Shamanic healing is a traditional curative and exploratory practice of ancient indigenous cultures, which aims to heal individuals by invoking supernatural reality and nature spirits.
In indigenous societies, the shaman assumes the role of healer and acts as a link between physical reality and the dream world. The shaman is responsible for the transmission of wisdom from one generation to the next and for assisting community members in religious, health, and social matters.
Shamanic cosmology considers dream reality to be more real and more important than waking reality; for ancient cultures, dream reality influences our day-to-day lives. Therefore, shamanic healing is carried out through the use of entheogens, sacred plants containing active agents that induce psychedelic experiences.
Medicinal Plants Used by Ancient Civilizations
Peyote
A 5 cm tall spineless cactus with button-shaped nodules. Native to the Chihuahuan Desert, its growing area extends from central Mexico to southern Texas. The Peyote cactus produces mescaline, a hallucinogenic molecule that induces psychedelic experiences. In shamanic ceremonies, the shaman prepares an infusion by boiling the cactus nodules. Peyote has traditionally been used as a means of spiritual healing among Native American tribes and is known for its vision-facilitating properties and as a bridge to the supernatural world.
Amanita Muscaria
A fungus originally consumed by Siberian shamans as a means of access to the spirit world. Theological scholars have attributed religious experiences to the use of Amanita Muscaria, which, according to their studies, is symbolically represented in many of the sacred books of Western and Eastern religions.
Ayahuasca
A sacred brew of ritual use among the ancient Amazonian tribes. In recent decades, awareness of this brew has expanded considerably, especially throughout the South American continent but also in Europe and the United States. This has led many people to travel to Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil to attend shamanic ceremonies for healing illnesses or to expand their consciousness. Ayahuasca is made from the ayahuasca vine and the leaves of the chacruna, plants native to the Amazon rainforest.
The shaman is in charge of preparing the brew using these plants which, when combined, form a potent psychedelic substance. The ayahuasca brew contains one particular active, DMT, a molecule that induces a deep sleep trance when ingested. This molecule is also a biological active that we humans produce when we fall asleep — our body uses it to regulate sleep states.
During an ayahuasca ceremony, participants drink the potion and, when it’s psychedelic nature takes effect, they slip into an altered state of consciousness in which the consciousness, the subconscious, and the spiritual dimensions become all connected. The shaman conducts the ceremony through appropriate chanting and assists the participants when necessary. It is usual during these rituals for the shaman to approach an individual to blow tobacco on his or her head, which gives the participant a sense of control over the psychedelic experience.
Shamanic Energy Healing
Shamans are considered masters of the spirit world and dominate the techniques of vision and astral travel. Their ability to enter the dream world, a realm in which the universe unveils itself, allows them to observe reality from its deepest side and, in doing so, they can observe the origin of people’s physical, mental and emotional illnesses. When a shaman performs a healing ritual, he becomes a guardian and the participants become warriors. As a guardian, caring for the bodies and souls of the ritual participants, he exerts influences to help unlock energetic channels that are often the causes of pathologies. Indigenous cultures believe that animals are guardian spirits and shamans are empowered with the ability to become any spirit animal to assist their community.
Energy Forms that Affect Our Health
Environmental Energies
The type of energy generated by interaction with the world around us. Everything we come into contact with, from the moment of birth to our current stage in life. Food, air, and pollution are some examples of environmental energies.
Electrical Waves
Our mind is influenced by the electrical forces that surround us. Our modern world uses a lot of electrical oscillations to transmit data and energy and these energies affect our mental health.
Spiritual Energy
Emotions are vibrational levels. While in the physical world we only perceive emotions as mental and physical sensations, in the spiritual world they represent vibrational states.
How Shamanic Healing is Performed
When it comes to healing our spirit, shamanic healing serves as a means to access the deepest aspect of our being; the realm of the soul. The spiritual world lies within our being and we can access it through the use of psychedelics or meditative practices.
Our inner side of being is a realm where the whole universe is to be found free from the boundaries of time and space. In this realm, every dimension of being and reality is available to explore, and therefore it is recommended to access it with a shaman’s guidance.
Shamans are spiritual healers, who possess the experience and skills to navigate the inner world, a place where all energies converge. If we venture into this realm without the proper knowledge or guidance, we expose ourselves to the unknown and risk getting lost in the infinite universe.
Instead, with the guidance of a shaman, we can access our soul and heal it. Experiences that negatively affect life, produce alterations in our energetic being and, therefore, our mind and body suffer from physical and mental illnesses. A shaman will walk us into the cosmic world and act as an intuitive influence that will allow us to find the right path on an out-of-this-world journey.