A New Path Through Shamanism
By Tasha Blackrose

Shamanism comes in different forms depending on the geographic area or country. The basic principles remain the same: the belief that all things have a spirit or a spirit counterpart in the Underworld or Overworlds. Also common is that shamans enter another state of consciousness, a trance-like state. This state is usually one in which the shaman is at least partially aware of the waking (or real- not spirit) world.

I do not feel one can completely copy or recreate any ceremonies that exist in shamanism, although you can use the overall concepts and meanings to create you own rituals. Besides, not many Native American shamans have allowed ' outsiders', non-Indians, to know all the information about particular ceremonies. Different tribes have different ceremonies which have the same desired effect. The best way to understand these is to read about them.

A shaman is either asked by a verbal request or a preset type of symbol to treat a patient or help in some other way. In today's age it is usually a verbal request. At this point the shaman will visit the person in the evening, when there are less visual distractions. The shaman altering his or her state of consciousness will consult the spirits of the Underworld or Overworld to determine what is needed. When a journey to the Underworld or Overworld (most commonly the former) is taken the shaman learns things from the spirits of animals, plants, water sources, mountains, their power animal etc... Information most commonly sought from the spirits is knowledge of healing, a prophesy, or a vision. The shaman at this point may not continue immediately. There is a task that requires his mundane attention pertaining to the cure or whatever specific mission he is on. Once the shaman has what is necessary he or she will again enter another state of consciousness and journey to the Underworld. During this journey the shaman will attempt to heal the patient, answer the question posed , return a power animal, divine the future, find a lost object or person, or perform other forms of aid to the community.

Restoring a power animal is an important process, for many believe that if a person has lost their power animal (guardian spirit) he or she may fall susceptible to illness or disease. A power animal may stay with a person for any length of time. A person changes and their needs change therefore the power animal will change too, each one helping the person through life. A person may learn which animal they are working with in a number of ways. One of which is observation, if you notice an animal often or for some reason an animal stands out, that might be your power animal. Another method is to dance your animal, alone in a semi-dark room with enough space that you may move freely.

Use a rattle(s) and face each of the four directions and shake the rattle, start with the east. Then shake the rattle down towards Earth Mother and then upwards to the Great Spirit. Begin shaking the rattle(s) and dance around in a circle, meanwhile trying to pick up some feeling of a bird, fish, reptile, or mammal. Once you have this feeling dance as if you were that animal, and cry out if you feel like it, shaking the rattle(s) faster. Stop dancing after a few minutes and welcome the animal into your body. This could be done with someone playing a drum, while you dance the drummer will follow the beat of the rattle(s). You should dance your animal often to keep it with you. The animal you experience may have been a past power animal. Consult a shaman or use your intuition, do not be biased by the thought of working with that animal. Another way is to journey to the underworld and find your animal. This is done in the same manner a shaman may do it.

Using an assistant to drum ( or a drumming tape) to enter a trance-like state. Think of a place where you might enter the earth, a cave, animal burrow, well or underground stream. Visualize yourself entering this place and journeying through a tunnel towards the center of the earth. If your path is obstructed try to maneuver around it, if you can not do this return to the surface and try another entrance. In the tunnel you might encounter a menacing animal or insect, do not try to talk to it, if possible avoid it and continue, otherwise abort your journey. At the end of the tunnel you will see a world like the one your physical body lives. At this point notice your surroundings, it may be the air, water or the ground. Walk, fly or swim around, you will encounter different creatures. It is said if one appears to you from four different angles it is your power animal. At the fourth appearance reach out, gently hug it and hold it over your heart. Now journey back through the tunnel, carrying your animal. This journey can be taken in a sweat lodge guided by a shaman.

The vision quest is a journey of another type. The vision quest is spiritual journey whose objective is a spiritual awakening/revelation that has a profound effect on one's self and view on life. Other names for the vision quest might be the rite of passage or fasting quest.

The sweat lodge is a purification ceremony and also used for journeying to the other worlds. The lodge is a structure made of branches and covered with skins, today perhaps canvas. A fire is built outside the structure. Rocks are heated in the fire and then brought into the lodge. In the lodge the rocks are placed in a pit at the center. Water is poured over the rocks which creates a steam. This steam causes you to sweat out impurities. A shaman may guide a group into the Underworld during a sweat lodge. Other ceremonies using a sweat lodge include marriages, funerals, coming of age for boys and girls, planting and harvest festivals, initiations into medicine societies, lunar occurrences, and brotherhood rites.

I would like to address the tools of shamanism. You need to have tools that will support and guide you. Some of the tools are a pipe, drum and/or rattle, medicine bag and pouches, smudging materials, and a medicine wheel. All of these items can be made- some with more difficulty than the others. Other items include a necklace, staff, wand, mask and shield.

The pipe and drum I suggest you purchase. The drum is usually a one-headed rawhide model, perhaps with a handle and beater. The size is determined by what is comfortable to you, the sound it makes, and possibly the cost. The drum is used to help achieve the trance-like state in which the shaman journeys to the Underworld or Overworld. A rattle may be substituted for a drum depending on need or personal choice. The pipe can be of any length usually between eight inches and three feet. A tobacco mix (one with few additives) is commonly used here. You may choose to add things yourself, but be wary some herbs smell nice when burnt but can be harmful if inhaled. A few suggestions are sage, colt's foot, or cedar (very little as it is harsh tasting). The pipe represents the universe. All the kingdoms ( plant, animal, mineral, spirit, and human) are brought together in it by its component parts. The stem is usually made of wood, the plant kingdom, the bowl is stone (mineral) or bone (animal). Feathers (animal) or beads (mineral) are attached. The human kingdom is represented by you who acknowledges the spirits with its use. The pipe allows the user to find inner peace and send gratitude to the Great Mystery. When tobacco is being put in the pipe bowl a pinch is offered to each of the kingdoms, for Earth Mother, Father Sun, Grandmother Moon, and the Great Spirit. When lit a puff of smoke is offered in each of the four directions, to Earth (down) ,and the Great Spirit (above). Our prayers go out with the smoke.

The rattle's use was mentioned earlier. A rattle can be made with less trouble than the other items. It can be a stick of suitable length, having either stones or shells attached to it. A particular type of wood is not required, you may use whatever type you feel an affinity for. If you prefer you may look up the certain qualities of trees to determine what type is good for you. Also useful are dried bean and other large seed pods. Gourds make wonderful rattles. A rattle may be bought as well the best choices are Central or South American and African models.

The smudging is a purification or cleansing of those people attending and the area of a ceremony. Smudging materials include a smudge pot, bundle of herbs (smudge stick) or incense and a fan. The pot is small enough to be held in one hand, it is usually a shell or made from clay or stone. The incense is most likely sage, cedar, or sweetgrass, or perhaps in stick or cone form. Other natural scents may be used, usually those without a perfume smell. The fan is your hand, a feather (maybe a few attached together), or a wooden fan.

The smoke is fanned over the person who is smudging, upwards towards the head, and then those people attending or participating. The area is then smudged either by fanning in the four directions then down and above or by circling the area fanning the whole time and then down to Earth and above to the Great Spirit.

The medicine bag or bundle is an essential part of the shamans tools. It contains many things that are sacred to the shaman. A medicine bag is customarily made of buckskin (leather), animal furs, or cloth (not synthetic). Perhaps it is decorated with shells, beads, stones, and feathers. It can be a bag or sack you purchase but it must be used for this purpose only. Contained within are medicine pouches and objects that remind the shaman of important instances in his or her life. Objects the shaman finds or is lead to by spirits that are powerful for any number of reasons are also in the bag or bundle. Each of these objects may be used by the shaman to call upon the spirits for assistance and guidance. Each object represents an important moment or a particular spirit of a plant, animal, geographic place, stream, lake, mineral, or even a deceased person or ancestor. Other things in the medicine bundle may be herbs or pipe smoking mixes.

Medicine pouches are made similarly to bags or bundles. The primary difference is each pouch represents a position on the medicine wheel ,power animal, or a particular transformation you wish to achieve. Therefore things that signify the position, animal, or transformation should be placed in the pouch. For example if the transformation you feel you need is to be more attentive to those you love; you would place in the pouch objects that represent this quality such as gem stones, a fetish (a stone, rock or other item that resembles an animal) and herbs. The spirits may guide you to let you know what to place in a pouch, especially if it is a power animal pouch that animal will show you those things which symbolize it.

The medicine wheel is a place to meditate and strengthen your connection with nature. It is also a place where you can mark the times and changes in your life. We all travel the wheel throughout our lives. The twelve moons of the wheel are similar to the zodiac. These moons divide the year, from them we learn about the seasons and all the things associated with that moon.

The medicine wheel is something you must make yourself or with others who you will have in the wheel. It may be large or small. The large version is one in which you can stand in with your friends, usually four to eight feet in diameter but may be larger. A small version would be one kept in your home on an altar or out of sight. (See illustration below). Either way you (perhaps others) need to collect thirty-five rocks or stones and a special one for the Creator (the center of the wheel). Leave an offering of cornmeal or tobacco for each rock collected. For a large wheel the Stones are usually large enough to be distinguished from the surroundings. The center might be a tree, or fire pit; in which case the special rock is not needed. A smudging is done. The center rock is offered to the four directions and placed. A prayer to what the stone represents and an offering are made. The people (or yourself) then proceed in the same manner to place the rest of the stones. The first set is those honoring Earth Mother, Father Sun, Grandmother Moon, and the elemental clans. Movement is always in a clockwise direction. The four Spirit Keepers Buffalo, Eagle, Coyote, and Bear or their counterparts should be placed next beginning with Waboose, in the north. These stones are placed on the circumference of the circle. The three moons of the north are next. The person placing the stone starts at the northern Spirit Keeper. Then the eastern moons are placed, with the person entering at the Spirit Keeper of the east. The southern and western moons are done in a relative manner. The Spirit Path stones (refer to illustration below) starting with number 27 are next. These stones are placed starting with the closest to the center, entering on the left of the northern Spirit Keeper. Facing outward from the center the prayers and offerings are made beginning with the outermost (closest to the Spirit Keeper) stone, then continuing inward and then exit on the right of the Spirit Keeper stone.. The other Spirit Paths are done in a similar manner. A dedication to the wheel is then made and a feast may be held. It is best to make your wheel where it will not be disturbed. Other trees may be used to represent some of the positions. This wheel need not be a permanent structure, it may be dismantled after each ceremony. If you are making the smaller version the same concepts apply, imagine yourself walking around the ground and placing the stones in the large version as you place them in the smaller version. The prayers and offerings should still be made.

It varies from culture to culture that at certain times a woman is prohibited from certain activities. For instance, when a woman is on her moon (menstruating) she does not participate in or hold a ceremony. This is because the power is so strong it can influence the outcome of a ceremony, effect the energy of medicine tools, and is perhaps uncontrollable. She does not prepare food during this time and may live separately from others.

Some have said only those with Native American blood or blood of other shamanistic societies can benefit from these ways. I think this is false so long as you do not go out there to recreate the paths or ceremonies. There are tribes that will accept non-Indians. Many people are discovering the pathways to peace and spirituality by following a shamanistic way. In fact the medical profession has discovered there are lessons to be learned from the shamans, because psychological factors can cause disease. For instance, stress can weaken the immune system allowing illness and disease to enter our bodies with less resistance. The shamans provide the patient with a peace of mind. Those patients who believe they will be cured are more likely to be cured. Today's shamans do allow and even encourage their patients to seek medical attention at a hospital, clinic or doctor's office. The shaman will still treat the patient in the ways he or she has always done. Some hospitals allow shamans to do their work in the hospital.

Shamanism has a number of different ceremonies, some are yearly while others occur when the need or time has arisen. Shamanism is not a religion or belief system it is a way of life. A pathway that leads to inner peace and greater spiritual fulfillment for those who choose to follow. The path is not always easy but neither is life. The spirits will help guide and assist you. Maybe you need a new view of nature and the world around you, if so look into shamanism.