It’s been over a year since the first UK lockdown to prevent the spread of covid-19 and a unique time in most people’s lives. Our individual experiences have been incredibly varied but what does lockdown represent in shamanic terms?
Dismemberment is a type of shamanic healing. One performs a shamanic journey, to the other worlds in an altered state of consciousness and there, in non-ordinary reality, the body is completely taken apart before being reformed. You might stand under a waterfall and the force of the water breaks your body down into individual cells that are washed before coming together again, you could be consumed in a fire, cooked in a cauldron and eaten or even pulled apart by animals, before being rebuilt. No pain is experienced but it can be quite scary if you are not expecting it. I was taught to journey with the specific intention of receiving a dismemberment every month during my training in classical shamanism and still do this regularly as a way of maintaining spiritual health.
In shamanic circles, it is believed that we are currently undergoing a global dismemberment. The world is being taken apart, and rebuilt, on a spiritual level with the intention of healing. The whole architecture of our lives is up for review and better ways can be developed.
One of the symbols of the ancient form of European shamanism I am currently studying, is the infinity symbol or figure of 8. We practice ‘walking the 8’ by placing two stones on the ground and physically walking around them in the shape of a figure of 8. The place where the two loops of the 8 cross each other, is called the knot. This is the in-between place where healing occurs. In-between or liminal places are a common thread in shamanism. Another example is the state of consciousness between waking and sleeping where you might experience a dream or knowing or a flash of creative inspiration. In-between places allow spirit in.
Lockdown has been a great pause, an in-between place, like the knot in the infinity symbol. Life will recommence but in what form? What healing has taken place during this time? For some, there has been time to ‘stop and stare’ to re-evaluate lives, habits and behaviours. For others, no such opportunity was had, perhaps working on a covid ward or combining home-schooling with work and caring for shielders, but it was all gold for the collective pot.
A common saying used frequently by my shamanic teachers is ‘as above, so below’ or ‘as within, so without’. A simplistic explanation of this is that structures and occurrences in the greater universe or macrocosm, reflect those in our own human bodies and experiences, the microcosm and vice versa. That means that any personal spiritual healing work we do, will be reflected in the larger world. We can be the ripple. For much of lockdown, I felt the need to go within, to address my own issues that arose as a result of lockdown events and do the healing I needed, both in my own practice and with the help of other healers and mentors – usually via Zoom! It’s been challenging but beneficial, although I will be very happy to reemerge.
Lockdown, and its restrictions, have brought issues needing healing to the surface for many people. Things that were put off or avoided with the distractions of everyday life demanded our attention. It’s good to know that our collective efforts at healing ourselves, which isn’t always easy, can influence and help others.
In the book, ‘Other Council Fires Were Here Before Ours’, by Jamie Sams and Twylah Nitsch (who are grand-daughter and grandmother), the creation myth of the Seneca native American tribe reveals that the tipping point of numbers of people who want, and are willing to do the work to create, a better, more compassionate world, happened around 2013. Because of this, we can transition from the current world of separation to the next world of illumination. In the end, they predict a planet that is a bliss ball of love and creative energy.
It’s easy to think we are alone in wanting a kinder, fairer world for humans, animals and nature. There are those who want us to remain in fear. Our newspapers, politicians and media sell us a picture of the future including dystopia and lawlessness or revolution and War but this may not be true, just suited to their agenda. In shamanism there is an appreciation of thoughts and words being a creative source. For example, written words are called ‘spellings’. So, the more of us that think and speak this way, the greater the likelihood the universe will create it. The mass or collective consciousness is a hugely creative force. If the collective consciousness allows for magic, then it can happen, just like it did on the ancestor workshop I attended. The string we were using to hang up photos of the ancestors spontaneously combusted. Thirty people who all believed in magic were in the same marquee!
Divination or seer-ship is another key role of the shaman. At times, it is useful to see into the future. In my shamanic journeying and walking, I saw the spirit grandmothers come into the world at this strange time. Their energy will balance the divine feminine and divine masculine energy in the world, for the benefit of all women, men, creatures and nature. I saw them leading us across a vast plane from our old world to a new one. It was summertime, the plane was flat and full of long meadow grass with wild-flowers, swaying in the warm breeze. We were going at the pace of the slowest elders and children and there was time for the rest of us to enjoy the journey.
There doesn’t have to be a war or great suffering for swathes of people in order to have a better future. People can simply choose better options. What is needed is for lots of us to believe this. On some level, all of our souls decided to be living on the planet at this time for a specific purpose. I believe we are here to dream a better world into being using our breath, will and imagination. Every day, I imagine what could happen if we were compassionate and empathetic towards each other, the animals and nature, then ask the spirits to channel energy into creating just such a world. Perhaps you’d like to join me?
Article by Mary Hernon
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