The Transformative Power of Shamanic Art

"Flame Swan" by Denita Benyshek

Dr. Denita Benyshek is a professional visionary artist, an internationally recognized researcher on contemporary artists as shamans, and a psychologist who provides psychotherapy and coaching services to artists and creative individuals. Dr. Benyshek recently composed an article in which she explains how contemporary artists serve as shamans and demonstrates the transformative benefits offered by art. According to Dr. Benyshek, art can provide for psychological, social, physiological, and/or spiritual needs of individuals and communities. When an individual is engaged with art (as an artist, member of the audience, or collector), art can evoke memories, make new connections, heighten awareness, discharge repressed emotions, halt patterns of repression, lead to self-discovery, create empathy with individuals or cultures, remind society of social ills needing attention, and lead to individual and societal healing. To learn more read "The Transformative Power of Shamanic Art" by Dr. Denita Benyshek.

10 Ways to Connect with Power Animals

Great Horned Owl

A power animal is an archetype that represents the entire species of that animal. When we connect with a power animal, we align ourselves with the collective strength, wisdom, and archetypal energies of the entire species. Owl, for example, carries the archetype of the wise one, the seer, the prophet. Power animals are the gatekeepers to the deeper truths that exist in our collective consciousness. They are valuable allies who can help us navigate the inner planes of consciousness during shamanic journeys. Without this alliance, the practice of entering a trance to journey into the inner realms is risky.

With an earnest desire to connect, we can develop close, reciprocal relationships with power animals. We also discover through relationship with them that the animal spirits may have very individual and specific teachings for each of us. Similar to the way friendships develop gradually, our relationships with power animals grow and deepen based on repeated interaction and building trust over time. Here are 10 ways to connect with power animals:

1. Hang pictures of animals around your house or work area.
2. Read books about animals.
3. Observe an animal in nature to learn more about it.
4. Take time every day to meditate and tune into an animal.
5. Put on music and dance to help welcome the energy of a power animal into your body. Embody the power animal and move like it would move.
6. Give gratitude to a power animal whenever it shares a piece of wisdom or supports you in any way.
7. Simply visualize and call upon an animal. When you call or invoke the power of an animal, you are asking to be drawn into complete harmony with the strength of that creature's essence. Meditate with it. Ask what message it has for you. How does it want to be honored? What does it want to tell you?
8. Contemplate what it means if you're not comfortable with a power animal. If you dislike or are afraid of an animal, it's especially important to connect with it and learn its wisdom. The message it holds for you will be particularly meaningful. Power animals help us connect to the parts of ourselves that we've lost or denied, so it may be mirroring a trait or quality that is ready to come back to help you be in your wholeness.
9. Put items on your altar to honor a power animal and represent its energy.
10. Ritually feed and honor helping spirits with offerings such as cornmeal or a "spirit plate" with bits of food placed outdoors at mealtime. Cornmeal is a good offering because corn is a sacred gift from the beings that live in the spirit world. The one offering the cornmeal first breathes on the grains so that the spirits know who is offering the gift. To learn more, look inside my drum guide Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits.