I hesitated to write this blog post because I am very aware of the optics. What business does a little American girl like me have in writing about shamanism? I have not gone on any vision quests, I haven’t traveled into the Brazilian rainforest for an ayahuasca ceremony, and I have not been initiated into realms of ancient secrets by any wise old healers.

I have been through trauma that changed the fabric of my reality. In Bowl of Light, the Hawaiian elder Makua says there are 3 ways to achieve transcendence. Sex with someone you love, meditation, and pain and suffering. For some reason, I chose pain and suffering.

But at least I’m in good company. Narcissistic abuse is a very common catalyst for post-traumatic growth. I don’t say this to minimize traumatic experiences, but there are studies that follow transformation through trauma, and they show that growth through suffering is possible in interesting and profound ways. Those who seek to alchemize their pain into learning opportunities show an increased appreciation for life, deeper relationships with others, heightened creativity, spiritual awareness, a sense of purpose, and greater resilience in the face of adversity.

So I can tell you that I have been to hell and back, and that I have alchemized the lessons, and I can also tell you that I read a lot of books (about 52 per year). And the more I read about spirituality, the more I keep reading the same things. There are patterns echoing through the pages.

What Is A Shaman?

Shamanism predates psychology. It is found across different cultures, all over the planet. No matter what race, culture, or religion you are, if you go back far enough, you had ancestors who practiced shamanism. In that sense, I think shamanism belongs to all of us. And I feel very strongly that the western world needs shamanism now more than ever.

So if there are wise old elders out there who are still willing to teach us, then I defer to them. In the meantime, I will teach you what I know to be true.

• Shamans have no fixed dogma or religion, but they believe in a universal web of power

• Their roles include accessing lost knowledge, drawing power from nature, healing, and foretelling

• Shamans are not self-appointed. They are nominated by their community when their gifts become undeniable.

• They use visualization and meditation to work within the spirit realm

• They work with symbols, metaphors, signs, and synchronicities

• They are wise, disciplined, able to suspend judgment, and in control of their emotions

• They travel between varying levels of consciousness and can expertly navigate reality while also venturing outside of it

• They are practical, live balanced lives, and skillfully manage paradox

• They can see deeply into people and use their powers to heal

• They are able to laugh and find humor in the human condition

• They command reverence and respect, while also being detached from their ego and staying humble

Being a shaman means mastering balance. You have to know when to isolate, and when to reach out. When to use intuition, and when to get into your body. When to think, and when to feel. When to plan, and when to let go.

It’s not about summoning waves. It’s about learning to surf. Or maybe it’s a little bit of both.

Shamans Honor Their 3 Souls

To be a shaman you have to learn how to listen to your head, your heart, and your body equally. The mental soul, the feeling soul, and the instinctual soul.

There's a German word that I love called fachidioten… it means fact idiot. Those who believe that reality can be neatly divided into the real and imaginary. At their best, these overly cerebral people can be insightful, yet they also neglect their gut and their hearts for only what can be explained and observed. But when it comes to matters of art, and the soul, the wiser among us know that there are no such neat divisions. (Facts).

Shamans, unlike me, know how to work with these different kinds of people without getting an aneurysm.

There’s also gut people who are all about action. At their best, they’re athletic, coordinated and instinctual. But they are also impulsive, insensitive, and lack foresight.

Heart people are perceptive and inspirational, but can also be irrational and overly sentimental.

Shamans can hone their approach in order to connect to the type of person they’re working with. They have balanced these different personality fragments, and they know how to use their thinking, feeling, and instinctual souls together when making their decisions. If we all aspired to be the same, the world would be a very different place.

Shamans Lose Their Mind To Find Their Senses

Shamans have also learned how to intentionally switch between their left and right brain in order to heal. The right side of the brain is irrational, creative, and intuitive. The left side of the brain is logical, analytical, and focused on achievement.

In western society, we have created a culture that honors the rational mind and neglects the intuitive mind. An entire half of our brain. Does that sounds logical to you?

But trauma lives in the right side of the brain, so when you approach it from the logical left side, you're not connecting to it. This is why the shamanic gifts of visualization, imagination, soul retrieval and journeys into the subconscious can be powerful healing tools, because they work with the illogical right side of the brain where trauma embeds itself.

So if you want to be more shaman, learn to let go of your sanity and lean into your imagination.

Shamans Have Many Jobs

In many cultures, shamans are ordinary people with ordinary jobs within the community. They might even accept their role as healers reluctantly, because it means that they are expected to work two jobs instead of one.

This concept is reassuring to me, because I know so many healers who are stuck in jobs that feel meaningless. It helps to remember that even among the shamans, many of them have two jobs when they’d really prefer to have one.

But even being a shaman alone is many jobs in one. 

They are comedians, storytellers, and performers. They carry the entire history of their culture through myths, songs, chants, and dances.

They are counselors, energy workers, and healers. They use plants, vibrations, visions, and words to soothe sicknesses of the mind and body.

They are shapeshifters and alchemists. They can see past the mask of someone’s false self to their true self underneath. They can transmute fear into faith.

They are rainmakers. They call to the great unknown for answers. They plant seeds of change within our souls. They commune with rocks, animals, and plants to manifest dreams.

They are time travelers. They see the future, change our fortunes, and mend the past.

If you want to work towards healing others too, your first job is to heal yourself. Then go and teach others what you learn. This calling does not require you to quit your day-job.

Shamans Can Play Any Role

Most souls come to earth with a blueprint for the roles they will play, but shamans are all of the roles in one.

They are servers, who seek to provide for the wellbeing of all.
They are artisans, who use creativity to carry their message.
They are warriors, who stand against ridicule for the sake of justice.
They are scholars, who study and preserve the secrets of the universe.
They are sages, who captivate listeners with fables and metaphors.
They are priests, who serve as a bridge between the divine and their fellow humans.
And they are kings, who lead their followers towards a brighter future.

I think we can learn from the shamans by stepping into those bolder roles that ask us to be brave, and to lead, no matter how many times we are misunderstood.

Shamans Take No Shit

Many people care deeply about themselves but neglect others. 

Many care deeply about others but neglect themselves, and this is the trap that many healers fall into.

But shamans have perfected the art of caring about themselves and about others, equally. Because remember that shamans are also kings, and kings never neglect themselves. 

Shamans also only give when there is an even exchange of power. That doesn’t have to mean an exchange of money, but energetically, the exchange needs to be fair and even. Shamans are not martyrs.

These mystics are an enigmatic mix of hippie and hood. They practice peace and love first, but they will defend themselves second, with the full power of other worldly beings behind them. Shamans do not hide from their own darkness, they work with it. They live in the liminal spaces between black and white thinking where they drift in the inextricable gray. They are fierce but kind, powerful but gentle, and patient but not for fools.

If you want to rule like a shaman, practice enforcing your boundaries until they’re unshakeable.

We may not all be destined to be shamans, but we are all spiritual beings having a human experience. The greatest war of our time is one of the spirit, and there is ancestral wisdom deep in our bones calling us to embrace the quest of becoming more fully alive. We don’t need to know how to change the world, because it will be a side effect of remembering who we are. And we all know how to heal. We just need to remember that we know. Awakening is contagious.