The Shaman's Spirit

I always love to have authors on about the subject of Shamanism. Mike Williams, in this interview and his book, offers a great storehouse of knowledge when it comes to these ancient teachings, which is much needed during these perilous times on our planet. Glad to have Mike here with us and hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did. Presenting.

1. Mike what was your prime motivation and inspiration for creating The Shaman’s Spirit Discovering The Wisdom Of Nature, Power Animals, Scared Places And Rituals?

Hi Jeffery and it’s great to be here – thanks for inviting me. The Shaman’s Spirit began as a discussion between Watkins (my publishers) and me, as we both wanted to produce a book that introduced shamanism to a Western audience. Shamanism has been a part of my life for decades, both academically – as my PhD specialised in prehistoric European shamanism – and also practically, as I have used my research to create my own a shamanic practice. At its heart, the book attempts to share what I think makes shamanism so important and worthwhile to follow.

I had already written a work looking at the history (and prehistory) of shamanism so, for this book, I wanted to look at existing or historically recent shamanic practices and draw my inspiration from this incredibly rich resource. This meant researching shamanism around the world, something that was made slightly less daunting since I had already worked with shamans in Siberia and Lapland, the heartlands from where shamanism first sprouted. But I went a lot wider for the book, researching shamanism on all six inhabited continents, and I am hopeful that even the most expert practitioner will find things that are new to them.

Rather than encouraging people to copy these exotic practices, the book distils indigenous custom to make it possible for a Western practitioner to follow. This is important since it is only by listening to the voices of our own spirit guides that we will truly develop our shamanism. We can turn to others for inspiration – and this is precisely what the book provides – but to truly practice shamanism, our source must be from within and the spirits that we contact directly. Fortunately, I had a publisher who believed the same.

2. I have a wolf tattoo that I am told is beautiful. I have also been told by an American Indian that the wolf is my totem animal. I think I have a thing with bats and owls as well. Can we have more than one? And how do we go about finding out what our totems are exactly?

Your tattoo sounds beautiful and an American Indian will certainly recognize a totem animal when he or she sees one!

In the book, I write about both totem and power animals since many people confuse the two. I will say something more about power animals later in this interview but for many shamanic communities, a totem animal is a symbol of their group or clan. The Bugu tribe of Kyrgyzstan in central Asia, for example, believe that they descend from two young people raised and nurtured by a female deer they call müyüzdüü ene: the horned mother. Bugu even means deer in the Kyrgyz language. The deer is their totem, a symbol of their tribe and, in a sense, the spiritual representation of their community. Zulu people from Africa have strict taboos about how a totem animal is treated; in essence, the people and the animal are bound in a reciprocal relationship of respect. I suggest in the book that people may have a personal totem, a family totem, or even a totem animal that represents their chosen job or profession. Even at a national level, many countries have an animal totem to represent them. Of course, many shamans work with totem animals by meeting their spirit form in the otherworld and this is also true for power animals.

Power animals are far more personal and are usually dedicated to a single individual; these are the spirit animals that walk by your side throughout life. Your totem animal may also be your power animal but totem animals are usually more visual and representative; power animals are spirit guides.

I will explain how to find a power animal later but your totem animal may be very obvious. It may be in your name – Fish, Bird, Fox – or an animal picture that sits above the family mantelpiece. Or it may even be a tattoo to which you felt particularly drawn. There may indeed be more than one totem animal to represent the different aspects of your life – just as there may be more than one power animal that walks by your side.

3. I have had a few Shamanic deaths in my time. Once when I was 17 testicular cancer. I am healed now of course for over 17 years. My dad passed then as well. Definitely a Shamanic death and now a break up which feels like a mini Shamanic death. What can you tell us about times in our life’s that are chaotic and how they propel to awaken us?

You are right that there are times in all of our lives when we suffer and you mention your own experience of illness, physical death, and mental and physical trauma; each is distressingly common. Shamanism is very much a practice situated in the world and does not shy away from these times of suffering. In fact, shamanism itself is centred by a theme of death and rebirth, as the shaman must leave this world to journey to the otherworld of the spirits. This is particularly evident upon initiation and I write about dismemberment in my book, where a shaman undergoes symbolic death and annihilation at the hands of the spirits in order to be reborn a more perfect individual. As you say, these times propel us towards awakening.

But it is through generating compassion that shamanism particularly draws upon suffering. By experiencing the darkness of the human condition ourselves, we come to understand suffering. It happens to us all and, in a way, it is through suffering that we are truly joined as people. Shamanism is not about feeling sympathy for suffering, or even empathising with the person going through a traumatic time, it is understanding that we are all connected and, where one suffers, so do we all. Shamanism allows us to draw upon our personal experience of pain and, leaving our individuality behind, journey into the otherworld to find a cure for our patients. A shaman once said to me that shamanism allows her to open her wounds and draw forth the power that resides there. We can all do this. We know what it is like to be in a place of anguish and, most importantly, we know the way out. Suffering is power since it provides us with the basis for compassion – the understanding that to heal ourselves we need to heal the world, starting with the individual who stands before us asking for aid. Shamans walk in the dark margins, catching those who fall; this is why, in many traditions, shamans are referred to as wounded healers.

4. What are some ways to commune and get in touch with our spirit guides and ancestors that you would recommend?

This is the most fundamental aspect of shamanism as it is only through journeying to and interacting with our spirit guides that we can draw forth the power we need to fulfil our role.

Spirit guides come in many guises but most common are animals, which we tend to call power animals to emphasise their otherworldly origin and the gifts that they bring us. My book provides exercises showing how to journey to the otherworld and how to find a power animal. I also provide this information on my website (address below). It is the starting point for any shamanic practice and it is an incredible thought that each of us has at least one power animal waiting for us to make contact.

For many, finding their power animal can be a reconnection with a creature they might have already sensed is with them, in the same way that a totem animal is sometimes very evident. It sounds like you have a very strong connection with wolf. However, when we first go to find our power animal we must keep an open mind. I remember when a shaman offered to find me an animal spirit who could aid me in my practice – a wonderful gift to bestow to someone – and I laid out a blanket to form our working space. It just happened to be covered in wolves. I felt very self-conscious and said I hoped it would not put the shaman off his work. Of course, it didn’t, and the animal he found me was most certainly not a wolf, but it’s best not to be too swayed by what we think might turn up. Just be open and accept that whatever animal comes is exactly right at this time.

You are right that many shamans work with their ancestors and this is a large part of my personal practice. You can journey to meet them in the same way – whether you remember your deceased relatives from life or whether you find others from a far deeper past. I dedicate a chapter of my book to these interactions as I think connecting with our ancestors is so important.

Aside from journeying, it is a good idea to keep in touch with our spirit guides through keeping images or small fetishes with us. It may be a feather we find, a small statue of an animal we buy, a photograph of a loved one we have taken, or even a sound file on our computer so that we can be greeted each morning with our animal’s cry. Or it can even be a deeper, more personal bond, such as your wolf tattoo.

Many practitioners like to dedicate an altar to their spirit guides, filling it with items that are symbolic of the relationship. The altar can also become a focus for daily practice, perhaps by lighting a candle or leaving a small offering for our guides in thanks for their assistance throughout the day. Gratitude is an extremely healthy emotion and having a place we can go to express our gratitude is very important. We can also use our time at the altar to ask for help from our power animal or our ancestors’ blessing on our day. Connecting with our spirit guides does not necessarily always mean journeying to the otherworld to meet them.

When we have the opportunity, we could even dance or embody our guides and I say more about this when we discuss shapeshifting below.

5. Sometimes I do not seem to have dreams and sometimes I have them a whole lot. What are some ways we can use our dreams to work with to better ourselves?

Your experience is extremely common and many people worry that if they are not having vivid and important dreams all the time they are doing something wrong. They’re not. Oftentimes, it is simply because we can’t remember what we dreamt, or else the dreams seemed random and inconsequential. The sort of helpful dreams where we can gain insight into problems and issues can be quite rare and only tend to arise when we most need them. There are, however, many techniques we can use to increase their frequency, so that they become another tool we can call upon when we need some extra help – rather than merely waiting for them to turn up.

The key – as with most shamanic work – is intention. If we set an intention before we go to sleep that we will remember our dreams then, over time, our subconscious will take notice of that intention and start to do so. But since, even then, the most vivid dream can rapidly disappear in daylight, we should write down all that we can remember immediately upon waking. After a few weeks, we will probably find that our dreams have become more significant and we can then start to interpret their meaning. Rather than relying on other people’s lists of what dreams mean, I encourage anyone to reflect on what the meaning is for them. Dreams are personal and so are their meanings. Over time, our dreams might begin to guide us and to provide unexpected answers to our issues. To sleep upon a problem will, quite literally, become extremely useful.

Lucid dreaming – where we become aware of the dream and are able to control what happens – takes more work but, once again, we should start with setting an intention before we fall asleep. For me, however, lucid dreaming takes a lot of effort and I would much rather let the dream unfold as it will and then set time aside the following day to go back into the dream during a shamanic journey. That way I can be far more attentive to what is going on and I also have my spirit guides by my side. I then use the opportunity to find out more about the dream and also explore those aspects that were not immediately apparent.

Dreams are tremendously important if we use them correctly, and there are shamanic communities who even believe that dreams are the true reality and all we see in this world is an illusion.

6. It seems with a lot of people these days books are just about the only way to seek the way of the Shaman. I mean not everyone can find a real shaman to teach them up front and personal. Not me anyway and where I live in Florida it is very Christian religious and not the best of places to seek teachers of Shamanism. I am grateful for books and documentaries. What do you have to say about our culture and this?

You are right that we have a dilemma in the Western world. Our historical past may have held a rich shamanic tradition but this is now largely lost to us and only scant remnants remain. Even in places such as Lapland and Siberia – the heartlands of traditional shamanism – the coming of Christianity and, more latterly Communism, destroyed much shamanic tradition. People in those regions today have to piece together a broken lineage to reclaim their past.

This has resulted in many Western practitioners learning and even training in other traditions, such as those of South America or from the indigenous spirituality of Native Americans. This is a good way to learn and having a personal guide and teacher is a real luxury. But for others, this is impossible, because of where they live or because they lack the considerable funds necessary to travel to remote places where the indigenous shamans are located. Books and weekend workshops provide the only realistic entry into the tradition for many.

Whilst it is easy to be dismissive of this approach, I think that would be a mistake. The shamans I learnt from in Siberia constantly told me that they could teach me very little compared to what I could learn from interacting with my own spirit guides and guardians. One older shaman told me that when she was first called to shamanism there was nobody who could teach her since the oppression of Communism had made shamanism a dangerous activity. She had to listen and learn solely from the spirits – there was no one else.

Those in the West, who learn their shamanism from books and from weekend courses, can do similar and it is easy to learn the rudimentary skills necessary to journey to the otherworld and find a spirit guide. After that, practitioners need only the openness and willingness to follow the spirits and to listen to what they teach. My book offers these basic tools and then provides a springboard to a wealth of possibilities that people can discover for themselves. Moreover, even in traditional communities, this is how many indigenous shamans learn their craft. We sometimes get a little hung up on teaching and qualifications in the West and forget that shamanism is defined by a personal relationship with the spirits – you can’t teach that.

There is one final point that should be addressed here. Shamans in traditional communities often resist the call of the spirits – it is very rarely their choice to practice – and they often find it a dangerous, lonely, and marginalised position to hold. Conversely, in the West, we positively choose to learn shamanism, without necessarily waiting for the spirits’ call, and find it empowering and uplifting rather than dark and dangerous. This disparity has led some to denigrate and even mock Western shamanism as inauthentic but I think this is in error. In the West, we practice shamanism but do not necessarily become shamans in the same sense as traditional people; the focus is different here. We are forging our own path and, so far, the spirits are supporting us in doing so. At base, if shamanism works, it’s worth doing, if it doesn’t, then we should do something else. But for most who try, it works.

7. Tell us about shape shifting please and what this means and it doesn’t mean actually shifting into an animal though their are folklore stories of such. To you what does it represent?

Shapeshifting is an important technique of shamanism but, as you point out, it is often misunderstood. In essence, shapeshifting involves taking on the form and characteristics of something else, usually an animal but it can be an ancestor, or even a force such as the wind. The shift happens in a shamanic state and yet can be brought over into this world so that practitioners can dance, run, or carry out any other activity in another form.

In my book, I draw upon the Huichol tradition of wolf shamanism, where shamans train for many years to gain the power to turn into a wolf. The descriptions the shamans provide makes it sound like they really do become animals and this may challenge our rational minds as it seems an impossible feat. And yet, buried in the anthropological reports, I found a clue that seems to explain what’s going on. A particular wolf-shaman comments that, whilst in the form of a wolf, he looks down at his body and still sees the shape of a man. But in all other characteristics, even to the core of his very being, he is wolf.

Shapeshifting, therefore, does not change our physical appearance but, inside, we feel very different. Our senses might heighten, we may feel the urge to move and run like our animal, or we might gain a new perspective on an issue before us. I have written about my experience of shapeshifting into the carrion-hunting Red Kite in order to look for a lost book in a university library. I felt that my senses were heightened through the shift and, before long, I located the book in a completely different section of the library. Would I have found it in human form? Perhaps not. The attributes of Red Kite brought me additional abilities, helping me search for something that was lost.

That said, there are plenty of folklore tales about people shifting into animals completely, such as the werewolves of Eastern Europe. Is this a remnant of ancient shamanism, where practitioners took on the disguise of a formidable hunter to find food? Or did local villagers really see an animal before them rather than the human underneath – the mind seeing the vision rather than reality? Who knows, but our mythology would be poorer without these tales.

8. Where did all the beautiful art come from in your book? I wish all Shaman books had such beautiful art in them. It really helps the experience and journey in my perspective.

I was very fortunate in having Susannah Stone as my picture researcher and she was able to source some incredible photographs and also indigenous artwork, both beautifully complementing my text. Moreover, Susannah went beyond the usual sources and found images, and especially paintings, from little known shamanic groups; we are confident that readers will not have seen many of these images before.

The aim of everyone associated with the book was for the art to become a journey in its own right, with readers losing themselves in each image as they travel deeper into the realm of the shaman. I’m thrilled that this is how you felt as you read the book – it’s exactly what we hoped the effect would be.

9. Tell us about drumming and how we can use it to travel to the otherworld and do you have any meditations you can recommend to help us reach this point in our sojourn?

To journey to the otherworld, a shaman enters trance. The effects of such trance have now been documented by neuroscientists and the almost universal shamanic experience of travelling down a tunnel and stepping out into an otherworld has a sound scientific basis. Even the appearance of spirits can be explained by the effects of the brain whilst in trance. Of course, scientists call the visions of the otherworld and the spirits that reside there hallucinations, whereas to a shaman the experience is real and these are genuine entities they contact. It is hard to imagine the two explanations will ever be reconciled but the universality of trance experience shows why anyone can practice shamanism and experience the same effects as indigenous shamans throughout history. Our brains are all wired the same way.

To enter trance in the first place, shamans use many techniques but, in Siberia, Lapland and also in many other regions of the world, shamans listen to repetitive drumming. Again, science shows that drumming slows our brain waves from a beta to an alpha and possibly even to a theta state, pushing us ever deeper into trance and allowing us to journey to the realm of the shaman. Within my practice, I use drumming almost daily, as it is a safe, convenient, and very effective method for journeying to the otherworld.

In my book, I explain how to journey to the otherworld using a drum; it is extremely easy and anyone can do it. I even offer two free drumming tracks on my website that I recorded myself for people to download and use for their own journeys to the otherworld. You need nothing else to start.

10. What are you up to next Mike book wise and are there any links you would like to share with us and departing words from your book to our readers? Thank you Mike. I love discussing Shamanism and learning about it. A pleasure.

In addition to teaching shamanism, I am a tutor/mentor within the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids and so my next book will look at ancient Druid spirituality as it existed around the time of the Roman invasion. Very little is recorded about the Druids and so I am using my archaeological background to piece together the tradition from the remains people left behind. Many of their practices are very closely related to shamanism so perhaps it isn’t that much of a departure for me, but I want to take readers back in time as they read the book and show them how the ancient Druids really lived. I think it will be quite eye-opening and there is so much we can learn from these ancient keepers of traditional lore.

My website for instructions on how to journey and also the drumming tracks is www.PrehistoricShamanism.com. People can also catch up with me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PrehistoricShamanism where I try to post something interesting about shamanism every day. Check out my Amazon page as well at www.Amazon.com/Author/MikeWilliams.

It has been a real pleasure chatting to you Jeffrey and I hope I have encouraged people to explore shamanism and maybe even try journeying for themselves. And who knows where that might lead? I ended my book with the following words, which seem appropriate here: “Dream the world as you want it to be. Stretch your wings and fly, following the shamanic path the spirits have laid before you”. And good luck!