ESOTERIC SHAMANISM

Any teacher will tell you that Shamanism isn't a religion. Except that it is. In its essence, of course, it isn't. It is about our own direct connection to Spirit/the Spirits. But that is true for any religion. In its essence, any religion is about that direct connection to whatever is seen as of ultimate value in the universe.

"Humankind cannot bear very much reality," as TS Eliot said. Yes, we can take a bit of Spirit. But only so much. We want our solid ground and our certainties, mainly in the form of the teachers and the teachings. Look what happens when an indigenous teacher walks into the room: almost universal deference. We all start behaving a bit differently.

Now I'm not complaining about this. It takes a long time to own your own East (Spirit), out of which we can work on the Shadow (South). Religion is the route in for many of us. And I reckon it's always been like this. Every religion has produced its 'heretics' (a word meaning 'free') who talk to God or whatever directly, and whose source of authority is no longer the teachers and holy teachings. Christianity has had them, Islam has its Sufis, Buddhism has its yogis and forest saints. They are the guys with the real power and inspiration, and their sayings may last, but they often have a tricky relationship with the ecclesiastical hierarchy.

We have the same kind of thing. If you say that such and such an established teacher made up their memoir, or that so-and-so is a pompous git who is always pulling rank, or that we shouldn't defer to indigenous people, you are liable to get slated for it in certain contexts, and even expelled. You gotta leave the holy people alone, people need them there. It was part of my impulse behind starting this group: I wanted somewhere I could speak such things.

I expect shamanism-as-religion always to be the majority thing. As I said, it's often our way in. It has been for me, to a degree. Such shamanism is exoteric: it is about that which can be spoken and followed. And I expect most people to deny that is what they are doing: everyone thinks they are metaphysically autonomous.

The essence of any path is esoteric, it is inner and ineffable. Esoteric Shamanism, which relies solely on one's own connection to Spirit, which re-makes for itself all it has been taught, and which sees through all the holy bull, will always be a minority pursuit. It cannot be organised. It can be a lonely place. It involves being truthful to who you are, at all times, in a deep way that is prepared to take risks and sometimes to be unpopular. But others pick up on that truthfulness, which has a natural and free quality, and move towards it in themselves. This is the esoteric teaching that is energetic, wordless.

There are two emphases I would like to see more of in our Shamanism, that will move it in an esoteric - or more real - direction, but I don't expect miracles:

(1) Don't think that it is indigenous people that have got the goods, and that ours are lesser by comparison. Don't even compare. Yes, learn from and respect indigenous teachers where they merit it, and not all of them do. But we need to make this earth-path our own, and to make our own contributions to it. There is a place for passing on what you have been taught: but even better is taking the years necessary to embody those teachings. Then you become your own tradition, you have the real goods.

(2) There is too much nonsense and ego in many of our teachers. The real qualification to be any kind of teacher or healer is not the courses you have done, but the relationship you have built with Spirit, probably over decades. It is a slow thing, and too many people are in a hurry to be a teacher or a healer. And then it becomes who they are. And then you get a mess, and yes that is often how students also learn, by our example of how not to do it.

I taught Buddhism then Shamanism between the ages of 28 and 47. I did OK, but as time went on, I became increasingly aware that I didn't really know what I was teaching, so I stopped. And spent 15 years waking up in new ways, and doing shadow work. Now I feel I have a solid basis. I know, within a certain range, what I am talking about. But that is just my story; like anything, it doesn't do to be too prescriptive.