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Celtic Shamanism

Practising Shamans
People who really work with magic look like the dinner-lady at school, or the posh man with his red Porsche making money on Wall Street, or the doctor, or Bill Gates, or the woman who runs the village shop, or Anita Roddick, or the person who drives the school bus, or Richard Branson, or the postman. They do not wear feathers and funny robes (except in private among friends) or invite you over for an evening’s light drumming … sorry if this knocks a few sacred cows on the head!


Shamans are walkers between worlds. They journey, (spirit travel) sometimes, but not always, while in trance. In this journeying they go out of their physical bodies into other worlds (also called spirit worlds in non ordinary reality) in order to gain understanding, knowing, knowledge, the 'bigger picture'. From this they enable (or sometimes undertake on behalf of) en-wholing (healing) other beings, creatures, people, plants, the land itself. Journeying is an essential part of being a shaman - else he is not walking between worlds. It can be difficult and dangerous. To be a shaman requires total commitment.

Animism
Animism is an integral part of shamanism. All shamans are connected to everything around them, whether it lives (as you understand living) or not. So you would feel as much at-one with your computer or your car as you might with your cat. A magician once said "if you cannot be a worm, then you cannot be god". This tenet is fundamental in Celtic shamanism and told through the Lore story of "Taliesin". Celtic shamans learn this story very early in their apprenticeship - then spend the rest of their lives putting it into practice.

What is Shapeshifting?
It has a fabulous and wonderful mystique and is also an extremely subtle and well hidden art. It's about “thinking yourself” into another place. You take everything that “shows” you to the everyday world with you. You are not there through your own mind-abilities. Or you can ask another Being if you can share their shape - if they agree, you go with them. You share your consciousness with them and they with you. You might do this because you need the wisdom of the Being or Beast with whom you travel, they may be able to help you find answers to questions. An example of this is the "Finding of Mabon" in the Celtic tale Culhwch and Olwen where Kay and his companions travel to find the Eldest Beast and are taken by Salmon to the place where Mabon is imprisoned. But Shapeshifting is also the means to Dreamweaving.

What is Dreamweaving ?
Dreamweaving is the ability to walk consciously between the worlds and to transfer wisdom between them. The shaman is the walker between the worlds who bridges, links, the "everyday" world with Otherworld. He knows the ways of gods and men, and is able to translate that knowledge into knowing so that both worlds are able understand and co-operate with each other. However, knowing is not gained easily. It is the fruit of a long and difficult apprenticeship, of many gruelling trials and tests. All the world's heroic tales make a point of this. The hero undergoes a series of hair-raising adventures before he slays the monster, wins the golden apples, beheads the giant, etc. The old Taleweavers certainly knew this.



What is a shaman?
Shamans are walkers between worlds. They journey, (spirit travel) sometimes, but not always, while in trance. In this journeying they go out of their physical bodies into other worlds (also called spirit worlds in non ordinary reality) in order to gain understanding, knowing, knowledge, the 'bigger picture'. From this they enable (or sometimes undertake on behalf of) en-wholing (healing) other beings, creatures, people, plants, the land itself. Journeying is an essential part of being a shaman - else he is not walking between worlds. It can be difficult and dangerous. To be a shaman requires total commitment.

Animism
Animism is an integral part of shamanism. All shamans are connected to everything around them, whether it lives (as you understand living) or not. So you would feel as much at-one with your computer or your car as you might with your cat. A magician once said "if you cannot be a worm, then you cannot be god". This tenet is fundamental in Celtic shamanism and told through the Lore story of "Taliesin". Celtic shamans learn this story very early in their apprenticeship - then spend the rest of their lives putting it into practice.

Transformation



These two masks are in fact one - if you turn one upside-down you get the other. This is the Celtic tradition of transformation, shape-shifting. The masks are
the alchemical King and Queen,
the God and Goddess,
the Lord and Lady.



This mask is the essence of shamanism, two apparent opposites which are in fact different perspectives of the same thing, the one thing. It has a modern connection with gestalt, also about seeing things from more than one viewpoint. The spiritual adage "What you see depends on what you're looking at and where you're looking from" is a good place to begin - and this is Shapeshifting.

What is Shapeshifting?
It has a fabulous and wonderful mystique and is also an extremely subtle and well hidden art. It's about “thinking yourself” into another place. You take everything that “shows” you to the everyday world with you. You are not there through your own mind-abilities. Or you can ask another Being if you can share their shape - if they agree, you go with them. You share your consciousness with them and they with you. You might do this because you need the wisdom of the Being or Beast with whom you travel, they may be able to help you find answers to questions. An example of this is the "Finding of Mabon" in the Celtic tale Culhwch and Olwen where Kay and his companions travel to find the Eldest Beast and are taken by Salmon to the place where Mabon is imprisoned. But Shapeshifting is also the means to Dreamweaving.

What is Dreamweaving ?
Dreamweaving is the ability to walk consciously between the worlds and to transfer wisdom between them. The shaman is the walker between the worlds who bridges, links, the "everyday" world with Otherworld. He knows the ways of gods and men, and is able to translate that knowledge into knowing so that both worlds are able understand and co-operate with each other. However, knowing is not gained easily. It is the fruit of a long and difficult apprenticeship, of many gruelling trials and tests. All the world's heroic tales make a point of this. The hero undergoes a series of hair-raising adventures before he slays the monster, wins the golden apples, beheads the giant, etc. The old Taleweavers certainly knew this.

Storytelling
This is essential to the shaman’s craft. There was more to the old tales than just a cracking good yarn. Encoded in the thrills and emotions were messages, communications and teachings from the gods speaking through the shaman. The tales are the framework of the lore and Lore is a body of teachings and so an essential part of the shaman's working life. Through lore we re-member the ancient strands of Otherworldly knowledge buried deep in our unconscious and bring them to the forefront of our conscious mind. We can then see them from a new perspective and apply them to life in our "everyday" world.

The Seasons
These are another thing which is integral to Celtic Shamans. They work with the seasons of the Planet - which are defined by the solar system of which that planet is a part. To find out more click on Seasons. Shapechanging and the Seasons are an integral part of Dreamweaving Story-Lore in Celtic wisdom.