Contemporary core shamanism-history

The method that I have learned, and find easy to teach, is Michael Harner's core shamanic practice. Harner is an American anthropologist who has studied shamanic practices around the world to find what is common, or core, to all of them. They appear to be part of all cultural traditions if we go far enough back in time.

Shamanism seems to be the way humans originally connected with their spirituality. The shamanic sixth sense that allowed hunters to sense where game was, or gatherers to find the medicines and food they needed and know how to use them, was essential to human survival. With the rise of organized religions and technological cultures, shamanic practices were lost or driven from many cultures.

Interest in shamanic practices is occurring world-wide, as people of many cultures realize that a purely technological and material approach to life is barren and not fully human. Not recognizing the connectedness of all life has led to the destruction of many lifeforms on the planet and is not healthy for all other lifeforms living now. In searching for healthier ways to live, many are finding themselves drawn to spiritual practices that are based on recognizing the interconnectedness of all life, and that there is more to life than meets the eye--a magical dimension exists around us at all times that we can tap into to enrich our lives.

When Harner discovered the power of shamanic practice during his fieldwork in the Amazon Basin more than 30 years ago, he wanted to teach this to Western people, so they would learn more compassion and respect for each other and other living things. But in many cultures, the road to becoming a shaman is long and arduous and Harner did not see Westerners as willing to go through that process. He searched to find what was core to shamanic practice around the world, so he could teach people the bare bones of accessing non-ordinary reality without any cultural trappings.

He developed a synthesis of the essence of shamanic practice that is simple and easy to learn. He stresses that once you learn basic contemporary core shamanic practice, the way to learn more is to follow the guidance you receive from your own personal spirit helpers (power animals or spirit teachers) in non-ordinary reality and/or work with an experienced teacher.

Non-ordinary reality

Shamanic practice is the practice of deliberately connecting with "non-ordinary reality" for guidance, power, and healing. Non-ordinary reality is present in the same time and space as ordinary reality (in which you are now reading these words, and maybe eating your lunch), but we are usually not consciously aware of it.

It touches us through our intuitive hunches (we know who is calling on the phone, we feel strongly we should take another route and miss a car accident by doing so); we probably experience it in some of our dreams; it may be our own imagination or subconscious, or Jung's collective unconscious; it is what some call the "spirit world," others the "dreamtime." Someone who can work with non-ordinary reality to provide guidance and healing for others, is called a shaman (a word from the Siberian Tungus tribe).

Regardless of our beliefs, religious or otherwise, about non-ordinary reality, it is a realm which we can access to make our ordinary reality lives richer and more fulfilling. When we can consciously move in and out of this realm, we have access to resources that can transform our lives.