A Shaman's Perspective on Western Civilization

Davi Kopenawa has been dubbed the Dalai Lama of the Rainforest and is considered one of the most influential tribal leaders in Brazil. The Yanomami number about 30,000 and occupy a vast territory stretching across northern Brazil and southern Venezuela. They only made full contact with the west in the 1950s when their lands were overrun by thousands of gold prospectors and loggers. After waves of epidemics and cultural and environmental devastation, one in three of all Yanomami, including Davi's mother, died.

Davi's experience of white people has been dreadful but he is unusual because he trained not just as a shaman but also worked with the Brazilian government as a guide and learned western languages. In the past 25 years, he has traveled widely to represent indigenous peoples in meetings and, having lived in both societies, he has a unique viewpoint of western culture. With the help of an anthropologist, Bruce Albert, who interviewed him over several years, he has written his autobiography The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman. It is not just an insight into what a Yanomami leader really thinks, but a devastating critique of how the west lives, showing the gulf between primordial forest and modern city world views. By way of his autobiography, and other conversations, the Guardian News recently compiled several of Kopenawa's observations. Read More.

Bird Medicine: The Sacred Power of Bird Shamanism

Evan T. Pritchard, author of Bird Medicine: The Sacred Power of Bird Shamanism, is a descendant of the Mi'kmaq people (part of the Algonquin nation) and the founder of The Center for Algonquin Culture. Named Abachbahamedtch (or chipmunk) by Mi'kmaq people, he is an assistant to several Algonquin elders. Since 1990, his work helping Algonquin elders and bringing their message to the media has helped thousands of people gain a better understanding of this great civilization and its teachings.

According to Pritchard, traditional Native Americans have viewed birds as spiritual teachers for at least 10,000 years. Pritchard's scholarly and illuminating book is based on his field interviews with people in the Native community on birds as teachers, guardians, role models, counselors, healers, clowns, peacemakers, and meteorologists. They carry messages and warnings from loved ones and the spirit world, report deaths and injuries, and channel divine intelligence to answer our questions. Some of their "signs" are so subtle that one could discount them as subjective, but others are dramatic enough to strain even a skeptic's definition of coincidence.

Pritchard begins with an exploration of the legends, wisdom, and powers of the birds known as the gatekeepers of the four directions -- Eagle in the North, Hawk in the East, Crow in the South, and Owl in the West. He reveals how the eagle can be a direct messenger of the Creator, why crows gather in "Crow Councils," and how shamans have the ability to travel inside of birds, even after death. Expanding his study to the wisdom and gifts of birds beyond the four gatekeepers, such as hummingbirds, seagulls, and the mythical thunderbird, he provides numerous examples of everyday bird sign interpretations that can be applied in your own encounters with birds as well as ways we can help protect birds and encourage them to communicate with us.

Bird Medicine: The SacredPower of Bird Shamanism by Evan T. Pritchard is a treasure trove of ornithological insight and indigenous wisdom. Filled with stories -- some fables involving only birds and some anecdotal narratives of birds interaction with humans -- the book is also an impassioned plea for humans to become more responsible about protecting bird habitats and breeding grounds. 

The Shaman's Staff

Buryat Shaman Staff

Over the centuries, a shaman's regalia has often included a ritual staff. Different forms of this ritual garb are seen in cultures around the world. From the high steppes of Asia to the deep jungles of the Amazon basin, shamans use staffs as power objects. They are usually made of wood and decorated with special symbols, talismans and carvings which represent the shaman's own power.

For many peoples, the shaman's staff is a representation of the connection between the shamanic realms of Upper, Middle and Lower Worlds and symbolizes the Axis Mundi or World Tree. As a stand-in for the Axis Mundi, the staff functions as an energy conduit between the worlds and holds the spiritual center in ritual.

In many Siberian tribes, the use of the staff precedes the use of the drum and the shaman learns to journey without the benefit of the drum beat. Most Siberian staffs are adorned with jingle cones so that the staff can be used as a type of rattle during journeying. Most shaman staffs are either forked or adorned with animal heads. In Buryat tradition, the most common type of shaman staff has a horse head carved at the top.

In the shaman's world, all is alive. Like the shaman's drum, the staff is imbued with spiritual purpose and becomes a living presence. Since the objects are then considered to be alive, they function as spirit helpers and guides to the shaman in their work. Once imbued with spiritual energy, the staff becomes a catalyst for change and transformation--even capable of working on its own on behalf of the shaman. To guide you in making your own sacred staff, I highly recommend the book, A Spirit Walker's Guide to Shamanic Tools by Evelyn C. Rysdyk.

Finding Your Power Song

Power songs are oral prayers spoken from the heart, expressing your true self and personal power. All shamans have at least one power song to call their helping spirits. It announces the shaman to the spirits and proclaims, "this is me … please help me." The song is usually sung near the beginning of any ritual and is often accompanied by drumming. Singing brings the heartbeat and body into resonance with the song similar to entrainment with the pulse of the drum. As the shaman's song invokes the intended spirits, the shaman comes into resonance with these spirit energies as well.

I recommend that you find your own power song to invoke your spirit helpers. The lyrics are usually just a line or two repeated over and over. The words of your song will have great power if they come from the heart. As ethnographer and author Gregory Maskarinec puts it, "In the shamanic world, words transform substance. Any medicinal properties of raw substance are trivial compared with the power of speech ...."1

To acquire a power song, begin your day with morning prayers to your helping spirits. Ask your guides to help you discover your personal power song. Do not eat breakfast and fast throughout the day. Plan to spend the day alone in an outdoor location that is preferably quiet and private. A wilderness or wild area away from the city is preferred.

Do not plan an itinerary -- be spontaneous. Just stroll quietly through the natural setting with the awareness that communication with natural elements is possible and be open to such communication. Nature is communicating with you all the time. Be aware of your surroundings. Look for synchronicities. They involve an internal psychological event that corresponds to an external observable event. Some aspect of a journey, vision, or dream may manifest in your ordinary reality. An animal, bird, or insect may bring you a message or guidance. When any animal shows up in an unusual way, or repetitively in a short period of time, it's critical to pay attention to the message. 

As you wander, discover what animal or bird you feel like. Take on its feelings, embody its spirit, and enjoy its identity throughout the day. As this is your first attempt to acquire a power song, you may only find the melody. If so, subsequent excursions will unveil the words for your melody.

When invoking your spirit helpers, repeat the song as long as you feel it is needed. I often start dancing and rattling while I sing my power song and bring my whole body into the act of calling the spirits. The more feeling or emotional energy you put into it, the stronger the invocation.

References
1. Gregory G. Maskarinec, Rulings Of The Night: An Ethnography Of Nepalese Shaman Oral Texts, (University of Wisconsin Press, 1995), p 187.

Clarifying Your True Calling

Streaming live on the Co-Creator Radio Network on Tuesday, December 23, at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern on "Why Shamanism Now? A Practical Path to Authenticity," shaman and founder of the Last Mask Center for Shamanic Healing Christina Pratt tells listeners that "follow your bliss" is really not enough to go on when we need to clarify a vision of our true calling and engage that path of mastery day by day. For most, the vision of their "true calling" is wildly unfocused and impractical or it falls woefully short of the individual's true capabilities. However, consistent work with the Visionary in shamanic journeys encourages us to develop our visionary capacities: our perception, or seeing our external patterns; our insight, or internal viewing; and in engaging our imagination which encourages our intuition. Ultimately the Visionary's point is to get us to open our scope of seeing to all of our senses so that our sense of what "my vision" actually means expands to the point where we can actually clarify our true calling, according to Pratt. Prior episodes from "Why Shamanism Now" can be downloaded for free from iTunes.  

The Magic of Shapeshifting

One of the best ways to connect with power animals is through the art of shapeshifting. In the shaman's world, animals are kin, an ancient belief reflected in mythology and in animism -- the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings. It is a mental world where the seen and the unseen; the material and the spiritual merge. As their helping spirits, the shamans "might use animals, anything that grows," says Osuitok Ipeelee, an esteemed Artic Inuit sculptor. "It was well known that the animals the shamans controlled had the ability to turn into humans. When a shaman was using his magic he had a real change of personality. When the animals entered into him he'd be chanting loudly; if a shaman was turning into a certain animal, he'd make that animal sound. Once he was filled inside, he'd begin to change; his face and his skin followed."¹

Shapeshifting is more than just transforming into an animal as is often depicted in shamanic accounts and tales. It is the ability to shift your energies to adapt to the demands and changes of daily life. We all learn which activities, behaviors, and attitudes support or hinder our survival and growth. It is a natural and instinctual ability that we all share. The minimal development of this talent is the ability to mimic. We often mimic for the purpose of learning something or to blend in with our social or physical environment. It implies changing one's pattern of appearance or behavior, rather than just using what you already have. Actors, for example, are known for their ability to take on the characteristics of another person or thing. 

A shapeshifter is one who manipulates their aura to access a higher or inner power in order to grow and learn. The human aura is the energy field that surrounds the human body in all directions. All shapeshifting occurs on an energy level. If everything is broadcasting its own energy pattern and if you could match and rebroadcast the same pattern, then you would take on the appearance and qualities of the thing you were matching. The only constraining factor is the degree of belief, connection, and energy. To experience this for yourself, try the following simple exercise: 

1. Create sacred space as you would for other spiritual work, dim the lights, and sit comfortably erect in a chair or on the floor.
2. Close your eyes and take a couple of deep breaths.
3. Call upon an animal that you have an affinity with. Visualize and invite this animal spirit to come into your body and consciousness.
4. Meditate with it. Be open to the feelings and sensations of being that animal. It is not uncommon to be and see the animal at the same time.
5. Simply observe whatever happens for a few minutes, and then thank the spirit animal and release it.  

Shapeshifting to any degree will help you develop a kinship with your animal relatives. Learning to shift your consciousness, to align with and adapt your energies to power animals, opens your heart and mind to the wisdom and strength of the animal world. You must empty yourself so that spirit can embody you. "Become like a hollow bone," a Lakota elder once advised me in the sweat lodge.

1. Dorothy H. Eber, "Recording the Spirit World," Natural History Magazine, Sept, 2002, p. 54.