Shamanism

This is a rather broad and general question, but I will answer the best I can. Throughout history, shamans have been healers, spiritual leaders, and even community leaders. Although they were seen as spiritual leaders, or consultants, they were not- and are not- counterparts of modern rabbis or priests, for the shaman would take part in regular, day to day life just as any other member of the community would. They were not expected to isolate themselves as holy people- instead they also had everyday life roles, such as being farmers, hunters, etc., and also were spouses and parents.

This information is not true for every shaman in history, but it seems to be most common. A shaman would often take refuge in the wilderness to contact spirit guides (often animal guides) and take vision quests. In the past, shamans were able to practise freely, for they were respected for their abilities and wisdom. Today, however, modern-day shamans are not generally so free about their quests, healings, and beliefs, due to social pressures. A shaman today may be your local grocer, your doctor, lawyer, or neighbor, and you may not even be aware of it.
A shaman is often seen as a healer. Shamans may not have the ability to replace a lost limb, make your hair grow back, heal a fracture, etc., but rather, a shaman is seen more as a spiritual healer. With that in mind, spiritual healing is, to many, the first step to physical healing- so a shaman indeed has abilities to heal physical wounds. There have been shamans throughout history who have had abilities to heal above and beyond any scientific efforts and cure disease or heal serious wounds. But in theory, a shaman is not a physical healer, even though physical healing is within a shamans abilities if he or she is well-versed and able to alter his or her state of consciousness effectively. There are many shamans today who lend their services to others in efforts to heal both physically and spiritually.

A shaman is not the magician with bolts of lighning shooting from his or her hands, like Hollywood might suggest. Instead, a shaman learns to change his/her state of consciousness at will, contact certain spirits and guides. But, a shaman's complete abilities are not easily explained. A shaman's world can only be experienced- not explained sufficiently with words. A shaman's body connects the spirit with the universe and his/her abilities are unlimited.
Something that amazes me about shamanism is that, in the past, thousands of cultures recognized shamanism in different forms- even though many of those cultures had no contact with each other. The shamans of different communities in history did have different roles and practises, but generally speaking, their abilities and practises were similar. Modern religion may now be very different from belief system to belief system, but the roots of these religions are very much the same- as many modern religions spawned from forms of shamanism.

I don't intend to write a book about shamanism here, especially since I don't consider myself a shaman, but I do want to touch on another aspect of the subject- spirits and guides. Often, people tend to think that a shaman will command a spirit to work with or for him, and that the spirits are at the shaman's beck and call. That is not an attitude any shaman would likely even consider. A shaman's relationship with the spirits is a symbiotic one- a shaman may ask a favor of a spirit and then also present the spirit with an offering of some sort. The term "shape-shifting" is an example of a symbiotic relationship with shamans and animal guides- the shaman will allow the spirit guide to experience his/her "state of being," while the shaman will then experience the spirit's state of being.

A shaman is not a "saint" or similar to the Catholic's idea of a person who lives a holy or pure life. A shaman is just like you and me- they experience life's happiness, pain, laughter, sorrow, they are law-abiding people, but also might even get into trouble along the way. They are just normal, everyday people. Can one heal a community if he/she is not part of it? A shaman just might be aware of things as they happen, rather than be hit with reality after the fact. Or, a shaman also sees reasons for events beyond superficial value. With that in mind, one might think, "I agree with that attitude, why couldn't I be a shaman?" Well, if you want to live according to your beliefs and shamanism fits your ideas, then I certainly believe you can make shamanism your lifestyle- if you feel you are a healer, then your spirit may be directing you to shamanism. I do, however, believe that many shamans actually have special gifts given to them by the universe- just as many "psychics" do, many magickal practitioners do, etc. I'm not certain that just any person can be a true shaman. But if you feel you are being drawn in that direction, I definitely think you should not ignore your spirit.

These are just my ideas of shamanism, according to what I've read in books and experienced from shamans I have met. I don't mean to imply that all shamans believe and practise similarly. There are differences among shamans, just as with any other practise or belief system. Also, as I mentioned earlier, I don't consider myself a shaman, so I'm not speaking from first-hand experience on this subject. I've been asked many times to explain shamanism, but my lack of personal experience had prevented me from sharing my thoughts. I don't normally like to speak on a subject unless I have more personal experience with it.

~Some~ of this information was gathered from two books- The Way of an American Shaman by Mark Albriet and Through the Eye of the Shaman by Robert Ghost Wolf. These books are both excellent and delve much deeper into Shamanism than I do here.