Weather Shamans of the Himalayas

There can be few more exotic jobs than herding clouds in the Tibetan Himalayas. Shamans in the Amdo region keep watch from the mountain peaks and warn villagers of approaching storms. Their predictions are based on a combination of weather experience and trusted formula such as "when the clouds over Ami Kodtse are like sheep's hair, it will hail in the village."

Nor do the shamans just passively observe conditions; a "weather shaman" or "cloud herder" claims to be able to ward off bad weather. According to their beliefs, the weather is caused by the interaction between humans, spirits and nature. Weather shamans believe that extreme weather conditions are a reflection of a spiritual imbalance -- that our thoughts of fear, guilt, anger, etc. are being reflected by the environment. The shamans intercede with the spirits, who in turn influence the weather. As well as prayers and chants, a slingshot, like those used to herd sheep and yaks in Tibet, may be used to herd the clouds, or they may be driven off by firing arrows.

In his book Mindscaping the Landscape of Tibet, film maker and anthropologist Dan Smyer Yu describes a dawn excursion with a weather shaman in 2010. The mountains were shrouded under a murky white blanket and there seemed to be little chance of filming, but the shaman assured Yu that he could break the fog. The shaman chanted praises to the mountain spirits for a full 15 minutes, at which point the fog lifted and the Himalayan peaks emerged like islands from a sea of cloud. Perhaps the result was coincidence, but the shamans do seem better at gaining the confidence of their audience than most meteorologists.

Carl Jung and the Neo-Shamanic Movement

"Consciousness" by Sar Maroof

Shamanic ideology has gradually entered Western humanities and social sciences and developed into the neo-shamanic movement. Neo-shamanism is a term used to describe the creation or revival of a shamanic culture. Mircea Eliade, a religious scholar, was perhaps the first to write about neo-shamanism, but it was Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung who actually revived shamanism in the West. His imaginal psychology -- a psychology of imagination -- provided a bridge between Shamanism and Western psychology. Jung's influence has been far-reaching, touching many of the human sciences, and his ideas have proved of value in such widely differing fields as biology and theology. To learn more, read "Neo-Shamanism & Jung's Influence on the Great Turning" by Randy Allen M.A.

Shamanism and Curanderismo in Peru

In the Andes, shamanism is more properly known as curanderismo (from the Spanish curar: to heal). It is a form of folk healing that includes various techniques such as prayer, herbal medicine, healing rituals, spiritualism, and psychic healing. As with other forms of shamanism, the curanderos' knowledge of healing may be passed down from relatives or learned through apprenticeships. In other cases healing powers may simply arise spontaneously in a curandero or curandera and be described by the healer as a don, or divine gift. Curanderismo in Peru is usually the first point of call for anyone suffering from an illness or problem. It has proven effective for thousands of years and there is still some suspicion of orthodox medicine, precisely because its physicians refuse to treat the whole person or to acknowledge the existence of God and the soul. Read more.

Are You a Bridge Between Two Worlds?

Many of us, who feel we have awoken, currently find ourselves straddling two worlds. One is the old world, the shallow restricted illusion we all grew up in. In contrast, the new reality that many of us feel lapping at the edges of our internal horizon, is based on love, authenticity, and personal sovereignty. We are undergoing a transition to a new realization of consciousness, which will be embodied by a new fundamental paradigm that takes into account what Carl Jung called "the reality of the psyche," which is to recognize that its contents have a living reality, along with new social, political, and economic systems that mesh with this realization. We can participate in the world's rebirth by following our own deepest instincts, each contributing our sacred part by following that which holds for us the greatest sense of truth and meaning. Read more.

An Indigenous Approach to Healing with Water

The practice of charging liquids, particularly herbal medicines with intention is widely practiced throughout the Amazon basin among many different language groups, most often done with whistling or song, and/or the blowing of tobacco smoke over the liquid. In fact people have believed in our ability to influence water since the days of antiquity, with the Christian tradition being the obvious example, with the ongoing performing of rituals that turn regular water into holy water. Vibrational essences and the water from flower baths are just a few other examples of people believing in the capacity for water to be affected intentionally for healing purposes. What excites me is the idea that millions of people may be able to collectively focus their intention on sending their blessing to the waters of this planet. Read more.