The principle of core shamanism says that there is a universal set of techniques people use to interface with the spirit world that are common to and a basis for all magickal traditions. The archetypal image of the witch is closely connected to that of the shaman. Witches and shamans were the healers and wise ones of their communities and their ability to connect to the spirit world allowed them to serve their communities in a variety of other ways. Things you can read in medieval manuscripts suggest that traditional witchcraft shared much with certain shamanic practices, among other reasonable evidence that ancient witches and shamans share common roots.

Most magickal people believe in the existence of both a physical world and non-physical, spirit worlds. Shamans work with the concept that actions in one realm have consequences in the other and that information obtained in the spirit world can be used to create tangible effects in the actual world. They act as messengers, traveling from one world to the other to communicate directly with spirit guides and to bring necessary medicine and information from the spirits to their people. While different cultures have different ways of representing these different worlds, most accept the basic concept of an underworld, a middle world and an upperworld. Traditional witches ended up focusing their magick in the middle world, on the healing arts and manifesting earthly abundance through healthy crops and farming in the agrarian societies in which they lived. Part of the reason for this might have been because Christianity came along and co-opted "heaven" and "hell," effectively removing the role of spiritual communicator from the witch's repertoire. By working with shamanic concepts and techniques, modern witches can expand their abilities to work in all worlds once again.

In the third level of training with Christopher Penczak, and his corresponding book The Temple of Shamanic Witchcraft, we learn the ways of the shaman and how to integrate them within our practice of the craft. The practice of core shamanism, and how it relates to the traditions of witchcraft, is a primary focus of Christopher's own work, as well as being an important area of study within his teaching.

By looking to the surviving native traditions, we can find many missing elements of European mysticism to restore shamanic practices to witchcraft. We are expanding beyond folk magick and circle ritual to truly become walkers in both worlds, and learn to be a bridge, a partner between the realm of spirit and the realm of form.

In the beginning, studying Shamanic Witchcraft was an interesting intellectual exercise but I didn't feel any particular spiritual connection to or affinity for shamanic practice. I learned much about the various cultures from which our modern understanding of shamanism comes and I had some interesting journeying experiences, but nothing resonated particularly strongly for me. Perhaps, I thought, shamanic techniques were not for me - not all witches are necessarily masters of every aspect of the craft. Along the way, however, something shifted.

After spending a few weeks journeying to meet our own spirit guides and to practice traveling to the realms of the underworld and upperworld, in one class we actually made a shamanic journey to retrieve medicine (the shaman's magick) for a classmate. It was a particularly powerful experience and one of those moments that reaffirmed the correctness of my pursuit of this particular spiritual path. I made a successful shamanic journey on behalf of my "client." Without knowing anything about them ahead of time, I reached her personal spirit guides and brought back the animal medicine they instructed me was necessary for her - this is a basic element of the shaman's service. The medicines that my partner brought to me when our roles were reversed have proven to be most beneficial over the past several weeks; I really needed them to help me manage some deeply personal challenges and changes. We were, as it turns out, good shamans!

One of the most important things we did in this class was shadow work. The belief is that before a shaman can be of service to others, she must make a personal journey of discovery and healing. Most people are familiar with the concept of "the dark night of the soul." This is what this work is about - descending into the darkness to find out what dwells there, make peace with it, and incorporate it as part of our magickal self. The shadow represents the parts of ourselves that we hide from, that we are too afraid to face. It is only by welcoming these banished parts of ourselves back into our consciousness that we can heal them and thus be ready to perform healing work for others. It is the magickal equivalent to "physician, heal thyself." Christopher calls the process of this shadow work "distilling the shadow." This helps us to identify our shadow self and know what we're looking for when we journey into the dark.

Throughout the class we kept a shadow journal. In it we recorded the things that we associate with fear, anger, resentment, guilt - trigger words that represent the ways that the shadow tends to manifests. Over time, patterns become clear and the shadow begins to reveal itself. On the last night of class we performed a ritual wherein we burned our shadow journals and then made a journey to the underworld to find our shadow self. It was an intense and often difficult process for everyone, myself included. It also culminated in one of the most transcendent experiences I have yet experienced on my path as a witch. I came away from that evening a changed person. A stronger woman, a better witch.

This class included other lessons and other magickal work, including dream work, but for me these were the two experiences that affected me the most. I realize that even if I am not destined to become a shaman I am better than I expected at using shamanic techniques. In the end, my work in this class yielded some profound personal experiences as well as some valuable new tools.

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 5:00 PM