Shamanic Visioning

One of the most crucial aspects of power practice in all shamanic cultures is the development of inner vision. In altered states, shamans develop such vivid internal imagery that external sensory input and bodily sensations are blocked out. Once vivid life like imagery is experienced, the next phase of practice is to develop control over the internal imagery. By orchestrating the inner imagery, the shaman is able to contact spirit guides and power animals. Over a period of time, the shaman develops the ability to see past, present, and future events. In these altered states, the shaman accumulates knowledge and inner power and is capable of influencing events for social benefit.

 

Shamanic visioning is a technique that uses imagination to create mental pictures in a multidimensional way by using all of the senses. Shamans form mental images using sound, smell, taste, and touch, as well as sight. For example, if you were to envision an apple, you would see it, hold and feel it, smell it, and hear the crunch as you took a bite and tasted it. The ability to create multidimensional images is vital to successful journeying. Like developing any skill, visioning takes practice. Exercising your imagination through visioning develops your ability to journey. The following exercise is designed to acquaint you with the basics of shamanic visioning. The steps are as follows:
 
1. First, select an object in your home.
2. Sit comfortably with the object in your line of sight.
3. Take several deep breaths and exhale any tension you might feel.
4. Gaze at the object for a few moments.
5. Close your eyes and visualize the object as clearly as possible, including every detail that you can remember. If you need to refresh your memory, open your eyes and look at the object again.
6. When you have created the most vivid image that you can, begin to focus on each part of it, using all of the senses. Observe every quality: size, shape, color, texture, feel, sound, smell, taste.
7. Now vividly imagine with every sense making changes to the object. Change the feel, sound, scent, flavor, and appearance of the object. Spend as much time with this imagery as you would like. 

"The Shamanic Drum" July eBook Sale

Mark your calendar! I am taking part in the 14th annual Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale, taking place Friday, July 1 through Sunday, July 31 2022. For the entire month of July, all of my ebooks are 50% off list price: The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming, I Ching: The Tao of Drumming, Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits, Shamanic Drumming Circles Guide, The Great Shift, Riding Spirit Horse: A Journey into Shamanism and Shamanic Journeys: An Anthology. Choose from multiple file formats including .epub, .mobi for Kindles, and PDF. Click on the following link to my Smashwords author page and you will receive the 50% discount automatically by adding my books to your cart: Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale.
 

Why does Smashwords call it "Summer/Winter"? Here in the Northern hemisphere, it's mid-summer. Readers are loading their e-reading devices for summer beach reading and long-awaited vacations. South of the equator, readers are now in the middle of winter. They're ready to curl up in front of the fireplace and enjoy a great read too! Smashwords is the world's largest distributor of indie ebooks. They make it fast, free and easy for any author or publisher, anywhere in the world, to publish and distribute ebooks to the major retailers and thousands of libraries. The Smashwords Store provides an opportunity to discover new voices in all categories and genres of the written word.

Meeting My Spirit Guide

An excerpt from my new book, Shamanic Journeys: An Anthology.
 

My journey into shamanism began in 1988 when I learned how to take a shamanic journey. Learning to journey is the first step in becoming a shamanic practitioner. Once I learned to journey, my shamanic training began. I sought out and met my spirit helpers and guardian spirit. I made friends with the spirits of Nature. I communed with the archetypal realms of the collective soul. The spirit world became my classroom, and the spirits became my teachers. My first powerful journeys took place outside in the wild, immersed in the natural world. They were transcendent flights of the soul that I shall never forget.
 

I remember riding my bicycle through the forest one summer day when a monarch butterfly flew directly into my path. The butterfly is an archetypal symbol of transformation, transmutation and the human soul in world mythology and religion. Virtually all cultures have marveled at the process that transforms a caterpillar into a fluttering butterfly. When I encounter one of these remarkable beings, I stop and observe them carefully. I have learned to trust these endearing spirit guides. I once had the soul of a deceased relative appear to me as a butterfly on the day that she passed away. The butterfly landed on my nose while I was hiking that day. I felt her presence and knew that she was with me. Butterflies have brought me messages from my ancestors and guided me to specific places of power in the web of life on many occasions.
 

The monarch butterfly fluttered across the road in front of my bicycle and into the pine forest. I felt the urge to follow it. Over the years, I have learned to trust my intuition and follow my inner urges. This is a common form of communication and instruction by helping spirits.
 

I got off my bike and pursued the butterfly into the woods on foot. When it paused or changed directions so did I. If I lost sight of it, the monarch would soon reappear. Eventually, the butterfly led me to an area of disturbed soil under the forest canopy. I found several badger burrows dug into the sandy pumice soil. Badger is a spirit helper who connects us to our inner knowing and helps us see below the surface of things. The energy felt different here. There was an electrical tingle in my hands and scalp. I knew instantly that this was a power place for me -- a place to journey.
 

I returned the next day on my bike, bringing a Walkman cassette player and headphones so I could journey listening to the sound of drumming. I also brought a voice activated micro-cassette recorder so that I could narrate and record my journey as it transpired. This can be distracting at first, but it is one of the best ways I know to make sure you are getting all the information your helping spirits are giving you. On my first journey sitting near the entrance to a badger den, I encountered some very influential teachers.

The drumbeats carry me away on the wings of an eagle. I soar high over South Sister (a volcanic peak in the Central Oregon Cascades) and then dive into a cave on her south flank. Clear quartz crystals shimmer from the walls, floor and ceiling. I transform into a man and follow a narrow path through the crystal cave. The path leads me through a labyrinth of twists and turns until the cave ends abruptly in a wall of crystals. A small portal appears in the wall and sucks my awareness into a dark tunnel. I spiral downward and come out of the tunnel onto the rim of a red mesa. I see a pueblo below me at the base of the mesa. I hear drumming and chanting and see many dancers.

Suddenly, I become one of the dancers. I gaze at the man who plays the booming drum. He wears a ceremonial kilt, sash and red headband. He smiles at me and chants loudly. At the sound of his voice, I transform into a golden eagle and take flight. I circle the pueblo and then glide over the desert. I soar towards the sun high above the Earth. I see the Earth below transform into a beautiful crystal globe. I fold my wings and plunge to the Earth below. I fly across the desert to the ruins of an ancestral Puebloan cliff dwelling built high in the alcove of a towering sandstone cliff. I fly into a doorway and transform once again into a man. 

 

I look at the floor of the room and see the white bones of a human skeleton. The skeleton rises, transforming into a beautiful Pueblo woman wearing a royal blue shawl and a radiant white knee-length manta-dress embroidered with corn designs. Her black hair is styled in a traditional butterfly whorl. She wears white buckskin moccasins and a woven red sash around her waist. She walks toward me and gently caresses my cheek with her hand. She smiles and says, "I am your guide."  

 

I clasp her outstretched hand and we both transform into golden eagles. We fly away from the cliff dwelling and soar high above the desert. As the sun begins to set on the horizon, we separate and I return rapidly to the red mesa above the pueblo. I enter a small portal in the top of the mesa and retrace the passage back to my body.

The spirit guide I encountered in the preceding journey became my mentor in the ways of the spirit world. Known as Corn Woman or Corn Mother, she is an important deity archetype in Pueblo mythology. She represents fertility, life and the feminine aspects of this world. The importance of corn deities in Pueblo mythology reflects the importance of corn in the Pueblo diet. Each pueblo performs a ritual Corn Dance to honor Corn Woman and pray for rain, growth and fertility. A drummer and a chorus of chanting men support the lines of colorful dancers who move in a continually changing zigzag pattern. The dancers make gestures to indicate their requests to Corn Woman: lowering the arms depicts the lowering clouds, moving the arms in a zigzag motion denotes lightning, lowering the palms signifies rain, and lifting the hands symbolizes the growing stalks of corn.
 

The drummer I met in my spirit journey later manifested as a human guide in the physical world. Like the drummer in my journey, he wore a red bandana around his forehead and carried a drum. The shaman's name is Jade Grigori, and he mentored me in shamanic drumming.

"Shamanic Journeys" Book Release

It is with great pleasure that I announce the release of my new book, Shamanic Journeys: An Anthology. This book is an anthology of shamanic journeys that I have taken over my 35-year exploration of shamanism, the most ancient and most enduring spiritual tradition known to humanity. Each inner journey has a unique story about what led up to the trance experience, and what I learned from it. They were powerful life-changing events for me. Journey work is therapeutic and liberating. My trance experiences were healing, insightful and empowering. They often triggered the cathartic release of suppressed emotions producing feelings of peace and well-being. The process restores emotional health through expression and integration of emotions.
 

Shamanism is based on the principle that innate wisdom and guidance can be accessed through the inner senses in ecstatic trance. 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 journey with me into the inner realms of consciousness.

 

What is Shamanic Journeying?

Shamanism represents a universal conceptual framework found among indigenous tribal humans. It includes the belief that the natural world has two aspects: ordinary everyday awareness, formed by our habitual behaviors, patterns of belief, social norms, and cultural conditioning, and a second non-ordinary awareness accessed through altered states, or ecstatic trance, induced by shamanic practices such as repetitive drumming. The act of entering an ecstatic trance state is called the soul flight or shamanic journey, and it allows the journeyer to view life and life's problems from a detached, spiritual perspective, not easily achieved in a state of ordinary consciousness.

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.

The drum, sometimes called the shaman’s horse, provides 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 fifteen minutes, most novices report that they can journey successfully even on their first attempt. Transported by the driving beat of the drum; the shamanic traveler journeys to the inner planes of consciousness.

Contents
Introduction
1. Meeting My Spirit Guide
2. The Moon Goddess
3. The Guardian Spirit
4. The Storm
5. Drumming in Boynton Canyon
6. The Navajo Storm Pattern Rug
7. The Sweat Lodge Ceremony
8. The Great Kiva
9. Healing the Land
10. The Medicine Tipi
11. Spirit Horse Falls
12. The Pyramid of the Magician
13. You are Kukulkan
14. The Mystery of Death and Rebirth
15. The Earth is a Drum
16. The Rainbow Bridge
17. The Feathered Serpent
18. The Snowy Owl
19. Breitenbush Hot Springs
20. Guardian of the Pipe
Appendix A. Taking the Shamanic Journey
Appendix B. Ten Good Reasons to Take a Shamanic Journey
About the Author

"Riding Spirit Horse" Book Release

Happy vernal equinox! I hope you're safe and remaining hopeful despite the horrific world events taking place. It's a head-spinning, anxiety-inducing time. The past two years of the coronavirus pandemic have been filled with unprecedented challenges and uncertainty. Immersing myself in a writing project was my way to cope with a global pandemic that has affected everything and everyone. The isolation and prodigious amount of free time provided fertile ground for writing my life story. So it is with great pleasure that I announce the release of my autobiography, Riding Spirit Horse: A Journey into Shamanism. 

 

In this spiritual memoir, I recount my journey into shamanic practice. It has been a lifelong process--a path that continues to unfold. I am sharing my journey and learnings because 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.
 

The narrative of my story moves from my first ecstatic experience as a youth at a church revival to my mystical shamanic awakening in the wilderness, transformational pilgrimages to sacred places, working with indigenous wisdom keepers, to the experiences that prompted my writing, particularly my trance experiences "riding the drum" or Spirit Horse. Studying with Native elders and shamans, I discovered my shamanic gifts as a drummer, storyteller and ceremonialist.
 
A journey into shamanism is a pilgrimage of the soul. My journey has taken me down many spiritual paths. As a youth growing up, I embraced the teachings of Christ; I later studied and practiced the teachings of Taoism and Buddhism, all of which have their roots in shamanic practices from the earliest tribal communities. Shared core principles and truths weave a common thread through all spiritual traditions. This golden thread runs through the lives and the teachings of all the great prophets, seers and sages in the world's history.
 
Ultimately, all contemplative spiritual practice leads to the evolution of conscious awareness and union with the divine in the present moment. The perennial wisdom traditions teach us that the "here and now" is eternal, unchanging and omnipresent; it should be the primary focus of our life. When we are not present in the moment, we become a victim of time. Our mind is pulled into the past or the future or both. The present moment is all we ever have. The eternal now is the fundamental ceremony of life. When we bring ourselves fully into the present moment, our life becomes a spiritual practice and an opportunity to ride in beauty on the windhorse of authentic presence! I invite you to look inside Riding Spirit Horse: A Journey into Shamanism and to view the official book trailer.

Shamanic Trance Postures

In 1998, my close friend and collaborator Judith Thomson introduced me to ecstatic trance postures after she took a four day workshop with the late Felicitas Goodman, the modern discoverer of ritual body postures. Judith and I began facilitating workshops together in early 1993. She was called by Spirit to teach drum making and I was called to teach shamanic drumming. My trance experiences with the body postures I learned from Judith inspired me to begin a 32-month experimental journey into trance posture practice. I meditated several times a week for 15 minutes while holding specific body poses, then recorded my trance experiences in a journal.
 

I highly recommend incorporating trance postures into your journey work, though not as a daily practice. Too much trance work can leave you feeling ungrounded and disconnected from physical reality. This practice is compatible with all other consciousness raising practices when done separately. There is no belief system or dogma associated with this work. Some of my most profound trance experiences have taken place while holding shamanic body postures. "Waking dream" is an apt description of these visionary trance states.
 

In the 1970s, linguist and anthropologist Felicitas Goodman demonstrated that the capacity to enter ecstatic trance states is built into our nervous system, our body-mind-soul, our very DNA. It can be achieved through a shift in our physiology. And that is something our nervous system knows how to do when given the right cues. What's more, she learned this was discovered long ago by our ancestors around the world going back 50,000 years or more.
 

Goodman discovered that specific yoga-like poses recur in the art and artifacts of world cultures, even societies widely separated by time and space. Goodman's hypothesis, therefore, was that these postures represented coded instructions on how to produce consistent trance-like effects. Goodman researched and explored ritual body postures as a means to achieve a bodily induced trance experience. Her studies led her to many countries and to trying out these body positions practically with hundreds of participants worldwide. She discovered that people who assume these body poses report strikingly similar trance experiences regardless of their worldview or belief systems.
 

According to Goodman, these postures produce a common effect because they all share one thing in common: the human body, the basic structure and functioning of which has remained unchanged since the time of our most ancient ancestors. The nervous and endocrine systems are, in fact, all much the same as they were 30,000 years ago--a fact which enables contemporary urban dwellers to enter nonordinary reality just as effectively through the same neural doorways as shamans throughout history. Combined with rhythmic drumming, the postures engender a profound change in consciousness, leading to new insights into healing, inner development and soul purpose. There are different postures that facilitate healing, divination, spirit journeys, metamorphosis, and more.
 

The results from my ecstatic trance posture practice have been astonishing, confirming Felicitas Goodman's theory that, "if one adopts such a posture, one will have such an experience." Rhythmic stimulation combined with trance postures produces a physiological shift that leads to a profound change in consciousness, enabling one to experience different dimensions of reality. I highly recommend Belinda Gore's book, Ecstatic Body Postures: An Alternate Reality Workbook. With clear instructions and illustrations, Gore reveals how to work with these shamanic body postures. I hope this practice becomes a valued tool in your repertoire. The following are postures I recommend and use in my shamanic practice:
 

1. The Bear Spirit Posture for healing and restoring harmony;
2. The Lady of Cholula Posture for divination, guidance and advice;
3. The Tattooed Jaguar Posture for a metamorphosis into a jaguar;  
4. The South American Lower World Posture for journeying to the lower realms;
5. The Psychopomp Posture for guiding departed souls into the afterlife.

"Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice"

In the 1980s, an Inuit elder told Nunavut Canadian filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk a story about a young female apprentice who was learning shamanism from her grandmother. In the story, a sick man breaks a taboo and needs to be healed by a shaman. The young woman and her grandmother travel to the underworld, or "the one below," to find the answers to the man's sickness. The shaman-in-training discovers she must believe the teachings of her grandmother and mentor and to control her fears while encountering challenges and dark spirits. Three years ago, the acclaimed Inuit filmmaker began turning the story into a 20-minute animated film, which was named the Best Canadian Short at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2021. Members of the awards jury at this year’s event released the following statement: 

 

"Zacharias Kunuk's Angakusajaujuq: The Shaman's Apprentice is an enthralling stop-motion that encapsulates an array of textures, sound, and nuanced expressions that collectively invite you into the apprentice's journey in learning traditional knowledge and caring for community while confronting your own fears. You can't help but feel the questions asked of the apprentice are for us all to consider: Who are you? What have you learned?"

 

Kunuk took the world by storm in 2001 when Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner had its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. The film, which won the Golden Camera Award at Cannes, was the first Canadian dramatic feature film ever to be written, directed and acted entirely in the Inuktitut language. Set in the ancient past, the film retells an Inuit legend passed down through centuries of oral tradition. It revolves around the title character, whose marriage with his two wives earns him the animosity of the son of the band leader, who kills Atanarjuat's brother and forces Atanarjuat to flee by foot. 

 

Zacharias Kunuk says his latest film project aims to reclaim Inuit pre-Christian spirituality while experimenting with a different form of storytelling--animation. It illustrates a part of Inuit culture that was "hidden" by colonialism, he said. "I see this short film simply as a tool to start talking about shamanism again, to invite Inuit, especially children and younger generations, to be proud of our rich spiritual traditions and feel comfortable to explore and ask questions about shamanism."

 

Kunuk says he has no plans to stop making films, even though he’s now in his 60s. He continues documenting Elders' stories today. He's been recording interviews with Iglulik Elders who reflect on oral teachings they received prior to colonization. He plans to expand that effort to other communities in the future. "That's what I love to do," he said. "I love to interview Elders because all their knowledge is in their heads."

The Navajo Storm Pattern Rug

An excerpt from my soon-to-be released memoir, Riding Spirit Horse: A Journey into Shamanism. 

Years ago, one of my shamanic mentors gifted me an old Navajo "storm pattern rug," recognizable by its large central rectangle connected by zigzag lightning lines to smaller rectangles in each corner, which represent the four directions, winds and sacred mountains of the Navajo. The central rectangle symbolizes the Lake of Emergence, the portal through which their ancient ancestors first emerged to enter the present world. The lightning bolts carry blessings back and forth between the mountaintops, bestowing good spirits on the weaver and her household.

Navajo rugs and blankets are textiles produced by Navajo people of the Four Corners area of the United States. Weaving plays a role in the creation myth of Navajo cosmology. According to Navajo mythology, a spirit being called Spider Woman instructed the women of the Navajo how to build the first loom from exotic materials including sky, earth, sunrays, rock crystal and sheet lightning. Then Spider Woman taught the Navajo how to weave on it. Because of this belief, traditionally there will be an intentional mistake somewhere within the pattern. It is said to prevent the weaver from becoming lost in Spider Woman's web or pattern.

My mentor suggested that I sit on the rug whenever I journey into the spirit world. I took his advice and journeyed at home while sitting on the rug. When I entered a trance, the rug became a mandala-like portal before me. I went through a doorway at the center of the undulating geometric pattern. I came out beneath a numinous web of light that surrounded the planet. The web emanated a blue glow against the black night-time sky above it. Spider Woman descended from the web on a strand of light and stood before me. She looked menacing and I feared being trapped in her web. She told me that I had nothing to fear. She conveyed that she was the weaver of the web of life. She said the Navajo rug would serve as a portal for me to journey into the spirit world.  

I thanked Spider Woman and returned through the portal to my body. When I opened my eyes, I saw a large spider on the rug beside me. I thanked the spider for being there to support my shamanic journey. It was a good omen

"The Shamanic Drum" eBook Sale

Mark your calendar! I am taking part in the 13th annual Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale, taking place Thursday, July 1 through Saturday, July 31, 2021. For the entire month of July, all of my ebooks are 50% off list price: The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming, I Ching: The Tao of Drumming, Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits, Shamanic Drumming Circles Guide, and The Great Shift: And How To Navigate It. Choose from multiple file formats including .epub, .mobi for Kindles, and PDF. Click on the following link to my Smashwords author page and you will receive the 50% discount automatically by adding my books to your cart: Smashwords July Summer/Winter Sale.
 

Why does Smashwords call it "Summer/Winter"? Here in the Northern hemisphere, it's mid-summer. Readers are loading their e-reading devices for summer beach reading and long-awaited vacations. South of the equator, readers are now in the middle of winter. They're ready to curl up in front of the fireplace and enjoy a great read too! Smashwords is the world's largest distributor of indie ebooks. They make it fast, free and easy for any author or publisher, anywhere in the world, to publish and distribute ebooks to the major retailers and thousands of libraries. The Smashwords Store provides an opportunity to discover new voices in all categories and genres of the written word.

"Shamanism for Every Day: 365 Journeys"

In Shamanism for Every Day: 365 Journeys, shamanic practitioner and intuitive consultant Mara Bishop offers readers a full year of calming, transformative journeys providing a daily connection to Nature and Spirit in a turbulent time. The book features daily exercises to unfurl your sensory tendrils to experience your relationship to the elements around you and within you. With daily guides that lead you to fresh observations, conscious interaction, and connection to the universe, this compact book will enable you to expand your sense of oneness with the rhythms and flow of nature.
 

"We live in intense times," writes author Mara Bishop. "The pressures of daily life can leave us emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually depleted. Shamanic journeying can enable us to rejuvenate, reconnect to wisdom, and restore health, despite those pressures." While there are many paths to well-being, this book is designed to provide themes and topics for you to think about during your day, suggestions and observations to help reconnect you to your own innate wisdom, and to be fully in the moment, with focus, energy, and intention.
 

You’ll discover:

• The ancient roots and principles of shamanism and the practices of shamans, who straddle the spiritual and physical realms;
• The crucial concept of shamanism: the interconnectivity of all things;
• How to journey, tap into the wisdom of our ancestors, and how to find a guide;
• The Why of the journey--a rekindling of the connection to your own spirit;
• The importance of helping spirits, whether human, animal, plant, or other;
• Setting the stage for your journeys;
• The power of drumming;
• How to practice interpreting what you learn as you go along.
  

The book also includes an informative Q&A with the author, a detailed list of notes, resources, and references, a guide to journeys based on themes including Moon Ceremonies, Solstices and Equinoxes, and Welcoming the Spirit. Look inside Shamanism for Every Day.

What is Shamanism?

Shamanism is universal and not bound by social or cultural conditions. It’s the most ancient and most enduring spiritual tradition known to humanity. Shamanism predates and constitutes the foundation of all known religions or philosophies. In essence, shamanism is the spiritual practice of ecstasy. Ecstasy is defined as a mystic, prophetic or poetic 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 shaman’s trance is an intentionally induced state of ecstasy. Shamanic trance is characterized by its flexibility, ranging from light diagnostic states to full embodiment trance states. Shamans use intention and discipline to control the nature, depth, and qualities of their trance states. The shaman may progress through a range of trance states until they reach the level that is necessary for healing to occur.
 

The capacity to enter a range of trance states is a natural manifestation of human consciousness. The 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 training, practice and devotion to master any expressive art. Shamans master the art of ecstasy to see the true nature of the universe.
 
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 Nature, animals or ancestors. The spirit world is the web of life itself.
 
Shamanism represents a universal conceptual framework found among indigenous tribal humans. It includes the belief that the natural world has two aspects: ordinary everyday awareness, formed by our habitual behaviors, patterns of belief, social norms and cultural conditioning; and a second non-ordinary awareness accessed through altered states, or trance, induced by shamanic practices such as repetitive drumming. This second-order awareness can be developed over time or appear all at once, but once it is discerned the world is never the same. According to shamanic theory, the ordinary and non-ordinary worlds interact continuously, and a shamanic practitioner can gain knowledge about how to alter ordinary reality by taking direct action in the non-ordinary aspect of the world.
 
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 fifteen minutes, most people can journey successfully even on their first attempt. Transported by the driving beat of the drum; the practitioner journeys to the inner planes of consciousness to obtain personal revelation and spiritual experience.
 
According to shamanic cosmology, there are three inner planes of consciousness: the Upper, Middle, and Lower Worlds. The three realms are linked together by a vertical axis that is commonly referred to as the World Tree, or axis mundi. 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.
 
The shaman traverses the inner planes in order to change and shape experience. It is an inward spiritual journey of rapture in which the shaman interacts with the inner world, thereby influencing the outer 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.

Out of the Darkness, Light

From Hitler's Rischstag Fire to 9/11, history is beset with instances of governments using terrorist attacks to justify invasions or suspend civil liberties indefinitely. The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on February 27, 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Hitler's government stated that Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch council communist, was the culprit, and it attributed the fire to communist agitators. A German court decided later that year that Van der Lubbe had acted alone, as he had claimed. The day after the fire, the Reichstag Fire Decree was passed. The Nazi Party used the fire as a pretext to claim that communists were plotting against the German government, which made the fire pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, restrictions on civil liberties began to grow. The attack spawned wars to export democracy abroad, while degrading it at home. Our military actions, from Afghanistan and Iraq to Syria, have reflected increased investments in the military, accompanied by diminished attention to political change, economic development and institution-building -- the essential prerequisites for democratic freedoms. Fear of terrorism has justified excessive and persistent suspension of good governance, ultimately creating more fertile ground for terrorists. Our leaders have nurtured a crisis of "domestic terrorism" within U.S. borders, perpetrated not by foreigners, but by U.S. citizens.

The question is not, "is it happening?" but, "why is it happening?" To fully comprehend the "why" of it, we must first understand the meaning of the Latin phrase "ordo ab chao" or "order out of chaos." The  expression "order out of chaos" or more accurately translated, "out of chaos, order" is the idea that the order of the world emerges out of chaos or the undifferentiated. The term is often used to capture a fundamental dimension of evolutionary change within nature. It has become popular in contemporary times to identify chaos as a precondition for transformation, rebirth and creativity.

However, to our political leaders and their inner circles, chaos is a way of getting power and keeping it. That is, if you can create just the right crisis or chaos, you will necessarily get a citizen outcry for the kind of solution or order that you wanted to have all along. It really is a "shock and awe" military strategy based on achieving rapid dominance over an adversary by the initial imposition of overwhelming force and firepower. Politicians engage in shock and awe politics in order to stun their opponents into inaction.

The idea that the order of the world emerges out of chaos is actually not new at all. It was preceded by more ancient principles such as "lux in tenebris," or "light out of darkness." Light out of darkness is an expression of an ancient wisdom about the relationship of complementary opposites in nature. In the eastern tradition of Taoism, light and darkness are represented by yin and yang, each of which contains the seed of its opposite within it as expressed in the ancient Chinese symbol (T'ai Chi Tu) of the yin-yang. The two teardrop figures within the circle illustrate the balance between the dark yin and the light yang. The black vibration of yin is dark, passive, feminine, nurturing, intuitive, and corresponds to earth or matter. The white vibration of yang is light, active, masculine, creative, expansive, and corresponds to heaven or spirit. Yin and yang pulsate within all things and in unison, they are the moving force of nature and all its manifestations.

Various mystery traditions such as Hermeticism had similar concepts such as "As above, so below" and "As within, so without." In Hermeticism, the phrase "As above so below" can be taken to indicate that earthly matters reflect the operation of the Cosmos. In other words, the human experience is a microcosm of the macrocosm we call the universe. Each human being is a hologram of the Cosmos, a weaving together of universal information from a particular point of view. Essentially, we are the universe experiencing itself in human form.

The idea that "As within, so without" can be found in the world's indigenous shamanic traditions. In the shaman's world, all human experience is self-generated -- our inner thoughts actually create what we see and experience. Everything that we perceive began with a thought. The structure of our universe is thought, mind and consciousness. Consciousness determines the form of our experience. The shaman traverses the inner planes of consciousness in order to change and shape experience. It is an inward spiritual journey of rapture in which the shaman interacts with the inner world, thereby influencing the outer world.

Shamanic rites involve many technologies for inducing altered states of consciousness. These vary from drum and dance to ingesting sacred plants. Practitioners enter trance states in order to perceive and interact with the inner world of the self. 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. The goal is inner transformation; not outer.

Those who presently call the shots and pull the strings on the world stage only use "order out of chaos" to create favorable circumstances for themselves; to gain and sustain the same authoritarian power relations. For the power elite, external order is the goal. To achieve their goals, they first create the conditions for chaos/disorder to bring about order. The controlled chaos we are witnessing in society today is the direct result of the coordinated efforts by some to turn people against each other. This is a classic "divide and conquer" strategy.

A highly centralized government relies mainly on lies, fear and economic prosperity to maintain equilibrium. Allegiance is achieved through various means of socialization and indoctrination. Political propaganda emphasizes material and technical development while suppressing access to personal revelation and spiritual experience. Citizens are discouraged from thinking for themselves and required to follow the laws of secular authorities regardless of the discrepancy between what is legal and what is considered to be moral, ethical and right. The individual is left morally and spiritually impaired; their soul abandoned in darkness and chaos while urged to acquiesce to the needs of the collective.

This imbalance is reaching such heights that the pendulum of change will soon begin swinging back in the opposite direction. The movement for external transformation will reach a psychological extinction -- meaning there just won't be a situation chaotic enough or carrot sweet enough to keep people hoping external transformation and order will bring salvation without a shift in the internal direction. People will begin to realize the limits of external order when their internal worlds are in chaos, thus discovering the seed of the one in the other… out of the darkness, light!

Soul Flight: A Spiritual Prescription for Coronavirus

I am not a medical professional or an expert on epidemics. I leave the critical information in those important fields for the experts who have the appropriate training to help us get through the coronavirus pandemic. Even though I do not possess medical knowledge, as a shamanic practitioner, I believe I can try to humbly prescribe a vaccine that can heal the spirit -- the soul flight or shamanic journey. In the shamanic world, all healing begins with the spirit.

Shamanism is based on the principle that innate wisdom and guidance can be accessed through the inner senses in ecstatic trance. Basically, shamanic journeying is a way of communicating with your inner or true 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, or for any number of other reasons. After the journey, you must then interpret the meaning of your trance experience.

Drumming (or listening to a shamanic drumming recording) is a simple and effective way to induce this ecstatic trance state. When a drum is played at an even tempo of three to four beats per second for at least fifteen minutes, most novices report that they can journey successfully even on their first attempt. Transported by the driving beat of the drum; the shamanic traveler journeys to the inner planes of consciousness: the Upper, Middle, and Lower Worlds. You should always journey with a purpose, question or intention. Some good reasons to take a shamanic journey at this challenging time are….

1. To reconnect with your inner or spirit self: Shamanic journeying heightens the ability of perception and enables you to see into the deeper realms of the self. The moment you bond with your spirit is the moment your heart opens. The first time you glimpse your spirit self, you gasp and cry. You know who you are. That is the moment you begin to heal. Journey work reconnects us to our core, enhancing our sense of empowerment and stimulating our creative expression.

2. To clarify life purpose: When we are unaware of our soul's true purpose or simply not aligned in our actions, we often experience a malaise of the spirit. 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. Journey work reconnects us with our deepest core values and our highest vision of who we are and why we are here. It heightens our sense of mission and purpose, empowering our personal evolution.

3. To access a higher power: Shamanism provides a secular approach to accessing a higher power. Shamanic methodology directly supports the introduction of spiritual factors found significant in the healing process. According to the American Journal of Public Health, "Shamanic activities bring people efficiently and directly into immediate encounters with spiritual forces, focusing the client on the whole body and integrating healing at physical and spiritual levels. This process allows them to connect with the power of the universe, to externalize their own knowledge, and to internalize their answers; it also enhances their sense of empowerment and responsibility. These experiences are healing, bringing the restorative powers of nature to clinical settings."

4. To divine information: You can journey within to obtain information about personal and community issues. Your helping spirits are a good resource when it comes to answering questions pertaining to relationships, health issues, or any issue. To divine information in a journey, begin with a clear question that you would like to ask of your helping spirits. Decide which of your helping spirits you would like to answer your question, and then journey to the place where you normally meet them in non-ordinary reality. Of course you can ask your question to as many of your helping spirits as you wish. When divining or healing on behalf of others, it is vital that you have their permission.

5. To develop relationships with the helping spirits who dwell in the three inner planes of consciousness -- the Upper, Middle, and Lower Worlds: Shamanism is a sacred call to build relationship with the caretakers in the unseen world who want to support the earth and her inhabitants at this time. These helping spirits might be the spirits of nature, animals, plants, the elements, or ancestors. The reason for developing personal relationships with spirit helpers is to gain wisdom, healing techniques, and other vital information that can benefit the community. Similar to the way friendships develop gradually, our relationships with spirits grow and deepen based on repeated interaction and building trust over time.

6. To reconnect with benevolent ancestors: Your ancestors and the collective spiritual power of all those who went before you reside in the spirit 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.

7. To prepare for death: Shamans believe that learning to leave the physical body is important, for without this experience, the soul may become confused after death and remain stuck in the Middle World. When a person dies, there is usually a smooth transition into the afterlife, but when a person suffers a traumatic death, they may not have an awareness of who and where they are. This makes it difficult for them to make their journey to the afterlife. Other souls linger in the space between life and the afterlife for fear of going to hell. Sadly, most of the psychopomp rites of passage that once helped prepare a person for death have disappeared. Hence, journeying is one of the most important shamanic skills that we can develop. By journeying to the Lower World, the place to which human souls travel upon physical death, we can prepare for our own death. That said, perhaps the most compelling reason to journey is...

8. To find ways to restore balance in the world: As anthropologist and author 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." When harmony between the human realm and the original intended pattern is disturbed, the shaman makes a spirit journey to the Upper World to bring back the balance. Shamans also go there to acquire archetypal knowledge, to bring a vision into being, or to influence events in the material world. By interacting with the archetypes, the shaman interacts with their counterparts in the outer world.

Try a Shamanic Journey

To enter a trance state and support your journey, click here to listen to a track from my CD "Shamanic Journey Drumming." Reflect for a moment on the purpose of your journey, and then close your eyes. Focus your attention on the sound of the drum and feel yourself being carried away by the sound. If for any reason you want to return, just retrace your steps back. You will hear a call back signal near the end of the video, followed by a short period of slow heartbeat drumming to assist you in refocusing your awareness back to your physical body. Sit quietly for a few moments, and then open your eyes.

After the journey, you must then interpret the meaning of your trance experience.  In some cases, your journey experiences will be clear and easy to understand. At other times, your journey may be dreamlike and full of symbolism. Interpret such journeys as you would any dream. Look for possible associations related to each symbol or image. The key is to observe whatever happens without trying to analyze the experience. Like developing any skill, journeying takes practice. Nothing may happen on your first journeys. You may only experience darkness. When this happens, simply try again at a different time. To learn more, read my article Shamanic Journeying.

8 Core Beliefs of Shamanism

Shamanism is the most ancient and most enduring spiritual tradition known to humanity. It predates and constitutes the foundation of all known religions or religious philosophies. One could view shamanism as the universal spiritual wisdom inherent to all indigenous peoples. It originated among nomadic hunting and gathering societies. These ancient shamanic ways have withstood the tests of time, varying little from culture to culture. Over thousands of years of trial and error, primal peoples the world over developed the same basic principles and techniques of shamanic power and healing. A whole way of life evolved that was based on everything being in right relationship. At the heart of shamanism are the following core beliefs:

1. Everything is interrelated and interdependent. If one species suffers, all others are affected. The health and well-being of humanity is, therefore, dependent upon the overall health of the sentient web of life. The shamanic practitioner is sensitive to this sacred interrelationship and serves as a bridge, linking the human and natural realms. The practitioner's prayerful communion with the natural elements and powers preserves an orderly, harmonious universe.

2. The natural world has two aspects: ordinary everyday awareness, formed by our habitual behaviors, patterns of belief, social norms, and cultural conditioning, and a second non-ordinary awareness accessed through altered states, or trance, induced by shamanic practices such as repetitive drumming. In a non-ordinary state of consciousness, the universe can appear fluid and nonlinear, moral absolutes vanish, death is but a transition and life exists in a variety of forms. Ordinary reality is matter-oriented, while non-ordinary reality is spirit-oriented.

3. Everything is alive and has a spirit. 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 nature, animals, or ancestors. The spirit world is the web of life itself.

4. Shamanic practitioners can access other realms of reality. Practitioners employ methods for altering consciousness so that they can send their souls into non-ordinary reality. The act of sending one's soul into non-ordinary reality is called the soul flight or shamanic journey, and it allows the journeyer to view life and life's problems from a detached, spiritual perspective not easily achieved in a state of ordinary consciousness. One of the most universal methods for altering consciousness for this spirit journey is a persistent, mesmerizing drumbeat.

5. Non-ordinary reality is more real than ordinary reality. When a shamanic practitioner enters non-ordinary reality, it is to obtain clarity and understanding about something in the everyday world that is not understood (e.g., Why am I sick? Why did this misfortune happen to me? How can I bring healing to myself and others? What is my mission and purpose in life?). Consequently, that is why shamanic journeying is sometimes called "going to the source." And that makes non-ordinary reality more authentic or real.

6. There are three inner planes of consciousness: the Upper, Middle, and Lower Worlds. The three realms are linked together by a vertical axis that is commonly referred to as the cosmic axis or World Tree. The roots of the World Tree touch the Lower World. Its trunk is the Middle World and its branches hold up the Upper World. This central axis exists within each of us. Through the sound of the drum, which is invariably made of wood from the World Tree, the shamanic practitioner is transported to the axis within and conveyed from plane to plane.

7. The purpose of shamanic ritual is to engage the spirit world to effect specific changes in the physical world. The ordinary and non-ordinary worlds interact continuously, and a shamanic practitioner can gain knowledge about how to alter ordinary reality by taking direct action in the non-ordinary aspect of the world. From a shamanic perspective, 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. Each human being is a hologram of the universe. Essentially, we are the universe experiencing itself in human form.

8. Shamanism is based on the principle that innate wisdom and guidance can be accessed through the inner senses in ecstatic trance. 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 your own uniqueness in order to bring something new back to the group. 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.

Creative Commons photo of Mongol Darkhad shaman performing shamanic ritual by Munkhbayar.B.

Journey To Meet Your Power Animal

The practice of shamanism is one of direct revelation and therefore anyone can find and meet their spirit animal. To meet your power animal, 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. In his book, "The Way of the Shaman," 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. Enter the tunnel and you will emerge into the Lower World, the realm of power animals and spirit guides. It is an earth-like dimension where we can connect with helping spirits.

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. Read through the exercise first to familiarize yourself with the process. The basic steps for a journey to the Lower World are as follows:

1. The first step is to select a private and quiet space. Make whatever arrangements are necessary to assure that you will not be disturbed. No phones, no interruptions.

2. Next, you should smudge the space, yourself, and your drum with the smoke of an herb. Smudging is a method of using smoke from burning herbs to purify a space in preparation for spiritual or inner work. The sacred smoke dispels any stagnant or unwanted energy. Sage, cedar, and sweetgrass are traditionally used for smudging, but any dried herb is acceptable. Light the herbs in a fire-resistant receptacle and then blow out the flames. Then use a feather or your hands to draw the smoke over your heart, throat, and face to purify the body, mind, and spirit. Next, smudge your drum by passing it through the smoke. Conclude the smudging by thanking the plant or tree spirit whose body made the cleansing possible.

3. After smudging, dim the lights and sit comfortably in a chair or on the floor. Close your eyes and focus on the breath as it enters the nose and fills your lungs, then gently exhale any tension you might feel. Continue this breathing exercise until you are calm and relaxed.

4. Once you are fully relaxed, it is important to frame a simple and clear statement of your intent. You should always journey with a purpose, question, or intention. You might phrase your intention something like, "I choose to meet my power animal."

5. The next step is to enter a trance state. Either listen to a shamanic journey drumming recording, or begin drumming a steady, metronome-like pattern at a tempo of about three to four beats per second. This rapid beat creates the sensation of inner movement, which, if you allow it, will carry you along. Close your eyes, focus your attention on the sound of the drum, and vividly imagine with every sense the entrance to a cave or an opening in the earth that you have seen or visited. Clear your mind of everything but this image.

6. Approach the entrance or opening and enter it. Typically, someone or something will be waiting there to guide you. It may appear to you as an animal, a person, a light, a voice, or have no discernable form at all. If you are uncomfortable or put off by whatever appears, ask it to take another form. It is important that you see, feel, hear, or in some way sense the presence of a spirit guide that you trust and feel at ease with before proceeding with your journey. If you do not, then come back through the entrance and journey another time.

7. When you are ready to proceed, state your intention to the spirit guide and begin the journey. Follow your guide's lead and instructions in every respect. If asked to leave, do so at once. If the spirit waiting to guide you is an animal, ask it, "Are you my power animal?" It might answer you telepathically, or it might lead you somewhere and show you something. If it indicates that it is not your helping spirit, ask it to take you to your power animal. Your spirit guide may ask you to accompany it in some fashion. Typically, you will proceed rapidly down a passage or tunnel. If you encounter an obstacle, just go around it or look for an opening through it.

8. When you emerge from the tunnel, you will find yourself in the Lower World. It is here that you will find your power animal. Allow a landscape to materialize before you. It can be a desert, a forest, a beach, or a wilderness area that you have seen or visited. To make it more real, infuse your vision with all the sensations you can muster.

9. Then allow an image of an animal to appear in that landscape. Should a spirit animal present itself, ask it, "Are you my power animal?" Listen carefully to its response, and don't worry if you feel like you are just making up the answers. It often feels this way in the beginning. Be open to the sensations and feelings of being that animal. It is not uncommon to be and see the animal simultaneously. Moreover, it is best to avoid menacing animals with bared fangs. Such animals represent obstacles and challenges to be confronted at a time when you have the assistance of a power animal.

10. Next, thank the animal for its assistance, and then allow the image of that animal to fade and another image to open up before you. Repeat this imagery with as many different animals as you wish. The key to recognizing your power animal is that it will repeatedly appear to you at least four times. It may appear to you at different angles, in different aspects, or as different animals of the same species.

11. After an animal has presented itself to you four times, ask the spirit animal to be your ally, to merge with your being. Imagine yourself embracing the animal, and then return rapidly to ordinary reality. Envision bringing the animal spirit back with you. Your power animal will readily return with you, otherwise it would not have revealed itself. Bring nothing else back with you on this journey. The spirit acting as your guide, however, may or may not accompany you. If not, try to return via the same route that you took to arrive. Upon your return to the entrance, thank your spirit guide, emerge from the opening, and return to your body.

12. Once you have returned to ordinary reality, end your drum journey with four strong beats to signal that the sacred time of focus is ended. If listening to a shamanic drumming recording, you will hear a similar 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. If for any reason you want to come back before the call back, just retrace your steps back. Sit quietly for a few moments, and then open your eyes. To learn more, look inside The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming.

Book Review: "The Shamanic Journey"

Shamanism represents a universal conceptual framework found among indigenous tribal humans. It includes the belief that the natural world has two aspects: ordinary everyday awareness, formed by our habitual behaviors, patterns of belief, social norms, and cultural conditioning, and a second non-ordinary awareness accessed through altered states, or ecstatic trance, induced by shamanic practices such as repetitive drumming. The act of entering an ecstatic trance state is called the soul flight or shamanic journey, and it allows the journeyer to once again communicate with animals, plants and all living things. Shamans believe that this direct communication is possible because the entire universe exists within human consciousness. The capacity to enter a range of trance states is a natural manifestation of human consciousness. Our journeying ability is part of our human heritage.

In his book, The Shamanic Journey: A Practical Guide to Therapeutic Shamanism, shamanic practitioner, teacher and psychotherapist Paul Francis has created a practical step-by-step guide to experiencing your first shamanic journey, developing a relationship with your power animal, and interpreting trance experiences. Shamanic journeying is not an exceptional skill reserved for certain people, but knowing what to do with intuition, how to respond to it, and how to integrate it into day-to-day life is an exceptional skill that can, and should, be learned. Building on the core shamanism developed by Michael Harner, author of The Way of the Shaman, Francis has written a common sense guide for beginners interested in shamanism and looking for a place to start practical application of its practices for themselves. At once both practical and deeply thought-provoking, this book examines how to make shamanic practice relevant and central to our modern-day lives. This useful guidebook is recommended to anyone seeking to experience the shamanic journey -- a core practice common to all shamanic cultures.

Shaman's Journey Song

Journey Song

I go in my canoe
all over
in my vision.
Over trees
or in water
I'm floating.
All around
I float
among whirlpools.
All around
I float
among shadows.
I go in my canoe
all over
in my vision.
Over trees
or in water
I'm floating.
Whose canoe
is this
I stand in?
The one
I stand in
with a stranger.
I go in my canoe
all over
in my vision.
Over trees
or in water
I'm floating.

--Northwest Coast Tsimshian (1)

1. David Cloutier, Spirit, Spirit: Shaman Songs, Incantations (Providence: Copper Beech Press, 1973), pp. 67-68.

"The Shamanic Drum" Book Sale

Amazon is now offering a 16% discount on the paperback edition of my book "The Shamanic Drum: A Guide to Sacred Drumming." The paperback sale price is $11.69. Shamanic drumming is an ancient approach that uses rhythm to promote healing and self-expression. Based on my studies and personal shamanic experience, I present the first practical guide to applying this ancient healing art to our modern lives. Through a series of simple exercises and lessons, I teach the basic shamanic methods of drumming. The focus is on creating sacred space, journeying, power practice, power animals, drum therapy, drum circles and the therapeutic effects of drumming. Whether you are an accomplished percussionist or a total beginner, this user-friendly book will help you harness the power of drumming. Recent studies demonstrate that drumming is a valuable treatment for stress, chronic pain, cancer, stroke, trauma, addictions, mental illness, emotional disorders and a wide range of physical disabilities. The benefits include relaxation, healing, more energy, greater mental clarity, enhanced creativity and deeper self-awareness. Look inside "The Shamanic Drum."

Mother Drums

Mother drums are large drums that can be played by many people at the same time. Also called community or council drums, these powerful drums symbolize the heartbeat of a community drum circle. Some drum circles like to open each gathering with a round of drumming on a mother drum. One way to do this is to ask a community drum keeper to set up the beat, and then the rest of the circle will stand up and join in one at a time. When no more room is left to drum, the first drummer leaves to make room for another, and so on until everyone has drummed.

In drum circle culture, mother drums are usually open to any participant who wishes to join in, however it is a "sign of respect" to ask permission before you sit on a drum. Each drum is different, but there is some basic protocol when you play on a mother drum: Have respect for the drum and the drum keeper. Anything being passed at a community drum should be passed clockwise around the drum, never over, across or counterclockwise. Do not rest anything on top of the drum except for a drumstick or blanket when instructed by the drum keeper. Mother drums are usually covered with a blanket when not in use.

Mother drums foster and sustain a culture of engagement and collaboration. Playing together on a community drum bonds the individual members of the circle. Mother drums are often used to support group shamanic journeys. A group shamanic journey basically involves one person drumming a repetitive rhythm while the others relax and journey within. Transported by the resonant beat of the drum; the shamanic travelers journey to the inner planes of consciousness. If you have never had the opportunity to take such a deep shamanic journey, I invite you to try a "Mother Drum Journey." Available at iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby.

Insight Timer: Best Free Meditation App

Insight Timer is a free smartphone app and online community with seven million meditators, making it the most active meditation community on the planet. The meditation app made Womens Health and Time magazine's list of best apps. Three thousand meditation teachers publish free guided meditations, music and talks on the app. With 15,000 free guided meditations you can meditate on Insight Timer for as long as you want without ever paying a cent. The app offers a variety of topics to choose from (stress, sleep, self-love, loss, forgiveness, etc.), along with personal customization, meditation Timer, and the ability to track your progress with your meditation practice. Download the Insight Timer app.

To support your shamanic journeys, I have published "Shamanic Journey Drumming with Callback" on Insight Timer. Shamanic drumming awakens your ability to commune with your inner self and retrieve information. You need only journey within to find answers to any question. For a journey to the Lower World, 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'll go down the hole and a tunnel will appear. The tunnel often appears ribbed and may 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 realm of power animals, spirit guides and ancestral spirits. When you hear the sound of the callback, begin your return journey. Try to retrace the same route back; otherwise you might have trouble remembering the details of your journey. Step-by-step instructions for making shamanic journeys are explained in my book, "The Shamanic Drum." Try a shamanic journey.