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- Pagan Forum
- August 13th 2008
- Presenter: Phoenix
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- Shaman act as "mediators" in their culture. The shaman is seen
as communicating with the spirits on behalf of the community, including
the spirits of the dead.
- Overall, the Shaman seeks balance in him/herself, their community and
the world as a whole – above, below and within.
- Shaman can perform many functions: healing; leading a sacrifice;
preserving tradition, utilizing story-telling and song; fortune-telling;
acting as a psychopomp (literal meaning, “guide of souls”).
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- Spirits can play important roles in human lives.
- The shaman can control and/or cooperate with the spirits for the
community's benefit.
- The spirits can be of good or ill-intent.
- Shaman can treat illnesses or sickness; they are healers.
- Shaman engage various processes and techniques to incite trance; such
as: singing, dancing, taking entheogens, meditating and drumming.
- Animals play an important role, acting as omens and message-bearers, as
well as representations of animal spirit guides.
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- May I walk in beauty
Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
And my ears sharp to your voice.
Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught your
children.
The lessons you have written in every leaf and rock
make me strong!
Not to be superior to my brothers, but to fight my greatest
enemy....my self
Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes,
So that when life fades as the fading sunset,
May my spirit come to you without shame.
- Sioux Indian Prayer
Translated by Chief Yellow Lark - 1887
- Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds
Whose breath gives life to the world, hear me
I come to you as one of your many children
I am small and weak
I need your strength and wisdom
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- Although each of the directions are opposite to each other (symbolized
by the cross), they are encompassed by the circle (connecting the ends
of the cross).
- There are also the directions of Above, Below and Within
- Peoples: Europe, Africa, Americas and Asia
- Gifts: Air/Wind (Animals), Earth (Minerals), Water (Plants), Fire (Sun)
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- Medicine (or spirit) is in everything.
- “Modern” medicine focuses outward: Spiritual is tended to by clergy;
mental by teachers and psychiatrists; physical by physicians; and
emotional well-being tended by family and friends.
- Traditional medicine focuses on the balance of one’s self (being at the
center), being in charge of (responsible for) your own well-being.
- Working with the “medicine man” and with the tools and symbols, balance
can be achieved through prayer (East), meditation (North), herbal
medicine (West) and attunement with your emotions (South)
- From a psycho/sociological standpoint, this can also be symbolized as
Values (East), Decision (North), Actions (West) and Reaction (South).
- Operating outside of one’s circle = conflict
- Opposites attract, completing each others circles
- The elders tell us: “Keep harmony… within nature and within
yourself”. The Medicine wheel
gives us directions for attaining this balance: Listen to your emotions
and be aware of your values.
This will strengthen your decisions and actions.
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- Used simply as a cultural calendar (a way to keep track of the Days and
Seasons)… they are a bit different.
Culturally speaking, the ideals and symbols differ by
name/reference and use.
- Used as tools for growth, balance, introspection and reflection,
however… they are the same.
Naming aside, we are all one. From a shamanistic perspective –
there is spirit in all.
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- Symbolism
- Sacrifice (Cycle of Life)
- Fertility of the Land
- Grains, fruits, breads: Consumption for sustenance
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- Also known as Lughnasadh in the Celtic Tradition, as a harvest holiday,
we honor our ancestors and the hard work they must have had to do in
order to survive. This is a good time to give thanks for the abundance
we have in our lives, and to be grateful for the food on our tables.
Lammas is a time of transformation, of rebirth and new beginnings.
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- They hired men with their crab-tree sticks
To split him skin from bone,
But the miller did serve him worse than that,
For he ground him between two stones.
There's little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl,
And there's brandy in the glass,
And little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl
Proved the strongest man at last.
The huntsman cannot hunt the fox
Nor loudly blow his horn
And the tinker cannot mend his pots
Without John Barleycorn.
- There were three men come from the West
Their fortunes for to try,
And these three made a solemn vow:
"John Barleycorn must die."
They plowed, they sowed, they harrowed him in,
Threw clods upon his head,
'Til these three men were satisfied
John Barleycorn was dead.
They let him lie for a very long time,
'Til the rains from heaven did fall,
When little Sir John raised up his head
And so amazed them all.
They let him stand 'til Mid-Summer's Day
When he looked both pale and wan;
Then little Sir John grew a long, long beard
And so became a man.
They hired men with their scythes so sharp
To cut him off at the knee;
They rolled him and tied him around the waist,
And served him barbarously.
They hired men with their sharp pitchforks
To pierce him to the heart,
But the loader did serve him worse than that,
For he bound him to the cart.
They wheeled him 'round and around the field
'Til they came unto a barn,
And there they took a solemn oath
On poor John Barleycorn.
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- Crafts, Song and Celebration
- A time to celebrate talents and craftsmanship.
- Lugh is also known in some traditions as the patron of bards and
magicians. Now is a great time of year to work on honing your own
talents. Learn a new craft, or get better at an old one.
- Symbols of the Season
- Sickles and scythes, as well as other symbols of harvesting
- Grapes and vines
- Dried grains - sheaves of wheat, bowls of oats, etc.
- Corn dolls - you can make these easily using dried husks
- Early fall vegetables, such as squashes and pumpkins
- Late summer fruits, like apples, plums and peaches
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- Sacrifice
- Symbolic
- Action (Activism)
- Reaching above, below, within
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- Teaching the concepts of our past traditions to our future generations.
- Participation, information and reflection
- Thanksgiving and sacrifice
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- For our ancestors, the harvesting and processing of grain was crucial.
If crops were left in the fields too long, or the bread not baked in
time, families could starve. Taking care of one's crops meant the
difference between life and death.
- It’s not just about grain - it may be a house to call your own. Or it
may be that job you’ve always dreamt of getting. Or it could be to have a child - the
hope for something more in the future regardless of what it begins as –
it is all from the seed. And here we are harvesting the fruit which
contains more seeds to bring about more possibilities in the future.
- What seeds were you sowing at Imbolc this past cycle? What have
you made from your harvest? What magicks were you working to be fruitful
at this seasonal harvest?
- Among indigenous tribes, the village shaman served the community by
performing ceremonies to cure diseases, ward off evil, influence weather
and harvest, and practiced other forms of healing such as herbalism.
- The shaman would use a number of tools and methods (e.g. presentation,
technology, wheel of the year/medicine wheel, story-telling, etc.) to
impart knowledge and healing.
- The cycles evident in the symbols, seasons, actions and traditions will
(hopefully) spawn reflection and reaction – planting the seeds for
cultivation, inspiration and (after some nurturing) fruition.
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- This is a time of reflecting on choices made, and their consequences. In
Leo, we're drawn into the inspiration of the Hero/Heroine's journey, and
the visions of the grandest version of the Self. It's a chance to see
how you've been true to your talents, potential, uniqueness, and where
you've fallen short. Along with the regrets, endings, farewells, Lammas
is a chance to begin again, to dream and plan for the upcoming seasons.
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Notes