WALK WITH A SANGOMA SURGEON
SHAMANS, CURANDEROS & SANGOMAS
The word shaman originally comes from Siberia.
According to Mircea Eliade; Shamanism is a technique of religious ecstasy. Shamanism encompasses the premise that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds. Shamans are said to treat ailments/illness by mending the soul. Alleviating traumas affecting the soul/spirit restores the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. The shaman also enters supernatural realms to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the community. Shamans may visit other worlds/dimensions to bring guidance to misguided souls and to ameliorate illnesses of the human soul caused by foreign elements. The shaman operates primarily within the spiritual world, which in turn affects the human world. The restoration of balance results in the elimination of the ailment.
The word shamanism today is probably an all encompassing term used to embrace many different indigenous cultures and ways of healing but Eliade's definition is very apt. Westerners are now engaging more and more in shamanic healing rituals and are adopting them in their own healing practices.
There have been as many descriptions
for the art as there are shamanic techniques.
The word shaman originally comes from Siberia.
According to Mircea Eliade; Shamanism is a technique of religious ecstasy. Shamanism encompasses the premise that shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds. Shamans are said to treat ailments/illness by mending the soul. Alleviating traumas affecting the soul/spirit restores the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. The shaman also enters supernatural realms to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the community. Shamans may visit other worlds/dimensions to bring guidance to misguided souls and to ameliorate illnesses of the human soul caused by foreign elements. The shaman operates primarily within the spiritual world, which in turn affects the human world. The restoration of balance results in the elimination of the ailment.
The word shamanism today is probably an all encompassing term used to embrace many different indigenous cultures and ways of healing but Eliade's definition is very apt. Westerners are now engaging more and more in shamanic healing rituals and are adopting them in their own healing practices.
There have been as many descriptions
for the art as there are shamanic techniques.
South America is the home to many shamans or curanderos who have access to a host of mind altering plants that Pachamama (the Earth Mother) provides.
In the Americas, South and North, there are relatively safe entheogens such as Peyote, mushrooms, Ayahuasca and San Pedro cactus that can help those who have never crossed "the veil between worlds", to do so. They are also now being recognized and even legalized in many countries. Icaros or sacred chants used with ayahuasca are very much part of the experience, and with the plant are vital in helping participants gain access to alternative realities.
In Africa the margin between a pharmacological effect and death in their mind altering plants is often very narrow. Hence other techniques are used. Iboga in Gabon and other central African rain forests is extremely powerful and its effects are not to be taken lightly. Ayahuasca and especially Iboga have been very successful in curing drug addictions and are being used therapeutically in the West now in a more distilled purified form e.g. as the active ingredient - ibogaine.
Whether this works as well or better without being in the ecosystem from which it came and without the shamanic ritual accompanying it, remains to be determined.
The effects can be profound and life altering and there is no question that healing and even curing can occur of conditions that have defied the best that Western medicine has to offer. However, it is hard to document how often and how reliable these reports are especially in the long term. They should never be a substitute, but a compliment to allopathic treatments.
I encountered the effects of Ayahuasca in two sessions that I had in Peru in the late 1980's. I would have to say that they opened a door for me in the early stages of my journey that had previously been closed. However, for myself I did not like the idea of taking a substance each time to advance my practice. I recall listening to Houston Smith giving a lecture on entheogens and saying; "once you have opened the door you do not have to keep knocking!" Others have correctly said that once you have opened a window then you need to start looking for the doorway... Maybe entheogens are a way to do this on a long term basis but they were not for me. They also have to be handled with care, love and humility by the shaman or the plant spirit may come back to bite them.
Eventually, however, the inner work also has to be done.
It is not infrequent to encountered someone who has had an enlightening experience and now feel they are enlightened and ready to teach others. The Ancestors warn;
In Africa the margin between a pharmacological effect and death in their mind altering plants is often very narrow. Hence other techniques are used. Iboga in Gabon and other central African rain forests is extremely powerful and its effects are not to be taken lightly. Ayahuasca and especially Iboga have been very successful in curing drug addictions and are being used therapeutically in the West now in a more distilled purified form e.g. as the active ingredient - ibogaine.
Whether this works as well or better without being in the ecosystem from which it came and without the shamanic ritual accompanying it, remains to be determined.
The effects can be profound and life altering and there is no question that healing and even curing can occur of conditions that have defied the best that Western medicine has to offer. However, it is hard to document how often and how reliable these reports are especially in the long term. They should never be a substitute, but a compliment to allopathic treatments.
I encountered the effects of Ayahuasca in two sessions that I had in Peru in the late 1980's. I would have to say that they opened a door for me in the early stages of my journey that had previously been closed. However, for myself I did not like the idea of taking a substance each time to advance my practice. I recall listening to Houston Smith giving a lecture on entheogens and saying; "once you have opened the door you do not have to keep knocking!" Others have correctly said that once you have opened a window then you need to start looking for the doorway... Maybe entheogens are a way to do this on a long term basis but they were not for me. They also have to be handled with care, love and humility by the shaman or the plant spirit may come back to bite them.
Eventually, however, the inner work also has to be done.
The work of getting "enlightened" has really just begun although it is probably true that there are a few old souls with enough humility who can break through from a semi-dormant state to a much higher level with this experience. Having someone with a high vibration and a depth of spiritual knowledge help one navigate the experience with the help of the substance is optimal.
Moreover, having had such a life changing experience Westerners are apt to give more credit to the shaman or curandero than they deserve. For those on this particular journey it may be best to find someone from their own culture who not only has embraced the indigenous knowledge but also is far along his or her own psychotherapeutic and enlightenment path.
Deciding on which shaman to trust should be no different to undertaking a relationship with a neurosurgeon. Both can be risky. We should do our homework especially around issues of power versus humility and the ability of the shaman to protect the sacred space so that spirits not of the light do not intrude.
I remember talking to Credo Mutwa, the powerful Zulu sanusi (prophet), about this type of experience and he came down heavily in favor of the African method of using dancing and drumming to do the same thing. He said this was less likely to cause distortions. I held onto his wisdom and in future Inward Bound trips would consult with sangomas whenever I was in South Africa to guide me with my trips and my life. They used divination bones to get information from their spirit guides and these were also profoundly accurate.
I had learned a lot from the curanderos in Peru but not for one moment did I ever feel I had the ability to be a shaman. I was always an objective observer, rarely a participant absorbing as much wisdom as I could to help me with my allopathic practice.
I was surprised, to say the least, when I was told by several sangomas I encountered on my travels that I was being called by my Ancestors to do sangoma work using divinations, plant medicines and dreams. It was more impactful that this happened repeatedly over a period of a few years from different sangomas, from various tribes in the far north of Southern Africa. Nevertheless I never took it to heart thinking that being a left brained surgeon I had no talent.
Maybe some have you have had similar unhelpful doubts about your abilities?
I remember talking to Credo Mutwa, the powerful Zulu sanusi (prophet), about this type of experience and he came down heavily in favor of the African method of using dancing and drumming to do the same thing. He said this was less likely to cause distortions. I held onto his wisdom and in future Inward Bound trips would consult with sangomas whenever I was in South Africa to guide me with my trips and my life. They used divination bones to get information from their spirit guides and these were also profoundly accurate.
I had learned a lot from the curanderos in Peru but not for one moment did I ever feel I had the ability to be a shaman. I was always an objective observer, rarely a participant absorbing as much wisdom as I could to help me with my allopathic practice.
I was surprised, to say the least, when I was told by several sangomas I encountered on my travels that I was being called by my Ancestors to do sangoma work using divinations, plant medicines and dreams. It was more impactful that this happened repeatedly over a period of a few years from different sangomas, from various tribes in the far north of Southern Africa. Nevertheless I never took it to heart thinking that being a left brained surgeon I had no talent.
Maybe some have you have had similar unhelpful doubts about your abilities?
Above are a range of paranormal phenomena that can be accessed not only by shamans but any worthy psychic.
Having a high energy vibration usually induced by spiritual practice is called Coherence. When we are Coherent, synchronicity occurs more commonly and we may experience Superfluidity or what athletes call "getting into the zone." This can be attained more easily by using imagination to practice routines much in the way a surgeon can imagine herself doing an operation before going into the operating room the night before the event. Imagining procedure in detail, whatever it is, is known to facilitate competence.
Distant diagnosis can be made by any good psychic over the phone without ever knowing anything but the clients name. Double blind studies have shown that distant healing works even if the patient does not know they are being healed i.e. placebo is discounted. The other terms speak for themselves.
The polarities highlighted in a marroon color are germaine to the South African paradigm which is quite unique. Sangomas have their dreams scripted by their ancestors who tell them what to do, who may be coming to see them and what plant they may have to use to help the patient. The divination bones (there are other objects besides small, wild animal bones) are accurate because they are "thrown" by a spirit force and hence do not fall in a random fashion but in one where the numerous polarities can be accurately read. This is a form of telekinesis. The bones are like a psycho-spiritual C.T scan. The bones tell the waking dream that is the client's life.
True spirit possession goes beyond channeling. In the former instance the spirit takes over the body of the sangoma completely, adopts a different voice, may ask to be covered in suitable apparel they are used to "wearing" and may even speak in tongues. Sangoma medicine is another form of shamanism as per the definitions above.
Never thinking that I had any aptitude whatsoever to enter these realms I was to be dragged kicking and screaming and protesting to what was to become part of my destiny, whether I thought I could do it or not.
My teacher to come, P.H. Mntshali, had his own definition of his craft. He used to say; "This is the original medicine which will never change. We go to the root cause of the problem which is spiritual, whereas you doctors usually only treat the result."
I believe he was correct.
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