The Modern Day Shaman on Advice for Humanity

The Modern Day Shaman on Advice for Humanity
By Abigale Johnson

Shamanism, viewed as a state of mind rather than an institutionalized religion, embraces the love and concern for the self, family, community and environment (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987). Kevin Johnson, a practicing shamanic healer, has been working with shamanic traditions of various indigenous tribes, particularly the Mexican Huichol and Peruvian Shipibo peoples for the last decade. In an interview with Kevin, he revealed many important aspects of shamanic knowledge, and how it is absolutely vital for the existence of humanity, for this knowledge to be honored and used to bring balance back to the earth. Although Kevin draws on many of the ancient shamanic teachings in his work as a healer, and fills the role of the shaman as he is constantly active in bridging the spiritual and physical worlds, his work is not so formalized as many traditional cultures. There is some controversy among shamanic cultures about spreading the ancient knowledge to outside communities, but Kevin, along with many new and traditional shamans, believe that the movement of the western world back to spiritual awareness and honoring of the gifts of nature is necessary for harmony of the earth (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987) As a modern day shaman, Kevin has learned how to connect with the Great Spirit for personal growth, the bettering of the western society, and returning balance to the earth.

Before the shaman begins his life work, he must be called to or inherit it, apprentice in the ancient ways and become initiated as a healer (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987). Kevin began his shamanic path listening to and following signs that he was to come into great power, spiritual awakening and be given the task of his true life’s work, and which lead him to an introduction to shamanism workshop. There, in his first journey into non-ordinary reality, which shamans consider to be the access into direct communication with the spirit world and big power, Kevin received his call. He was presented with a vision of a bear, buffalo, salmon and a horse, connected by a sacred hoop, and came to understand that it was his life task to keep this hoop alive, continuing the wisdom of shamanic traditions. In this age of continual progression of the western world and increasing dependence on ordinary reality (tonal) and suppression of non-ordinary reality (nagual), sacred knowledge is being lost, and the connections with spirit and the natural way of the world not honored. Shamanic tradition believes in the balance of these realities, and the role of the shaman is to harmonize and blend these energies and keep the flow of natural process (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987). Rather than coming into some new knowledge, with Kevin’s call to shamanism and subsequent training as a shamanic healer, he felt as though he was being reunited with ways of practice which he’s been living through many lives. In this way, many westerners are in fact feeling a familiarity in the shamanic path, and are drawn to share in the responsibilities of bringing harmony to the earth.

To become a shaman, a person must then go through a process of apprenticeship, ritual and initiation. Although traditional shamanic cultures may have very precise ways this must be done, the purpose of initiations is to prepare the shaman for the dangerous feat of being the mediator between the spirit and physical world for healing (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987). Kevin’s experience included an informal apprenticeship with two shamans initiated under the Huichol and Shipibo traditions, where he prepared for initiations by building relationships with spirit and natural teachers. This included a 2-year intensive, learning from plant medicine, learning icaros, or sacred songs necessary for Shipibo ceremony, as well as leading and assisting in many ceremonies. After years of preparations, Kevin and his spiritual community were invited by the Shipibo peoples for the 7-day initiation tobacco diet, necessary for the healing methods used by the Shipibo. Through journeying to the nagual, shamans must build relationships with allies from the natural world, both plant and animal, which become guardians for various shamanic processes (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987). For the shipibo and many other cultures, tobacco is a protective ally, and necessary for shipibo “extraction” where the shaman sucks out the illness of the patient, a very dangerous process and only possible under the protection of tobacco. The initiation process, varying in form, also includes is the ritual death, where the initiate sheds the old patterns, realities and boundaries of thought in order to come into alignment with true self and spirit (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987). This can be in the form of a severe crisis, with years of feeling lost, but for Kevin, the ritual death is something he experiences constantly, as it is a constant shift into enlightenment, and constant breakdown of the limited definitions of self provided by society. He conveys that entering the nagual state of non-ordinary reality is important in this breakdown of barriers, as it breaks down dualistic thinking and allows him to enter an expansive place where his true spiritual identity can stretch its legs.

This purification of the personal essence is also connected to surrendering to the power of spirit and letting go of fear. Kevin relates that the biggest fear to get over is complete surrender, even to death, which he, as shamans in all traditions, must learn to accept (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987). We have been imprinted to be in control of everything, and the way of the shaman is to recognize that we’re not, and to trust in spirit to drive the car, even if it’s off a cliff. In this surrendering and letting go of the “personal history” (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987) and false perceptions of self, the shaman is able to come into the true self that is one with spirit and everything, and in this frame, lives with endless possibility and power.

As Kevin lives in western society and not in a tribe in the Amazon, where this shamanic knowledge is very much a part of the culture and normal way of being, he faces difficulties blending the two worlds. Shamanic tradition is about using the heart center as the portal to the spirit world, it’s about the power of the nagual, and combining that power with knowledge of the tonal to navigate the spiritual and physical worlds in harmony (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987). But, western society focuses only on the tonal: knowledge, thinking only with the head, and tries to convert the nagual, the sacred, into ordinary material, available for exploitation. The shaman’s responsibility is to build a sacred bridge between the physical and spirit world, honoring the connection and keeping it in balance, which is done through ceremony (Alderidge D, 2000; Villoldo A, 1987). An example of balancing with ceremony in Kevin’s work is the Andean “despacho” ritual, honoring mother earth, asking forgiveness, and activating energies in the land to bring harmony. Such rituals often take particular forms depending on the individual, but there are also some general aspects used in honoring the spirits and healing. Most rituals begin with calling in and honoring the four directions, sky, earth, and surrounding land and other spirit allies to come and work for the healing of the journeyers and reconnection with the land (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987).

The spirits and directions then become a container for the ritual, and Kevin uses them to symbolically move through and guide different parts of the journey. In ceremony, through the use of altered consciousness, achieved through drumming, other music and often medicine plants, the shaman must be highly alert and perceptive, and act both as a vehicle for spirit to do the work, and a conductor, reading the room and directing spirit appropriately, to fit the energies of fellow journeyers and the intentions of the ceremony (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987). In Kevin’s work with the shipibos, this is done through the singing of icaros, where the shaman leading a ceremony uses the spirit songs to bring forth and shift different energies. Each ceremony must also be closed by thanking and releasing the allies and directions for their guidance through the ceremony and is usually followed by an integration process with the group of journeyers (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987).

As the shaman has a foot in both worlds also as a healer, Kevin refers to the shaman as a “hollow reed,” directly connecting spirit and patient. The most important thing is, through entering the nagual, to allow spirit to flow through you, get out of the way and be a vehicle for spirit. As Kevin journeys outside of himself to let spirit flow through, he must ask for protection from his allies, and often uses sage and tobacco to purify and protect himself and the patient from negative energies that might appear in this vulnerable state. After this, similar to many forms of spiritual healing practices, Kevin uses different instruments and techniques, which scan the patient’s body for ailments, and act to direct the healing process (McClean S 2006). In these sessions, both shaman and the patient shift into the nagual, the shaman as the mediator between worlds, and the patient receiving the direct information from spirit to assist in the ultimate healing. Although Kevin and many other shamans or healers may generally use similar techniques and allies for each of their healing sessions, a shamanic healing will never be the same, as the shaman is merely a conductor for spirit, and the detection and work on individual ailments will differ every time (McClean S 2006). Although Kevin does individual healing sessions, he also believes that there is great power in working together as a community in ritual, as the ultimate goal of shamanism is to regain balance and recognize the connection of all that is spirit through collective experience.

Community and the responsibilities of a shaman to his community are very important, and Kevin considers himself part of what he calls a global community/tribe of people sharing a common quest for pure consciousness. He and other healers in his area hold by donation healing circles weekly as well as individual consultation, holding true to his responsibility to protect the sacred hoop and support others in their path to the one. He, as well as shamans all over the world (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987), holds a responsibility as a steward of the earth, again as a sacred bridge between heaven (or spirit world) and earth. The shamanic perspective, recognizing the connection of all that is, is vital for the survival of humans on earth as we must reconnect with and honor the earth and all that it has given us. The shaman uses the non-ordinary reality, the nagual, to see this connection (Villoldo A & Krippner S, 1987); Kevin has seen it as a sacred tree, beating with the heart of all in the universe, recognizing the flow of spirit through all that exists. To become a bearer of light, be connected, walk with consciousness, and live in harmonic relationship with the world is a lesson that humanity as a whole is called upon to honor.

References

Thanks to Kevin Johnson for sharing his experiences and wisdom.

Aldridge, D. (2000). Spirituality, Healing and Medicine: Return to the Silence. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London: pg 178-179.
McClean, S. (2006). An Ethnography of Crystal and Spiritual Healers in Northern England. The Edwin Mellen Press Ltd., New York: pg 155-164.
Villoldo, A and Krippner, S (1987). Healing States. Simon and Schuster Inc., New York: Ch2, all of Part II.