To heal means to be whole.
From a shamanic perspective suffering is a consequence of the loss of wholeness and the blockage of the power of the soul.
From a shamanic perspective healing means to direct the power of the soul to the place where it is needed: in the here and now, at the meeting point of the horizontal and vertical time axes.
An essential activity of the shaman was always healing. It is considered the oldest knowledge about healing, that has orally been transmitted from generation to generation over thousands of years by indigenous tribes. We can find petroglyphs of shamanic drawings which are 40 000 years old.
Principally in healing rituals all creative forces take effect – the elements fire, earth, water, air, the crystal powers, the plants and animals, the wisdom of the ancestors and the eternal soul. A mystical unity of all worlds and powers is established which can transform that which is not in harmony.
Over the last 18 years I have been witness to many transformations of various sufferings. And each time I am again astonished by the humorous and inventive ways of the powers which take effect.
Something wonderful happens through the connection of all creative powers: we are becoming again the creators of our reality and by this achieve – in my opinion – the greatest freedom.
All sorts of suffering can be transformed: physical as well as emotional, acute as well as chronicle, personal as well as familial. All fields of the soul can heal – those of living people, those of deceased, those of houses, of animals, of plants, of locations, of water, of earth, etc.
My work includes established healing rituals of shamanic traditions (soul retrieval, soul integration, soul centring, extraction, psychopompos work, sweat lodge) as well as lesser known such as the old bee tradition. Most of all I learn from my allies, nature and the forces, and this daily.
Below a poem by an unknown author which describes well what shamanic healing means:
The promise of a shaman
If you come to me as a victim I will not support you.
But I will have the courage to walk with you through the pain that you are suffering.
I will put you in the fire, I will undress you, and I will sit you on the earth.
I will bathe you with herbs, I will purge you, and you will vomit the rage and the darkness inside you.
I’ll bang your body with good herbs, and I’ll put you to lay in the grass, face up to the sky.
Then I will blow your crown to clean the old memories that make you repeat the same behavior.
I will blow your forehead to scare away the thoughts that cloud your vision.
I will blow your throat to release the knot that won’t let you talk.
I will blow your heart to scare fear, so that it goes far away where it cannot find you.
I will blow your solar plexus to extinguish the fire of the hell you carry inside, and you will know peace.
I will blow with fire your belly to burn the attachments, and the love that was not.
I will blow away the lovers that left you, the children that never came.
I will blow your heart to make you warm, to rekindle your desire to feel, create and start again.
I will blow with force your vagina or your penis, to clean the sexual door to your soul.
I will blow away the garbage that you collected trying to love what did not wanted to be loved.
I will use the broom, and the sponge, and the rag, and safely clean all the bitterness inside you.
I will blow your hands to destroy the ties that prevent you from creating.
I will blow your feet to dust and erase the footprints memories, so you can never return to that bad place.
I will turn your body, so your face will kiss the earth.
I’ll blow your spine from the root to the neck to increase your strength and help you walk upright.
And I will let you rest.
After this you will cry, and after crying you will sleep,
And you will dream beautiful and meaningful dreams,
and when you wake up I’ll be waiting for you.
I will smile at you, and you will smile back
I will offer you food that you will eat with pleasure, tasting life, and I will thank you.
Because what I’m offering today, was offered to me before when darkness lived within me.
And after I was healed, I felt the darkness leaving, and I cried.
Then we will walk together, and I will show you my garden, and my plants, and I will take you to the fire again.
And we will talk together in a single voice with the blessing of the earth.
And we will shout to the forest the desires of your heart.
And the fire will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.
And the mountains will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.
And the rivers will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.
And the wind will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.
And then we will bow before the fire, and we will call upon all the visible and invisible guardians.
And you will say thank you to all of them.
And you will say thank you to yourself.
And you will say thank you to yourself.
And you will say thank you to yourself.