Shamanism is an ancient form of spirituality originally practiced by tribal societies and indigenous cultures. It predated all forms of organized religion and was practiced on every continent in the world.

The shamanism practiced by contemporary healers is a distillation of beliefs called “core shamanism” popularized by Michael Harner, the anthropologist credited with bringing this work to the US in the 1970s. (For more on shamanism, read his book The Way of the Shaman or refer to his organization, the Foundation for Shamanic Studies.)

Today’s shamanic practitioner partners with Spirit, working in light and love to conduct healing for their client and to help the client remember and return to a balanced, harmonious state of being.

Shaman cultures believe that everything has a spirit and that a universal energy connects us all. By traveling to the spirit realm, the shamanic practitioner can talk to anything with a spirit, including ancestors, animals, plants, spirit guides, ascended masters, and crystals. This conversation happens during a shamanic journey, a trancelike state induced by drumming or rattling.

In shamanic healing, the practitioner travels into the spirit realm holding a healing intent for the client. Accompanied by their spirit guides and power animals, the shamanic practitioner asks Spirit to reveal the “original wound,” then conducts healing on behalf of the client.

The original wound is the initial traumatic incident that caused the imbalance and set up the unhealthy pattern. It may have happened in this lifetime, in a previous lifetime, or to an ancestor.

Two general types of intervention are common – taking out intrusive energies that don’t belong (known as extraction) and returning energies that have been lost (such as soul retrieval). Because the healing happens on an energetic level, it cuts through years of blocked energy to bring about movement and transformation.

Common shamanic healing techniques:

·      soul retrieval – healing and returning missing soul essence to restore wholeness and vitality

·      ancestral healing – healing and transforming wounds, traumas and heavy energy passed down through the family lineage

·      compassionate depossession – clearing suffering beings (also known as discarnate spirits or ghosts) who have attached to the energy field of a living person

·      curse unraveling – tracking for curses and unwinding and releasing the energy and power from them

·      illumination – clearing heavy, out of balance energy from the body and energy field through breathwork

·      extraction – removing intrusive energy from the body or energy field

·      cord removal – tracking unhealthy energetic connections to other people and unplugging them from the luminous body

·      house clearing – clearing a house of heavy energy, including “ghosts” (also known as space clearing)

·      destiny retrieval – connecting energetically with true purpose in this lifetime

·      power animal retrieval – bringing in the energetic essence of a spirit guide in animal form to reconnect to lost power and vitality