On Belonging to the Natural World

The first shamanic course I went on in 1997 took place in a hired room in a city. We were taught how to journey to meet spirit helpers, and on that basis to do all sorts of other crazy things like putting pieces of people's souls back. It was wonderful stuff, and it changed me deeply. But we weren't taught about our place in the natural world, that we belong to her; that we can talk to the earth and thank her for everything good in our lives and pray for all the stuff that we need to sort, that causes us to suffer. And that we can pray for others too.

This context of belonging to, and gratitude towards, the natural world is foundational to any kind of indigenous way of living. And that is where shamanism needs to begin. Otherwise all that great spirit work we can do is at the same time easily funnelled into the disconnected modern mindset, which can view shamanism as a kind of add-on, as a career qualification. Instead of the long slow existential burn, in which anything we do like healing work or teaching is secondary.

All this started to become clear to me later, when a Native Canadian started coming to stay with me and we used to have long conversations round the dinner table. There is a quote from the poet Ted Hughes:  The story of mind exiled from Nature is the story of Western Man. This is where we need to begin. Face down on mother earth, talking to her and feeling her and thanking her.

In this 7 minute video, the Zen teacher Thich Nhat Nanh does a brilliant job of dismantling the worldview of a Physics professor, who thinks that humans are superior to animals. He points out that even having a thought is a product of all the mineral and animal layers within us, and that without them we do not exist. The video will give you an experience of belonging to the natural world, which is joyful, and which is the theme of this post.

--------------------

I offer skype/FB video astrology readings, by donation. Contact: BWGoddard1 (at)aol.co.uk

---------------------

NB Please note the Free Email Subscribe button, top right of the page 😼