In Part 1, I discussed how shamanism has been commoditized in the modern world, and brought into the mainstream new-age for better or worse. To summarize, there are many issues with the mainstream, new-age "shaman", from purely financial (only upper-middle class white people seem to be able to afford the workshops), to issues with information dispensed (the shamanism being presented is often not shamanism at all, but a conglomeration of spiritual, new-age thoughts combined with modern pop-psychology), to issues with naming (the term shaman comes from a specific tribe originating in Siberia and thus arguably should remain with them), to the simple fact that many people who are interested in shamanism have not had any sort of calling to be a shaman, and do not know the sort of initiations, illnesses, and path a shaman must follow. In the end, I agree that some of the practitioners of modern shamanism are helpful, as are many counselors or other allied health professionals. But the degree of difference between someone called and shoved onto this path vs. someone wanting to take a self-help workshop are many.
So how is a Shaman called?
Well, many believe that a shamanic calling has to do with heritage/ancestry (someone in your family lineage was a shaman or had spiritual gifts) and some believe that it has to do with agreements made prior to birth. Often, there is an thought regarding needs for the planet- meaning that a certain number of people who are able to communicate with spirit are needed on earth at a certain period in time.
How does this Shamanic calling manifest?
In some cultures, midwives can tell in utero if a child will be a shaman based on the amount of energy or souls that accompany the child. When a shaman is born, they are often remarkably different right away from others in their tribe/community. There is a look in their eyes, a sensitivity to the world, that manifests from their first breath. It is said that when someone who is not a shaman is born, they are born into a sort of amnesia- where they forget the other worlds, dimensions, and energies that surround us. A shaman does not have that amnesia, and has a great deal of early childhood pain over the fact that they can see and hear things that others cannot.
Often the child shaman is unable to process the amount of information and pain that is coming to them from their calling, and they succumb to severe illness and/or death. A severe childhood illness and/or death is almost always a marker of a shaman, so much so that certain tribes would starve or put a child out who they thought was a shaman so they would have a near-death experience or severe illness. In modern society, most modern shamans I have met have had a traumatic childhood, severe illness, or near-death experience. Since we live in a society where shamans are not nurtured or taught when their abilities are discovered, many who have the calling to become a shaman have several near-death experiences (or actually die) until they are able to find their path.
What are the other markers of the Shamanic calling?In the previous blog (Part 1) I discussed how many modern spiritual enthusiasts go to shamanic gatherings to find their "tribe" and how funny that this was to me. This is because traditionally, the shaman was shunned and lived on the edge of society. People generally fear, mistrust, and do not understand the shaman because they are too different. This all would change if they needed something from the shaman, like a healing. Often, since the shaman is partially wild and not entirely of this plane, they prefer solitude anyway, although often because of their abilities, they don't have much choice in the matter.
Shamans always are between worlds, have the ability to look and see deeper patterns in life. This can separate the shaman from others, who do not see the patterns. Most of all, a part of them is animalistic and primal. There is a wildness to them due to their abilities and their nature, which isn't totally human. They have no choice but to remain like this- it is simply who they are: born into a human body but animalistic and part of the forces of nature. Shamans are called and must be a part of nature to survive. It is a part of their calling to commune with nature- they are nature, and they will become ill if they do not spend the appropriate amount of time learning from nature.
Above all, being a shaman is simply dangerous. Most people in self-help workshops and beginning spiritual pursuits do not understand that what they are coming across is self-created, meaning it is part of the illusion that you set up for yourself. Angels, animals, teachers, plants all come across to tell you exactly what you want to know (I could tell a funny story about how I asked a tree the other day for it to teach me, and it said no, and how I briefly felt offended, but that is for another day). Real spirits, forces of nature, and energies are dangerous, and must be treated with respect and careful understanding. Shamans negotiate with the spiritual realms to turn disease, misfortune, and evil in the lives of people and the land around. The same people who shunned the shaman in the market one day will bring their child to the shaman the next day for healing. They are constantly aware of the precarious balance of the universe, and their community, and most of all, they are like a big nightlight for spirits and energies to come after because the shaman can notice them.
Overall, a shaman will know that they have a calling because they simply do not have a choice in their lives about what to do with their path. If you are called to be a shaman, you cannot become an accountant. If you do not follow your calling, pain and suffering will follow. And when you do follow the path of your calling, you realize that you are a tool of the divine, a hollow bone, and your life becomes a series of initiations and clearings of your history/past, physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual bodies until you reach a place where you can actually be of service, and utilized properly.
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