Shamanic Initiation Dreams

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

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

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

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

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

Drum Divination

The drum can be utilized as a divination tool. The Sami peoples of northern Scandinavia and the Kola Peninsula in Russia were renowned for their drum divination skills. They used divination to determine the future, luck or misfortune, location of game, diagnosis, and remedies. The Sami practiced an indigenous form of shamanism until the religious repression of shamanic practices in the mid-seventeenth century. The runebomme, an oval frame or bowl drum, was an important trance and divination tool of the noaidi, or Sami shaman. The reindeer, which was central to Sami culture and livelihood, provided the hide for the drumhead, the sinew to lace it together, and the antler bone for the drumstick or hammer. The Sami believed that the reindeer’s antlers were conduits to the Upper World.

Sami drumheads are decorated with cosmological rune symbols and drawings of heavenly bodies, plants, animals, humans, and human habitations, sometimes divided into separate regions by horizontal or vertical lines. Sami drums are characterized by a central sun cross with arms protruding in the four cardinal directions. The cross symbolized the sun--the source of life. The terminal of the lower arm is often embellished, in many cases with a sort of (cave?) opening. This is, according to old descriptions, the starting position for the brass ring or antler piece placed on the drumskin when used for divination. The only other figures commonly found on this arm are the holy day men. These three figures (sometimes just one or two) are usually the most simplified of all human figures, frequently represented by simple crosses.

For divination, the drum is held horizontally with the drum face or table parallel to the floor. A metal ring or other kind of pointer is centered on the top of the drumhead. The drum is gently played with the drumstick so that the pointer moves across the drumhead, but does not fall to the floor. The diviner observes the movement of the pointer in relation to the symbols on the drum to interpret the answer. Detailed instructions on how to make and use divination drums can be found in Richard Webster’s book Omens, Oghams & Oracles: Divination in the Druidic Tradition.

The Rhythm Archetypes

The I Ching is an ancient Chinese book of divination, in which 64 pairs of trigrams are shown with various interpretations. Otherwise known as the Book of Changes, this archaic and enigmatic text is the culmination of Chinese thought regarding the nature of reality. The fountainhead of Taoist and Confucian thought, it is a philosophical system of primal insights into the workings and destiny of the Universe. Philosophically it describes the Tao or Universe as a single, flowing, rhythmic being, and all things in it in constant cyclical change. The eternal Tao continuously gives birth to the one universal energy, which expresses itself as two polar but co-creative aspects--yin and yang.
 

The sages of ancient China revealed the most profound secret of the Universe--that yin and yang pulsate within all things and in unison, they are the moving force of Nature and all its manifestations. All things contain varying degrees of yin and yang. The white vibration of yang is light, active, masculine, creative, expansive, and corresponds to Heaven or spirit. The black vibration of yin is dark, passive, feminine, nurturing, intuitive, and corresponds to Earth or matter. The power of yin as a calm, receptive, female energy is the key to bringing balance to the world's excessively yang state--in other words, aggressive, male, extroverted, loud, superficial, materialistic, ego-driven culture.
 

By contemplating Nature, the wise sages perceived all of the rhythms and energy patterns that arise from the interaction of yin and yang. By observing patterns of events arising in the natural world, the social world and the inner world of the psyche, they deciphered Nature's rhythmic code. They then coded these rhythmic patterns into a "book of life." The I Ching's 64 hexagrams represent a code or program of the operating principle of life itself. Each six-lined symbol is the visual representation of a rhythm archetype. The rhythm archetypes are the "sonic seeds" of all that exists.
 

The entire Universe is created through vibration and can be influenced through vibration. T'an Ch'iao, a Taoist adept of the tenth century, expressed this potential when he wrote, "When energy moves, sound is emitted; when sound comes forth, energy vibrates. When energy vibrates, influences are activated and things change. Therefore it is possible thereby to command wind and clouds, produce frost and hail, cause phoenixes to sing, get bears to dance, make friends with spiritual luminescences."
 

The Hexagram Rhythms
 

Moreover, each six-lined symbol depicts a particular drum pattern, which renders the essence of each hexagram into sound. A solid yang line _____ represents one whole beat, while a broken yin line __  __ represents two half beats or a heartbeat. For example, the rhythmic pattern of Hexagram 58, "The Joyous," resembles the opening beats of the familiar processional "The Wedding March." This simple drum pattern is depicted below. Remember, hexagrams are read from bottom to top.

             Line 6        __  __        drum—drum         in white
             Line 5        _____              drum               dressed
             Line 4        _____              drum                   all
             Line 3        __  __        drum—drum        the bride
             Line 2        _____              drum                comes
             Line 1        _____              drum                 Here

Drumming is an innovative way to engage with an I Ching reading. It is a type of focus meditation, requiring total concentration. Drum meditation is a way to access the archetypal wisdom contained in each hexagram. As a form of meditation, drumming activates perceptions that can be attained by no other means. By drumming the hexagrams, one can achieve a level of intuitive understanding beyond linguistic interpretations. Archetypal knowledge is symbolic and non-linear. It does not lend itself readily to logical or verbal expression. It is wisdom that can only be experienced intuitively. The process is an effective meditative technique for self-exploration.

Steven Halpern's "Cannabis Dreams"

Steven Halpern, the Grammy nominated founder of the sound healing movement, released a new album, Cannabis Dreams. Cannabis Dreams is the latest of Halpern's 100-plus music albums that for over 45 years have helped his listeners manage stress, reduce pain and facilitate sleep. I still enjoy listening to his 2001 CD release, Chakra Suite: Music for Meditation, Healing and Inner Peace. Cannabis Dreams is among the first to link healing music and healing cannabis, whose ancient roots trace back more than 5,000 years. The 11-track album features Halpern's signature sound, an electric piano combined with hypnotic brainwave entrainment technology. The music supports relaxation, healing, meditation and spiritual well-being.
 

The seed concept for this album was planted in 1982 when an anthropologist handed Halpern an extraordinary cannabis strain used by an indigenous Alaskan shamanic healer. "One toke, and I heard music in a very different way," says Halpern. "It inspired an improvised grand piano jam that was different from anything I had recorded previously. I wondered if certain other strains might inspire a new composition if used exclusively. The answer turned out to be Yes."
 

In 2015, Halpern was invited to be a Celebrity Brand Ambassador for a leading Cannabis dispensary. Although the collaboration was short-lived, their top shelf strain, called Mystic Haze, evoked a meditative, healing and spiritual high, and inspired the several variations of the title track on Cannabis Dreams.
 

The album was completed when Halpern read about the new spiritually-uplifting strain released by entrepreneurial musician Carlos Santana and Left Coast Ventures. "After hearing music in meditation after sampling this strain, it was obvious I needed to include a new track inspired by Mirayo by Santana," he said. "I was able to book time in a recording studio on 11/11/20, and two extraordinary compositions now complete the album."
 

The spirit of each strain speaks through the music. Deep alpha brainwave entrainment tones are subtly mixed into the music, which entrain your brain to higher coherence to further support your immune system functioning. The artist suggests that one "grabs a set of headphones for the full psycho-acoustic effect." Cannabis Dreams is Halpern's heartfelt "thank you" to the master growers who keep improving on the spiritually uplifting and creativity-enhancing strains.

The Modern Shamanic Sound of Namgar

"Nayan Navaa" is the superb new album from Namgar, a band that plays modern sounds rooted in traditional music from the Republic of Buryatia in southern Siberia. The Moscow-based band led by renowned female Buryatia vocalist Namgar Lhasaranova features Buryat, Russian, Tuvan and Norwegian musicians. Together, the band presents a unique multi-ethnic musical mix that includes shamanic vocals, throat singing, galloping rhythms, rock, jazz, and mesmerizing soundscapes.
 

The melodic music Namgar creates was passed down to Lhasaranova from her grandparents and father, who sang to her as a child. The inventive arrangements are new, but the stories told in the songs are as old as the indigenous Buryats themselves, with tales and myths of ancient Mongol fighters, champions, horses and famous battles. The lyrics are based on traditional Buryat and Mongolian songs, reflecting Buryat nomadic culture. Topics include hunter, wedding, family, and yokhor round dance songs, as well as songs about horses, ancestors and shamanic rituals.
 

The group uses various traditional instruments from Buryatia and nearby regions such as the yataga (a 13-stringed zither), the chanza (a three-stringed lute), the khomus (jaw harp) and the morin khuur (a two-stringed bowed instrument), along with modern instruments like electric bass and drums to craft its unique sound. Lhasaranova has a beautiful, impressive voice. Her power, energy and amazing vocal range go beyond words and language, taking her listener on a journey to Siberia and the world of the Buryats, people whose roots reach back to Ghengis Khan and the Mongolian Empire.