SHAMANIC KNOWLEDGE

Extract from the first page of the book :

“To all beings in the web of life. May all living beings be loved, honoured, and respected. To all who work together to dream into being a planet filled with love, peace, harmony, equality, abundance, honor, and respect for all. To the earth, which is our home, and to earth, air, water, and the sun for giving us all that sustains life”.

What is this book about ?

This book written by shamanic teachers Llyn Roberts and Sandra Ingerman explores the way in which humans can communicated with not just more-than-human beings but every animate thing from sand to grass. They advocate that everyone has the power to communicate with these beings. They reference their own experiences, focusing on the land seas and skies local to each. They also focus on the Devine feminine qualities within nature. Throughout each chapter, they end with a practice to explore within your local area. These practices can be done in parks, gardens and secluded landscapes, they advocate that the Devine of nature is everywhere and practices can be done in any situation. They encourage you to listen to your dreams and intuition, they state that “Nature and Earth are conscious; they speak to us now through our dreams, intuition, and deep longings.”

Why is it relevant to this practice-based research?

I have chosen to use this book as an influence within the methodology, as these two writers speak for the more ‘spiritual’ side of my approach. Focused on accessibility and encouragement for communication with all things more-than-human, their experiences being shamanic teachers will and has been extremely informative, opening my eyes to a more inviting way of writing. The practices they set out after each chapter are very accessible, they write in a uncomplicated understandable way. I like how they have a whole section on teaching the reader how to use their book. Within this section they explain what Shamanism is and advocate for spending time within nature, I also like how they say “there is no right way to perform the practices within this book”, for me this is a really lovely way to invite people to use the practices in their own way, taking away the usual step by step conforming practice consensus. i also like how they say, “we must go beyond reading and feeding our minds to experiencing with our bodies as well as our inner senses”. I like the mix of conceptual and physical experience. Within the last chapter they have a section called ‘how to work with grief’ which has been “designed to support your hearting heart, bruised as it may be from all of the death and destruction we witness due to environmental shifts, disasters, and the abuse created by unconscious human behaviour”. I really like this idea of providing support for an ongoing issue we all face.

How do I think it might influence in my own methodology?

I think that they will enable me to speak with more of an openness, guided by a deeper understanding of shamanic practice that can directly inform my methodology. I think that their writing style with encourage me not to overcomplete the way I make my methodology – with a focus on simplicity that enables the methodology to be accessible for all.

Some practices that I will take influence from:

This is something I already knew I wanted to include in the methodology – there will be a point in the writing where I ask the practicer to take their shoes off or feel the earth to bond them to that space.

This is something that I would like to try out when I collaborate with rivers and steams.

This relates to my blog post on walking – I like how they encourage barefoot walking and I like the slowness they also encourage for this walk and the stopping to appreciate things that ‘call you’.

This practice aligns with an I idea I have about making wildflower seed bombs as a way to offer something back to the more-than-human after the collaboration.

I like the tacitness of this practice. This is something that I could include in my own methodology. When I suggest times for curiosity maybe I should advocate not just for smell listening and sight but also touch to help acquaint the practitioner with the more-than-human when collaborating.