A shaman is someone who listens, not just to the spirit, but rather to spirits—ancestors or the spirits that are part of an animistic theology in which human life and thought is just one aspect of a much broader sentience.
What have you learned from listening to the spirit of a person or place?
I once took some shamanic journeying lessons from a Unity Church minister. After first learning how to visit the lower world, we did another journey to that world to contact our power animals. It was an amazing experience, too long to explain here. I learned a lot about myself from the animal that came to me. I mean the fact that that particular kind of animal came told me things about who I am at heart. Hard to explain.
Although my mother was not a dominating personality in my life, somehow there are phrases of hers that come back to me in various situations, They guide me, sometimes, into another set of thoughts that I didn’t realize I had or could use at the time but do so, now.
I think I get what you mean, Patt. There are expressions my parents, other relatives, and teachers used that I didn’t understand at that time, but sometimes they click with me now all of a sudden. For example, my seventh grade teacher would often refer to someone, “Going all around Robin Hood’s barn.” That didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t even think Robin Hood had a barn.Then, one day when I was well into middle age, I realized, “Oh, right. Robin Hood didn’t have a barn. So what she meant was that the conversation was going nowhere.”
Thank you, Margaret, for your response! It’s good to have them when appropriate. This one brings to my mind a related situation I have right now. I am currently hosting a youngish student who was born to international students in the USA but who grew up in their native home, Nigeria. He is quite proficient in English but there are times when our idioms are completely incomprehensive to him. I have fun explaining to him what they REALLY mean!
Do you know Catherine Onyemelukwe? She is an American who went to Nigeria with the Peace Corps, married a Nigerian, and lived in Nigeria for many years. They now live in the U.S. She published an interesting memoire and a blog that focuses on Nigerian news and events. She is also UU.
No but I should! I hope her information is on line. I will search for her. Thanks.
The book is: Nigeria Revisited: My Life and Loves Abroad, available in print and Kindle from Amazon. Next time I get a blog post notice from her, I’ll send it to you.