Shamanism: 

Shamanism is above all, a way of living in harmony with nature. It is the most ancient method that permits the use of modified consciousness to find solutions to problems and to heal. The shamans were the first healers and they were spiritual advisors, wise men and visionaries. Ethnologists discovered rock drawings attesting that shamans existed over thirty thousand years ago. Traditional shamanism has survived up till today in regions of America, Africa, Australia, northern Europe and Siberia, which have remained apart from civilisation.  

Today, shamanism has known a revival. More and more people in search of their lost roots, new healing methods or a sense to their lives turn towards the ancient shamanic knowledge. Confronted to isolation and the exaggerated pursuit to succeed among other negative influences, many find through shamanism, a notable link with nature and the universe. It is a comfort, which permits them to live better and to find balance.  

The expression shamanism comes from Siberia, where a person is designated to be a healer and spiritual guide. Their main purpose consists of connecting with the universal energy through meditation or trance known as a shamanic journey. This state of modified consciousness allows contact with the invisible or spirit world, the spiritual essence. Rituals help integrate this energy into reality. The shaman travels into this unknown reality and contacts the spiritual energy that appears in the form of a guide or a spirit of nature. This world is familiar to us through fairy tales or dreams. In order to accomplish a modified consciousness for a shamanic journey, it is generally achieved with the rhythmic beat of a drum. Chants or dance can also bring about this trance state. 

This modified consciousness allows a contact with the invisible, the very essence from the spiritual realm and take from this experience, greater comfort as well as lessons useful in everyday life. The shaman is the one with the ability to ascend and descend the different levels of reality. Meet the entities of a superior world or spirits of the inferior one and bring back lessons, counsels and treatments as well as magical powers. The shaman is the one who is usually in contact with the supernatural through dreams, visions or mediumistic practice. He is usually devoted to healing the sick and often practices priestly functions.  

Shamans from numerous cultures, dreams and visions are more real than reality itself, it is the experience that counts, no matter if they derive from the material world, dreams or visions. To learn to consciously enter the state of dream while awake, offers you infinite possibilities of transformations and discoveries. For a shaman to be chosen by the spirit realm to act as a medium between the spiritual and terrestrial worlds is a gift. The learning process is long and tedious. The apprentice has to surpass fears and control harmoniously these spiritual powers, awaken within, and to transform this energy, that has the ability to heal the soul, and effectively help their community.  

This gift becomes evident from childhood. The shaman is the mediator between the Creator and the tribe. He can communicate with the spirits and through the secret teachings from the ancients, develop abilities whether through the knowledge of plants, the discovery of sacred stones or the magical relation with the totem animals, like the bear or the eagle. He uses these abilities as well as natural medications to drive away the evil spirits from the patients’ body in order to allow healing.  The shaman is also a psychologist and a philosopher. Recovery, as noticed by many healers, depends on the positive attitude and confidence of the patient. The shaman works not only within reserves.  

During the dry season in Nebraska in 1988, farmers asked the medicine man to bring rain. Emphasis is on collectively. Most autochthon healers work only with their own tribes. If they decide to work with non natives, they demand respect of their spiritual beliefs and the opinions of the community. Sweat lodges and other ceremonies that call upon dance or chants are equally used in the tradition of healing. The manner which each ceremony follows varies across North America and amongst different nations or tribes.  

The autochthons healers have many uses for the medicinal plants. The 4 plants that are frequently used are tobacco, cedar, sage and sweet-grass.  These plants serve to purify a person and their environment by burning in a way that their odour fills the air. The goal of the purification is to associate the participant to the plant environment, to create a link between them. By breathing in the smoke of these plants, and is absorbed in the system, the participants become linked to each other. Sage is used to purify a place before a ceremony, sweet-grass eliminates negative thoughts as well as evil spirits, cedar purifies the body and protects against illness, and tobacco is used as an offering to thank the Creator for the numerous gifts, health, food, medicine etc. Often used together in healing ceremonies, each plant is associated to the 4 cardinal points within a medicine wheel.  

Today a shaman is no longer an old person with long white hair walking with a cane. Most shamans today live like other modern man. There are no courses nor colleges or universities that teach shamanism. There are many impostors that say they are shaman. Generally a shaman works with the light however at times have to fight against evil forces. The sorcerer works with both the light and the dark side. The sorcerer can cast good or bad spells, while a shaman is devoted towards good which is based on helping your neighbour and one another.   

To become a shaman is a lifelong path with much sacrifice. The shaman gives the most to a community.