GRANDFATHER'S PRAYER FOR TODAY
Many moons ago I received the call.
Today, may I never forget to listen?
THE CALLING OF A SHAMAN.
Innumerable examples from primitive societies show that the profession of a shaman was chosen in a special way.
In today's world we have a tendency to latch on to certain 'buzz words' and categorize them into our own way of thinking. We should be reminded at times about the true meaning of these words so we can avoid diluting the meaning and not 'bastardising the true intent and meaning.' Shaman is one classic example.
The calling of a shaman is a calling or more precisely, a divine selection. But how does that manifest itself to the prospective shaman? Often this occurs during a severe illness or trauma, which conveys to the sick person that the way of healing is to drop everything and follow the way of the shamans. Another way to the calling is that of a sudden vision in which a spirit appears to the chosen one, most likely the spirit of the person's ancestors or of a deceased shaman, who passes on the responsibility, and oftentimes work unfinished, of becoming a shaman. The call can be heard also in dreams, in which the candidate, in a trancelike state, experiences the entire path of apprenticeship up to the ritual of initiation. Others examples, are of people experiencing 'near death' experiences, which changes them forever. Others have been struck by lightning, which doesn't kill them, but their personal histories are erased, and their true mission is revealed. There are also examples of hereditary transmission of the position of shaman where it is kept in one family over centuries. But in all cases it changes the initiate’s life to one of service and personal responsibility not only to oneself but to one of cosmic responsibility.
Have you heard the whispers in the Wind today?
MIIWETCH/ NYWEH, GITCHI MANITOU
GRANDFATHER PETER
