Living a shamanic life

I have always been fascinated by indigenous cultures. Reading Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan about a Western woman’s dreamtime walk with the Aborigine people introduced me to a way of thinking about life that was magical.

I was glued to the TV every time Bruce Parry’s Tribe came on - a documentary where he lived with indigenous people from different continents. He was often initiated into their customs, drinking different healing plant medicines. In one episode a medicine gave him deeper insight into a past relationship that transformed him forever.

Getting a sense of their connection to the natural world felt like opening a door to a part of my soul that was starved.

Our culture teaches us that we were kicked out of the Garden on Eden, that we are sinful and if we control our base natures then we will go to heaven. This social story was effective in controlling the masses for centuries but was overtaken by rational scientific enquiry during the age of Enlightenment.

This postulated that we live in a mechanical universe. Anything not physically observable was deemed not real or even worthy of investigation. This followed centuries of the violent murder of many people in the name of eradicating witchcraft.

The legacy of our history sits heavily on the collective psyche and I believe is the root cause of many social ills - from domestic violence and depression to environmental issues and racism. The human ego struggles with the powerlessness and isolation that is bred in a hierarchical system in a meaningless universe.

In contrast, indigenous people are deeply, joyfully, connected to a magical, intelligent universe. The wind, mountains, water and rocks are alive and speak wisdom if you can quiet the rational mind long enough to listen.

There is no hierarchy - we are all droplets of water in the ocean of divinity. In order to cultivate a relationship with all that is, we must be in sacred reciprocity, in a proper balance of giving and taking.

In my own way, I have sought to walk a shamanic path for many years. Completely imperfectly, piecing together whispers of traditions mostly from other cultures, but which all speak to the interconnectedness of all life and the energetic nature of the universe. Ayur veda, energy medicine, EFT, reiki, mindfulness, chakras, emotional clearing as well as listening to intuition, connecting to spirit and honouring the cycles of birth, blossoming, decay and death.

Shamanic pagan traditions were brutally suppressed in my culture, as in so many places around the world. I feel so called to do my best to resurrect that connection with nature, with soul, with spirit and in so doing walk a medicine path that evolves to exist in modern times.

I want my children to feel their place in the cosmos viscerally and to experience themselves as something more than a selfish organism complaining that the world won’t conspire to make them happy. I want them to feel the belonging that comes from stepping outside of the constant game of competition and comparison that is happening in schools.

I want to feel connected to something greater and use my one wild and precious life to dance in harmony with the magic of creation.

I took the Munay-Ki shamanic initiation into the Q’eru shamanic lineage last weekend and I intend to further deepen my study with this tradition.

In time I will offer more but right now what I have to give are my words and videos - stories of nature connection and healing, and my dance gatherings.

Humans have always danced in ritual. In times gone by it would have brought the tribe together in ceremony in order to reach communion with the divine or to process heavier energies felt by the group. I have studied with Movement Medicine creators Susannah and Y’Acov Darling Khan - two shamanic practitioners that have created a practice for the modern world.

Through entering sacred space and allowing drum and music to move you, it’s possible to really land your soul and presence in your body in a much more powerful way. You can shake off patterns of behaviour held in the body, you can allow your heart to soar as you connect with the music, with your soul, with the natural world and everyone else in the space.

I’m excited to hold this new kind of space. I’ve been wanting to for a while but not felt entirely qualified (I have not finished the Movement Medicine apprenticeship). The munay-ki rites have given me a shove to just go for it, because there is nothing like this on the island (as far as I’m aware) and this powerful practice creates ripples of soul and vitality, connection and wisdom out into the community. I want to be part of creating spaces like that.

I hope I see you there!