Extracts from Dermot O’Hara’s new book, The Forbidden Truth ©2011 Shamanism – A Global Reality – Long before printed articles, the words of the ancients elders were respected and they were seen as the wisdom keepers among many civilizations.Here in Ireland our Druids held the responsibility of advising and guiding the people of our land.
Recent studies by anthropologists have discovered that shamanic conscious awareness began to grow as the human psyche evolved through the ages. Recent discoveries of cave art reveal this to us. In these we see the first images used to express the Shamans’ perception and understanding of reality. These drawings have been dated at over 35,000 years old.
These early drawings graphically present the Shamans’ awareness of the connection between our human psychical perception of reality and the animal kingdoms to the spirit world. In other words the garden of Eden connection or as I like to call it the Rainbow connection.
Totem Power Animals are the mode of communication used by the Shaman to commute with the Spirit World. This channel of communication is opened with the drumbeat to access the wisdom and guidance required to guide the community and its leaders to create a harmonious reality.
Shamanism teaches us that we must respect our duality of Humanity and Nature of (God Goddess) awareness in balance within our reality. When this balance is lost we suffer in many different ways. We must learn to co-exist and not try to dominate Nature as this represents within us all the very sacred essences of life. When we as a group achieve this level of duality we affect our reality and bring it into balance, harmony and peace.
The word ‘shaman’ comes from the Ancient Tungusi-Manchurian dialect dating back many thousands of years. It does not originate from the First Nations people of America as many may believe. The worldwide practice of what is now described as Shamanism is and always has been a Universally connected awareness of Spirituality via our earth connection. Part of this awareness is to Drum ourselves into a non-ordinary state of mind (trance) to commune with the otherworld of Spirit. This is achieved by altering the brainwaves and convincing the brain that we are asleep
By inducing an awakened dream state we can travel along the matrix of different realities. This awareness and practice is globally acknowledged and used by all indigenous cultures around the world to heal and harmonise mind and soul.
It is the same everywhere because it is the one planet that we shamans all share. We hold this perception of our connectedness within this and all other realities.
This, I believe, is why each culture has its own unique style of Drum. They are different styles and shapes but they all connect to the same source.
Those who work as shamans are seers and visionaries. In ancient villages they provided the responsible role of initiators of the rites of passage to the young adults, as well as being the core of the communities’ Spiritual collective perception of reality shared by the villagers. This way the social structure of the village manifests a reality of connectedness, respect and harmony.
An old African proverb says, ‘If we don’t initiate the boys they will destroy the village’. We see this disconnected behaviour with many of our young men here in Ireland. It is around us all the time.
Shamans are harmonisers. We bring connection. stillness and respect to all situations. It is this connection/ vibe that draws so many to the entertainment industry. We can see clearly where the Shamans of old been replaced by the modern sound systems and the samples of various rhythms and the vibes of the nightclub scene. If so, what is this vibe, or connection, as I like to call it?
To me, a full-time working Shaman, I see it as the language of the individual soul connecting into the Universal Spirit present in the communal connectedness of the gathering. This happens when we come together to share or celebrate a common goal, be it a festival, concert, community day, wedding, or christening. The music and most importantly, the drum, are the basis of the connection to the vibe. The vibe is of course the connection that we as a community crave on a Spiritual level.
Because we neglect this part of our growth, it begins to starve and we become disconnected in a fragmented perception of reality called normal. This is why so many have to turn to alcohol before they attend a social gathering or dance. These are supposed to be places of free expression and movement but sadly so many are not free in either their minds or bodies so they have to resort to drugs such as alcohol etc.
The Shaman works outside of normal reality in what is called non-ordinary reality. In this reality we hold and perceive balance, harmony and world peace in our hearts and minds for our people.
So the Shaman has the ability to create ceremony and hold sacred space where the human need to connect spiritually is satisfied on a soul level. In modern society it is that something we spend our lives looking for. We don’t know we have it when it’s there but we know something is wrong when it’s not there. The trouble is we do not know where to look or what to do when we lose it. As U2 and Bono sing ‘stuck in a moment’ and ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for’, many become stuck in past experiences, not able to see through their denial and numbed-out emotional pain of soul loss.
This is where the Shaman comes in temporarily and becomes the eyes and soul connection for the seeker. The Shaman reconnects the soul on a universal, spiritual, individual and earthly communal level. This reconnection is called soul retrieval. I myself have developed a practice, a form of Shamanism I call Soul Integration Healing. I use dreams, imagery, dance, past-life regression, breathwork and chanting to initiate full integration of the soul reconnection process.
For many, this would also require rites of passage to fully integrate the process into conscious awareness and help the awareness to hold. I call this process Ancestral Family Healing and I perform this for my clients as a follow-up to the rites of passage.
From my own personal experience as a former professional bass player I know how important the drum is to the whole vibe connection. Both the bass and the drum are called the engine room. Together they create the undercurrent or energy that drives the vibes or feeds the connection on which the melody is carried. I recall a wonderfully gifted Irish musician, the late Rory Gallagher, who played in a band called Taste. There were just three in the group: Rory, who was the lead guitarist, a drummer and a bassist and wow could Rory take you places with his gift. I believe truly gifted souls such as Rory and Michael Jackson are actually Shamans accessing their journey via the music they create for their community of fans.
The Shaman’s melody is not heard with the ear but the heart. The drumbeat is of course heard but it is the gentleness of the vision in the Shaman’s heart that creates and holds the melodic connection of souls in a harmonious world perception of our reality.
Just like these two master craftsmen the Shaman’s role is to act as the conductor, weaving the vibrational sound of healing and connection to the souls that come to the gathering or individual session. This connection is reinforced by the importance of our grounding to Mother Earth and the relationship to our totem power animals.
Sadly, many lose their soul connection to addiction in the process of chasing that higher connection using stimulants. The connection these soul craves does not integrate or sustain itself as the process is totally dependent on the stimulants taken to replace the drive of the shaman’s vision in drumming the rhythm of life.
This is where the two experiences move in different directions: one is motivated on a soul level to create harmony and peace within the spiritual connection of the community, whereas the other is motivated purely by greed and ego to manipulate power and create profit.
All of us, as a community, pay for this drug-fuelled entertainment that results in addiction, suicide, alcoholism, medication dependency, soul loss, depression and over- flowing hospitals.
Drug or alcoholic-induced states of ecstatic trance are of no particular use to the soul. The old medicine people of the Lakota Nation of America prefer the old way of fasting and the sweat lodge ceremony. They say it is the purest and most beneficial way to clear the mind and free the soul before performing the sundance ritual. The drug Peyote was introduced to them many years ago and many of the elders refused to use it as they felt it was taking a short cut that did not bring learning, healing or an integrated lasting awareness. Unfortunately, today our young people are initiated by the television and not the Shaman’s vision of a harmonious reality based on respect for all living things. Michael Jackson was a modern day Shaman. He was a visionary with a great gift but because he did not receive the proper initiation from his elders, he was exploited in a commercial way. You can see how he spiritually expressed himself within the music industry to bring his message of healing the world to us.
If life has soul, then rhythm is the heartbeat of life. Around the world we see many different cultures and traditions all using rhythm and sound to unite in community. For everyone the common bond is the beat of rhythm.
Music is a shamanic universal language that crosses all the cultural and religious divides. Shamanism and music unites, politics and religion divides. It’s that simple: this is the message of the ancient traditions of our now quickly growing global village.
THIS IS IT . . .HEAL THE WORLD . . .
MAKE IT A BETTER PLACE
Michael Jackson
Dermot O’Hara miha miei
Rainbow School of Shamanism
International Centre for Shamanic Studies
Dermot O’ Hara www.dermotoharaonline.com
For further information on Dermot’s workshops and courses see advertisement on p. 10 in Natural Connections Web Magazine.
