What is a Shaman? | The School of Shamanic Initiation
Shamanism is based on an understanding of the energetic nature of reality. Mythology and anthropology are two fields that have provided evidence to support shamanistic beliefs and practices. Shamans were able to dream their world into being within this energy realm, which allowed them to participate in creating reality with other members of society.
Shamans have been mentioned all over history; some famous examples include Merlin the wizard from King Arthur's court to the Spider Woman in Native American cultures like Navajo Indian tribes. Mythological representation can be found worldwide - for example, there was Morpheus (Greek god), Hermes (Egyptian god) who served similar functions of medicine men.
Some people mentioned that "Shamans" refers to "shamani," a word meaning someone who communicates between worlds or planes for knowledge or healing purposes. Others said that the term has its origins in Siberia "one who knows" where it referred specifically to people who entered expanded states of consciousness in order to interact with the spirit realm. The term was then adopted by anthropologists when describing cultures that were still practicing shamanism today, especially indigenous communities living in areas including Siberia to some areas of South America.
A Shaman is often used as a catch-all term to describe any individual who has the ability to communicate with the subtle and the earth or interact within an expanded state of consciousness. Understand that not all cultures use the same terms for these individuals - medicine men and medicine women - have many names. There are various ways that they access their abilities like through dreams, intentional journeying as drumming, meditation, ingesting entheogens or near-death experiences.
The main purpose behind entering into high frequency states was seen as healing purposes but also included divination methods such as discerning information about past and future events by reading signs from nature. There were some shamans who specialized in both healing and curing. The training and tests , as well as the types of practices, followed by a shaman varies from culture to culture. There are different distinctions between shamans depending on their tribe's heritage; however they all share some similarities including "Initiation instruction".
The closest word used by western society when it comes down to describing someone involved with healing would be a holistic healer because they believe that disease involves an interplay between emotional/mental states and physical states.
A shaman in ancient cultures is more like a doctor of the soul and treats the person as a whole not just the symptoms or illness; they focus on how to heal a person in the mind, body and soul. They were often highly respected members of society who held great power within tribes or communities because they could interact within nature through expanded states and gain information from other realms that would benefit the community in perfect harmony .
Nowadays a shaman can be someone that brings social change to society, that person that can provide reassurance during times of change by providing a sense of reciprocity and harmony with past and future. Why not? choose to know. Be a shaman.
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