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  • Hello, folks.

    Hello, everyone,

    I have been a practicing shaman for about 5 years now (following a miraculously botched series of suicide attempts), and it never ceases to amaze me how there always seems to be something new to learn and interesting about our ancestors' traditions, and our legacy as a species. Prior to civilization and the industrialization of mankind, we were so finely attuned to the world around us, and I really miss and long for that connection again. I presume you all are too? I'm looking forward to finding out and meeting all of you.

    Besides getting to know other shamanic practitioners and fellow Neo-Pagans, I am very interested in lucid dreaming and OBE phenomenon, while not so excitable about psychadelic or intoxicating substances. The core of my personal practice lies in deep meditation and musical trance, not so much psychadelic drugs and other hallucinogens. As some of you probably know, there's a lot of negative social stigma attached with coming out as a shaman, but hard as it was, today I have two families (really good friends of mine; sadly, my own family doesn't warm up too well to my new-found path) who've come to recognize my practice and my tradition. I'm hoping to also meet other people here who maybe have the same problems as I do when dealing with the rest of society.

    That's enough for now. It really feels good finally finding a community where I don't feel so ostracized or shunned for following my instincts. Thanks all again for having me and I hope to talk to you soon on the forums.

  • #2
    Re: Hello, folks.

    I have two friends that are practitioners. Welcome!
    The Dragon sees infinity and those it touches are forced to feel the reality of it.
    I am his student and his partner. He is my guide and an ominous friend.

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    • #3
      Re: Hello, folks.

      Welcome to the forum! Feel free to ask questions.
      "Fair means that everybody gets what they need. And the only way to get that is to make it happen yourself."



      Since I adore cats, I might write something strange or unusual in my comment.Cats are awesome!!! ^_^

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      • #4
        Re: Hello, folks.

        Welcome to the forum. DO have a question though so please don't take this wrongly. Do you acknowledge your shamanism to be a pathwalk or a spiritualwalk? What I mean is in aboriginal type societies the shaman is a member of the religion / spiritual practice of the people but their shamanic function enhances the spiritual as a go between. The shaman is not a spiritual leader themselves but acts in the interest of the people to read the spirits, signs, etc.

        In a lot of neo-shamantic practices I see people claim to be spiritual and call it a spiritual pathway vice a way of life. So I am curious when someone self identifies as a shamanic practitioner. Not saying nor implying one way is more correct than another just curious for my own sake.
        I'm Only Responsible For What I Say Not For What Or How You Understand!

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        • #5
          Re: Hello, folks.

          Hello and welcome! I look forward to seeing you around.
          “I am Cat and I walk alone and all ways are the same to me.” ~Rudyard Kipling, The Cat Who Walks By Himself

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          • #6
            Re: Hello, folks.

            Originally posted by monsno_leedra View Post
            Welcome to the forum. DO have a question though so please don't take this wrongly. Do you acknowledge your shamanism to be a pathwalk or a spiritualwalk? What I mean is in aboriginal type societies the shaman is a member of the religion / spiritual practice of the people but their shamanic function enhances the spiritual as a go between. The shaman is not a spiritual leader themselves but acts in the interest of the people to read the spirits, signs, etc.

            In a lot of neo-shamantic practices I see people claim to be spiritual and call it a spiritual pathway vice a way of life. So I am curious when someone self identifies as a shamanic practitioner. Not saying nor implying one way is more correct than another just curious for my own sake.
            Hi! I'm not really sure of the definitions of "pathwalk" and "spiritualwalk" respectively (pardon my illiteracy), but your description of the function of the shaman in traditional hunter-gatherer societies generally fits my perceived place in the grand scheme of things. I didn't primarily choose this path because I wanted a particular way of life. That was secondary. I chose this because I wanted to serve a community.

            And while I have no tribe of my own, I do have close friends whom I felt I could watch over. I never really fit in with people in general. I was always spacey, zoning out and probably asking too many questions for my own good. Becoming a medium by which people could connect to the world seemed eerily natural for me. I don't think I would have decided to become a shamanic practitioner just for a lifestyle trip. I've had to endure a lot of abuse and punishment, something I am not so sure a number of neo-shamans are that privy too.

            I am not sure if I have answered your question.

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            • #7
              Re: Hello, folks.

              Let me try to expound on my definition.

              For me I am a shamanic practitioner but it is the way I live my life and serve. As such that is my pathway or the life I live. Yet my actual religious / spiritual practice is more Hellene in structure and format. That is my spiritualwalk or the gods / goddesses that I pray to, am bound to and dedicate my life to. None of that touching upon the various branches that shamanic practitioners may actually fall beneath though most neo-shamans in my opinion seem to automatically assume healer.

              Using say a Native American of the Lakota Sioux nation as an example. The shaman, medicine person, shirt wearer, pipe holder, etc would pray to the gods / goddesses the Lakota believe in as their spiritual / religious life. Yet the medicine person assists the spiritual / religious leader in that the gods / goddesses may say do this, do that, etc but the medicine person reads other things to aide in telling how it is manifesting. Like the medicine person may call upon the spirits of certain plants to aide in curing some illness of the body while the spiritual leader calls upon the gods / goddesses / spirits. They compliment each other not try to be as each other.
              I'm Only Responsible For What I Say Not For What Or How You Understand!

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Hello, folks.

                Originally posted by monsno_leedra View Post
                Let me try to expound on my definition.

                For me I am a shamanic practitioner but it is the way I live my life and serve. As such that is my pathway or the life I live. Yet my actual religious / spiritual practice is more Hellene in structure and format. That is my spiritualwalk or the gods / goddesses that I pray to, am bound to and dedicate my life to. None of that touching upon the various branches that shamanic practitioners may actually fall beneath though most neo-shamans in my opinion seem to automatically assume healer.

                Using say a Native American of the Lakota Sioux nation as an example. The shaman, medicine person, shirt wearer, pipe holder, etc would pray to the gods / goddesses the Lakota believe in as their spiritual / religious life. Yet the medicine person assists the spiritual / religious leader in that the gods / goddesses may say do this, do that, etc but the medicine person reads other things to aide in telling how it is manifesting. Like the medicine person may call upon the spirits of certain plants to aide in curing some illness of the body while the spiritual leader calls upon the gods / goddesses / spirits. They compliment each other not try to be as each other.
                Oh, I think I get it. My Shamanist practice definitely leans more towards "spiritual practice", as I have a very experiental practice. I have a shamanistic worldview in the sense that I am an animist and concentrate more on the great web of existence and how everything is naturally interconnected. I have nothing against polytheism - soft or hard, but we have oracles and priests for that. My lot in life is much simpler - to show people where they stand in life as a species in contrast to the rest of existence, and the magic that this wonderful gift of life brings.

                With regard to my path, if my understanding of your definition is correct, I am a lot more flexible. While I definitely have a cultural base for my practice, I serve a multi-purpose role for my immediate community. I am a means to an end, rather than an end in myself. Does that answer your question?

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                • #9
                  Re: Hello, folks.

                  Thanks for answering my question. Raises a couple more but not sure this is the place to ask them as it's your intro thread.
                  I'm Only Responsible For What I Say Not For What Or How You Understand!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Hello, folks.

                    Nice to meet you. Forgive the back story, but I recently came to consider myself as shamanist, although not a shaman. I still primarily refer to myself as a 'witch', and religiously as a pagan, in spite of the vagueness of both terms. All the same, it sounds as though we have a few things in common.

                    The shamanist aspect of my work takes the form of inner work (working primarily on my own personal and spiritual development) and is based on personal experience rather than on the practices of any ancient or extant civilisation. My service to my community takes the form of taking care of those with learning disabilities and mental health diagnosis, and I'm currently developing the skills to support the dying and recently deceased.

                    I also have lucid dreams, and I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on how these fit into a shamanic belief system. At the moment, I don't 'work' in this state, although I'm gradually improving my ability to control them on the off-chance that something useful could come from it eventually. That said it took me over 2 years to learn to fly more than a few meters at a time, so I'm still a long way off being able to do whatever I want when I'm in that state.

                    I discovered I can induce something similar to the lucid dreaming state if I listen to drumming, but I'm not actively doing this after being warned off from entering the 'outer worlds' until I'm ready.

                    Sorry for such a windy post.. I do this sometimes! In any case, welcome to the forum! I'm sure your experiences and insights will be inspiring to those of us with similar practices, and I'm not shy to describe my own experiences in detail for the benefit of generating insightful discussion into the nature of the Spirit! Definitely come over to the shamanism and meditation/journeying sub-forums and share your own thoughts!
                    夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

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                    • #11
                      Re: Hello, folks.

                      Originally posted by Jembru View Post
                      -snip!-
                      Well met! I admire the work that you do for your community. Are you a nurse/caregiver/doctor/special needs or education specialist by profession? It must take a lot of courage to work with people about to or who have just passed on. I don't really see any problem with whether you choose to associate yourself with the shamans of old or are comfortable doing your own thing. Well at least it doesn't bother me. Shamanism's always been an experientally-based tradition, so power to you! But really just props to you for what you do for your community. In that respect, the most I've ever done was use acupressure to deal with infantile colic and help a child who wanted to be athletic overcome asthma. How do you do it?

                      I'm not sure if this is the place to inquire into the nature of your lucid dreams, but I'm very excited for you! I find that when you've hit that point where you can at the very least project yourself outside your shell, you're just about ready for exponential progress. Do you have a teacher? Either a spirit or an older shaman?

                      I'll definitely be hitting up the Shamanism subforum soon. It's always good to see and meet fellow travelers I can talk to comfortably about these things. I'll see you around!

                      Happy Hunting,
                      Somnath

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                      • #12
                        Re: Hello, folks.

                        Thanks for the reply! Well, this is your thread, and I think we're a bit more relaxed about what you can discuss in your intro thread. That's the feeling I get anyway. It's a safe place to get to know one another after all!

                        If you want to take the discussion elsewhere though, I touch on my experiences here: http://www.paganforum.com/showthread...piritual-plane. In fact, I've described dreams and journeys all over the place, but it's hard to remember specifically where everything is, and some of it is inner world journeying, which you might not be as interested in. I refer to my dreams as 'vivid' most of the time in those posts, largely because I don't always have awareness that I'm dreaming (something has to make me notice), but there is still a marked difference in how these dreams feel compared to regular dreams.

                        Of course, you could always start your own thread, or ask a staff member to re-open on of the existing threads (just do a search for 'lucid dreaming', and see if any of those topics seem relevant), if you want to discuss lucid dreaming specifically.

                        On the subject of teachers. I've a few spirit helpers. On in particular, Arkle, who began life as an 'imaginary friend' in my teens and my main animal helper is Magpie. Again, I have a long and close relationship with Magpie. I have other guides too, such as Great Horned Owl/Eagle Owl (I'm not sure which he is, as they both look similar. I assumed he was Great Horned Owl for a while, until I met an Eagle Owl and heard that they're being reintroduced to the British Isles. My work is land-based, so a local spirit makes more sense. I've asked for confirmation, but it hasn't come yet).

                        I also have a second inner world, in which my guides all take animal form. I don't know yet, but I think they're all different parts of me, rather than actual spirits. It's a work in progress!

                        - - - Updated - - -

                        Oh, I forgot to answer your other question. I am currently a support worker. I work the night shift in a home for 5 adults with 'dual diagnosis', that is, a learning disability and mental health diagnosis. Although my job isn't specifically palliative care, this is considered their home for life. So eventually, people we support grow old, or sick. My company is building a specialist facility for elderly people with Downs' syndrome, because the current services for the elderly tend to fail people with learning disabilities (we were told a lady we support had less than 6 months to live.. over 3 years ago, because had she been in a regular home, that would probably have been true). I'm considering putting my name forward to work the night shift there eventually. I imagine it'll be hard but very rewarding work.

                        I've also been a community enabler (for the same company), and a classroom assistant for teens with learning difficulties, disabilities, or behavioural problems. I'm just really at home in this line of work. It's cheesy, but the people I work with really make my life complete.
                        夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Hello, folks.

                          Welcome to the forum!
                          Anubisa

                          Dedicated and devoted to Lord Anubis and Lady Bast. A follower of the path of Egyptian Wicca.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Hello, folks.

                            A really big thank you to everyone who has come out and gone out of their way to greet me. I really appreciate it.

                            Jembru, I don't always remember much of my travels either. I do however, almost always feel sick after returning. Do you have any particular tools or methods to help you journey? I always like learning about how other travelers do it. I'll be sure to visit your link right after typing this!

                            You certainly seem to be in the right career track - conducive to your shamanic practice, and it looks like you're really enjoying it. I'm a pharmacologist with a minor in psychotropic plants, psychadelic substances and hallucinogens. At any rate, it's good that you've found a community to serve. I personally believe that the service bit is the most pivotal part of being a proper shaman. Good on you for that and I hope you flourish there.

                            Likewise, I have three spirit helpers - Black Raven, Wild Horse and Yak.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Hello, folks.

                              Originally posted by Somnath View Post

                              Likewise, I have three spirit helpers - Black Raven, Wild Horse and Yak.
                              Woah! If you stumble on my 'second self' thread, you'll learn of the significance White Horse has had in my spirituality recently. I think it is in that thread that I tell the story of a recently met friend of my partner and me, who was signing all his text messages with an image my phone couldn't read. He has become somewhat of a catalyst in personal development for both of us. A really special human being (who is sadly only here as part of a research project he's doing, so we lose him next spring!). I told him about how much horses mean to me, and he wrote down his name and showed it to me. It reads as 'One Horse', or guess you could say, 'Lone Horse', the image I couldn't read on his messages turned out to be little horse heads!

                              Tools? Nothing really. I've been meditating to my own spirit place, Rotokia since I was about 18 or 19 (I'm now 33). This is mainly how I built up my visualisation skills. The lucid dreaming started much earlier. I was a child, maybe about 6 or 7, and had a nightmare in which a friend's dad was trying to run my down in his car. I was really scared and remembered thinking to myself, 'this can't be real, this must be a dream' I knew then that I had to wake up. I managed to, and from then on, whenever something bad happened in a dream or otherwise, I'd try to wake myself up.

                              It wasn't until my late teens/early twenties that I started to fly in most dreams. Never very high, or for long, more like jumping on the moon really. This quickly became a mental link for me. I'd start this 'flying' and realise I was dreaming. However, when I try to imagine things, they'll be invisible. Still part of the story.. like I imagined a horse from Rotokia and was riding around on him. I could feel him, and see that I was above the ground, but couldn't see him.

                              I can fly much better most of the time these days (although I get nervous if I go too high, and still find going higher than a 4 story building is quite hard), but the invisibility issue is still there if I try to manifest anything.

                              When I deliberately induce this state, it feels different. I have much less control of what is happening, despite knowing that I am meditating. It feels even more 'real' than the dreams, and I have a feint feeling of panic. My heart pounds, blood pulses in my ears and there's always a high pitched ringing sound. I get into this phase by listening to a drumming track I found on youtube and play through my phone (I'll share the link if you're curious, although it's just some kid with a drum, and he loses his rhythm quite often). I'm yet to do this again though.

                              There's one more thing though, that you might call a 'tool'. After a year or two of experimenting with different pre-recorded tracks, I've finally perfected my technique in writing self-hypnosis scripts that work on me. My personal definition of 'magic' is anything that affects change in conformity with will, which means I include asking someone to open a door for you because your arms are full, or taking cough syrup because your throat hurts. However mundane it seems, if it gets the job done, it is a skill or knowledge worth developing. So hypnosis is a vital tool in my inner work, in changing unhealthy thoughts and behaviours. I've started writing a script that will combine the hypnotic state, with journeying. The idea being that I'll encourage better control of my dream state, as well as other magical development. I'll let you know how that works out for me!
                              夕方に急なにわか雨は「夕立」と呼ばれるなら、なぜ朝ににわか雨は「朝立ち」と呼ばれないの? ^^If a sudden rain shower in the evening is referred to as an 'evening stand', then why isn't a shower in the morning called 'morning stand'?

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