What is Shamanic Healing?
Shamanism is an ancient method of healing that addresses the spiritual aspect of illness. Shamanism is not a religion. It is a way of life based on the premise that everything that exists is alive and has a spirit and that we all are connected through the sacred web of life. Shamanic Healing is used as treatment for a range of emotional and physical illnesses. Shamanic practitioners navigate between spiritual realms through a method referred to as ‘the shamanic journey’. This is most commonly entered into by drumming or rattling. This is done for the purposes of healing. Once a problem is identified the practitioner sets out to restore balance to an individual.
From a shamanic perspective there are three causes of illness:
A loss of power, causing depression and chronic illness;
A loss of soul essence, where a piece of one’s vital essence (soul) is lost, due to physical or emotional trauma (such as abuse, accidents, long standing illness, surgery);
A spiritual blockage or intrusion, where a foreign energy enters an individual who is in a state of soul or power loss. As a result, this energy is lodged in an area of the body and must be cleared so that harmony may be restored.
Healing sessions vary per the needs of the client and can include one or more of the following:
Power Animal Retrieval
Within the shamanic practice it is believed that every sentient being contains the spirit of the creator. These spirits are willing to devote themselves to the betterment of our lives by becoming our spiritual allies and offering us their power or ‘medicine’. A power animal retrieval helps restore well being by imbuing us with its particular strengths, knowledge, and talents. We are invited to forge a strong and enduring relationship with our power animal through meditations or actions- as revealed in the power animal retrieval. Each power animal that you have increases your power so that illnesses or negative energy cannot enter your body.
It is possible for a power animal to leave, which leaves the person disempowered and more vulnerable to illness. The practitioner retrieves this power animal for the client to increase either physical wellness, mental or emotional health depending on the needs of the client.
Extraction
Shamanic extraction is the removal of misplaced energy within the body. These are called Intrusions. No energy is truly bad from a shamanic perspective however if energy does not belong in the body it may cause illness. In shamanic extraction practitioners remove misplaced energy.
What can you expect during a session?
The client will be either seated or lying down fully clothed. The shamanic practitioner may use drumming or rattling to enter into an altered state of consciousness to travel into non-ordinary reality. The practitioner will place their hands on the client and move the hands to different positions on the body as the session progresses.
