All About Shamanism and Other Terms

I am realizing that recently I have had opportunity to work with some who have not previously been familiar with me or my work. I thought I would take this opportunity to explain a few terms that some might be unfamiliar with.

What is shamanism and how did I become involved in it?

Several years ago I was basically running away from Spirit. I had been raised in a religious environment which worked for me until about the age of thirty five. At that time I was regularly in contact with my Guides, but in that particular religious belief system I called the voice I was hearing the gift of prophecy, described in the Bible. The more I connected with Spirit, the more the messages I was hearing began to get me into "trouble" with my belief system. I eventually left the belief system, and assumed that I was now on the Holy Spirit's "black list."

Fast forward several years later. I had gone through a divorce and a remarriage. My new husband began to become interested in the paranormal, and we went to a "circle" facilitated by a very talented medium. She gave a message that someone in our family was in need of a "soul retrieival" which could be performed by a shaman. I had no idea what shamanism was, so I began to research and read books. While reading these books, I began to realize that it felt familiar to me, as if I had done it before, at some time, which in this lifetime could not have been possible. In the area where I live, I could not find a shaman or anyone to teach me, so I just taught myself to "journey" and began to practice on friends and family. Eventually I did find a wonderful teacher who not only taught me things that cannot be learned from a book, but also helped me to realize that this was indeed something that came naturally to me. My former upbringing in Christianity which had introduced me to hearing messages from Spirit actually helped me in this new belief system, and I found that the messages were coming from the same place inside, and the Guidance felt familiar to me. I learned that my Guides had always been with me, teaching me directly, and weren't so concerned as we humans are with labels, such as this belief system or that one. Shamanism is a belief system related to indigenous cultures, who were very connected with the earth, but they also had a working knowledge of the Higher Power, which Christianity calls God, and other religions call by various names. As I continued to connect with Spirit, I was told that I had in previous lifetimes been in many different religious belief systems, and in this lifetime I would begin to bring various belief systems together, and help us all to realize that there is no distinction in the Spirit world, but only in our own minds. I use the term shamanic practitioner, but my individual style is to connect with Spirit and just wait and see who shows up. Sometimes I will connect with an Egyptian Goddess, or sometimes a Hindu God (my favorite being the Ganesha). I also really enjoy connecting with the Buddha.  Sometimes in my meditations they will all be sitting in a semicircle together, and I will be sitting in front of them, feeling their individual energies but knowing that they are all loving and kind Masters, whose purpose is to bring us all closer to a Higher way of being.

When I work with individual clients, I usually like to get connected and then just wait to see who shows up. The practice of shamanism has enhanced my Spiritual path immensely, allowing me to easily travel between the worlds, and while on my travels into the nonphysical realms, I very often come into contact with Guides, Angels, Gods and Goddesses with whom I must have had previous lifetime connections with, since they feel so familiar to me and communication with them comes to me so naturally. No I don't call myself a shaman, since I am not connected with any particular tribe and I have not spent years training with an elder. My connections with Spirit are in the form of shamanism, but could easily also be termed something completely different. Shamanism to me is just a term just like some may call themselves Baptist or Catholic or Hindu or Buddhist. But we are all connected to the same source and the inspiration comes from the same place inside of us, the place where we are connected.

Am I  a medium? Just what is a medium anyway?

Yes, sometimes I can connect with your child or parent or loved one who has passed. I did not start out to go in this direction, but it kind of came with the territory, and it seemed to be what people wanted. The first time someone came to me for a reading but what they really wanted for me to do was connect with their dead son, I was a little intimidated, but the son did come through and let his mom know that he was okay. I am still developing my skill in this area. I have found while on spirit investigations with my husband, that I have connected with souls that for some reason are connected with locations. Some I was able to help find resolution to whatever issues had them connected (some say "stuck") to a location.

I have since learned that a medium is not just someone who connects with humans that have passed. A medium is someone who receives direct communication from those who are not in human form. This could be your passed loved one, but it also includes Angels and Guides, which I have had a lot more experience connecting with. In this particular definition of medium, yes, I could call myself that.

In my next blog I will explore what is a "soul retrieval," what is a "shamanic journey", how to know if something is "good" or "bad", and what can you expect from an individual session?

I hope this has served to explain a few things with which you may have been unfamiliar. Knowledge is our best teacher.