Shamanic Communication


Over the past few weeks I’ve been noticing how much my intellect drives how I see things.  Within my shamanic work this is creating a conflict.  The more shamanic work I do the more I feel that it goes beyond words and goes beyond intellect.  In some respects the intellect becomes a defence mechanism but also a barrier to the work. I want to be able to understand things and I want to be able to label them. Increasingly the intuition I’m getting is that my intellect needs to be put to one side. As the spirits communicate, they can do so beyond words through feelings and emotions which are much more powerful.  It feels like a more primal and basic energy that just is. In putting words to it, I rationalise what is coming through and it changes.

So how to communicate if not through intellectual words. The most obvious way seems to be through art, as it is a form that doesn’t need words.  I have found that using poetry, which uses words, can use metaphor and language that talks to our emotions rather than our intellect. When I was working with a few clients over the weekend, it felt very much that the communication should come through my feelings, through my body rather than through my head.

Often I have felt that I was taught to control or suppress my emotions, yet these seem to be at the very core of my shamanic communication. I was taught that anger was wrong, that using my emotions to make decisions was wrong. I have a strong analytic mind, which has been well educated in rational thinking. But for me, the detail of shamanic communication is in the emotions and feelings rather than the mind. It is in the whirlpool of senses that the strongest messages seem to be.  This presents many challenges. the challenge of communication with others as we’ve been taught to use labels for our emotions but we don’t know if our label means the same as someone else’s. When we learn language we put a label to a feeling like sadness and assume that everybody’s sadness is the same as ours where that may not be true.

Another challenge is that the shamanic communication then brings in my own emotions. When working I’m aiming to be an empty vessel, to allow for the free flow of spirit. But if the work is stirring my emotions I find it much harder to keep that separation, which when using intellect is much easier. When I reflect on the shamanic work I’ve been doing I feel that I have been containing spirit due to my fear of expressing emotion. I’ve stopped spirit from shouting and getting angry at clients. The challenge for me is to be at peace with emotional expression in whatever form it comes (tears, anger, joy) so I can better communicate and express my shamanic communication.

What is becoming clearer to me during my shamanic practitioner training is that to work effectively for others I have to work on myself. This is not a choice but is demanded by the path I have chosen.  This is why the concept of “wounded healer” is so strong within shamanism. I have to respect the passion that is within me and let it flow, however it may come through. Indeed I have to love that part of me, and see that spirit always works for the benefit of others, even if it may not feel like that at the time.

With love.

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