Shamanism is not unique to the Native American peoples, and never was. Even today, it is practiced worldwide. There are a great number of shamans in South America, it has been extensively practiced in Asia, Europe, Africa, and even by the Aborigines in Australia. The term 'Shaman' is actually from ancient Tibet. (Various NA tribes have different names for it, but using the term shaman is just convenient to lump them all together.) Again, the actual practices differ from culture to culture, from tribe to tribe, and from country to country, but the core is pretty much the same. This is to be expected. Just one minor example of why this would be so; I mentioned herbal remedies. Well, the herbs growing here in the Pacific Northwest are not the same as those that grow in the desert southwest, and those aren't the same as those in the plains, etc. Those in South America and Europe and Scandinavia are all a little different still. So though I can now get herbs from virtually anywhere in the world, the ones I know best are the ones that grow around here, so those are the ones I'm most apt to use. Anyway, shamanism is perhaps the oldest practiced belief system in the world...it predates even ancient societies. Several years back, they found a mummified corpse in an ice flow in the alps, dated at over 10,000 years old, and one of the items that was found with the corpse was a medicine bag, containing what a modern shaman would call 'objects of power', and which you might find in any shaman's medicine bag today. That isn't 100% proof, of course, but it is very close.

Nobody knows for sure where the belief originated, and there are hundreds of theories about it, or more. My own belief, and like any other theory, there isn't enough data to really support or deny it, is that at one time, before great organized societies, when man lived a much simpler life (qualifier below), he was much more in tune with nature. Being truly in tune with nature, sensing spirits would have been almost second nature. So while a shamanic student of today must be taught about the spirit realms, how to go there, and so forth, back then virtually everyone already knew that part of it. HOW to use that knowledge had to be developed yet, but they were already well on their way to that part of it. So, by my belief, shamanism must have originated long, long ago with the primitive peoples anywhere they lived.

The qualifier I mentioned is this: When I say 'simpler life', I do NOT mean "easier life". In very many ways, it was far harder than life is today. I mean only that there were few towns or cities and existence was largely a matter of finding shelter, food enough to eat, and so on, to a much greater degree than today, except in some of the more isolated places in the world where people still live that way (and in almost every case, incidentally, those people believe in some form of shamanism.)

In regard to the charging for services, I find it interesting how it works out in some of those more isolated places. There, a shaman is held in great respect. A person wouldn't even consider giving a shaman less than their due, for the performance of duties. For instance, a family has a baby that is dying, and the shaman treats it with a combination of herbs and spirit journeys. It quickly makes a full recovery. It is not unusual for that family to then give the shaman a portion of everything they own. The result is that the more powerful and knowledgeable shamans in those areas end up actually more wealthy than the average person, though very often, they give that wealth right back to the community in various ways. In the US, though, since this is a market driven society, people are much less apt to give what something is worth. It is a pity, but it is a fact of life. I cannot practice shamanism full time, for instance, because I'd starve. I even teach shamanism without requesting anything specifically in return. Being a shaman may afford a person a good deal of power, but being a shaman still means to serve. My own biggest reward is when I see someone helped by my work.

A side trip about the above. There was a special sometime back on the Science Channel that shows that the treatment was definitely not quackery. The story was about a small native village, where several people died, apparently of bubonic plague. This was recent, in the last decade or so. It turns out that the plague was being transmitted by vampire bats. The people who died were all people NOT from the village, and when they looked into it deeper, the shamans of the village were successfully treating people in their own village who came down with the plague! In fact, both aspirin and quinine came from shamans of different areas. Modern medicine may try to forget the advances that have occurred because of shamanism, but they are still there.

As far as God and spirits, remember that it isn't necessary to believe in God in order to be spiritual. Personally, I do believe in the Grandfather. But I know a few shamans who don't. They'd best be called agnostics rather than atheists...they don't deny the possibility of God, they simply say that they don't know. But most shamans also believe that the Grandfather very rarely meddles in the affairs of man. The spirits DO meddle, which is why shamans work with, and sometimes against (depending on circumstances) the spirits. It is like dropping a large stone in the center of the lake...you do not need to continue dropping stones, nor do anything else, in order for those ripples to radiate out from the place you dropped the one. Likewise, God (IMO) created the spirits and all the other things on this world...he needs not do more to know that the 'ripple' will continue to spread out. Incidentally, it is for this reason that I don't immediately blame God when a tsunami destroys many villages. To my way of thinking, God created the world in such a way that plate tectonics would exist, which end up creating tsunamis, which sometimes destroy villages. It is cause and effect, and except for the initial creation (which also makes it possible for people to live here in the first place), God isn't out there figuring out ways to hurt or kill people. After all, he ALSO gave man the capacity to reason...it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if you live on a flood plain, sooner or later there will be a flood. It just takes observation.

In regard to western medicine, I agree entirely. There is hope, however. For many years, primarily in Europe and England, medical doctors have been working WITH alternative practitioners to give the patient the best care possible. I'm beginning to see this more and more in the US, too. There have simply been way too many cures for "incurable" illnesses, that have come from the hands of alternative doctors, that western medical science can't even come close to explaining. Fifty years ago, western medicine chose to ignore that. But now, they are slowly beginning to embrace it.

Rev Rex,

How did you overcome fear in your Shaman journey,

What i have read about in books , seems scarey to me...The things you encounter , etc.

__________________
Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do ~Rumi

The very first time, there is apprehension. It is the whole "fear of the unknown" thing. But two things helped. First, I had a shaman explain to me that I'd already had many unguided journeys, I just didn't know it at the time. As it happened, one of those times was a few days before I spoke to the Shaman, and I still remembered it vividly...it was really quite beautiful. Secondly, before taking the journey, I had several dreams about it (real dreams), and while they might not have been real exciting, neither were they scary.

I think that it would have helped me very much, though, if I'd had someone who had actually journeyed to tell me that the spirit realm was a place of intense and almost overwhelming beauty. The shaman I spoke about didn't say anything about that, but the truth is that the spirit realms are more beautiful than anything that can be imagined. The most beautiful place we've ever seen on Earth, even in pictures or tv, pales in comparison. In part, this is because in the spirit realm, the senses overlap. It is really impossible to explain that part of it, but you don't just "see" sights, you feel them. Everything is more vibrant there because you aren't limited to the way you're senses are constricted here.

To this day, I find journeying to be one of the most relaxing experiences I can do, and even when I do it for a very somber reason, I still come back feeling much more relaxed than before I go.

What are some of the reasons a Shaman makes a journey to the spirit realms?

Also, have you always been able to remember your dreams, had lots of dreams, etc. ?

~Peace

__________________
Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do ~Rumi

Much of a shaman's power comes from the spirit realm. Aside from that, there might be many reasons to journey to the realms.

We might go there to meet with our spirit guide, to get to know them better, to ask them a question, because they've called us, to receive direction in a given circumstance, to receive suggestions, to get inspirations, to relax, or to treat a patient, or for that matter, to find out why a patient had a particular illness. During this latter kind of journeys, a shaman will go much further into the spirit realm than they might otherwise do. This requires special preparation, knowledge, and training, and is the most dangerous part of a shaman's role.

There are also "special" sorts of journeys, such as vision quests. A vision quest is very involved and is a much longer journey than a normal journey. They are taken at a Nexus...a time in the Shaman's life when they are at a crossroads. These are not common to take, and in fact, I've only taken 3 vision quests. The last one lasted about 5 days. I won't go into detail about what happened, because vision quests tend to be tremendously personal in nature, and quite definitely life changing. But suffice to say that these are arduous journeys to take, and at times a shaman must deal with and confront truths they'd rather not.

I forgot to answer your second question. I don't dream any more than anyone else, nor do I particularly remember dreams, unless they have a direct impact on what is going on in my life at the time. For instance, in college, at one time I was plagued with a problem that I just wasn't getting a solution for. I used the old adage, "sleep on it", and just before waking up in the morning, I had a dream that contained the solution...very easy in retrospect.

How is one chosen to be a Shaman ?

__________________
Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do ~Rumi

That is extremely variable, mostly from tribe to tribe, or group to group. The title is actually given by the group, rather than just by having someone claim it.

With some tribes, the role of shaman is passed down generation to generation.

In others, it can only follow an extremely traumatic event (struck by lightning, hit by a falling tree, and so on.)

In some, only women can be shamans, in others, only men, and in some, either.

In other groups, it is a personal calling. This is true of my own case, though my paternal great grandmother was a shaman...I didn't even know about that until long after I'd started down the path.

I personally subscribe to this last way for several reasons. First and foremost, I think of shamanism the same way I think about writing. For a true writer, once there is an urge to write, there really isn't any choice about it. The writer either writes, or they will be plagued by the urge until they do. So it is with a shaman. Many who have started on the path don't even realize it yet, and in quite a few, they may even think that they are going crazy. They may have visions, will often take unguided journeys without knowing what anything means, will have urges to help others in ways they can't quite define, have or develop an intense curiosity about shamanism, etc. For such a person, they have really 2 choices. They can ignore it, in which case it will usually continue to bother them, like the answer to a question that you can't quite grasp, or they can start down the path firmly, learning rather than turning away, walking steadily rather than stumbling. Ultimately, though, only the person can make that decision for themselves. It isn't something anyone else, including another shaman, can tell them to do. And it isn't a decision to be taken lightly. There is enormous responsibility in becoming a shaman, it takes a lot of time and effort (I've been practicing shamanism for a little over 40 years and still have a LOT to learn...for instance, I can journey to other places in the physical realm, but I cannot shape shift. I don't know that I really want to or need to, but some shamans can.) Then there are certain dangers.

I once journeyed way deep into the lower realm to retrieve a fragment of a person's spirit. The person had a "mystery" illness that western medicine had been unable to diagnose, much less treat. It got progressively worse, but doctors were baffled after running just about every test in the book and even doing MRI's and CAT scans. The person came to me, finally, as a "last hope". It took me considerable time, perhaps a month, to find out that their spirit was fragmented, and a part was missing. I spent almost a week preparing for a deep journey, allying my spirit guide and ALL of my totems for the task (without the guide, there is no way I could find the spirit fragment), preparing my medicine wheel, which under the circumstances could not be a small portable one, it had to be semi-permanent, then ritual cleansing, prayers, song, and finally, I journeyed. At first, there was no problem, though I quickly passed further into the spirit realm than I"d ever gone before. I came to a place that totally disoriented me, and that was when trouble began.

Most...actually nearly all of the spirits in the spirit realm are either helpful or at least benevolent. BUT not all spirits are. In mythologies, a person might call the trouble ones "sprites" or "gremlins" or whatever you choose. But they do exist. Some cause problems on purpose, with a specific goal in mind. Others cause problems just to be causing problems. (Most people know a few other people who are like that.) So I had to work past one obstacle after another. To my credit, and yes, I'm not afraid to give myself a pat on the back if I honestly feel it is deserved, I never turned away from my objective. Several times, it would have been easy to do so, and in a few cases, it might have even been wise to do so. When I finally found the fragment, it was being watched over by a "hoarder". (My apologies...English, and in fact most languages, is not really adequate to explain things, so I have to do my best, even if it falls a little short.) A hoarder is basically a being that collects things. They can be things of value, or junk, it makes no difference, and usually it falls in between, with a little of both. Again, most people know other people who are hoarders. Anyway, this particular hoarder didn't want to release any of his 'treasures', which happened to include the fragment. I tried persuasion and pleading, but in the end, had to battle him. Having lived in the spirit realm for some centuries, he was far, far more powerful than me, and if it had not been for my guide and totems, I most likely would not have survived...western science would have probably concluded that I'd had a massive stroke, since all they would have been able to see would have been my body.

I bettered the hoarder, as much out of luck as prowess or ability...I won't go into how as that would take too long, and it had to do with one of the most insignificant of totems most people would consider...a mouse. Anyway, I headed back, and realized that I was totally, completely lost. The spirit realm is truly vast, and I'd come a long way. But thankfully, I'd made the medicine wheel, and my guide instructed me to 'follow the rope' (again, lapse of words). I did, and at great length, I came back to this realm. I found out that I'd been gone for just short of 4 days, I was severely dehydrated, and was running a temperature of 104.3, from lack of sodium. All of those things were taken care of fairly easily, later, after I'd returned the fragment to it's proper place.

The point of all of this isn't to discourage anyone from following the path, but to point out that there are dangers involved. Was I scared? You betcha! Did I get rewarded? Yes. The man in question (who is now completely healed of the mystery affliction, by the way) showed me how to fix my car, when I knew nothing about cars. That may not seem like much, but it was valuable to me at the time, and I also had the knowledge that I'd done something very good.

I'm sorry for the length of that last bit of discourse.

Thank You, that is truly fascinating, humbling and intriging at the same time.

Personally, while I love to help people, i do not know if i am strong enough for such things.

~Peace

__________________
Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do ~Rumi

Rev. Rex,

What have you learned about ego over the years of being a Shaman ?

Do you see a connection between ego and illness ?

How does one become disfragmented ?

What other realms exist ?

__________________
Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do ~Rumi

So your belief is most illness are caused by spirits, not by how a person lives, what they eat, stress, etc. ?

What ways do you use to learn that all life is linked together ?

__________________
Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do ~Rumi