To be a Shaman is to practice Shamanism 24/7. You cannot be called a Shaman unless you practice it 24/7. It is a way of life, a way of living, a calling, an occupation much like a doctor or priest or Buddhist monk. Remember the old horse doctor with his little black bag who went from house to house bringing healing to the community? He was on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week. He was called upon to heal all kinds of things from chicken pox, to difficult childbirth to cancer to broken bones and everything he had to heal with was in that little black bag. This is the life of the Shaman.
The Shaman is available to everyone everywhere she goes, she is always healing, always counseling, living her life as an example to others to show the way to live in peace and health. She carries her medicine bag with a few leaves and stones and feathers and in that bag she has everything she needs to heal broken hearts, help cancer victims, heal chicken pox, whatever kind of healing she is called upon to bring. The healing is not in the black bag anyway is it! Those are just the tools. The healing is carried in the heart and mind of the doctor.
Shamanism is like becoming a doctor or a priest or a Buddhist monk. The ways of living and being are all conditioned by this career path and the true Shaman no longer lives like an ordinary man any more. Any true Shaman you encounter will definitely not be an ordinary man or woman and that will be apparent from the very first moment you meet them. You will notice that he or she is light hearted, balanced, aware of everything you cannot even perceive, in good health and not physically mentally or emotionally ill at all. The true shaman is a person who has already done the work to heal themselves completely and now has become an example to the world of what true health and love look like by their own example living it. Its not common to meet a true Shaman. In fact it is said there are only about 50 true Shamans left in the world today.
Aho
Shaman Elder Maggie
