What is Shamanism?

Shamanism is the direct experience of spiritual knowledge. The word Shaman is believed to have originated in Siberia it means, “One who walks between the worlds.” Eventually the word was used to refer to indigenous medicine men and woman whose practice involved contacting the spirit realm either for healing purposes or for divine information. Modern Shamanism is not affiliated with any particular religious sect, however many religions use Shamanic practices. Shamanism is not a religion but for some it is their spiritual practice.

For more information on Shamanism please read Michael Harner’s book, The Way of the Shaman (HarperCollins 1980) or Dream ways of the Iroquois by Robert Moss (Destiny Books, 2004)

What does a Shamanic Practitioner do?

A Shamanic practitioner primarily works with their established spiritual guides to help provide healing for individuals that need healing. Shamans also work with their guides to find information that may be useful to themselves, their clients and society.

Shamanic Services

Please call for pricing on our Shamanic Practices at (518) 843-6293.

Soul Retrieval

One of the primary reasons an individual today might seek out a Shamanic practitioner is to provide soul retrieval. Many indigenous peoples believed that soul could not bear the direct impact of trauma, so in order for the soul to survive it would leave, sometimes it would return and sometimes it would become fragmented and would not return entirely whole. When an individual feels they are suffering from soul loss, the Shaman will travel to non –ordinary reality, aided with the Shaman’s own familiar spirits and retrieve the soul pieces that had become fragmented. You often hear people say they haven't felt like them selves since a specific event occurred, a break up, loss of a loved one, an accident; that phrase is a good indication that soul loss has occurred. Someone saying, "I just feel like I am going through the motions and not really living anymore," is also a sign that soul loss has occurred. Often there are symptoms associated with soul loss such as:

• Depression
• Sleep Apnea
• Addictions
• A feeling of being lost or incomplete
• Inability to move past an issue
• Feeling stuck
• Feeling disconnected from life
• Feeling numb
• Something missing from life
• Feeling shattered, in pieces
• Lost a piece of yourself.
• Can't find yourself.
• A part of yourself died
• Lost memories
• Never felt the same after traumatic event

A sense that someone took a part of you. You keep wanting to return to a person or location that seems unhealthy or unlikely, even though there is no apparent reason for you to do so.

For more information see Sandy Ingerman’s book, Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self

Power Animal Retrieval

A power animal is a tutelary spirit which guides helps or protects individuals, lineages and nations. In the shamanic worldview, everything is alive, bearing an inherent virtue, power and wisdom. Our power animal(s) represent our connection to all life, our qualities of character, and our power.

Power animals are endemic to shamanic practice. They are the helping or ministering spirit or familiar. Power animal is a broadly animistic and shamanic concept that has entered the English language, from which adds to the power of an individual and is essential for success in any venture undertaken.

In the shamanic worldview, everyone has power animals or spirits which add to their power and protect them from harm, like guardian spirits in the Judeo-Christian Tradition. The power animal may also lend its ward or charge the wisdom or attributes of its kind.

The purpose of a power animal retrieval is to find a helping spirit, whose energy an individual may need at this particular time in their life. It may be a journey to find a spirit that was lost, replace one that left or to find a new helping spirit.

For more information on Power Animals please see the Druid Animal Oracle by Phillip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm (Simon and Shuster, 1994) or Ted Andrew’s Animal’s Speak (LLewllyn , 1993)

Soul Remembering

It is believed by many different people that our souls came to be in our bodies for a reason. Perhaps we had something to learn or to teach, or perhaps we saw something on Earth that we thought we would enjoy, so we came. But from the moment we arrived, we received ideas and projections from others; our parents, siblings, teachers, and lovers. So perhaps we lost sight of why it was that we came. Soul remembering is to journey back to the time when the soul decided to incarnate and to find information to help it remember why it came.

For further reading on this subject we recommend Don Miguel Ruiz- the Four Agreements (Amber Allen Publishing 1997) or Sandra Ingerman’s How to Heal Toxic Thoughts: Simple Tools for Personal Transformation (Sterling, 2007)

Extraction

Shamans work with the spirit or the soul and they work with energy. In the case of shamanic extraction they are working with misplaced energy. No energy is truly bad from a shamanic perspective. If energy is misplaced or isn't in accord with the environment (the human body, or the body of land...) it will bring illness. Shamanic extraction is the removal of displaced energy, sometimes called intrusions. This is energy that does not belong in the body and may cause illness.

Normally the Shaman will make a “diagnostic” journey to determine exactly where the misplaced energy is. Then, usually, while merged with a helping spirit, they will remove this energy and transmute it so that it is no longer causing harm to the physical body or to the Earth.

Divination

The word Divination is derived from Latin divinare "to foresee, to be inspired by a god", related to divinus, divine) it is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of a standardized process or ritual. Diviners ascertain their interpretations of how an individual should proceed by reading signs, events, or omens, or through alleged contact with a supernatural agency. Divination can be done through a journey with the guidance of helping spirits through interpretation of signs in nature and through the use of tools such as tarot cards or runes.

You may contact us by e-mail if you have any questions or would like to schedule a consultation.