Discovering Your Spirit Animal: The Wisdom of the Shamans - Lucy Harmer 2009
Introduction
What does it mean when a crow crosses your path while you’re driving your car, or if a doe looks you straight in the eye when you’re walking in the mountains? What does it mean when the same animal keeps appearing to you in your dreams? If you transform into a swan or a butterfly during your daily meditation, how do you interpret this message? If, every time you walk out of your front door, you see a particular animal, is there a reason for this? How can you decipher and understand these messages?
Throughout the ages, we have looked to shamans, seers, and wise elders to help us decipher these messages and read the omens that nature brings our way. The word “shaman” originally comes from the Tungus tribe of Siberia and was first used to refer to “medicine people” from areas of Siberia and Mongolia. However, the word “shaman” has spread and is now widely used in the West to refer to “medicine men and women,” “sorcerers,” “healers,” “magicians,” “seers,” “sages,” “herbalists,” “wise elders in tribal communities,” and “witch doctors.” One advantage of using the word “shaman” is that we avoid some of the judgmental labels and sometimes conflicting ideas that are associated with some of these other titles.
Not everyone though is considered a shaman. In this book, the word “shaman” is used broadly, to encompass anyone who is anchored in a traditional ancestral lineage and has the capacity to travel the invisible or unseen worlds in an altered state of consciousness. Shamans are first and foremost healers. They are the keepers of ancient knowledge and ancestral ways, and often serve as the intermediaries between the spirit realms and the animal and plant kingdoms and human world, bringing well-being and healing to their communities. Evidence of such people can be found around the world in North and South America, Siberia, Mongolia, Africa, parts of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Asia. They would not call themselves shamans as such, but would be known under many different names in their own cultures; for example, Samis in Lapland; Sangomas (shamans) in Africa; Lamas in Tibet; Permangkus (priests), Pedandas (high priests), and Balians (healers) in Bali; Tsaurirrikames (elder shaman) in the Huichol1 tradition; Machis in the Mapuche culture of Argentina, and Druids in the Celtic tradition.
Shamans are magicians. They are clairvoyant and they are scientists. They spend most of their time outside in nature studying plants and the behavior of animals so that they can understand the unique medicine of each one. Throughout the world, the shamanic view of medicine and the healing methods used are intrinsically the same, even though the cultures in which they evolved may be vastly different. Whether the shamans come from North or South America, Asia, or Africa, the word “medicine” is almost always synonymous with wisdom and inner power; it bears no resemblance to medicines or therapies as we understand them in the modern Western world. True medicine for them is akin to understanding and communicating with the essence of a being, connecting to its teachings, its energy, and its spirit. Shamans observe and communicate with plants and animals. They use all their faculties to decipher the messages that the animals bring in order to reinforce their own personal power. By understanding animal “medicine”—assimilating the qualities and characteristics of each animal—shamans apply the lessons they learn to help them illuminate and better follow their own life path and bring healing to the paths of others. This process enables them to appreciate the simple things in life, to see the magic and sacredness hidden within each being, and to accept their own destiny.
Today, we seem to have lost our connection with nature and the secrets of the land. A recent study carried out in the United States showed that the average American spends very little time each week outside. We do not spend sufficient time out of doors communing with nature. Nature is the most magical and powerful kingdom, both on earth and in the spirit realms. By studying nature, we can learn the most basic lessons that life can teach us; it is in nature where we can find answers to why we are here and how we should be living our lives.
Nature helps us to become aware of the cycle of life and death, of the importance of creativity. It shows us ways in which we can develop our own personal power and our aptitude for survival, both of which are vital tools to enable us to live in the modern world. The natural world, and the animals in particular, are the messengers who help us to carry out our tasks, to find solutions to problems, and to remember that everything is possible. They speak to us all the time but, unfortunately, we’ve forgotten how to listen. We have distanced ourselves from nature and relegated it to a recreational pastime; we have built zoos for our animals as well as reduced them to the role of domestic pets.
The time has come to remember that we are an integral part of nature. Everything that happens in nature has an effect on us, and everything that happens to us has repercussions in the natural world. It is time for us to wake up to our responsibility to nature and develop a more healthy and harmonious relationship with her. The modern Western world has put human beings at the pinnacle of creation and views all other beings, including animals, as subservient less-evolved creatures. In the Native American tradition and the ancestral ways, animals are considered to be our brothers and sisters, and we should treat them as such with great respect. In all the old tales where wisdom is imparted, the animals view us humans as their incredibly disadvantaged younger brothers and sisters who need lots of help in developing our skills. The time has come for us to reconnect with nature and listen to the wisdom of the animals, to begin thinking of them as our brothers and sisters, our friends, guides, guardians, messengers, protectors, and healers.
I hope that this book will help you to reconnect with nature, and that discovering your spirit animal will provide you with a renewed inner strength for your life’s journey.
1. Huichols are a community of Native American Indians who live in the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico.