Shamanism – An introduction

The Sami people´s original form of spiritual practice is  shamanism – like the rest of humanity. All indigenous peoples as far as we know have shamanic practices. 

The Sami people maintained an active shamanic practice until a few hundred years ago when shamanism was outlawed. 

Since then a lot of the sami shamanic practice has disappeared. Very few kept practicing, and they did it mainly in hiding. But happily the interest for Sami shamanism has awakened more and more the latest years. 

Although shamanism is sometimes referred to as a religion, it is something very different. Shamanism is a worldview that explains the universe, nature and life, but it lacks the dogmatic teachings of religions. 

A basic idea of Shamaism is that everything is life. And life does not excist without spirit.  Life is eternal, and what is eternal does not have a beginning nor an end. Every human, every animal, every plant, water and mineral is a conscious living being with a spirit. The earth, stars, the moon alike. 

This is what separetes shamanism from for example Christianity. 

The Christian idea is that only humans have souls and therefore are superior to other lifeforms. The old scientific idea is that rocks are a dead matter and that humans are more intelligent then plants.

When you consider that everything is a living spirit, your position in the world as a human being will be equal to all that exists.

In religion there is a story and a ruling God telling you what to do and not to do. In shamanism there isnt. 

Shamanism doesnt give you any rules to live by. Nothing dictating you how to live.  Its up to you as an individual to take responsability of your own choices in life.

What shamanism does is explain how the world works. And when you have that knowledge the question is; in what direction do you want to move as a human.

Shamanism is a worldview, understanding of the universe, the nature and life, and it provides different techniques to enter different levels of consciousness to help you live in harmony with yourself and your surroundings.

Shamanism can also be described as evolution. Its all about evolving. and the interconnectedness of everything in the universe. When you purify yourself, and find harmony within yourself and your surroundings you will ascend spiritually. 

Some of  the people we meet are under the impression that Shamanism is an old religion that indigenous people used to believe in, and few still do… But it is not religion you can study like you can study the Bible or the Koran.  

Shamanism is not a religion. It lacks a story to study.

Its more about what you see when you look at for example a mountain. Do you se a formation of dead matter or a concious living being with more wisdom then yourself? 

Some people we meet are very interested in hearing that we used to belive there was a wind-God named so- and- so, and a Hunting-God and so on. This information lacks context unless you have a basic knowledge of shamanism and can easily become unrealistic superficial tales. 

These kind of fragments are easy to relate to because the information doesnt interfere with their own worldview. But when we start explaining the core of shamanism from the beginning – from the base, people sometimes get uncomfortable, because it´s no longer exotic stories. Their perspective of the reality can start to change and they realize it is not actually just a curious mythology.   

Read what happened to Jungle on a train ride when he had a conversation about shamanism with a stranger.

THE SHAMAN

A shaman is a wisdom keeper and a wisdom seeker.

One of the features of a shaman is that she/he can go in and out of trance, – a different state of consciousness. Life excsist on many different levels of vibration. The trance-state can be used to alter your vibration to enter the spirit world.  

Plants where here long before us humans, so they are closer to the creation then us. In other words you can say they are closer to god – the great spirit. In a sense they are wiser and more advanced then us humans. The trance state can be used for communication with the spirit of the plants. 

The minerals where here even before the plants, but the gap between their way of thinking and human way of thinking is bigger then between us humans and the plants. 

If somebody gets sick the shaman can be of help. The shaman might not know himself/herself how to heal the illness, but since everything in nature, in the world and in the universe is interconnected, the answer to any question exists somewhere. Through the trance state a shaman can enter the «primal internet»  where its possible to communicate with plants, mountains, rivers, lakes, – everything  to find the answers and guidance needed.  

A lot of people have the idea that shamanism is something from the past, from ancient times. Although there is some truth to that, we definitely think a better description is to say that its something from the future.

Shamans throughout history have been pioneers ahead of their time. 

This was a breef introduction. More will come! 

Read what happened to Jungle on a train ride when he had a conversation about shamanism with a stranger.