What is Shamanism?
Animism has been practiced across cultures on every continent for at least 40,000 years. The core beliefs of animism are that everything has a soul and that there are non-corporeal beings called spirits who will interact with the spiritual practitioner(s) of an animist community, a shaman. While beliefs about the spirit world vary across cultures, generally speaking, animists believe that spirits exist outside of space and time in the upper world, the lower world, and/or the middle world. The shamanic practitioner travels to these worlds on a shamanic journey, often with the help of drumming, chanting, breathing, or some other trance-inducing stimulus. Spirits can be counted on to provide spiritual information and, sometimes, to help with healing. The identities, personalities, and dispositions through which the spirits reveal themselves differ from culture to culture and from shaman to shaman. Some cultures see them as agents of the shaman, some cultures see them as higher beings to be pleaded to for mercy, and some see them as partners.
Joanne Burtch; copyright 2007
It is the job of the shamanic practitioner to relate the information of the helping spirits to the client or to provide a conduit for healing from the spirit world. Healing is usually done concurrently with traditional methods. Healing journeys can help people overcome past trauma and blocks, assist physical healings, empower people to take the next step, and assist people in claiming their personal power.
Spiritual Pathways 