What it Means to be a Shaman - Part 1

What does it mean to be a shaman? Does it mean I'm super spiritual? Does it mean I'm weird, odd or eccentric? Does it mean I'm apart from everyone? Does it mean one day I decided to be a shaman? Nope. None of those things.

When I was much younger I knew I would be a shaman but I was also told I needed to grow up a lot and have kids first. That took almost two decades. When I finally did get the call from Spirit to really get going, and had an initiation experience, I had completely forgotten about what happened in my early twenties and that I was supposed to be a shaman. I was completely confused - of course, the Spirits had a good laugh. They always do!

Now that I am a shaman, what does that mean; what does it mean for me? For me, being a shaman has to do with Truth, Responsibility, being an Adult (and role model), trying to Live in Right Relationship with everything and embody the best I can Angeles Arrien's Four Archetypes: Visionary, Teacher, Warrior and Healer. While I'm serious about being a shaman and living shamanically, I don't take myself too serious and am not a serious person. I laugh a lot and especially at myself.

One of the things all this means is that I mean what I say and say what I mean. So, if I say "It's no problem" there is really no problem and I'm not being "nice". Duplcity is so rampant in our culture that it's hard to know if what people say is what they really mean or if they are just meeting societal expectations or saying something that will give them greater standing in others' eyes. Much of the time I don't think they even know themselves. So a big part of being a shaman for me is this being truthful with my words and deeds.

I'll continue to post at different times more about what being a shaman means to me.