Shamanic JourneyingA Beginners GuideBySandra Ingerman EasyRead Large

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TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroduction................................................... .........................iiChapter 1: Shamanism: The Path of Direct Revelation.. ................1Chapter 2: The Three Worlds.................................... ................7Chapter 3: Power Animals and Teachers.......................... ..........14Chapter 4: Preparing to Journey..................................... .........31Chapter 5: Common Questions about Shamanic Journeying.........43Chapt er 6: Undertaking Your First Shamanic Journey..................65Chapter 7: Divi nation and Healing Journeys..............................71Chapter 8: Additional Journeys................................................81Chapter 9: Integratin g Your Journey Practice with YourCommunity...................................... .....................................88Resources................................ .............................................91About the Author................. ..................................................92About Sounds True........... ......................................................93Back Cover Material..... ..........................................................94

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IntroductionWhen many of us think of the word shaman, itbrings to mind a spiritual healer steeped in secretknowledge and mysterious powers. So how did anordinary girl from Brooklyn get involved in shamanismback in the 1980s?In 1980, I was att ending the California Institute ofIntegral Studies, where I was getting my maste rsdegree in counseling psychology. For financialreasons, I had to work sixty hour s a weekand Iwas taking twelve credits a quarterso I was alwayslooking for easy cr edits. One day I was in the officeat school, and a friend walked in and told me that aman was flying out from Connecticut to teach aweekend workshop on somethin g called shamanism.He did not know what the workshop involved, but hetold me tha t I could get two easy credits by takingit. I immediately signed upwithout even l ooking atwhat the required reading was. The workshop beganon Halloween of 1980.T he man flying in from Connecticut turned out to beDr. Michael Harner, anthropolo gist and author of TheWay of the Shaman,who is known for having revivedthe tradi tion of shamanic journeying in modernWestern culture. While researching his book , Dr.Harner made a critical discovery that became thebasis of his widespread tea ching in the West. Heii

found that the shamanic journey is a practicecommon to all shamans and cultures throughouthistory, regardless of their geography or culturaldifferences.During a shamanic journey, the shaman goes into analtered state of consciousness to jour ney outside oftime and space into what Carlos Castenada callednon-ordinary reali tyor what I think of as a paralleluniverse. Typically, the shaman listens to some formof rhythmic percussion, which carries the soul intonon-ordinary reality. In these journeys, the shamanretrieves information from helping spirits who maketh emselves available in non-ordinary reality forhealing help and to provide inform ation for patients,family, and their community.During the weekend workshop, I le arned that thepractice of shamanic journeying can be used byanyone today in orde r to get answers to personalquestions, to learn different healing methods, to he lpothers in the community, and to work on world andglobal issues. As soon as I m et my helping spiritduring my first journey, I realized that this practicewould not only help me face the challenges in mylife, but would also further my person al growth andevolution. Since then, in concert with my backgroundin psychotherap y, my goal has been to find the bestway to apply and share this powerful, ancien ttechnique.iii

The practice of shamanic journeying is a way for usto feel personally empowered in our lives. It providesus with a way to have direct revelation and is a simple approach for accessing spiritual guidance. It is a wayto get us out of our heads as well as to expand ourawareness and consciousness.When we begin to learn that we have the ability toproblem solve for ourselves, it raises our self-esteemin a grounded way. Going to meet our helping spiritsmakes us feel valued and connec ted to the spirit thatlives in all things. We feel loved by the power of theuniv erse, and we never feel alone again.In working with the helping spirits, we lear n the truedefinition of power. True power is being able to useour energy to crea te transformation for ourselves,others, and the planet.Shamanic journeying is a joyful path to regaining theknowledge of how to bring our lives back into a plac eof harmony and balance. It helps us to wake up toour full creative potential. A s we do this, our liveschange in a way that brings good health and well-being to ourselves and others. I have watched peoplewho have been depressed wake up to t he joy of life.People have started dancing and singing after alifetime of repres sing their creative spark. I havewatched people build their lives back up after

sufferingdebilitating illness and personal loss. I have watchediv

people get their voice back. We just need to havethe desire and an open heart to d o this work.Everyone can journey and open to the new dimensionsof life that the spirits are waiting to show us.It is important to understand that I will not be trainingyou to become a shaman. Traditionally, it is nottypical for someone to v olunteer for the role ofshaman or to self-identify as a shaman. Rather,someone i s chosen by the spirits to become ashaman and to act in the service of his or herc ommunity. In shamanic cultures, it is actuallyconsidered bad luck to call yourse lf a shaman, becausethis is seen as bragging, and the shamanic view aboutpower i s that if you brag about having it, you will loseit. Instead, your community rec ognizes you as ashaman based on the successful results that youachieve for the b enefit of your clients and the greatercommunity.In Shamanic Journeying: A Beginn ers Guide,you willlearn one of the most fundamental techniques usedby shamans wor ldwide to connect with spiritualhelpers, to access personal spiritual guidance a ndhealing, to help others and the planet, and toreconnect with nature and its cy cles and rhythms:the shamanic journey. This practice is designed togive you dire ct access to your own spiritual guidance.I believe that the times we live in cal l for each of usto develop tools for resolving our own problems, toolsv

that enable us to become more empowered and re-sourceful.Many of you will use th is method for your ownpersonal healing, growth, and evolution. Afterextensive pr actice, some of you will be guided to beginusing this work to help others in you r community andin your work to help the planet. This program isdesigned to provi de you with an introduction to thetechnique of journeying in such a way that you r owndestiny with it can unfold. The accompanying CDcontains three drumming sess ions to help you getstarted with your journey practice. Once you havecompleted r eading Shamanic Journeying: A BeginnersGuide,you will be ready to use the CD as a n accom-paniment to your journeys into non-ordinary reality.vi

Chapter 1Shamanism: The Path ofDirect RevelationShamanism is the earliest spirit ual practice known tohumankind, dating back tens of thousands of years.Although the word shaman is a Siberian word for aspiritual healer, shamanism has also been practicedin parts of Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, Greenland,and native North and South America throughouthistory. The fact that the practice has survived an dthrived for tens of thousands of years speaks to thepotency of the work.One of the beautiful aspects of the shamanic journeyis the principle of direct revelati on. The practice ofshamanic journeying helps us to part the veilsbetween the see n and unseen worlds and accessinformation and energies that can help awaken us a ndrestore us to wholeness. A shaman is a man or womanwho interacts directly with spirits to address thespiritual aspects of illness, perform soul retrievals,div ine information, help the spirits of deceased peoplecross over, and perform a va riety of ceremonies forthe community. Shamans have taken on many rolesin tribal communities. They have acted as healers,1

doctors, priests, psychotherapists, mystics, and story-tellers.Traditionally, th e practice of shamanism has focusedon practical results achieved by the shaman. In atraditional shamanic culture, there was either a singleindividual or a few p

eople in the community acting inthe role of shaman. The shaman would be consulte dby hunters and gatherers in the tribe to identify foodsources. If the shaman we re unable to accurately di-vine the location of food, the tribe would not surviv e.Shamans were also expected to perform healings formembers of the community. On ce again, the survivalof the tribe was largely dependent on the shamansspiritual abilities.Shamanism teaches us that everything that exists isalive and has a spi rit, and that we are joined with theearth and all of life via our spiritual inte rconnected-ness. Just as quantum physics describes a field ofenergy that connect s all of life, shamans also speakof a web of life that connects everything. In m odernculture, many of us feel a deep longing to experienceour unity with this we b of life and to heal our senseof isolation. When we travel to non-ordinary real ityin our shamanic journeys, we learn how to communi-cate with the spirit of the trees, plants, animals, in-sects, birds, fish, reptiles, and rocks, as well as thespirit of the elements of earth, air, water, and fire.We directly experience the web of life.2

As we are a part of nature, we have a deep need toreconnect with natures cycles a nd rhythms. Imaginehow exhausting it would be to walk against the flowof a river every day of your life. In truth, we havedisconnected from the cycles and rhyth ms of the moonand the seasons, and often we do walk against theflow of the river of life. I believe this is partly thecause of such ailments as chronic fatigue, depression,and a host of other illnesses, both psychological andphysical, that are so common today. The helpingspirits have a great deal to teach us about rest oringbalance and harmony into our lives by reconnectingwith natures cycles and by living in unity with thenatural world.Within the practice of shamanism, there a re a varietyof ceremonies performed for honoring and workingwith the cycles of n ature and the cycles in our ownlives, as well as for reading omens and interpret ingdreamsall of which provide insight, healing, andempowerment. Shamanism can als o teach us thevalue of having a regular spiritual practice and thevalue of being in service to others, which brings agenuine sense of meaning and purpose to our lives.Finally, shamanism enables us to access powerfulforces to help us create the world we want to liveinfor ourselves and for others.Shamans heal emotional an d physical illness byworking with the spiritual aspect of illness. The tradi-3

tional role of the shaman has been to performceremonies. After tens of thousands of years, tra-ditional shamans are still part of community lifeand practice in Siberia, Asia, Australia, Africa, andNorth and South America. The technique ofsh amanic journeying that you will learn in thisbook is just one of the ceremonies shamans useto establish communication with the spirit world.There are three comm on causes of illness in theshamans view. First, a person may have lost hisor her power, causing depression, chronic illness,or a series of misfortunes. In this c ase, the shamanjourneys to restore that persons lost power. Or aperson may have l ost part of his or her soul oressence, causing soul loss, which sometimes occurs during an emotional or physical trauma, such asaccidents, surgery, abuse, the tr auma of war, beingin a natural disaster, or other traumatic circum-stances. This soul loss results in dissociation, post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression, illness,immune deficiency problems, addictions, unendinggrief, or coma. It is th e role of the shaman to trackdown the parts that have fled and been lost dueto t rauma by performing a soul retrieval ceremony.The third cause of illness from a shamans perspec-tive would be any spiritual blockages or negativeenergies that a client has taken on due to the lossof his or her power or soul. These spiritual block-ages also cause illness, usually in a localized area4

of the body. It is the role of the shaman to extractand remove these harmful ene rgies from the body.Other ceremonies performed by shamans includewelcoming child ren into the world, performingmarriages, and helping people at the time of death transition from body to spirit. Shamans also workto encourage the growth of crop s, help people tointerpret dreams, and advise people who are expe-riencing troub le. Shamans are in charge of initia-tion ceremonies conducted around transitions fromone phase of life into another, such as initiatingchildren into adulthood. Shamans tell stories aboutthe meaning of life and show us how the spiritscan hel p us find our way when we feel lost in ourlife circumstances. They can remove sp ells or darkenergies, and read the tenor of the community,picking up disharmony and imbalance. They createceremonies to mourn the loss of a member of thecommuni ty. Shamans also read signs and omensto choose auspicious times to undertake act ivitiessuch as hunting and celebrations.Shamans understand the cycles of natureth ecycles of the seasons and moons, and how thestars move across the sky. They rea d the signsthat come with these changes and movements.They communicate with the weather spirits andmaintain harmony and balance in their communi-ties.5

Typically, there would be more than one shaman ina community. Different shamans would be known fortheir spiritual areas of expertise. For instance, someshamans would be known for their great successes inparticular healing ceremonies such as soul retrievals,while others are known for their divination abilities.Over time , the practice of shamanism has adapted inresponse to different cultural needs a nd the changingneeds of the times. Currently, there is a dramaticrevival of sham anism in the West, with a wide rangeof people integrating shamanic practices int o theirlives, including students, housewives, teachers,psychotherapists, lawyers , nurses, doctors, politicians,and scientists. I believe that one of the main re asonsfor this revival is that people want to be able to accesstheir own spiritua l guidance. We want to stop givingaway our power to socially acceptable authorit yfigures. We know that we are the only ones who trulyhave the power to change ou r own lives.6