Unwittingly, my first shamanic initiation experience occurred prior to having any previous knowledge about shamanism. And, since planting my feet on the shamanic path, other initiations have occurred. However, before I share my personal stories with you, it’s important to give you some background information about what initiations are and what they encompass. While some of it may challenge your sensibilities, I am here to tell you that I am alive and well and truly enjoy living the shamanic life, as do tens of thousands of others around the world who also walk this path. If it were that challenging there would be far fewer of us here to tell the tales!
In the shamanic tradition, initiation means that one spiritually dies to their old way of being in the world and experiences rebirth or coming back to life again as a transformed person. Traditionally, the idea of shamanic initiation comes through some form of “the calling.” Someone who is called to shamanism often goes through a major life-altering experience that completely changes the way she looks at and travels through life from that moment on. Rebirth is the transformed outlook that results from the initiation; a fresh beginning that offers the initiate brand new eyes that can now “see in the dark,” the mysterious realms beyond the ordinary reality of everyday living.
It is said that one does not choose to go through initiation. Instead, Spirit chooses who will be initiated and when. Sometimes, the one who is being called isn’t interested in going! Regular life can seem much easier compared to many of the strange things that shamanic practitioners are called upon to do. If Spirit is calling and the potential initiate being called isn’t willing, life can become intense. Spirit is much like a parent who feels the need to have their unruly child “do the right thing.” Spirit sees the person as someone who is meant to be on the shamanic path and does what is necessary to accomplish the mission.
What leads up to an initiation?
Sometimes the calling is accompanied by physical, mental, spiritual or emotional illness or dis-ease. The illness often appears for no apparent reason and cannot be healed by typical medicine.
Illness can come in many forms such as deep depression, disillusionment with life or dark night of the soul experiences. Sometimes, it comes by way of a fear-based driving obsession to save the world or to become enlightened. Shamanic dis-ease can include such physical challenges as chronic infections, severe headaches, respiratory problems and insomnia just to name a few. It can also come in the form of traumatic or abusive incidents from childhood.
Why does a practitioner have to go though initiation?
Fear-based events, such as those mentioned above, affect us at the very core of who we are and can hardwire us into the adults we become. As you will read later, the initiation process can dismantle and reassemble our wiring. Spirit knows that shamanic illness can cause our deepest fears to surface and that fear is one of the greatest impediments to taking responsibility for our own lives. Healing from as many wounded experiences as possible, no matter how scary, awakens us to conscious living. In order for future shamanic practitioners to become empowered, it is important to actually experience the process of moving through fear.
Once our greatest fears are released, we are no longer encumbered or held back by them. By that time, the candidate has come to accept his role as practitioner and the shamanic illness most likely disappears. Empathy for others arises and he is now able to relate to the dilemmas of others. He fully understands the hopes and fears of others from personal experience.
Some of the modalities used to assist clients in their healing process involve the practitioner traveling into other dimensions. Shamanic journey is one of these modalities. Letting go of fear makes it easier to relax so that we can move out of what is called the ordinary state of consciousness (OSC) into a shamanic state of consciousness (SSC). It is through this process that journeying occurs. In a SSC, the spirit body becomes free from the physical body and journeys into non-ordinary realities (NORs) for the purpose of petitioning the spirits on behalf of those we are assisting to heal. Journeying is also used to gain information and to connect with our spirits, guides and totem animals. During initiation, the journeyer has an opportunity to meet those spirits, guides and totems that come forward to work with us as allies.
To learn more about shamanism on your own, here are a couple of good books you may choose to read:
Cave and Cosmos: Shamanic Encounters with another Reality – Michael Harner
Shamanism as a Spiritual Practice for Daily Life – Tom Cowan
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“Empathy for others arises and he is now able to relate to the dilemmas of others. He fully understands the hopes and fears of others from personal experience.”
[…] with my friend who introduced me to the type of meditation I’m doing. She said I had a classic Shamanic initiation experience. I know nothing about Shamanism. It’s not something I’ve ever taken the time to learn […]