So You Wanna Be a Shaman

7/23/2019 So You Wanna Be a Shaman

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Joseph Bearwalker passed away 4th August 2004. This is an article I got from one of his

websites years ago and can no longer find up on the web. I found it very informative and so put it up here in the hope others will also benefit from reading it.

“So you wanna be a Shaman?”

By Joseph Bearwalker Wilson

Part One: Shamanism in Today's Society

Since the dawn of man's existence on the planet, there have been cultures all over the worldwhich have the worldview that all life is sacred, that the earth and sky and water andcomponents of nature are worthy of honor and respect and are guides to Spirit. Such cultureshave also been referred to as "primitive" or "native" by urban dwellers. Today, many peoplein so-called civilized cultures are being drawn themselves to such "primitive" worldviews,

ones that are more in tune than the modern world usually is with nature and the cycles ofnature, ones that reaffirm the sacredness of the Land and the Planet. Such worldviews oftenhonor the Earth Mother and the Sky Father, recognize the life and energy and spirit of allthings, and may even become religious paths for city-dwellers whose culture has notheretofore recognized their connection to the land. Much of this trend began along with the beginnings of the Pagan/Wiccan movement, of which I was one of the first resources, in theearly 1960's. Since then the popularity of what are often referred to as "earth-based" religionsand philosophies among city folks has exploded onto a force that has actually changed theface of the world of religion on the planet.

Over the last 30 or more years of my experience in teaching and observing a nature-orientedspirituality for urban dwellers, I have noticed a linguistic phenomenon that universally seemsto accompany this quest for spiritual meaning. I have watched people try, then discard, thenchange, and subsequently again discard, title after name after appellation to describe theirnew-found walk of spirit. In the early days many such folk proudly wore the sobriquet"Witch" like a banner, reclaiming with force, and sometimes aggressiveness, a word that had been demeaned for centuries by most other "civilized" people.

Over the last ten or fifteen years, however, the words "Witch" and "Pagan" have beendiscarded by many sincere followers of earth-based religions, for several reasons. Manymainstream people still have negative knee-jerk reactions to those words, failing to see pastthem to the real beliefs or practices so described, so some practitioners have decided that the

game is more important than the name. Oftentimes, however, the alternate term adopted when

such folks discard the label of "Witch" or "Pagan" is even more misleading and causes themeven more difficulty.

As a substitute, particularly during the 1980's, the word "Wiccan" was adopted by a wide

cross-section of earth-based practitioners. Unfortunately, at this point there were furthernegative reactions that arose, not only from puzzled 'muggles' (thanks to JK Rowling for agreat term!) but from practitioners of most traditional varieties of Wicca. "Wiccan" is not,according to its founders and followers, a generic term for earth-based spiritual practices.Indeed, it is a Mystery Tradition, and those who belong thereto are as angered by its

misappropriation by the uninitiated as are Native Elders when white people purport to teachauthentic tribal religions. The end result of ten or so years of uninformed and untrained

people calling themselves "Wiccan," as a perceived-to-be-safer alternative to "Witch" or

"Pagan," is that the world outside the Craft has a much less accurate and much weaker



perception of what earth-based spirituality is, and no concept at all of what Wicca actually is.So, another discard, another change. To what?

In the 1990's there was a great resurgence of interest in the so-called "holistic" practices ofmind-body-spirit interaction in the areas of healing and spirituality, as well as interest inexploration of the inner realms of the psyche by means of meditation, "trance journeying" andother such practices. Due to the widespread misunderstanding (and lack of actual application)

of the works of Michael Harner and other writers on techniques and experiences of "coreshamanism", this word became, in the mid-1990's, the next new "catch-all" generic term forearth-based spirit practices. Some few of those misapplying this term have actually read, buthave misunderstood, the works of Harner, Sun Bear, Eliade and others. The vast majority ofsuch people have never read the works at all, or have merely read critiques or synopses

thereof, but are latching on to this next "new-agey" term as the latest in the basket of "things Ican call myself that will not absolutely horrify my parents. " A good proportion of those people, especially the younger ones, who are currently calling any earth-based religion"shamanism" and every earth-based practitioner a "shaman" are also activated by the childish"Gee, this sounds cool!" attitude. Since very few residents of Caucasian urban cultures have

even a vague idea of what a shaman actually is, this term is far less threatening than "Witch"or "Pagan," and has therefore grown exponentially, in both popularity and misapplication, in

the last ten years.

The very concept of a "religion" that is only practiced in special buildings at certaininfrequent intervals, especially the idea of a "religion" that has little or nothing to do with thenecessary activities of everyday life, is absolutely alien to the kinds of cultures in which one

finds authentic shamans. Most cultures in which shamanism is practiced by a specialist do noteven have a "name" for their religion. These cultures live in ways which do not artificiallyseparate them from dependence upon the Earth. They do not see the afterlife as a "better place" than the place they live here, but as an extension of it. People living in these culturessee the shaman as a technical specialist in the kinds of activities they must perform in order to

interact with Deity for the purpose of securing and keeping for themselves the basicnecessities of existence. They do not "go to church" or perform unnecessary and formalistic

activities created by a "church." They simply follow the customs of their village, the customstaught to them by their parents, customs followed for decades or even centuries by their auntsand uncles, their grandmothers and grandfathers. There are activities in such cultures which

everyday people without special training are simply incapable of doing for themselves, andfor these they consult the shaman, the authorized "technician of the sacred." Yet these

activities often have little or nothing to do with anything Westerners would recognize oridentify as "religion."

Despite the fact that there now seems to be a trend to label the common religion of the peoplein indigenous cultures "shamanism," this is a fallacy that could only be created and believed

by people outside such a culture. It ignores the fact that every person in that culture is not a"technician of the sacred" and therefore relegates the role and definition of the shaman to one

similar to that of a nondenominational urban lay minister. A similar fallacy is the tendency ofWesterners today to project some kind of "aura" around a shaman, assuming that he or she issome embodiment of peace and serenity, living totally in harmony with Spirit, doing good for

everyone, (of course, for free), and naturally being a wonderful magical healer. . Nothingcould be further from the truth. The promulgation of such beliefs amongst Western cultures,

as well as the cultural anthropologists' tendency to assert them as facts, is making manyWesterners the laughing stock of real shamanic practitioners throughout the world. In the preface to Shaman : An Illustrated Guide by anthropologist Piers Vitebsky is a quote that Ifind highly amusing, as well as highly reflective of authentic shamanistic reality.



"A shaman from Nepal met a Westerner who remarked how good it must be to live inharmony with the cosmos. The shaman replied, 'The main part of my job is killing witchesand sorcerers.'"

It is clear from this description, given by an actual shamanic practitioner, that shamanism haslittle or nothing to do with the aery-faery, "do no harm" New-Ageism of many of the peoplewho are now claiming that title for themselves or bestowing it upon others. So, what exactly

is shamanism, and how is it defined and practiced by its actual adherents?

Perhaps it would be a good beginning to elucidate what shamanism is NOT. To begin with,one common misconception must be eradicated. There is NO religion called "shamanism",any more than there is a religion called Lawyerism, or Physicianism, or Farmerism. No other

vocation is in itself a religion, (with the possible, albeit humorously intended, exceptions ofScience -ism and ComputerGeek -ism.) And shamanism is indeed a vocation. The title"shaman" is applied to a "technician of the sacred, " a specialist in shamanic practices whodoes that job in their own culture for the benefit of those who live within it. Although many ofthe practices of the shaman intersect with the ideas commonly associated with religion in the

Western mind, including such topics as communion with the dead, salvation from various"supernatural" types of "evil" and healings that might be termed "miraculous", shamanism is a

Profession, not a Religion.

If you feel you are called to a shaman's work, the path will be exceedingly difficult if you area member of an urban Western culture. Modern Westernized urban society is not set up insuch a way that we still have cultures or subcultures in which shamanism is recognized and

practiced. To begin with, the shaman works in a homogeneous culture. Western urban culturehas become diversified to an extent that most people do not even understand the concept ofcultural icons, let alone honor these in their everyday lives. If you are an aspiring shaman, youmay find it difficult to discover a culture or subculture in which your skills may flourish oreven be recognized. The shaman's work arises organically from his or her culture, and

American modern culture is, of all things, innately inorganic. Therefore, we must clarify one point at the outset. What we in Toteg Tribe are doing is NOT training shamans. It appears that

what we, along with Michael Harner, Sandra Ingerman, and several others (including portionsof the general Neo-Pagan movement, I suppose), ARE doing, is preparing society so that infuture generations it really can accept certain individuals in the role of a true "shaman."

Part Two: What Is A Shaman?

I was beginning this section by discussing the "call" to become a shaman. But I realized as Iwas doing so that it is vital to identify the MEANING of the word shaman first. It is themisapplication and misidentification of the word "shaman" that has led to much of the current

state of confusion. This section of these writings hopes to alleviate some of that confusion.

I do want to clarify one thing before we go on. Toteg Tribe uses the words "shaman" and"shamanism" in a classical sense. This is not the "Toteg definition," as it would be if wearbitrarily chose it to be. It is instead, and significantly, the definition accepted by historical

and anthropological scientists and academics to identify a particular type of spiritual practitioner found in different cultures all over the world. It has a precise meaning, not one

couched in the current collection of vague generalities. There are certain specificcharacteristics that identify a shaman that other spiritual practitioners do not have. I'll get intothose later. This doesn't make a shaman any better or any worse than any of the other spiritual practitioners that exist. It merely classifies him or her.

In any indigenous culture, even in modern American culture, there are many different kindsof spiritual vocations. All of them have their own validity and their own honor. Not one of



these vocations can be fully understood by persons who neither practice it themselves noravail themselves of the services of those who do. Even though there are frauds in each one ofthem, each of the vocations itself is deserving of respect. Each of the practitioners of any ofthese various areas of spiritual work is just as important in his or her field as is any other practitioner, including the shaman. The various classifications of spiritual workers are manyand varied. They include people called to practice such vocations as those of the priest,minister, psychic healer, midwife or doctor, medicine man, diviner, spiritual teacher,

visionary, dream interpreter, "psychic", sorcerer, magician, and many another magic worker.You may practice any, or many, of these vocations yourself, and the list above is certainlyintended to be neither complete nor exclusionary. But no matter what your particular vocationof spirit may be, and no matter what term you may choose to use to identify yourself, please bear with me and don't use the word "shaman" just yet.

Since the mid to late 90s when the word "shaman" became the new catch-all term for spiritualworker, most frequently in the current fad of all things "newage" (rhymes with "sewage") itseems to have no particular definition of its own, or to share indiscriminately in all of them.I've seen it applied in all seriousness, at random if not completely haphazardly, to each one of

the practices mentioned in the above paragraph, as well as to countless others not somentioned. That's really sad, because the result is that the uninformed public has taken a

perfectly good word with a precise meaning and broadened its definition so much that incommon usage it has become about as useful a term as "nice" or "stuff."' Of course, there isnow a raft of publishers of the same kinds of "newage" books, who have recently found in theword "shaman" as "kewl" a buzzword as once was "astral travel" or "past-life regression." Inthe expected fashion of people in the business of sales, they have discovered that by attaching

that word to an otherwise slow-selling book, one finds that its sales suddenly explode,especially if one can also find an unscrupulous author-lecturer who is willing to do the lecturecircuit in a thousand dollars worth of beads and animal parts, sharing "awe-thentic shamanicvisions". That most certainly has added to the confusion, but that is not the worst of it. It hascaused the actual persons who are indeed shamans and have that spiritual skill to offer, to be

regarded in nearly all Western cultures with a mix of contempt and condescension, asinaccurate as it is disrespectful.

That is significantly unfortunate, as the work of the shaman is a task requiring such dedicationand skill that in those cultures where shamanism is an accepted spiritual vocation, the shaman

is regarded with an awe and respect bordering on fear. It is not surprising, when one realizesexactly what authentic shamanistic work embraces and requires. A shaman's job is to perform

magical acts such as spiritual healing, divination, dream interpretation, and other arcana. Theshaman may be skilled at finding lost people or objects, locating animals for the hunt, guidingsouls of the dead to their appropriate place in the other worlds, driving away or pacifying evilspirits, increasing the fertility and/or sexual vigor in the herds, community, and individuals,and so forth. At first glance, even these kinds of activities may not convey to Western minds

the delicacy and precision with which the shaman’s path must be performed, or the deeprespect with which the shamanic practitioner is regarded, After all, many of these are the

same things that various other kinds of spiritual people do in the different societies andcultures. There is, however, a big difference in the skills of the shaman, one that makes ashaman different from every other kind of spiritual practitioner.

A true "shaman" does at least part of the work required of him or her by entering into a

profound trance, known as an "ecstasy", in which the shaman actually ventures to "walk between the worlds", there gaining the knowledge or information that is required to performthe given task. The word "ecstasy" as used in this context is a precise and scientific term, notthe synonym for the word used in romance novels, the one that means "joy or happiness" inany sense at all. The word "ecstasy" as applied to shamanic practices is identically defined as

was the original Greek word "ekstasis" literally meaning "to stand outside the self." It denotesthat state of almost cataleptic entrancement in which the shaman is oblivious to the outside



world, leaving his or her body as a spirit, and having direct contact with the spirits that arecausing the troubles, or that can aid in solving the problem. This state of ecstasy (not gettingstoned on various "power plants") is the one characteristic unique and universal to authenticshamanism. Attaining this state is not done by those who are performing "pseudoism" ratherthan "shamanism", and without it, there is no shamanism happening at all. It is the single prominent identifying factor of the classical shaman. Now, if that is the experience you havein doing your spiritual work, you may have some justification to go ahead and use the word

shaman (after finishing this essay.) If this is not a state with which you are personally familiar,I suggest you 1) read on, and 2) call yourself something else.

Part Three: The Call To Become A Shaman

The "call" to become a Shaman is very unlike the "call" that many practitioners of Paganreligions have felt, the call to leave their old religion and go searching elsewhere. Almostuniversally, that particular call makes the seeker feel as if, when they finally encounter thechosen "right" path for them, they have "come home" on some deep level. The "call" to be a

Shaman feels a lot more like getting kicked off a tall building than it does like arriving safelyhome. I actually refer to the call to become a shaman as a "curse", because, unlike the very

strong call many of us have to come "home" to our particular religion or philosophy, or thevery strong call that many of us have to become initiated "priestesses and priests", the initialstages of the call to become a shaman are truly life threatening, and refusal to accept that callcan result in very real death.

The initial stages of the call to shamanic work can seem as if the Gods have truly abandonedone. It is the real-life equivalent of the "ordeal" that is a feature in Initiations to manytraditional paths of Witchcraft or other forms of the Old Religion. It is usually accompanied by a traumatic, life-threatening, life-changing experience, one that at first makes the recipientdespair of survival, if they are even conscious during the ordeal. If conscious, it is usually a

feature of the experience that the potential shaman survives largely through his or her ownefforts, against all odds and to the astonishment of those standing around the bedside or other

crisis venue. If the shaman appears to lose consciousness or even appears to die, what usuallyis said to happen is that survival is achieved by the direct intervention of the spirits. Thisexperience may consist of one or more of the following possibilities.

Being struck by lightning and surviving

Surviving a "fatal" traffic accidentSuffering a severe physical illness and recovering.Suffering severe emotional or mental illness and recoveringRecovering from an "irreversible" comaSuffering from severe drug addiction or alcoholism and recovering

Surviving serious suicide attempts without outside interventionHaving a near death experience such as those on an operating table

Surviving an attempt at being murderedAnd so forth.

There are probably many more than these. Whatever happens, it is always an extremely closeand unmistakable brush with death. Whatever the unique circumstances, the survivor of such

an experience is changed forever by the first "walk between the worlds." He or she isthenceforth subject to interaction with other realms of existence whether that interaction isactively sought after, or actively avoided. The door is opened, and can subsequently never beclosed.

Having such a near-death experience is not an indicator by itself. Either preceding orfollowing this event (but often preceding it even from childhood) there are further signs that



are usually unmistakable indicators of the call to shamanism. These signs often include suchthings as being subject to falling into trances, either light and day-dreamy, or deep and profound, and in those trances communicating with their own ancestor spirits, and otherspirits, who may torment them until they follow the callhaving dreams or visions in which their own ancestors or other spirits tell them they arechosen to be a shaman having lucid dreams or visions in which spirits kill them, remove theirflesh, internal organs, and so forth, sometimes devour them, and then replace those things

with divine or magical flesh, innards, and so forth and bring them back to life having dreamsor visions in which they are visited by a "spirit husband or wife" who has intimate relationswith them, teaches them, gives them helping spirits of certain kinds, and so forth. Often this"spirit husband or wife" will threaten to kill the potential shaman unless he or her accepts boththem and the call to shamanize.

"waking dreams" in which the person loses consciousness for moments, as in petit malepilepsy, and when returning to consciousness speaks in other languages unknown to the person. In these instances, the shaman-to-be may appear to be babbling gibberish, but is nottalking nonsense but actually saying things that make sense if the language is translated.

However the call manifests itself, the experiences seem to escalate over time until the person

may appear to him or her self, as well as to others, to be actually losing their mind if the callis ignored. Only if a direct acceptance of the "kick" to become a shaman is conveyed to thespirits will the manifestations be likely to cease or come under the shaman's control. If, on theother hand, the person so afflicted continues to resist the push, the worst can and does ensuein time. A person usually cannot refuse the call to the shaman's vocation without becoming

seriously physically or mentally ill, or even dying. So, what happens if a person is "called"and chooses to respond affirmatively? How, then, does the process of actually BECOMING ashaman take place? Let's talk about the spiritual initiation of the shaman, and how it differsfrom other such initiatory experiences.

Part Four: Elements of Initiation

As I mentioned in an earlier section of this essay, there are many different kinds of "spiritualworkers" and many diverse sorts of people who experience these callings. They are all

equally important and equally valuable, and each of them may include some sort ofexperience that can be described as "initiatory". In this series I'm focusing on the classical

understanding of traditional shamanism throughout the world so that we have a basis to beginunderstanding what's happening in our modern societies. Therefore we will begin to explorethe kind of initiation that creates a shaman.

In an earlier part of this series I wrote about some of the signs of the call to classical or

traditional shamanism. I should have mentioned that these signs do not necessarily apply onlyto the call to be a shaman, nor do they universally apply to any other particular "calling." In

either case, the manifestations need to be accompanied by other indicators…it is entirely possible that a shaman can be "called" without any physical or mental injury or shock at all,and it is also true that some people who claim they have been visited by the "divine touch" are

really just that, touched. Signs and symbols are not enough of an indicator by themselves, norare signs and symbols able to be neatly classified by application to a particular "calling." But

it is true that many people who undergo traumatic and astonishing experiences such as thosementioned above are "called" to be shamans, many are "called" to be something other thanshamans, and some are simply wacko. So…how do you tell? Specifically, how do youidentify a shamanic initiation? Let´s take a look.

I need to make a significant point here, though, before beginning to discuss shamanicinitiation. As with so many other cultural practices of non-urban cultures, there are real and



valid reasons for the people within such cultures to keep their practices to themselves, persecution from the outside being one of the most prevalent. Therefore, I can't really speakabout the physical process of a shaman's initiation(s) in cultures where shamanism istraditionally practiced. The reason for that is simply because most of their ceremonies arequite secret. We have a few scattered fragments of descriptions in some anthropologicalstudies, and of course in Eliade's excellent "religious history" works. And we also,unfortunately, recently have acquired a huge list of "newage" books purportedly on the

"secrets of shamanism" which are unmitigated crap. So I approach this subject with deeprespect, recognizing that as a sub-urban dweller in a western civilization, I have neither access,nor right of access, to much that is Mystery. But I would like to share a few things that I knowto be accurate.

Usually a potential shaman experiences the basic elements of initiation in dreams and visions, prior to going through the physical act of initiation by the elder shamans. The particularelements they experience will, of course, be related to the worldview of their particularculture. For example an African Bushman's dreams will be about things his people do, dreamsdifferent from, but in essence related to, the dreams about experiences that an Australian

Aborigine or a Mongolian would go through. I do need to point out that the dreams or visionsthe called person experiences are involuntary, and are intense, feeling as though they are real.

It may be that the physical initiation is necessary in order to ground the forces that are there inorder to "satisfy the dream" so that the one called can survive. And it may also be true that the process of "true-dreaming", i.e. dreaming that is vivid, intense, in color, with physicalmanifestations often still apparent after the dreamer awakens, is itself a mark of the shaman.There are cases where the dream/vision type initiation is the only one the shaman experiences.

This usually happens only in villages where there is no practicing shaman to initiate and teach,and, therefore, no one who is trained and empowered in shamanism to actually vouch for theauthenticity of the experience. Since this actually means that the prospective shaman is theonly one who can describe that the initiation has actually taken place, or verify that the Spiritshave spoken, it often results in the new shaman´s being considered a "lesser shaman," one not

in possession of the full power which is the legacy of one who has gone through thetraditional methods and received the secret practices of their guild from their elders.

The elements of the initiatory dream may vary from culture to culture, but it does have some basic "parameters" so to speak, which seem always to be present. For one element, the word

"dream" is not fully descriptive of the nature of this experience. It might just as easily becalled an "initiatory nightmare" and is always inclusive of pain, both mental, emotional and

physical, pain not experienced solely in the dream world but also in the physical realm. Theordeal seems to have a basic form, encompassing such things as:

Being abducted and taken to a secret desolate spot.Being purified in some manner, often through the use of fire.

Being tested or tried by being put through an ordeal, often including torture of such severitythat it takes the candidate to the point of desperation, then fatalistic surrender, resulting in

death.Watching one’s body being dismembered, head cut off, arms and legs cut off and separated joint by joint.

Sometimes watching a new body being created, bones replaced with new ones of iron,internal organs being replaced by new ones of different materials, including gem stones of

different kinds, sometimes other things.Being reborn in the new body, and taught as though an infant.Being taught the shaman's secret language.Being introduced to the spirits of various diseases, and sometimes being taught by them thecure for those diseases.



There are many more elements that could go in that list, none of them superficial. In fact, inmany of the initiations of the sort that are conducted in the real world by a trained shaman, theinitiatory ordeals are so severe that the candidate may die. No one undergoing such an ordealfinds this to be in any way strange, since the intent of the rite is to create a new being housedin the body of the person, a new being who has powers and abilities that transcend themundane. Indeed, it is possible that, even in our own culture, some of the powers we attributein myth and lore to the discarnate bodies of those who have died may be vestiges of the things

our group mind taught our own ancestors who lived in cultures where world-walking was anaccepted fact of life. In any case, though, the initiate comes back a new person, the old lifegone and the new life as a shaman newly born there in its place. From that point, there is noturning back.

Part Five: Is Your Calling Real?

The last two installments had to do with the "call" to shamanize and the often traumaticinitiatory dreams found in classical cultures which maintain and support the function of the

shaman in their civilizations. I did draw a distinction between the definition and function ofthe shaman in these indigenous cultures, and the role a person who might consider him or her

self to be a shaman might serve in an urbanized culture such as modern America. Therefore,I'm afraid some people may have been thinking that I have been implying that the calling thatthey feel is not real or something. This is absolutely not the case! Following are some of themarks of what I consider to be authentic shamanistic callings as they manifest themselves inmodern Western cultures.

To begin with, the concept of rites of passage differs radically in western civilizations fromthe way these are viewed in indigenous cultures where shamanism is prevalent. Even thosewho are not called to shamanize are subjected to some sort of an ordeal in their own clan ortribe as they achieve the steps from childhood to youth and then to adulthood. Some of these

have a tendency to be rigorous and even brutal by modern Western standards, such as thevision quest of a young man or the parturition rituals of young women, many of which

involve bloodletting. Therefore we must view the shamanistic initiations practiced in thesecultures within their own cultural context, not ours. I think that most of us today, myselfincluded, could not survive the real life, as opposed to dream life, initiation of a Tungus or

Mongolian shaman. Most likely we could not even survive the initiation into adulthood thatmany so called "primitive" cultures require. So then, how will a member of one of our own

cultures recognize an authentic call to become a shaman? Here are some possible examplesfrom my own personal experience.

My first awareness of my own calling came in 1953, after my miraculoussurvival of three separate suicide attempts within a week's period. The last attempt was almost

foolproof ... I held the barrel of a pistol to my temple and pulled the trigger. After the gunincomprehensibly misfired (it fired immediately afterwards, when I pointed it into the ground

to test it) I had a sudden overwhelming flash that there was something I had to do in thislifetime, and that I would not be permitted to die until that "something" was fulfilled. As a 12-year-old boy (about the age of the occurrence of a tribal culture´s "initiation into adulthood"

as mentioned above) I had never been exposed to the concept of having a life´s purpose, aconcept common in tribal cultures but increasingly lacking in our own. Therefore, I had a

vague perception of the fact that I "had a mission", but had no earthly idea what it was, norhow I was to discover it. But I had a vague yearning, and I was curious.Afterwards, I underwent a noticeable personality change from my prior interests and attitudes.I felt compelled to read mythology of many different peoples and cultures, was subject toheavy daydreams and nightmares, and stumbled around in a vague fog, trying to find out what

was going on. It wasn't until 8 years later that I finally "bumped into someone" who was ableto give me some direction, resulting in a real-world initiation. This was not a classical



"shamanic" initiation, by the way, and certainly wasn't a Wiccan initiation since Wicca (bythat name) did not arrive in the United States until brought here by Ray and RosemaryBuckland in 1964 or so.

Since that time I have become aware that my experience, while singularly unique to me, iscertainly not unusual. People in our culture in the last forty years have become increasinglyaware of the world beyond the mundane, and there are a great many of them who are actually

being impacted personally by the spirit world in ways mainstream religions do not recognizeor approve of. There is in our present culture the phenomenon of a great many people havinga strong and uniquely compelling "calling" of one kind or another; and most of them are leftfeeling extremely uncomfortable unless they follow it. Those who are within the Neo-Pagan/Wiccan movement in particular are usually struck by the strong sense of "coming

home" that one feels when one finally connects. Many of the others, especially those with noguidance outside mainstream religious practices, are thrown for the proverbial loop when theyhave the initiatory smackdown with no interpretation thereof. They may often end updrunkards, drug addicts, clinically insane, or dead.

During the past 30 years or so, since the publication of the works of Eliade, Harner and others,more and more people in modern Western cultures have been identifying their personal

calling with the call to shamanize. It is not to be wondered at that this label of "shamanism",once an arcane practice but now one being eagerly explored by authors and scholars fromvarious unrelated disciplines, has become strongly popular as a label for indecipherablespiritual experiences. I rather suspect that people who have such an experience are likely to beextremely confused about it, probably frightened by parts of it, unable to identify it, until they

finally can find something to call it, and stick the label on, with a huge sigh of relief. Peoplehave a need to know what is happening to them. In our pseudoscientific and mechanizedculture, the odd experience is likely to be slapped with a label of "mental aberration" unlessone can find something else to call it. Our minds simply can't grasp abstractions very easilywithout putting SOME kind of a label on them, and it is true that we have developed a

"culture of conformity" that looks with suspicion upon the unusual, unless it is occurring in amovie. So it is probable that rather than think of ourselves as wackos, who have dreams

where we seem to be exploring strange lands and wake up tired and dirty, we grab whatever itis that our deep selves feel is the most similar to what is happening to us, and slap the label on.It seems not to matter that the "symbol" we grab may not really be accurate. It is far better

than thinking of ourselves as insane, and it satisfies the need to name the thing for the time being. So it is hard to feel blame for those who seem to have pre-empted, or at least co-opted,

the name of "shaman" for their personal "call to spirit." But there must be some way ofknowing whether the call is truly to shamanism. How does one identify the call to authenticclassical shamanism? Or is it possible that the very definition of the word "shaman" is alsomutating and expanding, in order to embrace associated experiences that have a relationshipto the classical shamanism that has never been an integral element of modern western urban

culture?

I am intrigued by the possibility that we are, indeed, being called by Spirit to "think outsidethe box" in our definitions of modern western spiritual work. So many of the calls felt by practitioners of nature spirituality in western urban societies today have strong shamanic

elements to them. Not all such people are experiencing the call to do the work of a shaman, but they are encountering different and elementally transformational ways of participating in

their own walk of spirit. Something is happening, something is growing, something isdeveloping, something that is different from the classical shamanism of Siberia, or Africa, orSouth America, or Australia. It is a new thing, it is its own thing, and it is worthy of respectand exploration. But …it is not shamanism.

There are verifiable differences between classical shamanism and whatever we ultimatelydecide to call this new kind of spiritual awakening. Whatever it is, it needs to be defined on



its own terms, and not used as a crutch to water down the actual definition and experience ofauthentic shamanism. What are the characteristics of this new variety of spiritual calling? It's powerful, it has elements found in some shamanically-oriented societies, but it has profoundand significant differences as well. It lacks the intensity, and sometimes the focus, the feelingof being reborn, that is an integral element of classical shamanistic induction. It usually also ismissing many of the physically dangerous elements that are characteristic aspects ofshamanism as it manifests in those societies. Most profoundly, it is practically devoid of the

ONE thing found in ALL classical shamanism -- the ecstatic trance, the being outside of theself, that closely resembles a petit mal epileptic seizure. Regardless of the methods used, the particular spiritual orientation of the individual or group, the tools and implements used, orthe particular task being done, it's that ecstatic trance that separates the shaman from othertypes of spiritual healers or technicians of the sacred. And without it, one does not have the

essential element of shamanistic practice, that loss of Self that is replaced with Spirit.

I think that Spirit is creating something new in our modern society, a new kind of spiritual practitioner, not a shaman, but something different. I believe this spiritual classificationembraces elements from the old shamanic practices, but that it is something different,

something more fitting for today's "civilized" world. I also maintain that this something willnot, does not, cannot, have the physical rigors of the old ways, but that it still is deep, and

powerful, and effective. It's something reincarnated from the old ways, like iron heated whitehot in a forge and tortured, hammered ruthlessly, and heated again and again until it emergesas a fine new steel blade ready for the new task that is set before it.

I don't know what to call it. It's not classical shamanism. It is something new, and very special.

I don't know what to call its practitioners, or even how to accurately identify them. As amatter of fact, I am not even sure at this point, with all the changes I have experienced in myown walk of spirit, exactly what one might call me, other than "that Crazy old Coot on theHill". But I am convinced that whatever this new thing is, it will emerge, and grow, anddevelop, and become more accessible and more comprehensible as time goes on. And it will

be a very good thing.

Part Six: Types of Trance

As I said before, it's the ecstatic trance that separates the shaman from other types of spiritualhealers or technicians of the sacred. The difference between making petition or sacrifice, or

giving praise or thanks, to Deity from this realm of existence, and actually traveling "betweenthe worlds" to interact with Spirit, is profound and meaningful. But the ecstatic trance, like somany other elements of shamanism, has a much more precise definition than the Westernmind would assume. Since trance work is an integral part of many spiritual systems, it islikely that there may be misunderstandings about whether or not one is actually undergoing

"shamanic trance" or some other type. So here is an illustration of several different types oftrance, and how they differ from the shamanic or ecstatic trance.

The authentic or "pure" shamanic trance at first glance has little or nothing in common withother kinds of trance. The shamanic ecstasy seizes the shaman in a grip which leaves him orher unconscious to the ordinary world. Usually this is accompanied by a rigidity of the body

not unlike rigor mortis in appearance. It may be additionally accompanied by the signsusually associated with medical problems such as seizures, including tremors, frothing at the

mouth, and apparent cessation of breathing. The shaman's tongue may retract so that he or shenearly swallows it, or alternately it is seen protruding from the side of the mouth, in danger of being bitten. Sometimes the shaman's journey, with its accompanying ecstatic trance, will lastfor hours. During that trance the shaman's spirit will travel to whatever different places he orshe needs to go to find the solution to the problem at hand. Upon return to the body, the

shaman is usually exhausted from the very real struggles he or she went through, and mayeven be ill for several days.



This trance is extremely rare, even in cultures where shamanistic practice is a real and reveredessential of the spiritual practice of the people. Therefore there is a certain status andimportance associated with the shaman´s position, resulting in there being a value associatedwith the ability to achieve the ecstatic trance. In those cultures a person who cannot do that isconsidered a "lesser shaman," nowhere near as powerful as the "shamans of old" or "trueshamans " In some cultures "lesser shamans" will produce an artificial trance which may

appear similar to the "pure shamanic trance," perhaps with the aid of drugs such as thosederived from the amanita muscaria mushroom (Fly Agaric), ayahuasca, jimson weed andother varieties of datura. Often the creation of both kinds of trance listed above is aided bysuch things as drumming in certain different rhythms, rattling rattles, using other percussioninstruments, dancing to exhaustion, singing songs or chants similar to singing or reciting a

mantra, and other means. Either a traditional shaman or a lesser shaman may use varioustechniques associated with changing consciousness to produce trance. The results, however,are very different.

It is unfortunate, in shamanic cultures and even in our own, that there is a potential for deceit

and abuse of these aids to trance. Because such things as dance, chant or drumming are veryobvious to observers, and because such aids are often useful in producing shamanic trances,

and because the effects or "symptoms" of being in a shamanic ecstasy are visible and likewiserather obvious, it has become easier to fake the experience. Even in cultures that revereshamans as spiritual leaders, the "lesser shaman" or other poseurs may attempt to appear in anecstasy by fraud. In our own culture particularly, where drumming and chanting and use ofdance is not a normal part of religious experience, the trappings can be very overwhelming

and the supposed shamanic information obtained can be compelling and convincing to theunaware. However, this practice is not only unethical and sleazy, but in a true shamanicculture may become highly dangerous as well. Since the information so produced is not aslikely to be accurate as that derived from actual communication with Spirit, the "lessershaman" is subject to exposure as a fraud, and banishment or death may be the result. We

have no such strictures on our own culture, which may be a part of the reason for the"shamanic explosion" and associated frauds perpetrated on unwary seekers with Western-

sized problems and wallets to match.

The trance of other types, however, is a recognized part of the spiritual experience for a large

number of modern alternative religions. As we move away from the classical cultures of*pure* shamanism, we move into different cultures with different religious practices, and

different forms of trance and vision. Most of these are available to everyone, and not just the provenance of a *called* shaman. None of these types of trance workings should claim orattempt to indicate that the person using them is a "shaman." That doesn't mean that a shamanwouldn't use them either. It simply means that they are not exclusively shamanic. I think it'sthese trances that are really most important to us in our modern explorations, and which most

people experience. Any altered state in which one achieves insight is not something to whichmost of the Judeo-Christian world is accustomed, except in the case of saints and mystics. For

this reason, the various kinds of non-shamanic trances, their causes, nature, and possibleresults, make for a necessary part of the study of alternate spirit practices in the Westernworld. Here is information on the nature of several such types of trance experience.

The first one of these trance states we will discuss is the sort of hypnogogic state in which the

person may act in the function of a "trance medium." This trance actually bears a certainresemblance to the ecstatic trance of "pure shamanism", at least in its purpose. A person undersuch a trance, such as the late Edgar Cayce and other psychic workers, may remainintelligible to the questioner while in state of trance. The trance medium is in a kind ofhypnotic fog, and may be observed to be giving advice, readings, and predictions while in that

state. The person will usually be able to respond to questions that may be asked, but will be



unable to remember the experience after returning to ordinary consciousness. Most people arenot able to enter a trance state like this at will without years of training or practice.

Another of the more spectacular types of non-shamanic trances is that which appears to the practitioner to be similar to a vivid dream -- a lucid dream -- in which they are able to travelon journeys from one place to another, visit intense landscapes, interact with spirits, and goand come much as they please. This trance does occur during sleep, but differs significantly

from the kind of dreams most people have. In these cases it is typical for a person to sayafterwards that they were awake within the dream, awake enough to know that they were"dreaming" and could control the experience, but could not awaken. Reading on luciddreaming and trance dreaming is available to explore the intricacies of this type of trancing.The means of doing so are beyond the scope of this essay.

A much more common variety of trance, and one which everyone can (and probably does)experience, is that trance which appears to be like a vivid daydream. We all enter into thiskind of a trance from time to time. In some ways it's similar to being engrossed in a movie, orin a television show, or in a fascinating book. We are unaware of our surroundings because

our attention is directed to the daydream, but are still able to interact with those surroundings,respond to people or events that happen in real life, and so forth. It is also true that this type of

trance is the one which most people have the power to enter at will, contrasting with manyother kinds of trance that appear to "take" the person. Meditation and mild sensorydeprivation are aids to achieving this type of trance, as well as the chanting and drummingdescribed above. This "waking trance" is a tool in the spiritual lives of many kinds of people.It's usually in this state that people on a nature-based or metaphysical type of spiritual path

have experiences with spirits, ancestors, divinities, and so forth

That particular trance variety ranges from very mild "staring off into space" to very intensestates of near-catatonia. It's the state that the vast majority of psychics are in when they givereadings, whether by cards, or psychometry, other means of divination. It is the state in which

one may observe the Wiccan High Priestess "draw down" the God or Goddess and speak inthat voice and persona. It's also the state that psychic healers use. In other words, anyone with

any knowledge of spiritual states at all uses those trances routinely, either intentionally orunintentionally. Some of the practitioners who use these types of trances in their work,especially those who use them for clients who come to them for problem-solving solutions,

may choose to call their practice and the kinds of trances into which they enter *shamanism*.As we have been discussing, this is a misuse of this term. What these healers have to offer is

very useful, but shamanism it's not. That doesn't make these types of trance states, or the workdone by such practitioners, any less valid or valuable, unless they deliberately misuse theword and title of the shaman to mislead the unwary.

Part Seven: Patterns of Shamanism

As we've seen, shamanic practices vary from culture to culture. The influences on shamanic practice and orientation come from the world views of the individual nation, tribe, clan,family history, and religion of the chosen culture. Each of these influences serves to shape

the way the shaman works, identify the spirits he or she encounters, name the Deities he orshe worships, and pinpoint the cultural symbols used, encountered, and interpreted. There is

no way around this intricate process, because each nation, each tribe, each clan, each family,each language, each religion, and each specific configuration of the Land on which the peoples live, all have their own unique spirits which are inseparable from their practice. Thisis why none of us will ever become a Siberian, Mongolian, Arunta, Kakundu, Ojibwa, Dine',Yoruba, or whatever shaman, unless we ARE Siberian, Mongolian, Arunta, Kakundu, Ojibwa,

Dine', or Yoruba. The above does not indicate "descended from" (as in having a greatgrandfather who was one, or some such) but being an actual participant in that culture, living



on that land, worshiping those ancestral spirits, living in that culture with its practices and prohibitions, integrally connected in our essential lives to the people, place, philosophy and practice of the culture. And if that were the case for you, you probably wouldn't be readingthis.

This does not mean that your and my patterns may not be similar to those of the peoples I justmentioned. The patterns of shamanism are archetypal. They are found all over the world, but

with different cultural identifications and orientations. The patterns of the shaman include theworld view of the sacred land, the interactions with other worlds for information and healing,the unity of all creation, and the importance of ancestral and cultural associations andintegrity. These elements are found in all civilizations to greater or lesser degree. They are thegateways to the core understanding of the immanent spiritual path, the world view that

incorporates learning from, and interacting with, influences from other than the mundane andmaterial perspective.

I'd suggest checking out the cultural, spiritual, and shamanic patterns found in other cultureswhere core shamanism is a part of the societal practice, and comparing those with other

patterns found throughout the world. A trip to the local library will be a plus here. I wouldstrongly urge against the newage (rhymes with sewage) section of either the library or the

Internet, and especially suggest that the works you consult be in the area of anthropology andsocial history, not newage or metaphysical studies. Of all things, the cultures whereshamanism is an accepted practice are as far from being metaphysical or occult in theirapproach to living as chalk is from cheese. These cultures embrace life and death as parts ofone process, and base their realities on the normal everyday experiences of human beings,

seeing these as part of, not separate from, Spirit. Studying about these cultures and comparingthem with the patterns you discover by your own practice, work, and journeys will enhanceyour own practice and enable you to accurately identify which aspects of it are culturally- based in your own culture, which ones are archetypal, transcending a particular culture, andwhich are unique to you.

This is not an easy task. The temptation to simply adopt something from a givenshamanically-based culture, and augment it with bits and pieces from the others, is strong.

However, if you do so, you will be cheating yourself in several ways. You will be ignoringwhat might actually be individual promptings of spirit that have shown you ways of doingthings for yourself, simply because these may not match things you read about from other

cultures. You are denying the power of your own heritage, whatever it may be, to interactwith you on a spiritual level, and in so doing giving insult and dishonor to your own mundane

and spiritual ancestors. Most significantly of all, you are dulling your own ability to intuittruth for yourself by reverting to the paradigms of a published source, and, in so doing, aresetting your personal pattern to be that of a much lesser practitioner than you are capable of becoming. It is not only more ethical, but ultimately more rewarding, to trust your ownexperiences and intuitions, using published sources for reference, not as templates.

Before I go much further in discussing the individual Western approach to shamanism, I do

want to clarify that I do not actually call myself a shaman for several reasons. In the firstinstance, I don't fit the criteria of my own specific and strict standards as outlined earlier inthis series. Although I've gone through the initiatory experiences, and am subject to going into

trances of various intensities, both at will, and at spirit's will, and do journey into the otherworlds, I do not go into that intense ecstatic trance that is the essential criterion for calling

oneself a shaman. I did that once in my life only, a very long time ago. Secondly, I do not fitanother essential qualification for being a shaman, and that is being a member of a culture,community, or society that recognizes me as being a shaman. That outside recognition ofone's peers, culture and clientele, is essential all over the world. I do, however, belong to asub-culture which has its own term for "technicians of the sacred" who do some, if not all, of

the jobs the shaman does in his or her own community. That sub-culture is Toteg Tribe, andthe term used within the tribe for the practices I perform is "Visar." A Visar is a person who is



skilled in the arts of divination and spell casting, and also enters into a trance state in whichthe s/he travels to Other Worlds in order to diagnose, heal, learn the causes of and solutions to problems, guide souls, deal with spirits of various kinds, etc, when necessary. Within TotegTribe, a Visar is a recognized "technician-of-the-sacred" who does magical workings,including shamanic journeys, on behalf of Tribal members and others.

I rather prefer being called that "Crazy old Coot on the Hill" or an Owit-towit-tai-at(One Who

Intentionally Travels To Other Worlds In Trance And Isn't A Twinkie). We may participate inthe archetypal patterns of the shaman, even though we do not merit the actual title.

Part Eight: Something About Symbols

My own spiritual methods have resulted from my study and adaptation of both traditional andnon-traditional practices. In the traditional realm, they include such things as my cultural andreligious upbringing, which lasted to adulthood. Then there was my association, initiation,and instruction from my "Craft" lineage, which is separate from my upbringing, but fits the

keyhole of my soul. My primary training included specific things from three separate, butstrongly spiritually related, "Craft" traditions, each of which seemed to lack something by

itself, but became part of a complete system when put together, like a three-legged stoolwhich cannot stand without all of its legs. I had agreement from each of my original teachersthat it was okay to fit the philosophies and generalities of these three together for my personaland family use. The resulting philosophy is that which is the roots, the foundation, theframework, for Toteg Tribe, which is the legacy of my work on both Metista and the original

incarnation of TOTEG.

My practices are unique to me and to the training and influences I've had throughout my life.In all likelihood there is no one in the world who practices in quite the same way I do. Itseems obvious to me that this is probably true of everyone who has a spiritual practice, and

the individual nature of one´s personal connection with Spirit is one of the hallmarks of theToteg Tribe philosophy. It seems odd to me, therefore, that there are attitudes in current

Western thought, even amongst practitioners of alternative religions, that one´s practice issomehow less valid if it does not follow some Book of Shadows or set of traditional rules.The legacy of Toteg will be passed down when I leave this realm, but its inheritors,

whomever they may turn out to be, will of necessity imprint the Toteg philosophy with theirown personal stamp and filters. Unlike those who strive for the concept of "purity" of

tradition, it is my belief that those who may come after me, and who will thus incorporatetheir individual beliefs into Toteg Tribe, in so doing will not only NOT somehow dilute myown teaching, but will in fact deepen and enrich it.

The above is not to indicate, however, that one should not respect the teachings handed down

by others, and not adulterate them nor share them in ways that are unacceptable to theirowners or originators. Indeed, when I first wrote this essay, I included the following statement:

"My palms have been sweating while I've been trying to sort through those things that arespecific to my lineage and should not be shared outside of it, and those things that areavailable to everyone with hard work. Some of this in the rest of this series is going to turn

out to be a combination of the two, I'm sure, since I won't be able to explain without anillustration of some sort. It is possible to introduce someone to the concepts of a Tradition

without betraying its secrets. It is that task I have taken upon myself in discussing thefollowing topic. I will admit that I have been avoiding beginning. I hate writing about myself,and exposing myself, just as much as everyone else does. But I'm going to just begin, andchoose the subjects "symbols, tools, and costumes" since they are all closely related.

The concept of "symbols" includes a scarcely definable variety of different things. The natureof symbols depends on that which is common in one's culture, things that are given by the



physical Elders or passed down in a specific lineage, those things that are given by spiritsduring dreams and visions, and those things that have some meaning that is specificallyrelated to the practitioner's life. All symbols have layers of specific meanings, both obviousand hidden. They also have power connections, depending on what they are and how they areused, somewhat similar to the connections of a storage battery, which works on certainengines but not on others. The power of a symbol is of necessity not conveyable throughlanguage, and it is a paradox that the strength of symbolic tokens is far more powerful when

they are individually discovered. For this reason I hesitate to be too specific about the onesthat have been given to me through my lineages, and even through spiritual revelation. I writethis in hope that suggestion and allusion will assist others in following their own thought processes to discovery of symbols for themselves. I do assert here that the symbols I willdiscuss in this section are only vaguely alluded to, and disguised if necessary, to preserve

promises I have made of confidentiality or nondisclosure.

At my first acceptance into "the family" I was given a stoneware tool, about 8 inches long andan inch to an inch and a half in diameter. On one side of this tool was an image composed primarily of spirals done in a particular manner, and obviously representing primordial

femininity. On the other side was an etching that represented the other half, a stag mask witha certain number of tines on the antlers, all drawn in a particularly stylistic manner. These

symbols, as well as the tool itself, have special meaning that can only be fully discovered bymeditation on their meanings, coupled with a combination of "real world" guidance andexplanations derived from what is realized during the meditations. This process can not onlytake years, but actually is never finished. I am still discovering the full meaning andsignificance of this symbol. I find the concept of congruence also takes effect here. When one

is to recognize a particular symbol, the Universe keeps presenting it to one in different ways,For example, other symbols, similar in concept but quite different in actuality to the one Idescribed above, were given to me at one time or another by each of my other two Craftlineages. Interestingly enough, despite differences in their nature, they are to be used the sameway.

In addition to that kind of symbol, individual symbols special to your personal experiences or

family heritage might be used. For example, if a part of your call to "shamanize" included being hit by lightning, a lightning bolt would be an ideal symbol. For myself, the bullet I havein my right arm acts as a symbol, since that near-death experience happened after 5 years of

ignoring my spiritual call. The bullet hit in line with my heart, and only 1/4 inch away from amajor artery. If it had hit that artery I would have died of internal bleeding before the

paramedics got there. That too is an important symbol to me, and an internal talismanreminding me of Spirit's watchfulness over me. It is important to be completely aware thatyour personal symbols are just that, personal. That means it is a good idea not to try to imposethose symbols and their meanings on others. But it also means that no one else has the right todiscount or dismiss your own personal symbols.

Another type of symbol is the archetypal symbol, images that over many centuries have

transcended tribal and societal boundaries so that they are used similarly in many diversecultures. The symbols of the elements of fire, water, and earth, lightning, trees, and caves areexamples of natural features that exist everywhere and thus have become archetypal symbols.

For example, often a person practicing shamanic techniques will decorate his or her drum andother tools with symbols that represent a tree with branches and roots. This is the World Tree,

which reaches into the Upperworld with its branches and into the Lowerworld with its roots.This image is one that is found in the archaeological artifacts of nearly every culture we haveexplored as humans. Stylized images representing the male and female sex organs are anotheruniversal symbol which has become an archetype, one to be used carefully and withknowledge of the intent desired, since there is great power in them. Other such archetypes are

images of the sun and moon, sea and sky, rainbow and storm clouds. These symbols are waysa shaman can link to the spirit of the natural objects so represented. It is important to realize,



however, that due to acculturation, though the symbolic image accessed by shamans indiverse cultures may be the same, the internal Spirit met with or the information received inthe encounter may differ greatly.Some of the symbols used by shamanic practitioners are also hieroglyphs of some sort,representing immense meaning in a small space. Such symbols may include runes, oghammarkings, spirit writings, magical alphabets, and other shapes and symbols specific todifferent tribes, traditions or cultures. Most such glyphs are created by the practitioner using

them, or, in the case of runes or ogham symbols, are combined in ways that are individuallysignificant. Often an individual's symbols will include something that evokes the image oftheir personal Tutelary spirit. Sometimes these symbols will be a part of the decoration on a practitioner's costume when one is used, as well as being painted on his or her drum.Whatever symbols are being used by the practitioner, the intent is always the same. The

symbol is a "doorway", a threshold making it easier for the user of the symbol to transcendthe worlds and experience the necessary insight.

Part Nine: Something About Tools

Earlier I wrote that I would talk about tools in this installment. On reflection I realize that it is

impossible to separate the discussion of tools from other “things’ that serve the shamanic practitioner, such as costumery and sacred symbol. All of these “props’ are part of the same process, that of shifting the consciousness of the shaman to make it possible for him or her tomove freely between the planes of existence and between worlds. It is even more significantthat one cannot actually separate, not only discussion of symbols, tools and costume in

context, but that it is often nearly impossible to separate these actual items from one anotherin practice. Symbols, tools, and costume are closely related because each actually contains orexpresses aspects of the other. A symbol itself is a tool, which may be used in conjunctionwith other tools and costume. Likewise both tools and costume are symbols themselves.Therefore it is probably wiser to discuss these items in an overlapping fashion, referring to

them in the phrase “props’. Most of what is said below can apply to any or all of the three.

The tools I use bear little resemblance to those used by Ceremonial Magicians, Wiccans, and Neo-Pagans. Simply put, they are different because their uses are different. In neo-Paganism,the tools on the altar are usually symbolic representations of the elements, but do not

themselves contain any power except that given them by the will and intent of the practitioner.It is also possible for the Witch to do ritual without use of tools, and is actually a requirement

of some Craft training that the aspiring Witch prove that he or she is capable of successfullydoing that. On the other hand, the “props’ of the shamanic practitioner. many and varied, areused very differently. My own collection of “props’ is diverse and significant to me personally as well as connecting me with other worlds. Examples of the things I use toachieve this include such items as:

A shield containing an image of a personal vision that I had.

My drums which also contain symbols and images personal to my practiceMy rattlesA knife which has three edges to the blade

An earthenware bowlA small brass bowl

A cow’s horn with the tip cut off so it makes a kind of funnelA number of different stonesA miniature bow and arrowA hammer, tongs, and anvilVarious feathers, bones, teeth, claws, skulls, and hides

A couple hundred different herbs and rootsTwo staves



Several small bags in which I keep various special items.A cord with a certain number of specially tied knots on itHorseshoe nailsString and yarn of various colorsSpecial chants and songsA specially made tripod altarThe stoneware tool I mentioned in an earlier essay

A ringPaints and makeupMiscellaneous items such as candle holders, candles, and herbal incenses, powders, oils, etcMy costumingAnd various other items.

Some of these things were given to me, or I was shown how to make or obtain them by my physical world teachers. Some of them I was shown how to make or get by my spirits whileon journeys. All of them have special uses that I've been taught by both physical and non- physical world teachers.

I could teach some people how to use some of these items, in a limited manner. At least, thatis to say, I could teach them how I use these items. By doing so, however, I would be limited

to teaching by dogma, and that which I taught would, by its very nature, consist of both truthand falsehood, since dogma itself is limited and hides the essence of truth even more than itreveals it. I could not ever convey to anyone else the actual intrinsic meaning of any one ofthese items to me and to my spirits, nor could I actually transfer to another the way of journeying nor the actual use of a particular object whilst on such a journey. Should I attempt

to do this, the best the student could say is that he or she listened to me describe somethingabout my own practice. Should the person then try to duplicate that experience, we would all be cheated, him or her self, the spirits, the client of this person, and the person themselves,and yet there would be another small lie planted in the already endless ocean of dogmatictraining that exists in Craft. So I am speaking, in the remainder of this essay, of my own

perceptions of my own experiences, and hope that the material herein may be judiciously andscrupulously applied by those who read it.

Let us begin with discussion of some of the tools most universally recognized as “shamanic’in nature, the drum and the rattle. Unfortunately, the use of the drum and the rattle is one that

is all too often limited by the teachings given in books and seminars. These teachings statethat those tools are used to provide rhythmic sounds as an aid in getting into a trance state.

While this is true as far as it goes, it is not the whole of their use.

Not only are there other applications of sound in shamanic trance workings, and other specificuses for the drum and the rattle in practice, but many of these are impossible to convey exceptin hands-on training rather than the printed word. Because of the teachings available in books

on shamanism, and because, of necessity, most of those books have been written byWesterners, (most shamanic indigenous cultures are non-literate) many people who are

experimenting with shamanic techniques today assume that they must have someone drumfor them, or that they have to get a tape recording of drumming to play for the duration oftheir experiment. The net result of this practice is likely to be that the person completely

misses the point of the use of this tool. Yes, the drum, or the tape recording of drumming, can be aids to trance journeying. No, they are not necessary, nor is their use the sum total of the

experience. It is actually true, on the contrary, that the drum or rattle can be an anchor ratherthan a vehicle, when used in inexperienced hands or when too deeply relied upon. Further, itis often vital to the experience of shamanic journey or other working that the practitioner dohis or her own drumming, something rarely, if ever, suggested in self-help texts onshamanism. My own experience bears this out. Although I have had people drum and rattle

for me, as many of my co-practitioners can confirm, I also, and often, use those tools withoutoutside help. When I do so, I use rhythms and patterns that are unlike the ones taught, are



often irregular, and have purposes and results that are far beyond the basic one of aiding inestablishing a trance state.

It's important to remember that everything in the physical world has spirit/soul. This isespecially important when thinking about and using props in your work. When you use anitem in the physical world, you are also using it in the Otherworlds, in a manner which must be appropriate to its individual spirit. The layers of significance for a single use of a single

tool go far beyond that which the practitioner or the client may experience on the earth plane.Therefore it is vital to understand the meaning of your prop in the Otherworlds, and ways inwhich that may differ from or enhance or extend its use and significance on this plane.

As an illustration of this, here is a congruence that I have experienced myself. I will often

carry my physical tools with me, and use them as their spiritual counterparts, during my journeys to the Otherworlds. For example, I'll often take my miniature bow and arrow alongin order to shoot nasty spirits in order to kill them or drive them away if that becomesnecessary. When journeying in a world where the bow is also used as a “singing tool’ I mustrecognize that use as well, and apply my use of it in the Otherworld in accordance to the ways

the Spirits of that world recognize as appropriate.The most important way you will learn what various props, including tools and elements of

costume and other symbols, are for, and how to consecrate them, use them and learn fromtheir use, is by instruction from the spirit that gave them to you, and by instruction from thespirit of the tool itself. This will take a lot of practice in this world, as well as many journeyson your part. It is a long and complex experience fraught with a great deal of trial and error tofind out which instruction actually comes from the spirits, and which is coming from your

own subconscious mind trying to please you. There is no easy way to accomplish this task,and its importance cannot be overemphasized. This discernment, and ways to attain itsuccessfully, will be the subject of another article.

Part Ten: Spirits

The previous section of this series dealt in part with “props’, consisting of tools, symbols andcostume. I spoke most extensively about tools and had in mind to continue the discussion onother “props’. However, on rethinking, it has occurred to me that it is important to discuss

first what it is that gives each of these three things not only its intrinsic character, but itsrelationship with the other two. The unifying factor, and the one we will discuss in this essay,

is the concept of Spirit.

In previous parts of this series I mentioned that all items have spirits, or souls. This is animportant thing to remember when doing any kind of spiritual work, especially shamanic practices. It is the soul or spirit of a given object that gives it the power and ability to serve as

a “prop’ as a shaman needs to use it. There is no object that is devoid of spirit, and there is noobject that cannot be a factor in the success or failure of the shaman´s work, due to the

interaction of the spirit of the object with the shaman´s spirit. Therefore, before continuing thediscussion of props themselves, let us discuss the nature of a spirit.

Just as there are billions of corporeal entities on this globe, there are also billions of spirits. Itis vital to remember at all times that there are far more spirits than there are entities with

visible life, since ALL creation has a spirit, whether or not it is perceptible as being “alive’ tonormal human observation. Naturally those spirits that have the most influence on us asindividuals are those that are closest to us, including, but not limited to, the spirits we livewith in the land, the air, and the waters, our personal belongings or tools, and our spiritual,cultural, and genetic ancestors.



The trouble is that we often forget that there is as much diversity in the world of spirit as thereis in the corporeal world. It is unfortunately true, especially in Western cultures, that peopleare so unaccustomed to dealing with spirit in their day-to-day lives that they have developedan inaccurate view of the way spirit interacts with humanity. Many people, without realizingthey have done so, have adopted a view that if some being has the power to interact with themon a non-corporeal level, it must therefore be omniscient as well. Since omnipotence andomniscience is associated in the Western world with “God,’ such beings are often seen as

being, almost by definition, benevolent. This is eminently not the case. The diversity ofcharacter one encounters in the spirit world is mind-boggling.As it is in the world of all other entities, some spirits may choose to become our friends, someour enemies, some are completely indifferent to us, and some are simply unwilling to beinvolved with us at all. Just as in physical reality, some spirits are more powerful than we are,

and some are less powerful than we are. Some spirit beings you can make friends with, someyou may have to bribe or placate in some way, some you want to attempt to avoid entirely,and some you may need to confront, fight and perhaps defeat or even kill. But the universalconstant in interaction with spirits is that it is wise never to take anything for granted. Eventhough neither omnipotence nor benevolence is a given when interacting with spirits, it is

indeed true that not being confined in a body of flesh adds some elements to the abilities ofspirit that are incomprehensible to untrained human beings.

Some spirits, due to their very nature, are killers intent on destroying and devouring theunwary prey that strays into their range. Some kill out of a self preservation instinct, like acobra striking. It is as dangerous for even a trained shamanic practitioner to go into thoseuncharted territories as it is for a trained warrior to go into the middle of a war zone. Needless

to say, for a beginner in these practices to venture into converse or interaction with suchspirits, the dangers are proportionately higher. There are also many many spirits, just like people in the ordinary reality that you are most familiar with, that are pathological liars, conartists out to deceive and take advantage of you and me for their own purposes. As it is withhumans who are con artists, some of these spirits are very very good at what they do, and are

capable of deceiving even a shaman on the lookout for such things. There are even somespirits that are capable of doing damage to humans on such an arcane level that we never even

realize we have been damaged until much later. Such spirits are responsible for a great dealof what the civilized world terms “madness’ or “insanity.’

Now, here's the kicker. In order to practice effective shamanic techniques, you have to be ableto trust some spirits. You have to listen to their advice and instruction in order to know what

to do in a given circumstance, and then do what is necessary to accomplish the task at hand,realizing both the dangers involved, and the price that must be paid, by both the shaman forthe knowledge, and the client for the gift of healing or other needed action. The question is,how do you know which spirits are malevolent or tricksy, and which ones you can really trust?My answers to this question, unfortunately, are by necessity equivocal, due to the nature of

interaction with spirits. These answers are valid, but they will probably not put you at ease.

Just as in physical life, the safest entities for you to begin interacting with are probably thosethat have been introduced to you by your family; those that are a part of the religion you wereraised in. Surprisingly to some who are on an alternative spiritual path, it can actually be

detrimental to your ability to work as a shaman if you are too eager to “change yourreligion.’ Interaction with your guardian angel, the mythic spirits, such as saints, of Christian

religions, and one´s perceptions of such beings as Jesus and the Holy Ghost, are excellentintroductions to interaction with spirits on other planes. And learning to pray, and to “hear,’or become otherwise aware of, communications from your conscience, or answers to prayers,are excellent first steps on developing the ability to fall into communicative trance.After that, the next in safety and ease of interaction are those spirits you have been introduced

to and put in contact with by other people in your life. These are usually such entities as the"secret" spirits introduced and taught to you during your initiation and training by your



physical life teachers and Elders. Examples of these might be something similar to the angelsand archangels of certain ceremonial magic lodges or other secret societies, or the archetypalspirit forms of the Gods and Goddesses of your tradition. These are spirits who have beenintroduced to you by "family;" they've been vouched for by people you know and trust, andyou have been vouched for to them by those same people. Included in this class, or rather perhaps bridging from the previously mentioned class of your former religion to your currentone, are the entities who are recognizable to you as the spirits of your dead relatives and

ancestors. Indeed, it is possible, if you have actually received a “shamanic call,’ that the person whom you first meet may recognizably be the spirit or ghost of Granny or Gramps,since this may well be a being with whom on the earth plane you had already developed trust.Such entities may very well continue with you to introduce you to other spirits until you nolonger need their intervention.

Just as is true in physical life, the spirits you meet in that way are generally safer to know thanspirits you may meet in random situations. And, just as in physical life, just meeting them isnot by itself sufficient to establish trust or a working relationship. You have to get to knowthem over a period of time, and establish a mutual understanding and trust, in order for you to

safely and productively be able to work together. That will probably be easier since you've been "introduced," but it is still just as delicate a situation as is meeting strangers in the

physical world. Not every “friend of a friend’ is going to also become your friend. And notevery spirit who introduces you to another spirit will be entirely devoid of personal motives,again as is true in earth life. I might as well also take this opportunity to point out thatinteractions with spirits are just as inconstant as are encounters with friends and family on this plane. One does not need to have a body to have “moods.’ Therefore, just as in your own

genetic family, where all members don't get along with you all of the time, even those spiritsyou have been introduced to in this way won't get along with you all of the time. But, on thewhole, beginning your interaction in the world of spirits by interacting with spirits to whomyou have been introduced in one of the above-mentioned fashions is not only safer, but probably more productive, than just diving headlong into random spirit encounters.

Even though you may not actually have physical Elders who are capable of introducing you to

spirits and informing you about them, and vice-versa, there is still hope. In our urban andisolated cultures, it is becoming more and more likely that you will find yourself in the position of knowing you are called to begin shamanic journeying without anyone to turn to in

the physical world for instruction on how to begin. Starting these practices alone, with only"spirit guidance" or "spirit initiation" is much like suddenly waking up in a strange city where

you know no one. You can survive, and you can thrive, but you are going to have to be verycareful. There is much information that will assist you in these endeavors on the web sitefound at http://www.toteg.com. In the meanwhile, here are some guidelines to help youevaluate the spirits you come in contact with.

Spirits that are trustworthy as guides, helpers, and teachers are normally naturally receptiveand fond of humans, and will appear to you to be fond of you in particular. Often these spirits

are the ones who also exist in the physical world, usually in something that aids you, such ashorses, cows, boars, metals, fire, foods, bows and arrows, and even automobiles. It is actuallya useful beginning exercise to attempt to put yourself into a state of mind where you can

communicate with the spirit of such a thing while you are actually using it. People may make jokes about such things as talking your car out of breaking down, or using your spirit guide to

find you a parking place, but these are actually techniques of spirit communication that areuseful beginning points.

Benevolent spirits are also not affected by the usual human perception that they areomniscient or omnipotent. They will not try to impress you by claiming to be all knowing or

all powerful -- any spirit that does claim that is lying and is therefore by definitionuntrustworthy. Being freed of a body does not automatically imply being free of Ego.



A trustworthy spirit will not lie to you, mislead you, or allow you to be misled into amisinterpretation. If a spirit is trustworthy it will not object to being questioned or asked forclarification. Just as in interacting with people in the physical world, any spirit thatdiscourages your complete understanding of its communications to you is probably trying toflim-flam you.Trustworthy spirits rarely make specific predictions. Since your work as a shaman is to

interact with the spirit in order to change the likely outcome of an earth-based circumstance,such as severe illness, it ought to send up a red flag if the spirit with whom you arecommunicating predicts specifically that the person will die, for example. Specific predictionscan be taken, as they can when made by human beings, as a signal that the being making themis trying to appear to you to be more powerful than it actually is. Again, this is deceit, and

therefore labels the perpetrator untrustworthy.

In addition to avoiding displays of personal Ego, trustworthy spirits will also avoid appearingto build up your own Ego by indicating or implying that you are the all-powerful future rulerof the universe, or whatever. If such a spirit communication is actually appealing to you, you

are definitely not only putting yourself in immanent danger of a catastrophic fall, but are alsoreading the wrong set of essays! The Toteg Tribe pattern of shamanic practice sees the

shaman as a giver of service, not as an idol. Trustworthy spirits will not cause you to becomean egomaniac.

And lastly, a trustworthy spirit will not threaten to leave if you don't do as it says, if yourefuse to accept its word without question, or if you err in some practice on the side of caution.

We forget that the spirit world is also filled with unique individuals with personal agendas. Not every spirit has as its focus to assist you in performing your work. So it is well toremember that the things that are unethical for you as a practitioner to do are also unethical onthe part of spirits. If the spirit with whom you are interacting does not appear to be asinterested as you are in making clear communications, you are probably in the wrong place.

I will end this section with a final caution, one that perhaps should have preceded this entire

section, but that would have made less sense if it had done so. In a word, even after you areexperienced in interacting with “safe spirits’, it is well to remember some ethical ideals andcontinue in a posture of both caution and courtesy. The specific aspect of these things I am

referring to here is Cultural Respect.As well as being highly disrespectful and unethical, it is extremely dangerous to take a

symbol, or tool, or name of spirit, from some other culture than your own, and put it to use inyour own circles. The spirit connected to it is likely to be just as upset with you as you would be with an uninvited stranger in your home or intruder into a private family function. Youmight be a great chef, known far and wide outside your own neighborhood, but that does notmean you are henceforth to have no privacy. Even if it is presented as a compliment to your

skill, you would nevertheless be angry, resentful and suspicious if some stranger stomped intoyour home and ordered you to produce a meal for him. Just so is it not only rude and uncouth,

but may actually be dangerous, to force or coerce a spirit into a milieu not its own and attemptto require it to work for you. Concurrent with your studies of the actual mechanics ofshamanism ought also to be diligent research and study of your own culture and interaction

with the spirits native to it, so that you never have a need to rape another culture because of a perceived lack in your own. You are an urban dweller in a western culture, and although they

may never have been made known to you, your own culture is rich in myth and symbol andtales of spirits who are native to your own milieu. Get to know them, and learn to interactwith them. There is no other ethical choice. It is essential for you, as a would-be shaman, toknow your spirits very well, as well as you do your best friend or anyone else you would trustwith your life. After all, when you journey to the Otherworlds, you are doing exactly that.

Part Eleven: Spirit/Power Animals



In the last section of this series of essays, we began to explore the nature of spirits. By thistime the aspiring shaman may have begun to work with “familiar spirits’ and may have met ormade some allies and some significant spirit friends in the Otherworlds. It may be time forhim, or for her, to deepen these relationships and to seek after one particular relationship ofspirit. This is perhaps the defining spirit connection that marks the shaman, even to peoplewho know nothing else about shamanism. In nearly every culture that knows of or contains

the practice of shamanism, one particular type of spirit friend is known and recognized. Thisis the Power Sprit, often called the "Power Animal" and commonly though sometimesinappropriately called the Totem.

It may surprise many reading this to realize that this is one cross-cultural concept of

shamanism that has successfully been conveyed over time even into non-shamanic cultures.The concept of a Totem Animal is universal to all cultures and continues to be utilized even tothe present day. Tribal cultures will recognize a Totem for the tribe, one for the clan one belongs to, and one for the family that one is born into. In their own fashion, even urbansocieties have adopted this practice.

In the United States, and in other countries, the Tribal and Clan Totem still exists, although itis thought of in a slightly different manner from the way this concept exists in indigenous

cultuers. The Totem for our tribe (the U.S.A.) is the Bald Eagle. The totem for the clans (eachstate) is the State Animal. For example the California clan Totem is the California GrizzlyBear and the Michigan clan Totem is the Wolverine. There are also totems for our adoptedcultures, those clubs or societies to which we may belong, such as the Benevolent andProtective Order of Elks, the Loyal Order of Moose, and the Lions Club. Even Christianity,

the prevalent religion of this country, has maintained two Totem animals, these being the Fishand the Lamb. Specialized Totems are also seen in organized sports, their names beingreflected in the team names. Examples are the Chicago Bears and the Miami Dolphins. It isinteresting to reflect on the idea that in our society these “mascots,’ as we sometimes calltotem animals, are adopted without thinking at all about their significance or spiritual impact,

yet it is odd to find a group, society, culture, school team, or area of the country that does nothave at least one, if not more. It is almost as if our “species memory’ has told us universally

that our connection to beasts of power is important, even if we do not consciously recognizethe meaning of the practice.

The next type of Power Spirit or Totem is that which is personal for the individual. TheseTotems are protective spirits that help us in our everyday life. Everyone has such a Totem,

whether or not he or she knows of, or recognizes, the presence of the ally in daily life. Eventoday, most parents give a special protective Power Animal to their children and tell the childthat it will be protected overnight by that Power Animal. They don't realize they haveconveyed this message, but that is what they are doing when they give a teddy bear or otherstuffed animal friend to their little one. And adults in urban cultures often find themselves

having an affinity for certain animal species, manifesting this connection in ways that do notobviously have anything whatsoever to do with spirit. They find themselves either collecting

pets, even odd ones like snakes or mice as well as cats, dogs, birds and fish, or somehowcollecting tokens of a particular animal. Examples of this abound, like the avid fisherman whohas six million trout souvenirs, the woman whose house is covered with butterflies, or the

man whose kids know Daddy will like anything they give him for his birthday as long as ithas a moose on it.

We often unconsciously recognize the Power Animal affecting someone, and use terms thatgive away our unconscious recognition. How many times have we thought or said somethinglike, "That guy is a real bear," "She's quite the lynx!", or "Watch out for him, he's a snake inthe grass!" We are even aware of certain people who bear a physical resemblance to a certainanimal, one which often may carry over into behavior. We may not be aware of the

significance of these comments or visual observations when we make them, but every one of



us is able to think of times when they have seen someone else manifesting, or themselveshave manifested, the presence, nature or influence of their power animal.The first item of business for a potential shaman is to learn to travel in the other worlds, thento discover his Totem or Power Spirit. That knowledge is necessary in order to start the long process of learning. Keep in mind that what follows are generalizations. There can be manyexceptions. My experience has shown me that a Totem/Power Spirit is usually in the form ofa mammal, such as a bear, lion, bison, squirrel, mouse, or any other. It is natural that people,

who themselves are mammals, might most often be claimed by Power Spirits who are alsomammals. These Power Animals are usually a reflection of your deepest self, and may alsorepresent qualities which you need in this world, but which are often hidden or obscured. It isimportant to study the manifestations of the character of the animal that has chosen you, sothat you may further understand what it is in the nature of that animal that represents your

hidden quality or need.

A mistake that people may sometimes make is to be dissatisfied when they find that theirPower Animal is some non-ferocious animal like a mouse. We tend to think that a mouse isnot very powerful -- that it is meek and afraid. What they forget is that spirits are not limited

to physical reality, and that size of the animal in the mundane world is irrelevant to thesignificance of that animal´s spirit in the Otherworlds. Your Power Animal may be a tiny

mouse, but in times of need this mouse can and will change its size and deportment to thatwhich is appropriate to the occasion. There is nothing weak or meek about a 500-foot tallmouse!

Your personal Power Spirit (as differentiated from your family, clan, or tribal spirit) may

change several times in your lifetime, depending upon your specific needs. It is sometimeseven true that in times of crisis you may find yourself in contact with more than one PowerSpirit. If you are dispirited, your animal is far away from you and needs to be brought back,or a replacement found. When you make your first exploratory journey, you are likely toencounter spirits which may represent themselves as being your Totem or Power Animal. If

you are already aware of your spirit animal, that spirit may greet you and give you additional power. In any case, it is difficult to make a mistake about which animal is actually your

Power Animal if you approach the journey of discovery with an open and eager spirit. Youwill probably find that the animal that identifies itself as your Power Animal is one to whom,on some level, you have always had an affinity.

You need to be aware that some spirits are negative. They are bringers of physical and mental

disease. According to Michael Harner, you can recognize them because they come in the formof insects and arachnids, (including all bugs, lobsters, crabs or bug-like things), and reptiles orfish that are showing their teeth. Reptiles and fish that are not showing their teeth are positivespirits. I don't think Harner is entirely accurate on this, but it wouldn't hurt to exercise thecaution he urges until you gain more experience. It is best to attempt, if it appears that Spider

or Caterpillar or Rattlesnake has connected to you as your Power Animal, to interact with thespirit for a specific good purpose. If you find yourself assisted and given good information

and influence by this spirit in doing that which you wish to have occur, you are pretty sure to be safe in accepting this being as your Power Animal. If you find yourself hindered, crossedor negatively impacted in your task, the animal is an evil spirit and is to be shunned. And your

Power Animal will never be one which you, in your mundane life, loathe, or fear, or have adisgust for. Even in the mundane world, the shaman will have a powerful positive impression

of the nature of his or her Power Spirit.

Generally all mammals and birds are positive spirits. Any positive spirit may be your PowerAnimal. Your Power Animal may also be a mythical animal, such as a unicorn, or a characterof myth such as the Pegasus, or even one which is completely unknown to anyone else in the

world and does not exist in myth or legend, like a weremouse. What is important isrecognizing that your Power Animal is supposed to be a guide and ally to you both in this



world and in the Otherworld. Study of the qualities and characteristics of the animal thatclaims you, in physical life, in lore and writings and in meditation and dreams, will assist youin understanding the relationship you have with your Power Animal. Developing thatrelationship is one of the most important tools you have in your work as a shaman.

Part Twelve: What and Why of Costume

Our having discussed the Power Spirit creates a natural progression to speaking of costuming.Many shamans wear costumes which are representations, in part, of the Power Spirit, or insome way represent its character and energy. And of all the spirits one may contact in theOtherworlds, it is most often the Power Spirit from whom one gets information about

appropriate use of the “prop’ of costuming. Therefore, now that I've concluded mydiversionary, but necessary, rant about spirits, and the Power Spirit/Animal in particular, Ifeel like I can go on and talk about costume a bit. As I indicated in the parts about symbolsand tools, the costume is another tool, and as such is related to symbols.

Making a tool, or costume, or any other kind of symbol, is a form of sacrifice. The word"sacrifice" literally means "to make sacred". Just as we gain from our spirits´ efforts on our

behalf, our spirits gain from what we do, from our sacrifices to them. Whether we realize it ornot, our spirits are going to take something from us in return for their information, or aid, orhelp. These sacrifices can be many different things, including the wearing or not wearing ofcertain types of costume, or placing certain designated items on a costume. The sacrifice canalso include painting the body or working tools with certain glyphs or symbols, the sweat or

exertion from our efforts, the pouring of liquids, donating money or clothing to someone whoneeds it, or as many other things as your imagination can devise. The element of sacrifice isalways present; only the forms differ.

Our discussion in this essay centers around costuming because this particular type of sacrifice

has symbolic significance of a particular kind. We have spoken in previous essays about thewounding of the shaman, and his or her ecstatic trance, where the Self is abrogated and the

spirit travels between the worlds without identity. Costume is one way in which the shamanindicates that the Ego has been abandoned and that the identity of a Power Animal, or otherspirit self, has been assumed. By wearing or not wearing a particular item of clothing or other

gear, we are as much as saying to the spirit, “I am willing to leave my own interests, even myown Self, behind, and take on whatever form is required of me in order to receive this gift

from you.’ This is one contract of many by which we can successfully interact with thespirits and receive what we are seeking from them.

It is much better for us if we ask what the spirits may require first, and then decide whether ornot we are willing to give that sacrifice. If the spirit with whom we are working may ask for

something that we are extremely uncomfortable about giving or doing, we can negotiate withthe spirit, suggest something else, and ask if it will do instead. If the alternate will not do and

we are still unwilling to pay the price, it is wise to thank the spirit, and leave the operation tilllater after giving it more thought, or perhaps doing something entirely different.

Costume, and special tools, and special symbols, are not about wearing something so much asthey are about being able to do what is necessary to accomplish the results you have to

accomplish -- of giving the sacrifice your spirit requires. If Spirit says you have to do it in a big bag, or Spirit says you have to do it standing naked under the full moon with lightning bolts painted on your arms and legs, then you do it that way. If you don't have the mentalstrength to do it the way Spirit says you should, then it is time to re-evaluate what you aredoing, and why you are doing it. It is important for you, as a shamanic practitioner, to realize

that you are part of the equation any time you are interacting with spirit for a purpose. Thekinds of things asked of you, in costume, or tools, or symbols, or rituals, are not only



requirements of spirit for the task at hand, but somehow requirements for you and yourgrowth and development. For example, consider the two examples I gave above…doing theworking in a big bag, doing the working stark naked, under a full moon, painted with bolts oflightning. Neither of those two examples is something that everyone might be told to do. Theyare something that someone might be told to do. Neither is in itself "unreasonable," sinceneither demands harm be done, or causes harm to yourself or to anyone else. Still, it's up toyou personally to either agree to do what is asked of you, or to thank the spirit and back away

from that operation. If you too often have reservations about the sacrifices required of you byspirit, especially if these sacrifices do not cause harm or difficulty, but only perhaps seemeither redundant, silly or meaningless, then I suggest you might rethink your calling as ashamanic practitioner. Ego is definitely not a useful part of your bag of tools.

I heard a story about a shaman in a particular African tribe who was to do a divination ritualthe following morning. He was prepared, everything was set, and he went to bed to sleep untilthe morning. The spirits told him not to sleep, and would not allow him to sleep, even thoughhe wanted to do so. He stayed awake, never discovering the reason for it, and not questioningit because "my life is not my own, it is Spirit´s." This is a perfect example.

It's the same way with costume. You wear what your Spirits tell you to wear, and put the

symbols on the costume that they want you to put on it, for various purposes. Sometimes thesymbols are those representing your Power Sprit or another specific spirit with whom youmay be working. Spirits wear these symbols as we wear our bodies; it gives them substance.Sometimes what you wear is an aid for you, in order to make it possible for you to pass as aspirit of that region, a disguise that makes it easier for you to travel in certain regions of the

Otherworlds. Sometimes you may have no idea why a particular costume or accessory isasked of you. But you do it, or you do not do the journey.As for myself, I've quit second guessing Spirit entirely. When I am working, I always havesomething on my person that is, in effect, a costume. Some of these are special tattoos whichare with me always. Additionally I may carry simply a special symbol that is personal to me

and my tradition, drawn on paper and pinned to my street clothes. Sometimes, though, myspirits tell me something else is needed. That simply means I provide what is required. I have

learned over time and experience that it is simply ineffective to attempt to do the work askedof me if I am not willing to acquiesce to the requirements placed upon me by Spirit.

I take certain words that were given to me in my training and initiation very seriously. I wastaught "Do not do what you desire, do what is necessary." Sometimes that instruction has led

me into strange places, but I have never denied nor abandoned it. I realize that I would not becalled to work with Spirit at all if I always understood what was necessary on my own. But Iwill admit, with a certain degree of satisfaction and pride perhaps, that I have been willing, inthe course of years of practice whilst following this instruction, to be led into some ratherstrange places and circumstances.

At one workshop I was conducting in the second half of the 80´s, I was demonstrating an

"extraction" technique on a volunteer. She had been having strong pains in her upperabdominal region for some time, and nothing the doctors did seemed to relieve them. I put onmy normal working garments, including a leather cord used as a belt on which to hang my

small bag of special items. We laid her down on a folded blanket near the fire pit, and theother 20 or so attendees sat in a circle around us and began drumming and rattling for me.

As I began my usual opening ceremony, making prayers, calling my spirits, asking forassistance and the like, I got a very clear message from those spirits. I could not continue and be successful in this working unless all I wore was that leather cord belt and "medicine bag".And so, with only a little hesitation, I complied and removed my shirt, pants, and underwear. Iwas already barefoot. I then continued the operation in my normal manner, with no further

problems nor demands from Spirit. I went into my deep trance, and performed an extractionof the little spirit that was causing the woman her stomach problems. After I was finished, and



had thanked the spirits in my usual way, I got dressed again and discussed what had happenedwith the group.

Was it embarrassing? Well, yes, a bit, when I started, but when my working and trance began,it did not at all seem to matter. By then, I was in shamanic trance, completely connected withSpirit in the manner required by Spirit. Therefore, my nudity was not even something I wasaware of any longer. By then, it was as though I were alone, and my physical state was not

embarrassing to me at all.Did my ceremony work? Yes. The woman didn't have that problem for the rest of the time shewas there, and two months later told me she was still free of it. Would it have worked if Ihadn't done as requested and stripped off? I don't know. But why take a chance? I trust myspirits, therefore I do what my spirits tell me to do to achieve results. They are the ones that

any "magic" comes from, not me.In the matter of costuming, as well as the use of other tools and symbols, the common factoris always the same. If you trust that you are in communication with Spirit, and feel that thiscommunication can make you more capable of doing shamanic work, then you do it in themanner requested by Spirit, If you are unwilling, or unable, to follow the requests for the

particular sacrifices that Spirit requires, or if you feel such things to be unnecessary, then why be a shaman at all? There are other paths that do not require the same kind of sacrifice. But

the shaman´s path does, and an understanding of its processes and requirements will go far inimproving your ability to function as a shaman.

Part Thirteen: Getting Started

Classical, or Historical, shamanic cultures are usually those found in societies that rely onhunting-gathering and/or herding for their subsistence. There are, as well, other civilizations(called "post-shamanic" by anthropological researchers) that have shamanic elements in theirorganization. These, however, give a much lesser role to the shaman. These cultures include

other specialists, not called shamans, who take on the tasks of prophecy, divination, healing,counseling, and religious rituals and ceremonies such as the escorting the souls of the dead to

their place in the Otherworlds. Although the shaman may still use the ecstatic trance, lightertrances such as those I described earlier are also used. Post-shamanic cultures may be foundamong some native peoples of North American, Asia, Africa, and Indo-Europe.

There are societies today in which many of the trappings and symbols of the shaman are used;

however, in these societies, the ecstatic trance is not used, and soul travel to the Otherworlds,when it happens, is accidental. These cultures may still have visionary traditions, but thevisions come from dreams, or from establishment of a lighter trance much more closely akinto the various levels of hypnotic trance rather than to ecstasy. In addition, the use, and evenencouragement, of visions is not limited to a specialist, but is found in the general population

as well. This is properly called "Pseudo-shamanism" (false or near shamanism) and may befound in many of the Indian nations of North America. Many people call the visible spiritual

specialist, or "Medicine Man," of these nations a shaman, even though he does not use theecstatic trance. In their own languages these cultures call the person in that role somethingthat usually translates much more closely to "Holy Man" or "Holy Woman."

The misuse of the word "shaman" by outsiders, when applied to that kind of sacred specialist,

causes a great deal of confusion. Unfortunately, there are no clear-cut divisions, nor specificmarkers, that differentiate between, or among, the practices of cultures who are trulyshamanic and those who contain elements of pseudo-shamanism. Indeed, some peoples willhave different combinations of the two types practicing at the same time. However, it isextremely important to realize that even a "pseudo-shamanistic" culture is a far cry from the

artificial and contrived shamanic fakery that has over time been inflicted upon Westerners bythe unscrupulous. In indigenous traditions, even "pseudo-shamanism" is an authentic and



culturally valid practice, and it bears certain key resemblances to the Historic or ClassicalShamanism found in the same indigenous cultures.

One unifying factor in both of those areas is that their traditions are intact as an unbroken line passed on from teacher to apprentice, whether it be from Shaman to apprentice or from "HolyPerson" to apprentice. This teaching consists of diverse elements which cannot be acquired byanyone outside of the culture. These may include:

A specialized understanding of the knowledge of the community being served;Recognizing the presence of guiding, helping, ancestral and teaching spirits;Blessings, charms, wards and ceremonies;Methods of divination;

The means for creating the costume and equipment necessary for the performance of spiritualresponsibilities;Initiatory rites;And other related areas.

All of those teachings are specific to the culture in which they are found. Although culturesthat teach shamanism can be found in Asia, North America, Africa and other countries which

contain indigenous peoples, the specific teachings in each individual shamanic or pseudo-shamanic society relate only to their own People and the Land in which they live. Theteachings are in context with the cosmology and worldview of the people. If these teachingsshould be taken out of context, the vast majority of them could not be understood. Attemptingto adopt and practice them without being a part of those societies, a part of the Land where

they belong, is disrespectful, and would constitute a mockery of the honor they deserve.

So what can we do? Many people today are being led by Spirit into a form of spirituality and practice that has pseudo-shamanic elements. In response to this call, a kind of non-traditional,contemporary shamanism is developing in both the Americas and elsewhere in the "civilized"

world. Unfortunately, this non-traditional "shamanism" has no continuity of tradition. Instead,the practitioners adopt a crossbred melange of trance techniques, astral projection, often

include derivative elements of eastern spirituality, and classical or religious mysticism, andoften combine this with neo-Pagan and Wiccan ritualism. In some cases certain ancient trancetechniques have been added to an existing spiritual tradition to fill in some missing elements.

The resulting systems and practices are something that can no longer be properly called"shamanism." This does not devalue the developments that we are making and discovering. It

does put us into a new category for which there is no appropriately descriptive word or term.

Thanks to the efforts of such anthropologists as Michael Harner and Felicitas D. Goodman,even a person without a continuity of tradition can learn and use various shamanic techniques,obtain good results, and satisfy that demanding spirit within them. These writers and teachers,

as well as a few others listed below, have taken the essence of shamanic practices, strippedthem of their culturally specific elements, and presented them as a bare bones foundation on

which to build. Needless to say, however, any person who chooses the path of study and practice leading to use of certain non-culturally-specific shamanic techniques must be clear inhis or her own mind that what they are learning, and practicing, is NOT Classical shamanism.

It is not actually any kind of authentic shamanism. It is a shamanically-related andshamanically-based practice, suitable for use in cultures where shamanism is not a native

tradition.

The following books will take you step-by-step through some shamanic techniques andexercises. They won't, however, make you a shaman. If you are already working within a particular spiritual orientation, you'll find that adoption of some of these techniques and

applying them to that orientation will help you to understand it more thoroughly. If you arenot working in a spirit tradition, these techniques will help you to understand your own place,



to develop your own practice and spiritual orientation, in much the same way as we do inToteg Tribe. It is important to remember NOT to take symbols and practices from any culture but your own unless you are being taught by a legitimate teacher authorized by that culture todo so. But it is entirely valid and possible to integrate elements of shamanic practice into yourown mode of spirituality in a spirit of learning and with respect. In so doing you have anopportunity to intensify and illuminate aspects of your own spiritwalk whilst avoidinginsulting the actual followers of the ancient pathways of shamanic spirituality.

Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy by Mircea Eliade (ISBN 0691017794)*The* classical reference that clearly defined what is and is not shamanism. It providesnecessary grounding in classical shamanism, and is invaluable as a reference forunderstanding aspects of your own experiences.

The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner (ISBN 0062503731)This book is a must read, as it established and defined much of the popular vocabulary andtheory of modern neoShamanism.

The Journey to the Sacred Garden: A Guide to Traveling in the Spiritual Realms (ISBN:1401901115)

by Henry Barnard WesselmanIncludes an experiential CD of shamanic drumming and rattling, providing us with aneffective, easily learned technique for expanding awareness and shifting consciousness safely.

Where the Spirits Ride the Wind : Trance Journeys and Other Ecstatic Experiences (ISBN

1879181223) by Felicitas D. GoodmanAnthropologist Goodman documents the effects of body posture on trance experience.Interesting and somewhat controversial conclusions.

Soul Retrieval : Mending the Fragmented Self (ISBN 0062504061) by Sandra Ingerman

An excellent introduction to soul retrieval, following the Harner method.

So You Wanna Be a Shaman

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