Shamanista

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Divination, Dreams and Visions

One fo the chief duties of the shaman is to obtain information. Knowing where to find water, food, and shelter from harsh weather and predators can save the lives of the shaman's people. Besides journeying to the spirit world, there are other ways to find get information from the spirit world. They generally fall into the categories of diviniation, dreams, and visions.

Divination

Divination is a process for finding answers to questions by consulting the spirit world. It can take many forms.

Divination can be done by journeying, gazing into a clear crystal, gazing at a fire or into clear running water, watching birds and other animals, observing cloud patterns, and countless other ways.

Certain ecstatic trance postures are used for divination either by journeying or by turning the body into a portal for answers to come through to the shaman.

Shamans of many cultures worldwide have used clear crystals for scrying (a type of divination) for many thousands of years.

Much more information on divination is coming soon!

Oracles

An oracle can be a person who gets message from spirit and gives them to others, a special place where such messages are received and given, or a tool for receiving such messages. So a shaman can be an oracle, and a shaman can use an oracle, such as a set of stones, shells, bones, sticks, or other objects to receive and interpret messages from spirit.

More information on oracles is coming soon!

Dreams

Everyone receives messages in dreams. In our culture we just don't often heed them.

Animists do pay attention to dreams, and they act on them. Those who have particularly important magical dreams, especially dreams that affect the whole community, often become shamans.

Some shamans learn to use their dreams actively to do spirit work. All shamans must learn to protect themselves in their dreams, as dreaming can be a time of vulnerability to human and other spirits who may wish to harm or control the shaman's soul.

More information on shamanis and dreaming coming soon!

Visions

It's a little hard to explain visions if you've never had one. They are not hallucinations. You know they aren't part of ordinary reality. For one thing, they are sort of translucent, usually.

Yet they are not imaginary either. You can close your eyes, or look away, and when you look back again, they are still there.

Visions can move and sometimes talk. They are very vivid and detailed, and they don't change details, as deliberate visualizations do. Visions are stable. You don't have to concentrate on them to hold them.

Visions are just "there." They seem to linger until you get whatever message they are meant to bring you, and you can remember them vividly for years afterward.

Unlike dreams, visions can't be brushed off as "just dreaming." When you've had one, it can't be mistaken for "just imagination" either. Visions are too real for that.

Some visions are premonitions. Others are messages from spirits who appear to us in ordinary reality under certain circumstances. It's safe to say that all visions are important; that's why they appear.

Animists have great respect for visions. In many cultures, especially in North America, traditional peoples fast in the wilderness in order to see a vision on which to base major life decisions.

A vision can cause a person to be given a new name, or it can provide a mission for the rest of their life. Visions come when we are ready for them.

More information on visions is coming soon!

Signs from the Spirit World

In animist cultures anyone can get signs from the spirit world, and ordinary people often do. Sometimes it happens spontaneously. Other times it happens under the guidance of a shaman.

Often the meaning of sign is obvious to them, because all people in animist cultures grow up hearing the teaching stories that are told and retold to help children and adults learn the symbols, myths, and metaphors of their people.

In some cases, though, a shaman is required to interpret the signs, especially in situations that affect the whole group.

Information on signs from the spirit world is coming soon!

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