What is Shamanism?

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Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner who interacts with a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, similar to trance. The practitioner works with spirit allies and universal energies to bring healing into the physical world for the client.  

Currently,  in non-indigenous cultures, shamanism is studied and practiced as a life path. Following a shamanistic perspective, individuals seek to be in relationship with the spirit in all things. They seek to use information and guidance from non-ordinary reality.

The basic worldview is that there is not just one reality. There are multiple realities; the mundane physical reality, Middle World, that we inhabit and other invisible realms. Those realities are different for every practitioner. They can be filled with animated human, plant, and animal spirits. Shamans summon these allies to help heal people. 

Our spiritual force fields, or energetic shells can become damaged as we go through life. A person who may suffer a trauma can lose some of their soul and personal power. This can open opportunities for maladies and illness. Life traumas can knock off pieces of the energetic shell or create holes in it making a person vulnerable. 

Shamans call on spirit allies to help restore portions of the soul, reclaiming that energy to help the person become energetically whole again. Shamanic healing is part of a holistic system that works as a complementary modality to other practices such as Western medicine.