Shamanism
Exploring Your Past Life Memories
Have you ever had such a strong sense of déjà vu that you just couldn’t shake it? Or have you had a strange yet familiar dream about a particular place or time in history? Chances are you were experiencing a past-life memory.
Both our physical body and our soul essence carry deep echoes of the past. We inherit cellular memories from our ancestors that are embedded in the genetic code of our bodies, while our souls carry energetic imprints and karmic wisdom from our previous incarnations.
Our soul is eternal and transcends individual lifetimes, accumulating wisdom, experiences and lessons across multiple incarnations.
Intense traumas, transformative events, and extreme hardships experienced by both our ancestors and ourselves in past lives are etched into our physical and spiritual DNA.
The legacy of these cellular and soul memories sometimes resurfaces in our present lives in a variety of ways. For example, it may manifest as an inexplicable behavior, an irrational phobia, an unusual talent, or a strange preference that can be traced back to past life experiences.
The Ancient Wisdom Of The Two Wolves
The story of the Two Wolves holds a special place among my childhood favorites. The moral of this Native American wisdom tale, thought to have originated with the Cherokee tribe, serves as a daily guiding light in my life.
I must confess, there is some sentimental bias on my part, as this story also brings back lovely memories of my remarkable grandfather, Sequoia, a former medicine man and chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Variations of the story exist in various Native American cultures, and it typically goes like this:
One evening, an old Cherokee is teaching his granddaughter about life and says, “My daughter, a fight is going on inside all of us each day. It is the battle between the two wolves.”
“One wolf is evil — anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other wolf is good — joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.”
The granddaughter thinks about it for a minute and then asks her grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The Mythical Legacy Of Dogs
The cat isn’t the only pet with a long history of myth and legend. Dogs have played an important role in human culture and spirituality for centuries.
The dog, or “man’s best friend,” is the subject of many magical tales, wisdom traditions, and folklore throughout the world. Like the cat, dogs were companions of the ancients and are still considered symbols of loyalty, courage and protection.
In Greek mythology, dogs are associated with the goddess Hecate, who is also known as the “dog goddess.” She is the goddess of witchcraft, magic, and the crossroads, and is typically depicted in ancient Greek art with a pack of dogs at her side.
Today, the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, is also known as the Dog Star, because it is traditionally seen as the protector of the night sky. In many cultures, Sirius has been associated with dogs because of its brightness and prominence.
Perhaps the most famous dog in Greek mythology is Cerberus, the three-headed guardian of the underworld. Cerberus not only prevented the dead from leaving the underworld, but also the living from entering it. He was finally captured by the hero Heracles in one of his twelve labors. Another famous Greek dog is Laelaps, a swift dog given by the god Zeus to the hunter Actaeon. Laelaps was so fast that he could catch any prey, but he was also cursed to always catch his prey.
The Spiritual Symbolism Of The Circle
The circle has a profound and universal meaning in spirituality across cultures and belief systems. It symbolizes a variety of spiritual concepts and offers insights into the interconnectedness of life, the cyclical nature of existence, and the infinite potential for growth and transformation.
The circle represents unity and oneness. It is a symbol of completeness because it has neither beginning nor end. This circular continuity reflects the eternal nature of the soul and the interconnectedness of all living beings.
In Native American spirituality, for example, the medicine wheel represents balance and harmony between all aspects of life, including the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. Similarly, in Hinduism, the concept of samsara refers to the continuous cycle of birth, death and rebirth, with the circle symbolizing the eternal journey of the soul.
In Christianity the circle represents eternity and sacred union. It is referenced in the Bible as the shape of heaven, and as the beginning and ending of time. For Christian couples, the unending circle of a wedding ring is also the symbolic expression of their sacred, eternal union.
Shamanism – The Original Spiritual Practice
In recent years there has been an avid interest in shamanism. A myriad of books, seminars and extensive training programs around the world reveal a keen exploration of indigenous cultures and their connection with nature, their healing techniques (such as soul retrieval) and the role of power animals or totems.
Shamanism, in its classical sense, comes from the regions of Siberia and Central Asia and the term ‘shaman’ originates from the Tungusic word saman (masculine) or samana (feminine). The term shaman has been interchanged with ‘medicine man’, ‘sorcerer’, and ‘magician’ – but a shaman is so much more. The shaman is traditionally a central figure in the community: mystic, poet, healer, communicator with the unseen realm and psychopomp (leader of souls).
Personal experiences in the realm of shamanism are typically very euphoric and relaxing, and are often also described as dream-like, or an ecstatic experience. The divine calling of the shaman or shamanic practitioner manifests in several different ways:
• Divine calling from spirit (ecstatic dream, illness, or near-death experience)
• Hereditary through family lineage
• Apprenticeship
• Individual choice
All of these means of being “called to spirit” involves initiation and ritual in some form. Every clan, tribe or culture around the world pass on, through tradition, their teachings, rituals and creation stories. They all have a central theme, however, namely the ability to communicate with the unseen realm to gain knowledge, healing, the ability to ‘conquer death,’ and that we are all part of both the spiritual and physical realities.
The Modern Practice Of Spiritual Healing
In a world driven by science and technology, the value of our spiritual health is rarely recognized or appreciated these days, yet it is an essential aspect of our holistic health and well-being.
The truth is that spiritual healing has been practiced since the beginning of time to promote physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being. Our ancestors were much wiser in this regard. They had a holistic view of health and wellness that not only focused on the physical and mental, but also honored the spiritual or metaphysical aspects of our existence.
In ancient Egypt, for example, illness was treated as a battle between good and evil, and magical remedies were used in addition to herbal medicines. In ancient Greece, holism underpinned everything, and the soul, mind, and body were considered one.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, a holistic system practiced for at least 23 centuries, healing is achieved by balancing the yin-yang life force energies that permeate everything in the universe. In the indigenous healing traditions of Native America, holistic health is represented by the four quadrants of the ‘medicine wheel’ or ‘sacred circle,’ namely the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual states of being.
In Christianity, spiritual healing is documented with many references to the healing power of faith and prayer. The Bible also refers to the spiritual gift of healing, and there are several accounts of Jesus performing miraculous healings. In Hinduism, Ayurveda is a five-thousand-year-old Vedic system of medicine that seeks to restore the balance between the body, mind, and spirit.
Follow Your Passion And Truth
In Native American tradition, human existence and well-being is based on the Medicine Wheel, also known as the Sacred Hoop, that consists of the Four Directions, Father Sky, Mother Earth, and the Spirit Tree. Together these ‘spokes’ of the wheel honor all aspects of human existence, growth, balance, and well-being: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
In each lifetime, we are destined to achieve progress in one or more of these areas until, finally, after many incarnations, all the ‘spokes’ of our wheel are complete – all the way from the inner hub to the outer rim. At that point, we have completed our various missions through many incarnations in a myriad of schoolrooms, and we finally achieve ascended mastery.
When all our spokes are complete, we leave this dense, earthly dimension and arrive at the highest plane of existence, the realm of the Great Spirit, traditionally known as the ‘Hunting Grounds of the Ancestors,’ and since the arrival of Christianity, as ‘Heaven.’
In this state we never need to descend again, and will remain infinitely in the higher dimension. We are liberated from the endless cycle of rebirth and reach a new level of consciousness and enlightened existence, known as nirvana in Buddhism, moksha in Hindusim, and eternal life in Christianity.
As a result, from a spiritual stand-point, we are offered a smorgasbord of options and choices that we may need for our particular journey in this lifetime. The enthusiasm and passion we feel when we are guided to a particular path is spirit directing us toward the ‘curriculum’ we need to complete in order to achieve our ultimate goal of transcendence in one or more spokes of our wheel.