399. 1886.

Native American Gourd Rattles

Native American artisans have long utilized gourds to make many items, including utensils, serving bowls and rattles. The gourd rattle represents the three kingdoms in Native American culture, with the animal kingdom represented by feathers, the mineral kingdom represented by rocks inside the rattle, and the plant kingdom represented by the gourd itself. Music, many Native people believe, is a vessel used to transform ourselves into spiritual beings capable of healing ourselves and others through the transfer of energy, and these rattles are commonly used during ceremonies of song and dance. The following are some examples of gourd rattles crafted by Native Americans:
 

The Kachina Rattle
 

The gourd rattle used by the Hopi Katsinam (spirit messengers) is highly symbolic. Often only painted light blue with little decoration, this special instrument is used in Kachina dance and ceremony, and also as a gift given to children during their initiation ceremonies into the Kachina Society. The rattle is constructed of a flattened gourd, which represents the earth, and the handle represents the axis of the Hero Twins, iconic figures of ancient Hopi lore who help keep the earth spinning.
 

The Peyote Rattle
 

The Peyote rattle (pictured above) was frequently used during Native American church ceremonies, and was an important element of the Half Moon ceremony. A community elder is in charge of leading this ceremony, which involves the ingestion of dried peyote, a hallucinogenic cactus that was believed to induce visions. This rattle was also constructed from a spherical gourd shape and filled with nut or seed.
 

The Iroquois Rattle
 

According to the Iroquois or "people of the longhouse," the gourd rattle is the sound of Creation. The Iroquoian creation stories tell of the first sound, a shimmering sound, which went out in all directions; this was the sound of "the Creator's thoughts." The seeds of the gourd rattle embody the voice of the Creator, since they are the source of newly created life. The seeds within the rattle scatter the illusions of the conscious mind, planting seeds of pure and clear mind.
 

The Shaman's Rattle
 

The shaman's rattle is used to invoke the assistance of power animals and helping spirits. It is also possible to direct energy with rattles, much like a magician with a magic wand. Healing energy can be mentally transmitted through the rattle and out into the environment or into a patient's body. Prayer and intention can be broadcast to the spirit world. Moreover, you can create sacred space by describing a circle with the rattle while shaking it.

A Path to Authenticity

Shamanism is universal and not bound by social or cultural conditions. It is the most ancient and most enduring spiritual tradition known to humanity. In his book, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Mircea Eliade describes the three stages of becoming a shaman: the Call, Training, and Initiation. The first stage of shamanhood, as described by Eliade, is that of the calling. This call comes from the family, the community or from the world beyond. Some are called, initiated and trained by spirit guides and/or human teachers from childhood.
 

Shamans are called and then receive rigorous instruction. Training may follow an ordered tradition or take a spontaneous course guided by the shaman's spirit helpers. The function of training is to develop the skills and talents so that shamanic practitioners don't unintentionally hurt themselves or others. Though the spirits give shamans their healing powers, practitioners must learn how to properly honor and commune with them to gain their blessings. Traditional shamanic training requires considerable devotion and personal sacrifice, not so much to gain power, but to become the person who can wield that power responsibly. It's a lifelong commitment to service and learning. Ongoing practice and learning are essential to perfecting any art or skill.

Then there is Initiation. Shamanic initiation is a rite of passage connecting the apprentice shaman intimately to the spirit world. It is typically the final step in shamanic training, though initiation may be set in motion at any time by spirit's intervention into the initiate's life. Ultimately, shamanic initiation takes place between the initiate and the spirit world. It is the spirits who choose and make the shaman.

In their book, Shaman Wisdom, Shaman Healing, Michael Samuels and Mary Rockwood Lane have taken Eliade's three stages and added a fourth: "the practice of shamanism." To be an effective shaman, one must go through the three stages of development, and ultimately the practice of shamanism in the community. An authentic shamanic practitioner makes a commitment to intercede between the spiritual and human realms on behalf of the local community. It's an alliance that fosters healing, problem solving, and strong communities.

Shamanism is a sacred call to build relationship. A skillful shamanic practitioner works in sacred partnership with helping spirits--the power animals, the benevolent ancestors, and the sacred elements. Spirit helpers are the caretakers in the unseen world who want to support the earth and her inhabitants at this time. They are here to teach us how to gather wisdom from the spiritual realms, the natural world, the past, the present, and the future in order to give birth to new ways of being.

The shamanic relationship between humans and helping spirits supports our spirit's quest for self-realization. Helping spirits, if engaged regularly and skillfully, offer flexibility, creativity, and perseverance in fulfilling our own unique path. The spirits are here to teach us to be better humans. They come to assist us in doing the principal unique thing we have come here to do in a way that benefits all living things.

Shamanism offers a valid and effective path back to our soul and its purpose for being here. Shamanism is about remembering, exploring and developing the true self. By engaging life from a shamanic perspective, we rediscover our core values and deep loves, find others who share them, and recommit our lives to living from what has heart and meaning. The passionate expression of our soul's purpose is precisely the medicine the earth needs at this time.

Hummingbird Medicine

Hummingbirds always capture my attention when they fly into my life. I am dazzled by their humming wings and iridescent light. I am awakened to the beauty of the present moment. There's something about the hummingbird that makes me think of healing beauty, that something that beautiful can't possibly exist in flesh, and yet it does. When I see this magical bird, the boundaries of flesh cease to exist, for a moment, for a second I am in non-verbal space, and am one with the Hummingbird, with the flower, with the water and air, with all of nature, in a great glorious symphony of joy and celebration.

Hummingbird's exist only in the western hemisphere, but their magic is available to everyone in the world. They are extremely adaptable because they can hover, fly up, down, backwards and forwards with great speed. Generally speaking, Hummingbird brings joy, happiness, good luck and light to the world. It speaks to the heart in all of us and tells us that a closed heart shuts away life's radiant energy and color. Without an open and loving heart, we can never taste the nectar and pure bliss of life. Hummingbird disdains ugliness or harshness, and quickly flies away from discord or disharmony. Hummingbird’s message is: "Do not judge, assume, make conjecture about others, rather, laugh, sing and celebrate differences. In doing so you will elevate the world."

Mayan legends explain that the reason Hummingbird is so tiny is because it was created out of the scraps of feathers left over when other flying creatures were made. This tiny iridescent bird is a dynamo of energy, darting tirelessly from flower to flower in search of nectar. Hummingbirds can teach us how to use flowers for healing and to win hearts in love. Hummingbird is also a retriever of lost souls because it can fly quickly into small spaces and bring back the soul undetected. The playful Hummingbird sings a vibration of pure joy and shows us how to find happiness in all things. Invoke Hummingbird to help you find joy and sweetness in any situation. To learn more, look inside Bird Medicine: The Sacred Power of Bird Shamanism.

Shamanic Initiation Dreams

Many people in today's world are being called by Spirit to become shamans or shamanic practitioners. A yearning exists deep within many of us to reconnect to the natural world. It is a call to a life lived in balance with awareness of Nature, of Spirit and of Self. We live in a culture that has severed itself from Nature and Spirit. Humans have lost touch with the spirit world and the wisdom of inner knowing. The spirits, however, have not forgotten us. They are calling us to a path of environmental sanity, to rejoining the miraculous cycle of Nature. 

Spirit calls us to a path of shamanism in many ways. It can be as dramatic as a life threatening illness or as simple as a dream. Some people receive signs of a shamanic calling through their dreams. Future shamans may dream of spirits and ancestors or hear their voices. Others may have recurring dreams in which they meet certain animal or teacher figures that are manifestations of the very spirits who are calling them. Also, in dreams the candidate is sometimes given initiatory directives and learns which objects will be needed to perform cures. These instructions are given by the spirits and by the older master shamans and are equivalent to an initiation.

 
During a shamanic dream initiation, the candidate usually experiences suffering, death, and resurrection, including a symbolic cutting up of the body, such as dismemberment or disembowelment by ancestral or animal spirits. The candidate dies a symbolic death and is then restored and brought back to life, whole and empowered. Sometimes initiation dreams begin even in childhood. Usually, the premonitory dreams of future shamans are followed by mortal illnesses if they are not rightly respected.
 

The souls of the dead are regarded as a source of shamanic powers among some tribes like the Paviotso, the Shoshone, the Paiute, the Lillooet, and the Thompson Salish. In northern California this method of bestowing shamanic powers is widespread. The Yurok shamans dream of a dead man, usually a shaman. Among the Sinkyone the power is sometimes received in dreams in which the candidate's deceased relatives appear; the Wintu also become shamans after such dreams, especially if they dream of their own dead children. In the Shasta tribe the first indication of shamanic power follows dreams of a departed mother, father, or ancestor.

 
Among the Mohave and the Yuma of southern California, power comes from the mythical beings who transmitted it to shamans at the beginning of the world. Transmission takes place in dreams and includes an initiation scenario. In their dreams the Yuma shamans witness the beginning of the world and experience mythical times. Such dreams may include a mystical journey to the archetypal Cosmic Tree or World Tree. Among the Maricopa, initiatory dreams involve a spirit taking the future shaman's soul and leading it from mountain to mountain, each time revealing songs and cures. Ultimately, it is the spirits who choose and make the shaman.

Ritual Drumming: Invoking the Spirits

Ritual drumming is a tool used by shamanic practitioners to engage the powers of the unseen world to effect specific changes in the physical world. A shamanic ritual often begins with heating the drumhead over a fire to bring it up to the desired pitch. The sound of the drum is very important. Practitioners may strike certain parts of the drum to summon particular helping spirits. It is the subtle variations in timbre and ever-changing overtones of the drum that allow the practitioner to communicate with the spiritual realm. The practitioner uses the drum to create a bridge to the spirit world, while simultaneously opening the awareness of all the participants to that bridge. A master drummer can draw powerful rhythms from the drum that can transport others into specific dimensions of the spirit world.

All elements of drum music such as timbre, rhythm, volume and tempo play an important role in shamanic ritual. By using different parts of the drumstick to play on different parts of the drum, different timbres can be produced for transmitting different meanings. Different rhythms transmit different meanings and enable the practitioner to contact different beings in different realms of the cosmos. Volume and tempo arouse feelings in the listener and communicate symbolic meanings directly as aural sense experience.

A practitioner may have a repertory of established rhythms or improvise a new rhythm, uniquely indicated for the situation. The drumming is not restricted to a regular tempo, but may pause, speed up or slow down with irregular accents. The practitioner may stop playing altogether, or suddenly hoist the drum skyward and bang it violently, throwing the disease into the heavens; returning it to the spirit world.

Creating effective rituals

Ritual drumming is a universal way to address the spirit world and provide some kind of fundamental change in an individual's consciousness or in the ambience of a gathering. It is designed to engage the spirit world in helping us to do what we are unable to do for ourselves. With a strong connection to the powers of the spirit world, ritual becomes an effective tool for restoring or changing the status quo. By creating effective ritual, we can skillfully engage spirit in the processes we are involved in like healing, therapy or actualizing our goals. Potent rituals have similar foundational elements. Key elements of this foundation include:

1. Intention is the first element of effective ritual. You should have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. Without a clear intention or desired outcome, the energy created in the ritual is poorly structured with little or no direction. Articulating your desired outcome is how you channel the energy of the performance toward the intended objective. One good way to think about it is by asking yourself what you want to happen as a result of the ritual. What effect do you want it to have on individuals, community and the world?

2. The creation of sacred space. Sacred space is that territory that we enter for spiritual and inner work. Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, having a special place in your home reserved for quiet introspection, reflection and spiritual connection can nourish your soul. A sacred space can be any location in your home where you can be by yourself and be fully self-expressed. Be creative with this, but find a special place for you to go at least once a day.

Consider setting up an altar that is appropriate for the purpose of your ritual or ceremony. Although an altar is not essential, it provides us with a focus to pray, meditate and listen. An altar is any structure upon which we place offerings and sacred objects that have spiritual or cosmological significance. It represents the center and axis of your sacred space. A simple altar can be created with a cloth, a candle and other symbols that mean something to you.

It is important to cleanse your sacred space before starting any spiritual work. Cleanse the space by smudging and/or spraying holy water around the perimeter. Preparing a purified sacred space shifts our awareness from ordinary waking consciousness to a more centered, meditative state. Ritual preparation awakens our connection to the web of life and structures a boundary that separates the sacred from the ordinary and profane.

3. The opening of sacred space. After preparing a purified sacred space, you may wish to ritually open the space. The opening of sacred space is essentially an invocation; calling in the spiritual energies of the seven directions: East, South, West, North, Up, Down and Within. Calling in the directions not only aligns you with their power, but is a spiritual activity in and of itself. The orientation embeds you in the living web of life, yielding greater awareness and perspective. It imparts a comprehensive recollection of the basic experience of being fully human. The ritual grounds you completely in the present moment to begin your day or to begin a specific spiritual practice.

Though there are no rules or restrictions, on most occasions a sacred circle is cast in a sun-wise direction. I would suggest you start in the East where the sun rises. Strike your drum four times to open a portal in the East to the spirit world. Using words, chanting or song, invite the benevolent spirit powers associated with that direction to participate and assist in the ritual or ceremony. Welcome the spirits with an open heart and mind. Some people will whistle or make animal sounds to call in spirit helpers. Trust your instincts and intuition in this process.

Pause after calling the spirit helpers of the East and listen for any guidance or wisdom that direction has to share. The spirits will always respond when you call them. Sound does not just travel out into oblivion. There is a call and then a response. Pay attention to any guidance that comes to you. Communication may enter your awareness as a flash of color in your mind's eye, a visual symbol, a tingling of the spine or an inaudible sound heard deep within your soul. It may be visual, auditory, intuitive or some combination of these. Sometimes it is just a knowing that your helping spirits and guides are now around you. You may feel energy flowing into your hands, feet or arms, or showering down through your crown. When I channel spirit energy, I often feel chills and goose-bumps.

Next, pivot around clockwise and repeat the same procedure to invoke the spirits of the South, the West and the North. After that, invoke Father Sky above and Mother Earth below. When invoking Father Sky, reach to the heavens; when invoking Mother Earth, reach down and touch the ground where you stand.

Finally, face the center of the circle and bring your hands to your heart to invite the spirit of Within. Call upon the spirit of divine unity that flows from within the center of your being where the six directions meet. Welcome the gifts of balance, oneness and connection with all things, for all things are one and all things are related.

4. The induction of altered states. Altered states of consciousness are induced through intense rhythmic drumming. An altered state of consciousness is any state of mind that is significantly different from normal waking consciousness. Altered states produce deeper self-awareness; allow us to connect with the power of the universe, to externalize our own knowledge and to internalize our answers.

5. The closure of sacred space. When you have finished your ritual, sacred space should be closed. Follow the same procedure as for the opening, but in reverse order. Begin by thanking the spiritual energies of Within, Mother Earth and Father Sky, and then the North, West, South and East in a counterclockwise movement. Play your drum to say farewell to the spirits. As you drum, give thanks to all your relations for the needs met. The phrase "all my relations" is used at the end of a prayer in many shamanic traditions, for all living things share in the relationships of life on Earth. Express your gratitude to the helping spirits for assisting you and send them off, releasing their energies to the seven directions. Remember that drumming opens portals to the spirit world, draws spirit in, and opens you up to receive it.

Shamanic Dreaming

Humans have always looked beyond the factual world of ordinary reality for something solid on which to ground their lives. The models of the mystery of life have always been based on the myths of an immemorial imagination. According to Joseph Campbell, one of the great mythologists of the 20th century, "Mythological cosmologies do not correspond to the world of gross facts, but are functions of dreams and visions." Dreams and visions have always been, and will always be, the creative forces that shape our understanding of the fundamental nature of reality. It is an inherent product of the psyche, a symbolic language of metaphysics recognized by shamans and seers.

Dreams are a doorway to the spirit world. In dreams we experience the shamanic world. Everything is alive; everything is connected. We can fly. Ancestors come to us. Animals talk to us. In his book, Honoring the Medicine: The Essential Guide to Native American Healing, Kenneth Cohen writes that John Trehero, a Shoshone Sun Dance chief, derived his healing power from frequent dreams about the beaver. He described his spirit helper thus: "I dreamed about the beaver. The beaver said here is my power, and then he showed me his front paws. If a person has pain I feel with my hand on him, and that pain comes in my hand. I use my own hands for beaver paws."

The accumulation of shamanic power and knowledge comes primarily through journeys, visions and dreams. Dreams are a doorway through which the shamanic practitioner can travel to the inner realms and interact with helping spirits. Shamanic dreaming is different from modern lucid dreaming: in the latter there tends to be an emphasis on controlling your dreams. In shamanic dreaming the spirits are in charge, not the humans. Spirit teachers or guardian animals come to us in nightly encounters and we can receive teachings and guidance. In other words, the spirits begin to train us in the dream state, and we may receive certain initiations along the way. This is one of the classical ways of being called onto the shamanic path.

Dream interpretation is an important skill that shamanic practitioners should develop. However, you can't interpret your dreams if you can't remember them. Dreams tend to fade quickly from conscious awareness upon awakening. To help me remember my dreams, I repeat the affirmation that I will remember all that occurs during sleep. On awakening, I note all of my dreams in a dream journal. Keeping a journal provides a record of your spiritual growth and allows you to reflect upon and better interpret dreams.

Journaling is a contemplative practice that can help you become more aware of your inner life and feel more connected to your experiences and the world around you. This process engages the subjective mind and intuitive awareness. In some cases, your dreams will be clear and easy to understand. At other times, your dreams will be full of symbolism. Interpret such dreams by looking for possible associations related to each symbol or image. Don't overanalyze the dream, for its meaning will become clear at the appropriate time.

When you are first starting out with dream interpretation, you would do well to invest in a dream dictionary as this can suggest common meanings for certain symbols. But as you continue recording your dreams, you may notice certain patterns repeat and your personal connection to certain symbols doesn't match the collective meaning. Both are valid.

There are a number of ways you can encourage and enhance shamanic dreaming. You can begin by asking your spirit helpers or guardian animals when you go to sleep to bring you a shamanic dream. Remember to thank your helping spirits when they bring you a dream. It also helps to smudge your bedroom before going to sleep each night. Smudging clarifies the mind and cleanses the environment by dispelling any stagnant or unwanted energy. The ability to have shamanic dreams on a regular basis requires energy. If you feel exhausted when you go to bed, and collapse into sleep every night, you don't have sufficient energy for this kind of dreaming. Eating well, exercising and meditating are some basic steps to build up your energy. With more energy new doorways may open up.

You can also put ritual objects into a dream bundle to open up the doorway to shamanic dreaming. According to Nicholas Breeze Wood, editor of "Sacred Hoop Magazine" -- a leading international magazine about shamanism, "The use of ritual objects to encourage and enhance dreaming is quite widespread within the Native American traditions -- everyone is probably familiar with the dreamcatcher... Dreams have always been an important channel through which to receive instruction and communication from Spirit, and not surprisingly there is a wealth of rich folklore and tradition concerning it." Read more about dream bundles.

Awakening the Shamanic Drum

When you make or acquire a new drum for shamanic work, it needs to be ritually awakened so that it can be used more effectively. The ritual that I present here is a form of embodiment trance and should not be undertaken without helping spirits for protection from malevolent spirits that may cause you harm. As Mongolian shaman Sarangerel Odigon points out, "Opening yourself up in order to allow your shamanic spirits to work through you is not dangerous if you do so with the specific intention of embodying them and no other spirits besides them. Your helper spirits will bar the way to any foreign spirits that may try to enter your body."

Embodiment trance is a core shamanic practice. It is essential for the safe practice of many methods of shamanic healing. By embodying a helping spirit, the practitioner is protected from the ill effects of removing spiritual intrusions from a patient during extraction healings. Through embodiment trance, the spirits are able to make their thoughts known or empower the practitioner to do the work at hand.

To prepare for this ritual, it is useful to smudge the drum and dedicate it to your work. Create sacred space and ask each of the six powers or directions to bless your drum. Thank the animal spirit for giving its hide for your drumhead. Thank the trees for your drum's wooden rim and ask that the drum's hoop be connected to the World Tree, which enables all trees to sing your prayers while drumming. If your drum has synthetic parts, thank the organisms that provided the essence for the chemicals that the substance is made of.

Once you have invoked the spirits you normally work with, be sure to call upon the spirit of the drum and ask it to come to you and become your spirit helper. Convey your intention and willingness to allow it to enter your body and merge with your being. Visualize yourself as a clean hollow bone or tube, ready to be filled with hope, possibilities and power.

Now begin to gently play a heartbeat rhythm on your drum. Focus your attention on the sound of the drum, thereby stilling the chatter in your mind. Allow the drum to empty you. Become one with the drum. Remember that drumming opens portals to the spirit world, draws spirit in, and opens you up to receive it.

Imagine the energy of your drum's spirit entering your hollow bone and filling you with power and possibility. You may feel it, see it, sense it or simply imagine it. Allow the spirit of the drum to merge with you so that your playing comes under its control. When embodying spirits, they will essentially dictate the rhythm, tempo, volume and timbre until you reach something that is appropriate for them. Just relax, release all expectation and follow the urges the spirits give you. The amount of time spent drumming before the spirits actually enter the body varies from practitioner to practitioner and even from session to session.

Once the spirits come in, they will empower you to continue drumming, sometimes for hours. As Tuvan shaman Sailyk-ool Kanchyyp-ool describes it, "I am not myself. But, I am being maneuvered by the spirits. They tell me. 'Beat hard, beat fast, beat a long beat.' And they also tell me when to stop." While the spirits are in your body, they will protect you from any harm. Even if you do something dangerous, such as walking through fire, they will not allow any harm to come to you.

As the drum journey evolves, you will become more ecstatic and spirit will perhaps create new rhythms or inspire you to sing. You are now shifting into a higher state of consciousness and developing a new shamanic skill. At the higher levels, a healer becomes adept at detaching all sense of self, fully present in the moment, as a hollow bone or living conduit for healing energy to move through. At some point in your journey, you will sense that all of your helping spirits and power animals are traveling with you. They are at your side, helping you become a living conduit for the spirit of the drum.

When it feels appropriate, gradually slow the tempo of your drumming to a regular heartbeat rhythm to draw your consciousness back into your body. Do not rush the transformation. Visualize yourself fully grounded in your body, and then slowly open your eyes.

Merging with the spirit of your drum is an important breakthrough in becoming a shamanic practitioner. This is a truly sacred time to hold with reverence, for the spirits have brought the blessing of greater power to you for the benefit of the community. Your shamanic initiation has truly begun!

Finding True Power at Home

In this time of global crisis, one truth has become crystal clear -- coming home is powerful. This is also an essential aspect of shamanism, which provides us with effective, time-tested ways to achieve personal and collective transformation. We have reoriented our lives around our home spaces, alone and in groups. Keeping balance in close quarters takes coordinated and consistent effort. Our relationships with nature, spirit, and our inner selves dwell in this core space too. In this time of coming home, nourishing these relationships is a powerful prescription for improving our health, the health of our family and our community.

Finding our true power at home begins with the creation of effective rituals. Ritual is a universal way to address the spirit world and provide some kind of fundamental change in an individual's consciousness or in the ambience of a gathering. It may involve prayers, chanting, drumming, dancing, anointing, as well as rites of passage. Ritual is designed to engage the spirit world in helping us to do what we are unable to do for ourselves. By creating effective rituals, we can skillfully engage spirit in the processes we are involved in like healing, therapy or actualizing our goals. Potent rituals have similar foundational elements. Key elements of this foundation include:

1. Intention is the first element of an effective home ritual. You should have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish. Without a clear intention or desired outcome, the energy created in the ritual is poorly structured with little or no direction. Articulating your desired outcome is how you channel the energy of the performance toward the intended objective. One good way to think about it is by asking yourself what you want to happen as a result of the ritual. What effect do you want it to have on individuals, community and the world?

2. The creation of sacred space. Sacred space is that territory that we enter for spiritual and inner work. Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, having a special place in your home reserved for quiet introspection, reflection and spiritual connection can nourish your soul. A sacred space can be any location in your home where you can be by yourself and be fully self-expressed. Be creative with this, but find a special place for you to go at least once a day.

Consider setting up an altar that is appropriate for the purpose of your ritual. Although an altar is not essential, it provides us with a focus to pray, meditate and listen. An altar is any structure upon which we place offerings and sacred objects that have spiritual or cosmological significance. It represents the center and axis of your sacred space. A simple altar can be created with a cloth, a candle and other symbols that mean something to you. Fresh cut herbs, cedar boughs or flowers can also be placed upon the altar as offering to the spirits.

It is important to cleanse your sacred space before starting any spiritual work. Preparing a purified sacred space shifts our awareness from ordinary waking consciousness to a more centered, meditative state. Ritual preparation awakens our connection to the web of life and structures a boundary that separates the sacred from the ordinary and profane. Ritually cleanse the space by smudging, which is a method of using smoke from burning herbs to dispel negative energy. Sage, cedar and sweetgrass are traditionally used for smudging. To smudge, light the dried herbs in a fire-resistant receptacle, and then blow out the flames. Then use a feather or your hands to fan the smoke around your body and home. I recommend cracking a window or door for ventilation and for releasing unwanted energies.

3. The opening of sacred space. After preparing a purified sacred space, you may wish to ritually open the space. The opening of sacred space is essentially an invocation; calling in the spiritual energies of the seven directions: East, South, West, North, Up, Down and Within. Calling in the directions not only aligns you with their power, but is a spiritual activity in and of itself. The orientation embeds you in the living web of life, yielding greater awareness and perspective. It imparts a comprehensive recollection of the basic experience of being fully human. The ritual grounds you completely in the present moment to begin your day or to begin a specific spiritual practice.

Though there are no rules or restrictions, on most occasions a sacred circle is cast in a sun-wise direction. I would suggest you start in the East where the sun rises. If you have a rattle, shake it four times to open a portal in the East to the spirit world. Rattles are used to invoke the assistance of benevolent helping spirits. The rattle draws the spirit world and its inhabitants into the material world. Using words, chanting or song, invite the benevolent spirit powers associated with that direction to participate and assist in the ritual or ceremony. Welcome the spirits with an open heart and mind. Some people will whistle or make animal sounds to call in spirit helpers. Trust your instincts and intuition in this process.

Next, pivot around clockwise and repeat the same procedure to invoke the spirits of the South, the West and the North. After that, invoke Father Sky above and Mother Earth below. When invoking Father Sky, reach to the heavens; when invoking Mother Earth, reach down and touch the ground where you stand.

Finally, face the center of the circle and bring your hands to your heart to invite the spirit of Within. Call upon the spirit of divine unity that flows from within the center of your being where the six directions meet. Welcome the gifts of balance, oneness and connection with all things, for all things are one and all things are related.

4. The induction of altered states. Altered states of consciousness are induced through intense rhythmic stimulation such as drumming, chanting and dancing. An altered state of consciousness is any state of mind that is significantly different from normal waking consciousness. Altered states produce deeper self-awareness; allow us to connect with the power of the universe, to externalize our own knowledge and to internalize our answers.

5. The closure of sacred space. When you have finished your ritual, sacred space should be closed. Follow the same procedure as for the opening, but in reverse order. Begin by thanking the spiritual energies of Within, Mother Earth and Father Sky, and then the North, West, South and East in a counterclockwise movement. Shake your rattle to say farewell to the spirits. As you rattle, give thanks to all your relations for the needs met. The phrase "all my relations" is used at the end of a prayer in many shamanic traditions, for all living things share in the relationships of life on Earth. Express your gratitude to the helping spirits for assisting you and send them off, releasing their energies to the seven directions.

Effective home ritual makes us more fluent in the language of the inner life, which is where meaningful healing, transformation and insight arise. Being mindfully present with our thoughts, feelings and sensations is a journey into deeper self-awareness. Regardless of what you call it -- personal growth, personal development, self-actualization, or finding yourself -- this journey is you exploring and developing who you truly are.