Well, who are we without our ancestors? We have an immense amount to learn from our ancestors and their ways but this is now we are living in, complete with all its beauties, flaws and problems, we can use the technology of today, we can embrace the advances in science if used consciously and with care. Its not necessary to turn out backs on everything our Ancestors learned and taught us, nor do we need to try to recreate their times, far from it, but can’t we work with our ancestors bringing their knowledge and understanding into our lives here and now so as to honour our connection to who we are. We don’t need to either appropriate another culture or throw our hands up in despair and walk away? We have all the tools to be exactly who we need to be.
Where do we fit in? How do we find our place, as Westerners who have forgotten our true heritage? To be honest, I can’t tell you that but what I wan t to do is show you that you are not alone in your search and that together we can respectfully bring together what our Ancestors said and did with what is now and what our future could be.
For example, do you smudge? Do you regularly use imported herbs or native ones that you collect yourself? We can use both, of course, but sometimes it seems easy to follow what someone else has written in a book rather than connecting to our own unique environment.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with using anything you feel drawn to use, our Honoured Ancestors often prized exotic objects and tools, its ok to use what comes to us but also perhaps we can consider the true cost involved in regularly bringing something across thousands of miles, from a different culture and continent, the fuel used, the time etc. Also by working with the Spirits and resources which are native to our environment, we learn to connect to the land we live on in a very intimate and caring way.
Its just so easy to find oneself questioning our validity as shamanic practitioners when we first set out on the path of learning but some things to consider are:
Who else will do this?
If everyone walked away from the responsibility what would happen?
There are many, many Ancestors in spirit who have worked with and been guides to Shamans in the past but who have nobody to work with now because there are so few left, are you able to pick up the baton?
If you truly have started to develop a relationship with your guide is this where they are guiding you?
Do you feel called to help your brothers and sisters ?
Trust yourself. Know that your true emotions will guide you to the right place and that finding the healing we all need is the start. There is a distinct difference, of course, between yearning for status or trying to escape your current situation and feeling the true calling to help others through shamanic practice. It is necessary to examine ones motives and a little bit of introspection and honest self assessment should make things clear, again - trust yourself and be honest but don’t walk away simply because it seems like too big a mountain to climb. Dr Ruth Inge Heinz makes the distinction between Shamanic (the practice of a full-time shaman) and shamanistic (the practice of the layman) which is good to make but here we are trying to establish what you are called to and how far this takes you.
What are your natural talents? Are you an artisan who can make beautiful and meaningful objects imbued with their own unique power? Do you have a natural way with children or people? Can you always stay cool in a crisis or do you have a way with words? Whatever your skill or talent you will find that exploring it and allowing it to lead you will bring you to new insights both of yourself and those around you. Embrace your creative genius within and follow where it leads.
Whatever your situation, wherever you are, you are a unique and wonderful human being, capable of inner bliss and beauty on a universal scale. Whether you are an athlete or so severely disabled that you cannot move, you have the capacity to dream a new world into being. The changes you make in your inner landscape are reflected in the outer world and in this way every one of us are co-creators of our world in every way.
So what is this inner landscape I am talking about?
