Shamanism Made Easy: Awaken and Develop the Shamanic Force Within - Christa Mackinnon 2018

Find a daily ritual to connect with spirit
Bringing the shamanic dimension into your daily life
Awakening The Shamanic Force Within

Now that you have an altar and know how to call in spirit, you might want to create a small daily ritual for yourself. This is a wonderful way of starting and ending the day, as it will connect you to the sacred, to spirit and to yourself.

A morning ritual

Most people who work in a shamanic way will do a small ceremony, maybe tuning into and greeting the directions in the morning, asking for guidance and setting an intent for the day and including a blessing for the Earth. I like to keep my morning ritual brief, based on the knowledge that if it is too elaborate I might not do it when pressed for time. I have a basic ritual which I adjust for different contexts and needs. I love my morning ritual and usually perform it outside.

For my morning ritual, I go outside, close my eyes, tune into my heart space, breathe into it and then tune into my surroundings.

Then I step into the middle of an imagined wheel and greet the Earth, calling in the spirits of the four directions and all there is above and below.

Next, I turn to each of the four directions, tuning into the element of each. Speaking aloud, I greet each direction and bestow a blessing.

Afterwards, I again tune into myself and my surroundings, take a few breaths and still myself, and then, from the centre, standing still but moving my arms in all-encompassing circles, I bless ’all the environment’, ’all the people I love’ and ’all my relations’ (meaning all living beings) and ’my work’. I often also ask spirit to bless my work and to be with me during my day and thank it for all the gifts and blessings bestowed upon me.

This takes me around 10 minutes, depending on how long and deeply I tune into things. Sometimes, I receive simple insights or messages during the ritual, but my intent is generally to tune in, to greet, to bless and to give thanks.

There are many ways to design your ritual. Some people light a candle, sit for a while, tune into themselves and the environment and then imagine that they are bestowing blessings as the light of the candle is sent out into the world. If you want to work with your altar, you can use the stones or crystals on it, holding each in turn and working through and with them. Some people like to dance their ritual, using music and movement and dancing their intent.

Whatever the ritual you design, be creative and involve your body as much as you can. Step literally into the centre, turn literally to the directions, move your hands and arms in gestures and say your intents, blessings and thanks out loud. A ritual is meditative, but not a meditation in the classical sense.

An evening ritual

An evening ritual involves giving thanks and letting go. I perform a small one most evenings, during which I give thanks for the day and let go of things that I do not want to carry forwards into the night. In contrast to my morning ritual, I often perform the evening one inside.

You can design an evening ritual in a similar way to your morning ritual. If you have had a very hectic day or feel quite detached from yourself, having been involved in lots of things that have led you outside yourself and outside the sacred, you might want to spend a bit more time stilling yourself or dancing yourself back into your body, utilizing music or drumming.

For my evening ritual, I do something similar to my morning ritual, but instead of bestowing greetings and blessings, I give thanks to the spirits of the directions and to all there is above and below. If I need to let things go, I imagine that I am letting them float away from me into the Earth or up into the sky and asking for the issue to be transmuted into something positive. Again, I involve my body as much as feels right and I speak out loud.