Shamanism, Spirit guides, and Meditation/Dream states

[theAmbassador]

Well, I keep trying to PM Eisheth with my questions about Shamanism but for some reason my messages wont send :=I:. I'm looking to learn more about Shamanism and spirit guides from a more personal perspective, hearing about it from real people with real experience (wikipedia can only express so much). A colleague at work mentioned his spirit animal and it had me intrigued enough to look into it since I am already researching earth based paths of spirituality. I was surprised to find ties to not only Shamanism, but Animism, Pantheism, and the general practice of meditation which I was already reading into through my study of Chakra.

I'm hoping to learn more about the connection here and whether or not I should be looking for a spirit guide during my attempts at meditation. I am currently deployed and have limited access to books and other media but website references as well as personal experience are both welcome and appreciated.

[Gardenia]

Re: Shamanism, Spirit guides, and Meditation/Dream states

I'm hoping to learn more about the connection here and whether or not I should be looking for a spirit guide during my attempts at meditation.

Well, do you feel you need one? A lot of people seem to go off looking for spirit guides/helpers just out of curiosity, or because they think the concept is cool - which, while not the most horrible of reasons, sometimes it's easier if one really knows why they're looking. By that I mean, lots of people meditate and never get involved with spirits or guides, but if one were planning to do spirit-journey work, or work with other spirits (like local nature spirits, or ancestors), getting to know your guide(s) might be a good first step. Depends on where you path takes you/where you want to go, and why.

[theAmbassador]

Re: Shamanism, Spirit guides, and Meditation/Dream states

Well, do you feel you need one?

I'm not sure that I need a spirit guide or that I even necessarily believe in them. I am really just looking to learn more about them as included along side Meditation, Shamanism, and Dream states. I have done a lot of digging around but I feel like I could understand it better when explained by someone who actually practices/ has had experience with it.

[Jembru]

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Although most typos are obvious, 'blastic' was meant to say 'plastic'. I swear I am not dyslexic, I just have very clumsy thumbs..

[Gardenia]

Re: Shamanism, Spirit guides, and Meditation/Dream states

have done a lot of digging around but I feel like I could understand it better when explained by someone who actually practices/ has had experience with it.

I guess I don't really understand what's causing confusion for you, so sorry if I'm about to repeat what you've read already...

Basically, I was a practicing pagan for several years (which included regular meditation, and some amounts of dream work) without ever really dealing with spirits, guides, or anything like that. It wasn't until I started doing Otherworld/spirit travel/trance work and other spirit work that I decided to seek helpers, or guides. I found them through trance work (which, imo, is different than meditation), as well as through dreams in one case. As Jembru pointed out, these helpers aren't always animals. As spirits, I've always thought their form was more fluid, and the form they took was more for our benefit/understanding than anything else...

For me, they help when I spirit travel, or when I work with spirits while staying in the physical world, and sometimes with spell-work such as healings. Sometimes they assist as a literal guide of sorts, sometimes as guardian, watchman, advisor, or helper in other ways. In my practice, these spirits don't just exist solely for my benefit/to act as guide, but rather they're their own beings, and we have a sort of... mutually beneficial relationship. I don't do any real dream work with spirits, but occasionally they will show up in a dream with a message.

[theAmbassador]

Re: Shamanism, Spirit guides, and Meditation/Dream states

As Jembru pointed out, these helpers aren't always animals. As spirits, I've always thought their form was more fluid, and the form they took was more for our benefit/understanding than anything else...

This. I'm glad you expanded on this for me. Though I don't subscribe to trance work/spirit travel, I have heard of spirit guides in meditation and I was wondering if I might encounter said spirits while practicing.

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I have both: my spirit animal is Magpie and my (main) spirit guide is basically an imaginary friend from my teens. I didn't go looking for either.. in noth cases, they were already present before I read about spirit alies and it was more a case of 'so THAT'S what these are?'

Some people like to work with guides, some don't. I am quite passive in my approach to my guides these days, although when I was a medium, they featured a lot more. I talk to Arkle, my spirit guide, maybe every few days.. usually just for comfort when I am alone and worried about things. Magpie reminds me of my magical side whenever I see one.

Do you think that everyone has the potential to see spirit guides/animals?

[Gardenia]

Re: Shamanism, Spirit guides, and Meditation/Dream states

This. I'm glad you expanded on this for me. Though I don't subscribe to trance work/spirit travel, I have heard of spirit guides in meditation and I was wondering if I might encounter said spirits while practicing.

Ah, okay, I misunderstood what you mean by should you be looking for one while meditating. From what I've seen, you're not likely to encounter spirits while meditating unless you're actually trying to seek them out. Like I said, many people meditate for years without ever coming across such a guide. However, 'isn't likely' isn't the same as impossible, so it could very well happen at some point.

[Jembru]

Re: Shamanism, Spirit guides, and Meditation/Dream states

Do you think that everyone has the potential to see spirit guides/animals?

It depends, I guess, on what you think these spirits are. JP believes they are generated by our own minds. He has to believe, because he's experienced things, but his experiences don't exactly match up to the idea that they're external spirits. For example, he woke up one day to see his gran sitting near the window smiling at him. It was very vivid and real, yet she was alive and well in her home in Middlesbrough at the time. So he thinks it is something to do with the way the human mind works, that we don't fully understand. We know for sure that we can see images and stories while sleeping, so we know the brain can create some complex images. It's hardly a stretch to think it can do the same thing while awake in some people.

As for meaning behind these 'waking dreams', there could be. Interacting with them has definitely helped me in many ways.

So can everyone see them? Everyone has the potential to use their imagination and those who can, probably will. There are some people who don't want to, or know how to use their imagination. I doubt they'd be likely to see anything.

Btw, I'm not saying this is definitely what I believe. Spirits may well be external beings. It's just a theory I'm currently exploring and thought I'd put it out there as an alternative!

[Juniper]

Re: Shamanism, Spirit guides, and Meditation/Dream states

Well, I keep trying to PM Eisheth with my questions about Shamanism but for some reason my messages wont send :=I:. I'm looking to learn more about Shamanism and spirit guides from a more personal perspective, hearing about it from real people with real experience (wikipedia can only express so much). A colleague at work mentioned his spirit animal and it had me intrigued enough to look into it since I am already researching earth based paths of spirituality. I was surprised to find ties to not only Shamanism, but Animism, Pantheism, and the general practice of meditation which I was already reading into through my study of Chakra.

I'm hoping to learn more about the connection here and whether or not I should be looking for a spirit guide during my attempts at meditation. I am currently deployed and have limited access to books and other media but website references as well as personal experience are both welcome and appreciated.

If you feel that you need a spirit guide, or feel that you have one because you seem to notice a particular animal appearing to you, then you should probably follow that line of exploration. I, personally, don't have a spirit guide, in the sense that most people have them.

Let me back up for a moment.

I follow a specific form of Shamanism that the Q'ero people in Peru follow. There is not much known about them in the modern world since they live in the remote parts of the Andean mountains and weren't even discovered until about approximately 60 years ago. There are a few books I can recommend if you are interested in learning about this specific path, but even my own path is not 100% Quechua. It has a few influences from other paths. Primarily, though, the core beliefs are that of the Andean Shamans.

Animism and my form of Shamanism are closely connected. We believe that the mountains are a form of Deity. We don't necessarily have "Gods", though.

We have animals represented as Archetypes, which are also connected with the Chakras.

• For instance, the root chakra is represented by the great serpent spirit, Hatun Amaru. In Peru, this is the Anaconda. Some people choose to use their regional snakes, such as the Burmese Python. Personally, whenever I envision Hatun Amaru, she appears as a Red Tail Boa. I think this is largely because when I was younger, I used to own one and had/have formed a strong connection with her. Hatun Amaru represents transformative healing.
• Moving on, the Sacral Chakra was represented by Otorongo, the Cat spirit. The Q'ero view this as the Jaguar. In the Northwest, it might be the Mountain Lion (Cougar). I typically envision the Jaguar. Otorongo is the archetype that represents justice, and establishing personal boundaries.
• The solar plexus is slightly different as it houses two animal archetypes. Kente the Hummingbird and Huanacauri the Dragon. The are sort of the yin and yang to each other. The Hummingbird specializes in multitasking and meeting deadlines while Huanacauri is the slow-paced cross your t's and dot your i's sort of being. The patient one of the two.
• Lastly, the heart chakra is where Kuntur the Condor resides. In the NW, it might be the Bald Eagle. Kuntur is typically the archetype for long distance vision, seeing the big picture, seeing consequences... good parenting attitude and compassion.

The last three chakras have other non-animal archetypes associated with them, which I will not get into at this time...but you get the point.

Even though that is usually the more popular thing people ask me about, it's really just a small part of our tradition. The Shamans, as I see it, are medicine people. The medics of the community. They specialize in communicating with the spirit world to help people heal, be it physical healing or spiritual healing. They perform rituals to bless their community, a specific event, a person or group of people whom are embarking on a journey, etc. They offer protection, advise, medicine, and guidance to their people.

Here is a link to a blog post of mine that I managed to salvage from before the great forum crash, which has a little more information and book recommendations at the bottom.

http://www.paganforum.com/entry.php?25-Reminiscing-and-digging-up-the-past

I may have more input once I read the rest of the replies. I kind of only hit reply to the OP at this point.

[Jembru]

Re: Shamanism, Spirit guides, and Meditation/Dream states

Wow, that's fascinating Eisheth.. I have animal spirits I associate with my chakras too, but I made it up (so I thought). Different animals, but the root Chakra also has a snake.. a multicoloured snake I call 'Axel'. I was maybe 18, possibly younger, when I invented this system, but it has worked so well for me, that I never gave it up!