What is Shamanic Practice?

The great 20th century religious scholar Mircea Eliade’s defined shamanism as archaic techniques for ecstasy. By archaic, Eliade meant an ancient sustainable path that has been practiced all over the world. By techniques he meant practice–shamanism involves undertaking specific spiritual practices. The word ecstasy literally means “out of oneself”. When Eliade used the term ecstasy he meant the ways in which shamanic practices move people out of their ordinary egoic identity into a deeper aspects of themselves.

The word shaman is a bit of a grab bag term. Though called by many different names in different locales, shamanism was (and still is!) prevalent in one form or another through the world. Shamanism is the primal human religious and spiritual expression. Shamanism does not consist of a series of belief statements. Shamanism is an experiential path and while there are helpful guides, wise maps, and well-established practices, each person ultimately undertakes their own unique journey and is responsible for their process.

Women and men throughout history and across cultures have been shamans. There is a strong emphasis in the shamanic path on connecting to the Earth, animals, our ancestors, our guides, and our souls . This is why I believe shamanism is an important spiritual path for our contemporary era, where many have lost a sense of place, of familial and tribal connections, and where Earth is in peril from human greed and exploitation.

While not everyone is necessarily called to become a full-fledged shaman, I believe all of us can benefit from incorporating shamanic practice into our spiritual path.

The primary practice in shamanism is journeying. Journeying involves entering a light trance state wherein one journeys to various domains. Many other more advanced forms of shamanic practice are further developments of the basic practice of journeying.

Shamanic practice also includes processes like creating sacred space during meditation or prayer, dreaming deeply, establishing proper energetic boundaries for self-protection, and learning how to take basic care of our energetic body. For a full-list of the shamanic modalities on offer, please see here.

For those interested in further reading, I’ve written a number of articles on shamanism, including: Jesus as a shaman, shamanism in fairy tales-based television shows, and shamanism within the framework of integral philosophy.