A shaman is a person who can travel back and forth between the human realm and realms of spirits. Don’t buy a bus ticket; that isn’t how it’s done. Although it can be physically strenuous, this is spiritual traveling. Shamanism involves soul journeying, usually while entranced.
What does it mean to soul journey? It means literally to send out one’s soul. The individual is believed to possess various souls: the shaman develops and exerts extraordinary control overa traveling soul, which can leave the body and consciously travel, communicate, and bring back messages.
What do shamans do while they’re away? They may battle or socialize with spirits. They retrieve missing pieces of other people’s souls. They travel to other realms to obtain needed information, like how to heal illness or avert disasters.
Some shamanize just to commune with spirits, but shamans also serve their communities. Traditionally, communities provided economic support for a shaman so that they were able to devote themselves to this task full-time. (The flip side of this economic support is that the shaman may be on call around the clock, 24/7.) It is an eminently practical system: as with spirits, shamans are patronized as long as they demonstrate results. If the ailing consistently fail to recover, if the weather is consistently bad, if the crops fail, if the spirits seem unhappy, another more successful shaman will be found.
Shamanic techniques describe methods used by shamans. Many who are not shamans successfully utilize some techniques.
The word shaman is a Tungus word (Tungus is an indigenous Siberian language), and shamanism is closely identified with cultures of the extreme north. However, shamans exist wherever people do. There is no specific English word to express this concept, and so the Tungus word has entered our language and become somewhat generic.
Shamans are traditionally called by the spirits to work with them; they are chosen. Lengthy preparation and study is typically involved. This is not something that can be learned over a weekend, although certainly some techniques may be relatively easily acquired.
* Shamans may learn secret spirit languages.
* They may possess special songs or chants that open gates of spirit realms.
* They may work with their own personal spirit guides, unknown to other people.
Shamanistic literature, including fairy tales and myths may be considered the equivalent of road maps. They advise what to expect and what to do at specific junctures of the journey These descriptions may be incorporated into visualizations.