“Shamanism is the global proto-religion, or the proto-belief system if you will. Go far enough back into the history of any region of the world and you’ll eventually find a shaman. Indeed, you’ll find traditional shamans at work even today in places as diverse as Korea (where they’re almost all female), Siberia, Aboriginal Australia, among the surviving native tribes in both North and South America and Canada, and parts of Africa.”
"Because it is not an organized religion as such, but rather a spiritual practice, shamanism cuts across all faiths and creeds, reaching deep levels of ancestral memory. As a primal belief system, which precedes established religion, it has its own symbolism and cosmology, inhabited by beings, gods, and totems, who display similar characteristics although they appear in various forms, depending upon their places of origin."
All of us have shamanic origins. Our shaman-ancestors were community-assigned magico-religious professionals who deliberately alter their consciousness in order to obtain information from the 'spirit world.' They used this knowledge and power to help and to heal members of their community, as well as the community as a whole. They were the first physicians, diagnosticians, psychotherapists, religious functionaries, magicians, performing artists, and storytellers.
Shamanic poems are aplenty. Here is a beautiful sample.
The promise of a shaman (Author unknown)
If you come to me as a victim I will not support you.
But I will have the courage to walk with you through the pain that you are suffering.
I will put you in the fire, I will undress you, and I will sit you on the earth.
I will bathe you with herbs, I will purge you, and you will vomit the rage and the darkness inside you.
I’ll bang your body with good herbs, and I’ll put you to lay in the grass, face up to the sky.
Then I will blow your crown to clean the old memories that make you repeat the same behavior.
I will blow your forehead to scare away the thoughts that cloud your vision.
I will blow your throat to release the knot that won’t let you talk.
I will blow your heart to scare fear so that it goes far away, where it cannot find you.
I will blow your solar plexus to extinguish the fire of the hell you carry inside, and you will know peace.
I will blow with fire your belly to burn the attachments and the love that was not.
I will blow away the lovers that left you, the children that never came.
I will blow your heart to make you warm, to rekindle your desire to feel, create and start again.
I will blow with force your vagina or your penis, to clean the sexual door to your soul.
I will blow away the garbage that you collected trying to love what did not want to be loved.
I will use the broom, and the sponge, and the rag, and safely clean all the bitterness inside you.
I will blow your hands to destroy the ties that prevent you from creating.
I will blow your feet to dust and erase the footprints memories, so you can never return to that bad place.
I will turn your body, so your face will kiss the earth.
I’ll blow your spine from the root to the neck to increase your strength and help you walk upright.
And I will let you rest.
After this, you will cry, and after crying you will sleep,
And you will dream beautiful and meaningful dreams,
and when you wake up I’ll be waiting for you.
I will smile at you, and you will smile back
I will offer you food that you will eat with pleasure, tasting life, and I will thank you.
Because what I’m offering today, was offered to me before when darkness lived within me.
And after I was healed, I felt the darkness leaving, and I cried.
Then we will walk together, and I will show you my garden, and my plants, and I will take you to the fire again.
And will talk together in a single voice with the blessing of the earth.
And we will shout to the forest the desires of your heart.
And the fire will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.
And the mountains will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.
And the rivers will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.
And the wind will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.
And then, we will bow before the fire, and we will call upon all the visible and invisible guardians.
And you will say thank you to all of them.
And you will say thank you to yourself.
And you will say thank you to yourself.
And you will say thank you to yourself.
There is shamanic poetry as above and poetry of shamanic practice as below.
It is well said that “like shamans, poets have visionary experiences which they share with others through their poetry. If a poem is mystical, or even semi-mystical, it resonates with something deep within us. We feel that our souls understand the poet’s vision.”
Read this:
Every word is steeped in mystery.
Every line emerges from the crack
Between the Worlds.
Every stanza bears the blessings of Spirit,
And every verse is layered in meaning.
Come closer, for there is more to tell!
The ink shapeshifts onto the page,
From the confines of cartridge
To carve wisdom onto the bark of the world,
Conjuring memories from the paper
Of the forest, of which once it was a part,
And from which it has never truly left.
The Poet writes from Dream, from Innocence;
Not merely a passive channel,
But as a mischievous herald,
A passionate creator,
A bridge between the Worlds,
Seeking a higher Truth.
Shamans and poets as shamans explore and express the major issues of human life--love, ecstasy, pain, suffering, death, doubt, faith, the afterlife, a Higher Power—by intuitively knowing all aspects and essence of Nature.
REFERENCES
James Endredy. 2018. Advanced Shamanism: The Practice of Conscious Transformation. Bear & Company.
By Annavajhula J.C. Bose, PhD
Department of Economics, SRCC
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