SHAMANISM AND HUMAN DESTINY

Shamanism needs to be part of where humanity is headed, rather than part of the opposition - in this case a fantasy of what the remote past was like.

Shamanism reminds us to water the roots of the tree, reminds us that we belong to mother earth, who is alive, and that we are nothing but her. At the same time, there is a glorious destiny unfolding in the branches of the tree, humanity's cultural and technological inventiveness, which is only gathering pace. How do we remember the roots as we soar into the sky? That is our great shamanic task as humanity re-invents itself as an interplanetary species.

 

 

It is the shamanic comfort zone to live in opposition to the modern world, to think we know better. We don't. Humanity has a destiny that the likes of Elon Musk and Silicon Valley are turbo-charging. We are an irrelevance if we do not allow ourselves to be thrilled by that adventure, if we go to that default counter-culture place of anti-oil (the earth's bounty), anti-nuclear, anti-modern medicine, anti-GM, anti-capitalism... the list goes on: it is tedious and life-denying and it goes nowhere.

 

We need to seize our love of the roots of life, ignore the bad news that the media perennially gives us, and bring that to the unfolding adventure of humanity.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

Maybe all I mean by the word Shamanism is that the universe has a soul, the world has a soul. It's not an intellectual position, it is something felt. And that's all there is to it. Keep it simple, keep your eye on what is real.

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 'Core' Shamanism complicates the Otherworld. It is simple: stuff works through you. That is our gift, and that is all you need to feel. Thinking you have to know what it is, and what it is that you have done, can make you doubt your experience. It can take you away from the Great Mystery that lies at the heart of everything, from which we draw whatever powers we may have. Those gifts are not ours, they belong to the universe and are there for everyone. There is not even an Otherworld, for the Spirits are always with us.

DARTMOOR

 At Fernworthy Reservoir a few days ago

where a Frost Wand found me

At Crazywell Pool today

 

where the Ice King had left his crown on the bank of the leat

SELF-DOUBT

There's only one thing worse than doubting yourself, which is not doubting yourself. It is entirely normal and even necessary. Self-confidence has to be earned by becoming good at something. Self-doubt can be the fire that keeps pushing you. Or makes you give up. And then you come back, because you'll go mad if you don't come back.

I have been plagued by self-doubt all my life, not just until I've got good at something, but until I know I am good, which can take a lot longer. It has happened with astrology, with shamanic work, with writing books....

The thing about our sort of work is that there isn't an obvious measure of right or wrong, unlike say fixing a gas boiler. I am talking about a deeper kind of confidence in who we are, that can feel excruciating because we are baring our souls to the world. Virginia Woolf would feel suicidal in response to critical reviews of her work.

It is a tough one. There is an initiatory fire to be gone through if you have a calling, but would you want it any other way? Of course the approval of the world can help get us started, but ultimately we need to know for ourselves the value of what we have done. In Shamanic terms, we trust our connection with the spirits; we may not understand their purposes, but we feel the value. In some ways, the lack of recognition from the world can be a help, a worthy opponent that pushes us onwards on this deeply solitary path: in this solitude we find the fire in our souls, and our connection to everything.

Chewing over self-doubt with people is one of the things I do. My shamanic work is mainly talking, but do not be misled. My spirits implicitly meet your spirits, if we are talking openly, and enriching things happen for both of us. Above all, perhaps, I will support you in the long initiatory fire of your self-doubt, and I will listen as you talk of that which you love.