Shamanism is a dimension of human experience that can be found in every culture in any age. It can be observed in a variety of forms, ranging from a fundamental spontaneous experience, derivative culturally shared practices, or as veiled motifs of spiritual, medical, artistic, scientific, and psychotherapeutic interventions.

Paradoxically, as shamanism becomes more culturally shared, it may become less authentic—less culturally challenging—and degenerative. Provoked by an experience of everyday life as a sort of “half-truth,” shamanism is a method that focuses on the erroneous belief in a separation of human life from nature. Shamanism focuses specifically on remaining alert to the creatural dimensions of human life that can be overridden by cultural, socio-psychological dimensions of everyday life.

Shamanism is an expression of an enduring wild state to remain alert to the changing conditions of existence and integrate into the natural world that continues to design and express human life across the long run.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Apprentice: A Possible First Gate


Copyright Lance Kinseth, 2012

I
I will set before you the following:
Lightning-struck oak,
Three feathers-eagle, owl, gull—
A smooth stone and a rough stone,
A drilled deer bone.

Your reactions to each,
Especially their meaningfulness, please;

II

Your hands held over my forearms:
Your intuitive sensations, please;

III

Your recollections of a favorite dream;

IV

Your interface with a small cluster of stones,
Asking a yes/no question.
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