SHAMANISM: THE PATH OF LIVING COMMUNION WITH CREATION

Shamanism is an ancient, living tradition based on direct experience with nature and universal forces, that precedes all religious systems we know. A way of being that recognizes the inner aliveness and intelligence of everything that exists.

Shamanic practitioner see the world as one breath, one body that is interconnected, conscious, and sacred in every expression.

At the heart of shamanism lies the understanding that everything is alive. Alive with spirit, consciousness, vibration. The tree outside the window, the stone underfoot, the river that flows, the wind swaying the leaves, even the stars spiraling through galaxies All are seen as living beings with its own soul, its own language, and its own consciousness. This worldview is called animistic, and for the shaman it is daily reality.

The shaman lives in constant communion with both seen and unseen worlds, with the spiritual and the material as one continuous flow. Relationships are developed with plants, animals, elements, ancestors, and star beings, in true, deep, and personal way. Through dreams, visions, ceremonies, and trance, the shaman communicates with these worlds, learns from them, and sometimes acts on their behalf.

The Role of the Shaman in the Weaving of Life

Shaman is not a title—it is a sacred responsibility.

Traditionally, shamanic call comes from the Spirit through spiritual or emotional crisis, illness, loss, or an initiatory experience of death and rebirth. It is not the person who choose to become a shaman. This path is not sought for power or identity. Often, it is a burden before it becomes a gift. If and when the call is accepted (non acceptance in some occasions leads to sever illness or even death) and years long training with utmost dedication is performed, the shaman becomes ready to serve community. He becomes a bridge between worlds, between the living and the ancestors, between nature and community.

The shaman fulfills many roles:

As a healer, they do not just treat the body, but also soul loss, energetic imbalances, ancestral trauma, and spiritual disconnection.

As a teacher, they help people relearn how to listen to the world—how to relate, respect, and participate in the great web of life.

As a priest, they maintain rituals, ceremonies, and sacred spaces, restoring balance between the human and the cosmic.

As a guide, the shaman supports passages through initiations, life transitions, visionary journeys, and the thresholds of birth and death.

Shamanic healing differs from modern therapeutic models because it is rooted in a broader cosmology. Symptoms are seen as part of patterns of imbalance that extend through the body, psyche, family, and even the land itself. They are not understood nor seen in isolation. The goal is always the restoration of harmony within the individual, the community, and in relationship with nature.

Mother Earth: The First Teacher

The shaman does not exist apart from the Earth. Nature is his teacher, his temple, and the mirror. Without a deep relationship with the land, there is no true shamanism. The Earth is respected, consulted, and honored as a living being before and during many important practices. Her spirits are approached with humility, gratitude, and offerings with the feeling of using the Power ''of'' and not the Power ''from'' the spirits.

To speak of shamanism without reverence for Mother Earth is like speaking of music without sound. The Earth is alive, and her dreaming supports us. When her rhythms are disturbed, when her waters are polluted and animals are wounded, the soul of humanity is wounded as well.

Many modern illnesses are in fact reflections of a deep separation from nature. Depression, anxiety, addictions, and feelings of emptiness often point to a forgotten connection with the living world and Spirit, with the harmony of life. The shaman helps to restore that connection by returning to the sacred within it.

Mystical Love for All That Is

Above all, shamanism is a deep and mystical love for Creation. Genuine shamanic practitioner feels it in his bones, in his breath, in every heartbeat. To him every being is a teacher. Every moment is a ceremony and every breath is a prayer.

Spirit is found by deepening our relationship with the nature and the world until it reveals its true face.

To walk shamanic path means to walk with awareness, respect, and openness to the mystery and nature with the responsibility to honor, protect, and nurture the harmony of all life.

In times of ecological crisis, spiritual emptiness, and cultural fragmentation, the shamanic path is a return to the essence of being human. A path of remembering, reconnecting, and restoring our place in the sacred circle of life.

– Shankara Nath