Who is a shaman?

    Since this blog is called Shaman's hut, I decided to give you some quick information about who a shaman is. When hearing the word shaman, most of you probably imagine a native person dressed in furs, bones and feathers, dancing around fire, calling upon spirits in trance. But although it might seem kind of cool, wearing the feathers does not make them shamans. In fact, nobody expects you to wear a kind of clothing that would make you look like a madman in modern civilised places. Being a shaman does not require you to wear any kind of traditional or tribal clothing! You can be a shaman and dress just like the rest of us, or, if you like, you can have a "ritual clothing" for occasions when you are actually performing your shaman works. So, being a shaman is not about what you wear at all, to begin with.
    But what is it about, then? The general meaning of a shaman is someone who has almost passed away but came back to life. With this strange experience, their psychic abilities usually strengthen profoundly and/or they may also bring back abilitites they did not have before. The most known of these abilities is talking to spirits, the deceased and otherworldly entities. However, not everyone who can talk to spirits has had a near death experience and not everyone who had a near death experience is a shaman, but they can be. You can be, if you choose so!
    You see, I like to think of everything as of a matter of choice. Yes, you do have a choice, always. If you want to be a writer, you can do it. If you want to be a singer, you can do that also. If you want to be a witch,  a seer, a wizard, a warlock or a shaman, the path will open up for you. You can be what you want to be and never let anyone tell you otherwise! Although it is always very helpful to have a teacher, not all of us have the opportunity to find one. But just like you can self-study languages, you can also study shamanism on your own. If you are a self-student (like me), you need to be extremely cautious and not jump into things that you are not ready for because you might not be able to deal with them. Nobody but you will be responsible for your mental or physical injuries, so be careful. In order to become a student of shamanism, you simply need to send that signal from from your mind to your Higher Self and the door will be open. However, it is up to you whether you do cross the doorstep or you stay away from it. And even if you cross the doorstep, it is still up to you whether you will follow the pathway you had chosen for yourself. You will walk astray, and not only once, because there are many things here to distract you nowadays. But will you come back and continue the journey where you had stopped? Again, the decision is yours and yours only.
    But like any other decision, this one also carries its portion of responsibilities. The biggest and most frightening one is facing your fears and dealing with them. While you will be forced to face some of your fears in any "profession" that deals with magick and spirits, "students of shamanism" especially need to set themselves free of their fears. Why is that? Because traditionally, it is believed that a shaman has to heal themself first and only then they can heal others. That is the way.
    But please do not think that is the only thing they do! In the mean time, they also need to study, experiment and learn. Give it also the contemporary duties to keep themselves functioning in the society and it is a great deal of a difficult job. In the past and also in the native tribes nowadays, shamans usually live aside from the village to ensure peace and quiet for their work (which definitely requires it), but at these times you do not always have the opportunity to live in quiet, so your studies might be difficult to maintain. And most importantly, you MUST build a relationship with nature! It is highly recommended that you regularly make a retreat to the nature, but it is also very helpful to surround yourself with items that originate from plants, trees or animals as you can always connect yourself with nature that way. So, here is where the feathers might come in handy! If you prefer not to have items made from animals (and always be careful with these for depending on the situation, the spirit of the animal can become angry with you) you may also wear items made of seeds or other plant parts, stones, empty shells and precious or semi-precious gemstones (they are best in their natural, raw state, but you can also use polished, faceted or carved ones). Or you can simply pick up feathers in the forest, no bird had to suffer to release them that way! Always thank for the items you find and take away from the nature.
    Another thing I would like to mention is that shamans existed and exist in many cultures. Most of us know the African and Native American shamans, but there are also shamans from Peru, Amazon, Russia, Alaska, Australia, Hawaii, Tibet, China, Mongolia and many other places. It does not even matter whether they are from the past or the present as time as such does not exist, but I will get to that later. For instance, I associate myself with the nordic cultures, vikings and old germanic and slavic tribes. Not only as a shaman, but also as a sorceress and even as a simple person. :)
    To sum it all up, a shaman is a healer. One that uses traditional remedies and methods to help others retrieve or maintain health, one who has knowledge about the usage of herbs (and sometimes crystals as well), one who is aware that everything has a spirit and they can talk and listen to these spirits, one who is able to also connect to your spirit and/or aura and tell you what is wrong and how you can fix it or they fix it for you. Synonyms for the term shaman would be medicine person, healer, magician, or witch doctor. Shamans are not good or evil, they do not necessarily deal with only black or white magick. Shamans are neutral, but no matter what kind of magick or spirits they work with it is for the sake of help and healing. It is up for their own consideration whether they will take the risk of using darker energies and powers or not. And if there is such a person as "an evil shaman", I think a more accurate term for them would be "a black magician".
    I hope I did not scare you away with all this information, that would be the last thing I wanted! I simply wanted to be honest and share what I know. Truth be told, this world needs healers. This world needs shamans. But there is one thing you need to have in order to become one: pure intentions. If there is someone who just wants to show off or be something better than others, they will never get there. They will not have the patience to even actually do what they need to do in order to become a shaman (or any other type of magician for that matter) and that requires time, patience and practice. One who desires to have special knowledge and abilities only to be looked up to will simply give up at the very beginning. If, however, you have pure intentions, the universe will offer you everything you need in order to succeed. You are most welcome to subscribe to my blog as I would love to share with you everything I know! And if at any time should you decide that you would like to become a healer or magician of any sort, I will always do my best to help you! It is not only studies, duties and responsibilities but also excitement and great adventures that are waiting just for you. :)