Remembering our ancient Shamanic traditions
Remembering our ancient Shamanic traditions
The shamanism that I practice today is supported by relationships that I have developed over time with spirits who were part of the old, more indigenous, shamanic tradition in Britain. Though I have had different teachers with influences from other traditions, my practice is embedded in the old ways; the shamanic practices of these isles within prehistory.
My journey
The pathway I took to shamanism began with connecting with nature spirits and earthbound spirits as a child. Many members of my family carried the “gift” of spirit connection and some were involved in the modern spiritualist movement, which helped me to ground and understand my experiences. I think many children are aware of spirit but, as they get older, their perception drifts into shadow, as our world dismisses the very existence of spirit and ridicules or demonises those who practice spirit connection.
During my late teens I became involved in spiritualism, learning clairvoyancy. However I have always connected with nature spirits and my path led me away from connecting with the human spirits that spiritualism focused on, drawing me into Wicca and Druidism.
I grew up in Dorset which has many ancient monuments from prehistory. At these sites I connected with ancestral spirits who spoke to me of traditions that seemed to be lost within modern Britain and I longed to find out more.
I went off to University in my early twenties to study archaeology and prehistory and whilst there I also studied anthropology (which is the study of people) and shamanism. I studied the practice of shamanism within indigenous communities in the modern world and I studied the development of shamanism within prehistoric Britain. All the while I continued to practice at psychic fairs reading tarot and practicing clairvoyancy and was regularly communicating with spirits, particularly those at prehistoric sites.
Over time I came to understand that the practices of the spirits I met from prehistoric Britain were part of a wider shamanic culture. The more I discovered, the more I could see that what had been lost in this land was akin to the shamanic, animistic cultures that were and are almost universal within groups of indigenous peoples throughout the world.
The more research I did, I began to create threads linking the old shamanic traditions of the land of Britain with the animist cultures throughout the world and, through this, uncovered an older, more universal way of being human - as being animist is who we are.
A lost tradition
When modern indigenous people say that we have lost our way and have forgotten who we are, they are not just referring to our disconnection from nature but also from our shamanic culture. Some element of shamanic practice can be seen cross culturally across the world both in the modern day and in the past. We had a shamanic culture in the past and it was alive and well in Mesolithic Britain.
Through millennia of oppression; from successive invasions, cultural obliteration by the Romans, indoctrination of Christianity and the horror of the witchcraft persecution, all of this oppression led to the eradication of our native shamanic traditions. When a child was born during these times with the ability to walk between the worlds and communicate with spirit, the elders were not there to train them; they had been killed, their wisdom had been lost. In these ways, many of the traditions in this land were lost. Yet there have always been people born with a natural shamanic ability and somehow, remarkably, some traditions have persisted.
A revival
In modern Britain, spiritualist teachings have roots far back in history; they are not just the product of a 19th century revival. There is a thread of connection, a tiny filament of a thread, that has passed through the last few hundred years and that is quite remarkable given the level of effort made to eradicate these traditions. Spiritualism, herbalism and even some folklore and customs are the remnants of our indigenous shamanic culture.
In the early 20th century when the existence of shamanism in indigenous cultures became properly understood and when people became interested in exploring it, it became obvious that our own traditions lacked a huge amount of knowledge by comparison. This led to an exploration and development of a Western Shamanic tradition in the mid 20th century which relied heavily upon researching traditions in different cultures.
I feel that, beyond establishing kinship and connection with indigenous groups today, we don’t need to learn the specific traditions of other shamanic peoples. Indeed, they would prefer that we didn’t. Their traditions relate to the land where they live, as all shamanic traditions do. We need to devise our own traditions, specific to our own land.
What indigenous people can teach us, however, is the practice of how to honour and respect nature, of feeling and taking our own place within the eco-system of the Earth, of how to walk on the land in a fully connected way.
We have walked far from our path as caretakers of the Earth and indigenous people today really do live on the final frontier between those who look after the nature and those who seek to destroy it. It is imperative we learn from and support indigenous groups to continue to defend the land.
Animism
Animism is a word devised by early anthropologists to describe indigenous groups’ perception and practice of nature connection. Originally derisive the word has, in recent times, been reclaimed in a positive light. It concerns the awareness that all beings have a spirit and that we are all connected within both the physical and the spiritual web-of-life. It is a crucial part of shamanism and the missing piece in understanding our lost shamanic traditions.
Research into the people who lived in Mesolithic Britain shows that they lived much like modern indigenous groups do today – they tended the land in respectful and sustainable ways and they honoured the land with ceremony. They were animists. When we connect with their spirits, we can connect with their practices, with their deep connection with the land and with the spiritual beings in the land that they honoured.
Practicing shamanism and animism
The shamanism and animism that I practice and teach stems from spirit connection, via merging the practices I have developed of connecting with spirit in the land, spiritualist techniques and shamanic journeying.
Shamanic journeying is a relatively recent development but it stems from much older traditions of diving into the spirit realms, which all spiritualists and shamans do and have done for millennia.
The spirit world is vast and real. It is both beautiful and frightening and all in between. Though few people are called to work as shamans, some of the practices of journeying and spirit connection generally are really helpful to learn for most people. Not only to support a personal healing journey but to shift awareness from a perspective of being separate to knowledge and experience of our deep connection with all of life.
A personal mission
I have a mission to teach spirit connection, particularly that of connecting with our own spirit selves and that of the nature beings we live amongst.
Not only important for people’s individual spiritual development, it creates a connection with our ancestors and provides a link to our past, helping us to reconnect with all beings in the world and to the source of all life.
I see this as being crucial in a time when the modern world is on a self-destruct path, being oblivious of our connection with all beings and that the impact of materialism is not only environmental destruction but the destruction of ourselves.
Indigenous Shamanism
As indigenous elders say, people in the modern world have lost the way. Yet the way was lost an age ago and it is time for us all to step up now and relearn the traditions of old before it is too late.
To this end, I regularly work with the ancestral spirits of this land of Britain and continue to learn from them. As I pass on to others all that I learn, I hope the knowledge will pass on to others and, like ripples in a pond, a revival of our indigenous shamanic traditions will create waves, that people will regain the way and life will change for the better. That is my mission and I invite you to dive into this journey with me.