Shamanism, healers, etc

Regenerative Culture Spiritual Technology
#1

Hello,

I am having a bit of confusion regarding the signs I am reviving and the path I am being guided to walk upon. Last September, before I met my girlfriend I began on a journey. One that pointed me directly to her, ans directly towards my new found spirituality. I woke up one day and I followed the voice that told me to become a vegan. I’ve been vegan since August or September of last year. I’ve stopped drinking coffee, left behind old friends, and woken to a new level of consciousness. Although, this is just the beginning. I’ve been through one section of the dark night of the soul. Never before have a felt such disassociatio, depression, vulnerbailtiy. But never before have a felt such love and appreciation for the universe after, a stronger sense of trust.

But, recently, or all along…I have been given these signs and I am just starting to piece them together. Their meaning, my purpose. I have always been a spiritual person, but my spirituality shines a new light on my world.

I feel a pull towards healing a shamanism. But, I can’t assume anything, as I know that these things are sacred.

Here’s some background:
I was born premature (3 months) early my c-section. I weighed 1 lb 12 oz , I believe I flat lined a time when I was born, and a lot of health issues as a child. Up until I was about 13 or 14, maybe younger I had constant health issues, esp upper resp issues. I was always sick, and I constantly fought a new sickness each month mostly colds, flus, etc. I grew up sort of a troubled child, mixing with the wrong people. Then one day, I stopped becoming sick, actually…now I don’t get sick. Ive gone vegan. I don’t eat gluten. And I have transitioned to my authentic self by living as male, although I never identified as female. And I’m evolving daily with those I love.

I have has so many “weird” things happen that I cant keep track, so I have kept a dream journal and spritual journal.

Before my girlfriend and I met, I got into a car accident…with this young man named Gabriel. (That is a story within itself). But recently, I have been uncovering the meaning behind crows ans ravens, which I feel have been following me eveywehere I go. They are constantly flying over head, casing at me. At one point, I was in a park that I took my dog to on the whim…and as I was walking by a crow was cawing at me…maybe 4 feet or less away. And spent the remainder of its time flying over head. I later figured out why it was there, but I keep having events like this happen.

I have been interested in different styles of holistic healing and medicine, but none of them felt right until I realized shamanism. Although, I cannot pick this…without being chosen.

I want to ask if anyone can share their experience about spritual guidance towards healing and Shamanism and what that looked like for them. I haven’t been able to get it off my mind lately,

Thanks,

Noah

#2

I will share a slice of my experiences with shamanism as a calling. I used to have serious hallucinations and all that entailed following some serious brain trauma. Once I was listening to a radio and I heard in the static, “Shamanism is the best path.” Once I heard John 3:16 quoted exactly even though I did not have that scripture (or any other for that matter) memorized.

That is a small segment of what I went through. I think if anyone would have stopped me and somehow pulled me out of whatever random delusional offshoot I was stuck on at the time and asked me what I truly thought was going on I would have probably said “I am having a spiritual awakening sickness” or something to that effect most of the time.

I also thought some really nasty terrible evil thoughts in response to the constant feeling that people were out to get me, nobody cared about anything, and frustrations and confusions I bitterly fostered due to concepts like environmental destruction and overpopulation.

Now I want one simple thing: to know what goodness is and to live as a good person, whatever that entails. The bible says "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” and I get that - we all seem to have violence of some sort buried within us or lingering on the surface like a viper ready to strike, we all seem to have the capacity to do things that are probably not on the side of utterly purified angels – but I want to care, I do want to love, and I do want to do things that help people become who they really want to become.

If I take part in anything involving the spirit world - I want to be on good terms with good spirits and I want to remain open minded and aware. But I do not want to seek out that sort of thing. If I heal anyone I want it to be because I said the right thing that they needed to hear. I want to be sort of like a psychological locksmith and warrior, able to open doors and stand by the afflicted as they free themselves from their own demons. That is how I want to heal. If I find I have some capacity to lay hands on people and heal them or something that effect, heck, I would not squander my gift. Mainly I want to make a difference by speaking and being as good of an example of as good as it gets for us humans as I can muster. I kind of scare myself sometimes, but I think as I gain more life experience and find mentors to do with me the work I want to do with everyone within my sphere of influence I think I will be able to do play in the primordial mud and kick up a little spiritual rocket science. :slight_smile:

If Shamanism is the path anyone wants to take or feels compelled by some external force to take, I support their efforts and I think a lot of other people will too. It almost always sounded kind of cool to me. More dangerous than being a normal therapist or lawyer or doctor… but cool. :slight_smile:

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#3

There is great healthiness with veganism, indeed, when processed foods are avoided too.

#4

Keep on the path and follow your heart and your intuition and your dream time. With patience and perseverence you will find answers to the questions you seek. Don’t hold on to these, but keep moving. Sometimes answers will come in the form of elders or mentors that walk into your life, sometimes it will be signs or symbols, other times it will be newly found understandings or visions.

I will suggest not to let it get to your head, and stay humble. Being a shaman (I avoid that word anyhow) is not actually glamorous by any means, although the New Age community has done a good job trying to glorify it. Is it a pretty tough and often lonely path accompanied by pains and hardships and sacrifice. If you follow your ego it will lead you right off the path. But by learning to find peace and equanimity you start to take on an attractive quality that will pull close to you those who need healing as well as those who heal.

In the end, no one can tell you who you are, only You can sing your true name to the Spirit that breathed you into existence. Be graceful, compassionate, and remember that this life is only temporary and you’re really a part of something much larger, so don’t get attached to the little details of your earthly life.

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#6

Overwhelmingly convincing studies show that the healthiest way to eat is with whole food, avoiding all processed foods, which is all plant-based, it avoids and may reverse a number of diseases, and doesn’t contribute to diseases. I can show what is needed for that. It is not difficult with sticking to it if there is commitment to that, and enjoyable food to do that can be found. So veganism found that isn’t healthy isn’t doing that. I encourage finding out that this can work for you. Certainly it should be your choice what you will do.

#7

I made a quick mock up of an advance algorithm that might be of some service here. The whole thing is very complicated, but I’ve tried to make it user friendly.

Q: Am I actually a shaman?
Did you grow up in a culture with its own shamans:
YES --> Congratulations, because you probably don’t need to ask the internet.
NO —> No.

Shamanism isn’t some universal thing. This isn’t something you were born to be. A healer? That can be different, but a shaman is a cultural construct and it exists within those cultures which, most likely, are not yours. But a healer has knowledge and experience that is applied and applicable. It’s not just an attitude nor a job you sign up for.
What you have is a lust for purpose, which a shaman loophole, ayahuasca, sweat lodge, epeme, peyote, eco-tourism, pow-wow attendance, and the internet will not give you.

Here’s the thing: rewilding means tearing apart the domestication process within yourself. When you start waking up to the complexity of the world, you might come up for air too quickly and get a psychological form of the bends. Symptoms include feelings of godliness, undo purpose and meaning, thinking that you have achieved enlightenment, a social media following, possibly an Etsy shop, and you might find yourself starting to make a Vlog, blog, or taking money for seminars to Share Your Journey. This is called a Guru complex and if you don’t stop it early on it can be infectious. You will find you start getting followers and losing friends or grounding very quickly.
If you start thinking you’re special, you’re missing the most important aspects of rewilding: you are neither special nor unique. Good news is that none of us are. Rewilding should include undoing the sense of artificial superiority we have granted ourselves and finding that our place within the world is meaning in and of itself. More to the point, it should become clearer what impediments lie between finding that place and our current domesticated existence.

So, here’s my advice: stop worrying about shamanism. Period. End stop. Start scavenging some carcasses, because veganism helps no one, and then work towards hunting and gathering some humility. It’s okay to be angry, the world is fucked up. It’s not okay to think you’re the Shining Light in the Darkness that was Chosen to save it.

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#8

I am a shaman.
It is not an easy path. Abstinence from drugs and alcohol have been necessary. Research, more research, prayer, meditation, fasting, solitude, countless hours in the woods, mortification of the flesh, celibacy, keeping awake, extremes of heat and cold…all these and more have been necessary. And the culture I live in does not value what I do. I am viewed as crazy by many of the people I encounter. I have learned to keep my practices secret to avoid problems. I will continue because it is the only path that I can stand.
I would tell anyone - if you can find some other way, take it.

#9

wow. thanks for tackling this. :+1:

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#10

K. T. this bit about only growing up in a culture of shamans will produce shamans does not compute with me. For a few reasons. There must have been a first shaman who did not grow up in a culture with shamans. Also, there are still spirits out there to communicate with… it’s not like they shut up just because you have no shamans in your community.

To me this is like saying you can only have brown eyes if your mother or father has brown eyes or you cannot have out of body experiences even if your grandfather or grandmother had out of body experiences because your parents didn’t.

#11

A shaman is a specialist and not a universal of all cultures. Healers, on the other hand, are universal. All of those experiences are available to anyone in a culture and only once shamans arise as a culture phenomena do those experiences start to become selective.
So no, it’s not like saying any of those things, it’s just saying that you’re not the specialist of a culture to which you do not belong because you have a similar experience. Not that you didn’t have those experiences, but that you might think you’d be a great doctor, but that doesn’t mean you have an MD.

#13

I see what you’re saying but I am not on board with your theory. Shamanism is about building a certain sort of STRONG and WARM relationships with a certain community (spirits), and not everyone does that on that lofty of a level, but that does not mean you cannot relate and build those relationships without the equivalent of specialist credentials being bestowed by a certain group with a history of such types. To me that’s like saying I cannot email or make a phone call just because I wasn’t raised with telephones and computers or I cannot make a fortune 500 company just because I was born poor. The web of relationships is available to anyone somehow drawn into the capability for such a lifestyle. There could possibly be one shaman in the world at a time… it’s not like you absolutely need other shamans to pass down the gift or make it an official gift.