So What’s a Shaman?
I am not sure I can describe it. I can just tell you what I do. I notice things. My personal practice first and foremost is to be grounded as well as connected to Spirit (by whatever name you call Creator of All that Is). You know, “healer, heal thyself…” So there’s an integrity to the practice. I walk the walk in my own human way.
What do I do for others? I see clues on multiple levels. I share the information and together we decide what healing process we engage for that issue, that moment.
There are a variety of tools and techniques I know to assist the person. Every step is a partnership, a permission given, a clue deciphered. There is a technique done and during or after, we process together. The client sometimes leaves with homework.
The difficulty in putting all of this to words is that how a session unfolds is a mystery at the beginning. It is a fluid series of forks in the road that requires a flexibility and a creativity throughout. Part of the joy is that the information comes at a mythic level – a level that things are in metaphor, like in dreams. The challenge and fun is that the information is in symbol not literal, frequently for me a visual pun (Spirit knows I love puns).
And then there is my work with horses. That is a whole story in itself for another time.