Celebrate the Return of the Light on the Winter Solstice

In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice is the first day of winter and the longest night of the year. The winter solstice is a turning point when the days start to grow longer. This occurs December 20, 21, or 22, varying from year to year, dependent upon the elliptical path of the Earth around our sun. Technically the solstice marks the instant at which the Earth's axis stops tilting away from the sun and starts going back the other way. Solstice means "standing-still-sun." At winter solstice, the sun journeys farthest south in its orbital path and for the next three days it rises and sets at virtually the same place on the horizon, appearing to stand still, and then it slowly returns north.

This three day pause in the sun's movement is a time to reflect on what is no longer serving us and to let those things go. We are each given the opportunity to take a peek at what is happening on a heart and soul level. We can reflect on the year ending to see where we have erred and reform those beliefs, attitudes, and strategies no longer applicable to the New Year unfolding. It is also time to feel gratitude for all that has been received and accomplished throughout the past year. Such a fresh open-minded approach will broaden our perspective and start us out on the right track.

Ancient peoples in our northern climes regarded winter solstice as the pivotal time of year. It is a time of transition in the annual cycle when the old year ends and our journey into the New Year begins. Most cultures planned festivals and celebrations at or around the winter solstice to ensure that the sun would return. Rituals were designed to divert nature from the path toward eternal winter and oblivion to one directed toward light and prosperity. Winter solstice was an affirmation of the continuation of life; that the cyclical order of time and the cosmos will continue intact.

Many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas have their roots in winter solstice celebrations. In much of northern Europe people ignited Yule bonfires to give life and power to the sun. Lighted candles were often placed on the branches of evergreen trees, which symbolized survival and eternal life. These symbols of warmth and lasting life were lit to hasten the "old" sun's waning and the "new" sun's rebirth. People often tied apples to the branches of firs and oaks to remind themselves that summer would eventually return. People would "deck the halls" with holly, ivy, yew, and many other herbs and evergreens to honor the nature spirits and to bring good luck. In the British Isles, mistletoe was placed upon altars. Mistletoe's golden color was believed to store the power of the sun, especially when plucked at the solstice.

The winter solstice is a time to celebrate the return of the light after a period of darkness. In my own solstice celebration, I like to incorporate a sacred fire. Before the sun sets on the solstice, I will light a large candle, call the spirit of the sun into that flame and allow it to burn until morning, when his spirit has returned to the sky. On the winter solstice we are all praying, on some level, for the darkness to end. "Just return the light!" the ceremonies seem to say. As we celebrate the return of the light, we affirm the continuation of life at the very moment of dissolution. To be sure, dark days lie ahead. But contained within each is the promise of brighter tomorrows.

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.

Davi Kopenawa Receives Alternative Nobel Prize

Renowned Yanomami shaman Davi Kopenawa, the "Dalai Lama of the Rainforest," received this year's Right Livelihood Award, known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize" this Wednesday (Dec 4th). The ceremony took place in Stockholm and was the final event of a 10-day long program of celebrations in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. During his acceptance speech Davi said: "I want to help my indigenous brothers by asking the international authorities to put pressure on the Government of Brazil to demarcate the land of other indigenous peoples. I have always fought for the rights of my people, the Yanomami, and the Ye'kwana. This award is a new weapon to strengthen the fight of our people."

Davi Kopenawa has been on the front lines for over 40 years representing a people whose very existence is in jeopardy. From encouraging tribesmen in villages in the heart of the Amazon rain forest to delivering a speech to Britain's Parliament to addressing the United Nations, he's fought for the rights of his people, the Yanomami of northern Brazil. These travels constitute a shamanic critique of Western industrial society, whose endless material greed, mass violence, and ecological blindness contrast sharply with Yanomami cultural values. Wherever Kopenawa speaks on behalf of his people, he delivers the same message: Help defend this region's natural resources and the health of the Yanomami.

In 2010 Kopenawa wrote The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman, the first book by a Yanomami. The Falling Sky paints an unforgettable picture of Yanomami culture, past and present, in the heart of the rainforest--a world where ancient indigenous knowledge and shamanic traditions cope with the global geopolitics of an insatiable natural resources extraction industry. Kopenawa recounts his initiation and experience as a shaman, as well as his first encounters with outsiders: government officials, missionaries, road workers, cattle ranchers, and gold prospectors. He vividly describes the ensuing cultural repression, environmental devastation, and deaths resulting from epidemics and violence. To counter these threats, Davi Kopenawa became a global ambassador for his endangered people.

Survival International, an organization dedicated to campaigning for the rights of the Yanomami and other tribal peoples around the world, has worked alongside Kopenawa for the last 30 years in his campaign to persuade the government of Brazil to set aside and protect Yanomami tribal lands in the northern states of Roraima and Amazonas. In 1992 the Brazilian government designated 96,000 square kilometers (37,000 square miles, an area the size of Portugal) for the Yanomami "Urihi," meaning "forest" in the Yanomami language. Combined with the Yanomami territory in Venezuela, it is the largest area of rainforest under indigenous control anywhere in the world. Indigenous peoples are the best conservationists and have so much to teach us.

Kopenawa has frequently been threatened by the gold miners and cattle ranchers who target the resources inside the Yanomami territory. Indigenous people in the Amazon are under threat from business interests as well as politicians, including far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, who has a long history of anti-indigenous statements and policies. The current regime in Brazil is trying now to undo decades, generations of progress in recognizing indigenous peoples' rights. The threat has never been more acute and has implications for the rest of the world.

Interview with Michael Drake

The Barcelona-based magazine La Senda del Corazón (The Path of the Heart) interviewed me in September 2019. The interview was conducted by writer, composer and musician Josep Mateo. You can read part of the interview below and the entire interview online at La Senda del Corazón.

Josep: Hi Michael it's a pleasure to interview you for La Senda del Corazón. When did you discover shamanism? How did it change your life?

Michael: I discovered shamanism in 1988 when a friend of mine recommended that I read The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner. Founder of The Foundation for Shamanic Studies, Harner is widely acknowledged as the world's foremost authority on experiential and practical shamanism. This informative guide to core shamanic practice set me on a new course in life. From this guide, I learned to hone my skills of shamanic journeying. I have always had a vivid imagination, so journeying comes easily for me. I close my eyes as if to sleep, and my inner world awakens.

For six months, I journeyed virtually every day. My trance experiences were healing and empowering. They often triggered the release of suppressed emotions, producing feelings of peace and well-being. The process restores emotional health through expression and integration of emotions.

Once I learned to journey, my shamanic training began. I sought out and met my spirit helpers and guardian spirit, the bear. I communed with the archetypal realms of the collective soul. The spirit world became my classroom and the spirits became my teachers. This was a period of rapid inner growth for me. I was changing from the inside out. A shift in consciousness heightened my awareness and redefined my core values.

I was also tested. We are always tested by the spirits from time to time to see if we have a clear and open heart. You must show the spirit world that you have passion and heart. You must be willing to take risks. It never really ends. You must prove yourself again and again. A meaningful path must have heart. You must surrender the ego. You must give up the need for control.

Over the years, I learned to just go with the flow. The how and why of my circumstances became less important to me than the lessons that I was learning along the way. As time passed, I began to see how my life experiences honed me into the artist I am today. 

Josep: What main elements do you think should be given back to our society to unlock our true human potential?

Michael: We are entering an epic time of change in humanity's evolutionary journey into higher consciousness. I believe that core shamanic beliefs can help us navigate the shift from an old paradigm into a new one. 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.

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.

Shamanism is a way of living in harmony with nature, rather than an adherence to a religious doctrine. By practicing this way of being, we awaken our soul calling and our connection to nature. Shamanism is ultimately about consciousness, about learning through attunement to nature. It provides a myriad of responses to the spiritual quest of self-discovery. It emphasizes establishing a personal relationship with the powers of creation. It is a way that embeds us in the living web of life, yielding greater awareness and perspective. Shamanic practice is easily integrated into contemporary life and provides a means of navigating the turbulent times in which we live. 

Read the entire interview at La Senda del Corazón.