"On Magic, Shamanism, and Listening"

"Cosmic Unconscious" by Gary Abrams

The Collective Unconscious of C.G. Jung

by Bonnie Bright

.... if we open our eyes, if we open our minds, if we open our hearts, we will find that this world is a magical place.  It is magical not because it tricks us or changes unexpectedly into something else, but because it can be so vividly and brilliantly. - Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche.

"Our ancestors had far more contact with magic. They lived life closer to nature, a force larger than life. They saw themselves as an intrinsic part of a pattern that happened around them and to them and in them and through them, an ongoing dialogue with equals. Rather than placing themselves above the objects we see as inanimate, everything they saw and experienced in the physical world was endowed with the life force of something akin to a brother, sister, father, or grandmother." Read more.

Experience a Shamanic Journey

Shamanic drumming is drumming for the purpose of shamanic journeying. Researchers have found that when a drum is played at an even tempo of three to four beats per second, most people can journey successfully even on their first attempt. Shamanic journey drumming awakens your innate ability to commune with your inner self and retrieve 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. Click on the following video to experience a shamanic journey.

Guinea Music

"Guinea Music" - Photos by Len Mackey; Music by Mamoudou "Delmundo" Keita. Guinea is a West African nation, composed of several ethnic groups. Of these, the music of the Mande has been particularly popular and internationally well-known, even outside of West Africa. Mande music is strongly influenced by the jelis, West Africa’s hereditary praise singer-historians. The traditional Mande drum ensemble includes the cylindrical dunun paired with the goblet shaped djembe. In Guinea, the typical Mande patterns have been combined with other rhythms, resulting in a distinctive national style. The late, great dunun player Mamoudou "Delmundo" Keita, who taught in the Hamana-style from Upper Guinea, made one CD "House of Roots."

Achieving Shamanic Consciousness

Shamanism is based on the principle that the spiritual world may be contacted through the inner senses in ecstatic trance. Shamanic consciousness is a term that's often used to refer to the state of mind into which shamans enter when they journey to reach another shamanic reality where the spirits dwell. This is done in order to gain wisdom, healing techniques, and other vital information that can benefit the community. To understand shamanic states of consciousness, it is necessary to first understand shamanic paradigm. To learn more click here. To help you achieve shamanic consciousness, try the following Synthesized Binaural Beats Journey.