Ritual can help us move from ordinary awareness into shamanic consciousness, and ceremony can express a commitment to our GuidesGuides. The Lower-World and Upper-World beings a practitioner works with and learns from, of whom the Power Animal is the first and foremost. True Guides are ethical to their core; the shaman’s power comes from the depth of these bonds, not from the shaman. More about this or form part of healing in a journey. Therapeutic Shamanism encourages us to discover what works for us. Paul Francis’s own practice uses little ceremonial work and few physical objects.
What is a pre-journey ritual for? #
Hollowing-outHollowing-out. The core, lifelong discipline of setting aside the middle-world self, its stories, agendas and preconceptions, so the Guides can work through us. The image: the shaman as hollow bone. Read the full answer begins before the drumming. Part of it is deliberately moving from ordinary, everyday consciousness towards an altered state in which we can be aware of the spirits. Most practitioners Paul knows have a ritual way of beginning that transition.1
Some may use smoke to smudge themselves and their working space. Others may use a drum, rattle, clapping or some other way to clear the space. Some may draw a protection circle; some put on particular clothing. Some face the four directions and invite Guides and helpful spirits, a practice known as opening the circle. Others light incense or candles, leave an offering on an altar or shrine, hold crystals, use a particular blanket, or keep a picture or soft toy of their Power AnimalPower Animal. The Oversoul of a wild species, met as a single Lower-World being and bonded with in a deep, committed, usually lifelong soul-bond of unconditional love. The practitioner’s first and foremost Guide: Panther, not “my panther”. Read the full answer beside them.
These are examples of what practitioners do. The purpose is to help move awareness towards shamanic consciousness. For some people these preparations are highly elaborate; for others they may be very simple. The preparation and the hollowing-out that follows are covered in How do I prepare for a shamanic journey? and What is hollowing-out?
How much ritual does Paul use himself? #
Very little. Paul’s own practice is not very ritual-based, and he keeps the little ritual he does quite simple. He rarely feels the need to open the circle, and clears the space only when it feels like it needs doing. Cleansing sprays and protection circles are used if needed, rather than routinely.2
He has no need to call his Guides in because they are always with him. He shifts his attention to become aware of their presence. His preparation involves checking whether the space does feel like it needs clearing, and clearing it only if needed, bringing attention inward to breath and body, relaxing and centring himself, making sure he feels grounded, sensing his Guides, putting on a blindfold, though not always, and starting the drum. Sometimes it takes a few minutes; at other times it is much quicker.
Paul can only authentically teach what he practises himself, so his books give no instructions for elaborate rituals. That is not to deny that complicated rituals really do work for some people.
How do I find a ritual of my own? #
Begin with its purpose: a conscious signal that we are starting the transition from ordinary consciousness to shamanic consciousness. What those practices are is up to us. Some practitioners insist we must open the circle or do something else, but we do not have to.3
It helps to spend some time considering what might work before a journey and to write the ideas down. Then consciously try them when journeying. Stay flexible, adding or taking things away as feels appropriate and useful. Do not get hung up on the ritual. Remember what it is for.
Shamanism is a direct and personal spiritual practice. Finding our own rituals belongs to that approach; doing other people’s rituals begins to turn it into a religion.
Having some kind of pre-journey ritual can help us begin hollowing-out. Once the journey starts, though, the transition into shamanic consciousness really needs to happen. At the axis mundi we deliberately spend time setting our middle-worldMiddle-world. Ordinary physical reality together with its energetic layers: the realm of individuality, separation and mixed intentions, and the only realm where harm is possible. “If there is a hell, then it is the middle-world.” Read the full answer identity aside as much as possible, becoming our Aware SelfAware Self. The Witness: not a part of the self but a capacity for awareness, cultivated by hollowing-out, that can watch the flow of thoughts without being caught in them. More about this as much as we can.
How can we express commitment to a Guide? #
Commitment to our Power Animal is heartfelt and soulful. It may be enough simply to choose to make it. Or we may want to express the commitment in a journey and ask what we can do together to symbolise and cement it. The Power Animal leads that process.4
The same is possible with a Human Lower-World GuideHuman Lower-World Guide. A face put on the human Oversoul: the Ancestors met through an individual form, genuinely other than us, chosen from pre-Fall hunter-gatherer humanity. Related to as a teacher, never a master. Read the full answer: if and when we feel ready, we may want a ceremony in a journey to formalise the bond. Getting to know the Guide means spending time together, repeatedly asking for healing, and paying attention to how the Guide heals, since it is also showing methods and techniques.5
What if a healing journey becomes ceremonial? #
The form of a journey varies from person to person, and its details and symbolism are between us and our Guides. A burial journeyBurial journey. A transformation practice of the Earth element: being buried in the Lower-World for grounding, and for the death-and-rebirth all the transformation practices share. More about this, for example, may involve us, our Power Animal and perhaps our Human Lower-World Guide, and be quite simple and minimalist. Or it may be an elaborate ceremony, perhaps involving a whole Human Lower-World Tribe.6
It may or may not include particular Plants, Crystals and Stones. Other Animals may appear. There may be smudging, bathing or washing. Afterwards we can research those details and expand our knowledge of the beings and how to work with them. The healing itself is explained in What are transformation practices and shapeshifting?
Do ceremonial objects make the work possible? #
How many physical objects a shaman uses tends to reflect how much ritual and ceremony their work involves. Paul uses very few aside from his drum, rattles, some cleansing and protective sprays, and feathers. Some practitioners do mostly ceremonial work and use a number of objects.7
Others work effectively without physical tools or representations. Whether we want those representations is a matter of personal preference and what works for us. What matters is knowing the teaching and healing properties of the being represented, and how to work with it shamanically. See What is the medicine bundle?
