Letting Go – Day 8
Letting Go – Day 8
By Jenny Griffin
Shamans and Dreamers: Setting the Stage
The term shaman has its roots in Siberia, but has come to be used to describe (primarily indigenous) medicine people and healers all over the world. There is an association with the idea of ‘wounded healer,’ meaning that the shaman has had to suffer greatly in order to prepare themselves for the act of healing others. There are further connections to nature and all her components; animals, trees, and the Earth itself. I will use the term to encompass practitioners of the healing arts incorporating indigenous or non-western elements who define themselves as shamans.
The reason shamans have been chosen is that the healing practices that we have come to know as ‘shamanic,’ have roots in ancient healing practices and beliefs, tuning in to the rhythms of nature and our own innate sense of what our mind/body/spirit wants. It follows on from last week’s theme of Systems of Nature, moving from one aspect of the theme into one that connects nature with our bodies and our experience. Shamans use the natural world as a way to connect with appropriate guides, sometimes calling in the spirits of trees or animals to help the subject with certain aspects of healing. And I believe they are masters at letting go.
In the same way, dreams and dreamers have a place in many indigenous cultures worldwide, and the art of dreaming is so valued by some as to be a part of the very fabric of our world. Through our dreams we can express our deepest desires, our worst fears, and emotions that we may have difficulty expressing in our waking life. If we let go and allow our dreams to show us the way, we can heal every aspect of our lives. They offer us solutions to seemingly insoluble problems; they allow us to vent our emotions in a safe environment; and they help us to understand the things we fear can be our greatest allies. As we let go of consciousness and drift off into sleep each night, we open a channel to what lies beyond, a way for our subconscious mind to meet with collective consciousness and offer us assistance.
