existence: Shamanism

A shaman is a person who is typically thought to have the ability to heal the sick, to communicate with the otherworld, and often to escort the souls of the dead to that otherworld. Shamanism has evolved through many cultures and some form of it apparently goes back to the early human cultures.

The word shaman originated among the Siberian Tungus (Evenks) and literally means "he (or she) who knows. The Evenki language is still spoken by Evenks in sparsely populated areas of Russia, Mongolia, and China.

The shaman usually had exceptional functions in traditional societies, including the leadership of the tribe, the development and direction of the rituals, the healing, and the knowledge of plants, herbal remedies, the advice and education. These roles are often combined. They often live away from villages, in a quiet and secluded place.

The actual techniques and methods of the shaman are so unique that there is no way to standardize a comparison. The abilities of shamans are supposed to be: extra sensory perceptions, psychic powers that vary according to the traditions and individuality of the shaman (telepathy, prescience, vision at great distances, etc). And it can connect the underworld, the afterlife, that of living through a series of personal transformations and unusual thought forms, and awareness of hidden energies.

Shamanism is apparently the oldest mystical tradition. It has a perception of the world that is now called holistic methods of healing based on the human body by using the Human Energy Field and & Universal Energy Field which among others includes the Chakra and Meridian systems. In this perspective of our body, mind spirit and soul, each of these modalities is integrated in Energy Medicine.

Shamen were not "normal" people. The use of what we now call "the clairs," clairvoyance, clairsentience, clairaudience, clair cognizance are today likely to be thought of as psychological aberrations to be medicated into oblivion with psychotropic medications .

There are those who have the psychic gifts and those who know that there is only one mind, and it is the mind of all things, the mind of the universe. We humans seem to individuate like so many drops of water to be lifted into the clouds by the light energy of the sun, only to fall as rain back to the mother sea.

The New Physics and the New Biology tell us, or remind us that all is one. But the demons of self doubt trap us again and again. The five hundred year old Science Myth binds with its darkness that says only what can be weighed or measured or quantified can be real.

Curious that the invisible corona pandemic brings us to a halt, forcing us to look down the throat of this dark demon that has been killing the forests, polluting the air and the sea, and cursing us with deadly diseases of the heart and making our flesh cancerous.

In the last century we murdered 200 million people in wars and cursed the survivors with PTSD that takes the lives of veterans in even greater numbers than the actual military operations. And we allow the hedious demon of the military industrial complex to devour almost half of the Federal budget, with little or no accountability. This demon is very real and threatens all life on this planet.

As it becomes ever more clear that our present social and economic structures are unsustainable. Many people are earnestly searching for answers -- for a new way. But one of the oldest belief systems is seeing a huge resurgence. Shamanism is at least tens of thousands of years old. It is a way to connect to nature in ways that most do not

Antique communities often depended on the shamans to protect and to mediate in assuring their well being. By monitoring the fertility of the land, the growth of the crops, the abundance of game and various aspects of the weather, especially the rain fall, they served the community. For example, in many Central and South African nations, kings and queens have been shamans who were expected to perform such magical feats as rain making and transformation into totem animals. Imposters were put to the test, and severely punished if they were unable to perform. So long before there were any scientists, doctors, or priests, shamen were usually expected to assume these and other roles in society, often had considerable responsibilities of leadership.

Originally shamanism was a way of relating to the invisible forces of nature, the weather, changing seasons, night and day, the sun, moon and stars - and emotional issues such as coming into being and passing away. But eventually shamanism came to be a pawn of religion and politics. And more recently shamanism has been hijacked again, this time by the drug culture, and used as an excuse for excesses of that nature. But in spite of all this, shamanism may well be a viable approach to dealing with some of our current problems.

People who were involved with drug use in the 60’s also began looking to religious ceremonies of Native Americans where peyote and mescaline were used. There are also references of marijuana use for spiritual and medicinal purposes in ancient texts, and books of Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, and Carlos Castaneda (his 12 books have sold more than 28 million copies). To these men getting high on drugs supposedly meant opening the doors of perception to a higher reality.

They helped to define a new psychological landscape, but for many people it led to tragic drug addictions. Dangerous mind-affecting drugs may actually deepen a state of spiritual poverty and a lack of meaning in life. For many people the flower-power promise of self-centered, drug-obsessed anti-heroes has been a very real disaster. If someone claiming to be a shaman offers to sell you illicit drugs, they are probably a trickster or worse. So the more there is talk of drugs or money, the more caution you should apply.

Altered states of consciousness achieved by the use of hallucinogens is literally playing with your sanity, and in doing so, you just may lose it.

Shamanism is a term that covers a wide assortment of beliefs and practices, generally for the purpose of enlightenment and healing. Mystical and/or visionary states are sometimes employed by using various techniques, sometimes unseen, such as breath control, fasting, meditation, drumming, yogic practices, and medicinal plants. Even under the guidance of an accomplished teacher these skills usually develop over time. A bit like learning to walk for the first time, it takes practice but for some, is well worth the effort.

Shamanism claims the ability to travel to a pathway between heaven and earth (which in religion is known as the axis mundi). As in the Garden of Eden, since Creation there has been the spiritual battle between dark and light, good and evil. Enoch the patriarch of the Bible speaks of the language of light as waveform geometries of harmonic resonance that mimic the properties of light. The Enochian knowledge describes sonic equations, encoded within the ancient mantras and god names, capable of directly affecting the nervous system and producing profound effects of healing and higher consciousness states.

The Divine Light and Kingdom of Light references can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Nag Hammadi, the Pistis Sophia and various other Egyptian, Persian and Syrian writings. The returning to the light from which we came, this merging of the light within ourselves with the Divine, is what the great Eastern Orthodox mystics called, Theosis, others call it Christ Consciousness, Nirvana, Bliss, Oneness, and Enlightenment.

Animism is the worldview that non-human entities, such as animals, plants, and inanimate objects, possess a spiritual essence.

Shamanism has long asserted that the act of entering certain states of consciousness has the ability to affect the objective world around us. During the mid-20th century, advancements in theoretical physics led to a new view of reality among quantum physicists that resembles the shamanistic world view in fundamental ways.

Modern Shamanism unearths age old body-mind techniques, bringing them back to the forefront of modern healing
practices through a lens filtered from training in a variety of physical sciences, such as biology, neuroscience, bioengineering, and psychology. In this way, shamanism becomes a unifying agent between the opposite ends of the spectrum - science and spirituality, creating and strengthening the link between these two fields.

It shares the benefits of neuroscience and ancient techniques of self-help, personal growth and transformation, and healing. Its purpose is to transcend the dullness and disenchantment which has become endemic to modern living and replace it with a renewed and authentic sense of wonder and enthusiasm, and restore our sense of meaning and purpose in life.

Joseph Campbell said we live in a time without an adequate mythology suitable to live by. Whether we're aware of it or not, we long for wisdom and love, and knowledge of what seems to exist just beyond what we know as our reality. This other universe is commonly called non-ordinary reality and it is natural for humans to have questions about the forces of nature, the meaning of life, purpose, self, identity, death, and knowledge of the divine.

Once every people in the world believed that the sun and moon were divine. We want to know about ancient myths about creation, and the elements of water, fire, earth, and air, as well as plants and animals and the wisdom of the ancestors.

There are not very many actual shamans but some of us can practice some of their abilities such as developing your intuition, and learning yogic practices. Russell Targ teaches Remote Viewing. Jeffery Mishlove hosts a whole series of interviews with mind-over-matter experts and parapsychology. Other people teach Reiki and other healing techniques. Jesse & Jeane Stern and many others teach meditation and stress reduction techniques. Also Energy Healing Techniques are available.

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