Every once in a while, people will ask me if I’m a…and they’ll use the “s” word.
The answer is easy.
No, I’m not one. I practice shamanism, but practicing something doesn’t mean I am one, only that I practice it. I also know I’ll never be one.
Amazing admissions, don’t you think, from someone offering to teach this stuff?
Not really. I’m doing what my teachers taught and still teach me, and is something I’ve shared online, in print and in conversation before:
One of my mentors is a Paiute Shaman Woman, a GrandMother of one of the Three Women’s Nations. I was one of three white males she allowed to study with her. One day we were sitting in the blazing sun on the high mesa, the air high altitude-cool and dry with only a few old-man cacti, Mexican redknee tarantulas, some dancers and [singers] to keep us company. I said to her, “GrandMother, you’re an incredibly powerful shaman.”
She laughed. “No, I’m not.”
“But GrandMother, I’ve seen what you can do! I know what you’ve done! You are an incredibly powerful shaman.”
She patiently patted my head. “No, I’m not. If I do what I do it’s because the Spirits let me. If I was a gifted pianist and lost my hands, would I still be a gifted pianist? So it’s not me, it’s the Spirits that allow me. If they go away then I couldn’t do what you see me do. I don’t even call myself one. I let people know it’s the Spirits.”
I had to think about that. “Lots of people have said you are, though.”
“People say lots of things. People come to me because of my practice. Or because something in them lets them know the Spirits work with me. They use that word because they have no other word for what I do.”
I nodded, my eyes going to the gathering dancers. She watched me. “But my teachers,” she said, “they are incredibly powerful shaman.”
I looked back at her and she was smiling. It took me a minute and then I laughed my head off.
So no, I’m not one.
And in keeping with referencing my quotes list…There is no supernatural, there are simply things that are easily understood and/or controlled by almost everyone, and those things that are understood and/or controlled only by specialists. Those things need to be dealt with using different techniques, just as building a bridge needs to use different techniques and specialists than roasting a pig. People in these societies usually accept and believe in what we call magic, which refers to the technology they use to manipulate what we call the supernatural. – Cara Richards
(yes, that’s the quote at the top of our Principles page)
