From the earliest times, humans have known that song, and its accompanying poetry, could take us out of our ego selves and transport us into the hidden, magical realms where spirits dwell. Along with the drum and the rattle, the shaman's song allows us to transcend this physical world and re-member again our connection to the source, to experience again the unity of the universe. This page is in honor of the shamanic tradition which I believe underlies all human religions and belief systems, as shamanism has been practiced on every inhabited continent in the world since paleolithic times. Since antiquity, shamans have been those individuals gifted with the ability to access the hidden realities and to dialogue with spiritual representatives of the universe for the purposes of healing and divination. Remarkably, there are techniques that are known and practiced in common in very diverse cultures around the globe.
Shamanism is our common human heritage.
In a world now out of balance, the shaman's path can teach us much. Core shamanism looks at universal or near-universal shamanic techniques without focusing on specific cultural elaborations. As a spiritual discipline, it can offer us access to the realms of non-ordinary reality that are mostly ignored in our culture. By interacting with power animals and spiritual teachers, we can get questions answered, problems solved, and healing received for ourselves and others. People want more.