If you'd like to read another wonderful article by Dan, check out his interview with Glen Velez: Chakra Tuneups.
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We sit at our computer in our home or office and send information and healing energy to people in other parts of the world.
To the uninitiated, a person sending e-mail doesn't look like they're doing anything different than typing correspondence on a word processor. But with the tap of a few simple command buttons, my personal message and its energy flies through an intricate web of invisible electronic signals until it miraculously arrives on the screen of my friend's computer, whether they live around the planet or across town from where I am.
Consider another fact of modern life. We use more herbs for natural healing and choose more vegetarian meals to promote good health, because we know that staying closer to the earth works. These are rapidly growing segments of the marketplace. We are remembering what our ancestors knew.
The most popular holistic doctors all agree that talking walks and meditating daily, along with practicing love and forgiveness, will add to our health: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. No one needs a college degree to practice these things. You don't even have to buy new shoes to get started.
Before TV became the focal point of almost everyone's living room, people would gather together to make music and tell stories along with sharing a meal as a way of creating community. Those of us who lead these activities are engaging in shamanic practices.
As we become more conscious, we realize that all of the holidays we celebrate, from Halloween to Christmas to Easter to Groundhog Day to Valentine's Day to May Day and so on around the year had deeper meanings, different names and life-affirming rituals before they were reduced to reasons for retailers to have special sales. These represent our natural way to tell time and stay connected to the cycles of nature. Shamans help people remember these ways.
Drumming, energy healing and spiritual journeying can be learned by anyone who wants to learn. These are not techniques only practiced by isolated tribes. If your ancestors lived in Europe, Scandinavia or the British Isles, they had shamanic rituals and traditions of their own which are universal and resemble those of other cultures. Meditate with the runes, fast in preparation for your great days, whether they be personal epiphanies, celebrations of the moon cycles, or the seasonal holidays. Dance yourself into a trance using a CD player to provide the beat if you are alone. Sweat in a sauna or teach an alais for inner and outer purification. Camp out in the woods for a day or two, with minimal accessories and request that nature give you a vision. Modern shamans, who live in urban and suburban areas do all of these things and more.
Shamans are different from people who are simply engaged in self-help, personal growth or metaphysical studies. Shamans offer themselves in service to others, in service to Mother Earth, and as a result of being of service in these two ways, gain enlightenment and growth for themselves. You don't have to set up shop as a professional healer. It can be as simple as blessing someone's house or partnership if they ask. Help someone grieve or facilitate healings if they ask. Join or support an environmental group. Gather friends for a drumming, storytelling, holiday or moon circle.
If you seek kindred spirits to share your adventures with, they are all around you. If there is not a gathering of like minded people where you live, start one. Don't get hung up on any dogma. A real shaman does whatever works. Invite more people into your circle to share. Remember the ancient wisdom, and merge it with our modern life. Once you do, your life will be richer by far. These are ways to live every day. The path is open to all who wish to journey.