Shamanism begins not by talking to a power animal, but by remembering that we are part of the natural world. A natural world that is alive and inspirited. This is particularly necessary for us moderns, who have been forgetting that belonging for thousands of years.
It is natural that we Shamanisers might feel as acutely as any the deleterious effect that humans are having on the natural world. We can never return to how things were: we have too much technology, and are too inventive, ever to do that. But nevertheless, new balances need to be found.
What can we do individually? It maybe depends on temperament. Some people like to take part in protest. Some like to pray, and don't underestimate that. We of all people know its power and its necessity. Prayer in the sense of a heartfelt conversation with the natural world.
But the one thing we do need to be aware of is the madness of collectives. Collectives have always been prone to madness, and probably always will be. They over-simplify, they get it wrong. And they set up an enemy, a shadow projection: it can be capitalism, politicians, climate deniers, transphobes or toxic masculinity. Or, dare I say it, the vaccine. Even, maybe especially, philanthropists. The list goes on.
Our primary job is not to support causes, even the so-called liberal ones. Our job is to be conscious. Very few people are conscious, though many think they are, just because they support the right causes: hence the ironic term 'woke'.
Being conscious is difficult. Spirit shows us how, often by leading us into difficult situations that force us to see things differently, that separate us from the group values around us. A Medicine person takes his or her authority from Spirit, not from what everyone around them thinks. That is what sets them apart and gives them wisdom, which people instinctively recognise.
Coming back to climate change, large parts of the collective are currently in a state of alarm, like a herd of frightened horses. They genuinely think that humans are faced with extinction, and there is an undercurrent of feeling that it is because humans are bad. Because it is part of being 'liberal', many shamanic people have become part of this frightened herd. But Shamans are not liberals, they are not anything. They are just attempting to be conscious.
The collective at best finds it hard to think straight, and certainly cannot do so when it is in this state of alarm. Yes, there is some genuine science behind it. But there is also the news, which exaggerates the bad side of things - that almost seems to be the nature of news - while inconvenient facts get ignored. Like, for example, that polar bear numbers are increasing: the problem was not lack of ice, but people hunting them. Or that vast areas have greened over due to increased CO2. Or that we are now giving more land back to nature than we are taking from her. And that unprecedented numbers of people are emerging from extreme poverty. The list goes on.
There is good news as well as bad. If you are trying to be conscious, balance is needed. It may not make you popular. It may get you called a 'climate-denier'. Not minding what others think is an excellent warrior training, an inevitable one if you want to be conscious.
Meanwhile, if you want a more rational and balanced view of what is happening with climate, the environment and the future of humanity, you probably won't do better than read the book below.
I have spent the last year extricating myself from environmental alarmism. I felt trapped by it, like I was meant to have this gloomy view of humanity's future. I was caught in the collective madness. But there is a more rational and optimistic position to be had, simply by examining the evidence in a wider and more disinterested way than is generally presented to us. I would say this is true for all collective issues.
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