When we navigate our way through the journey of self, in search for the discovery of the self. We are often seeking the self, in others. For example, my clients, may have an expectation of me, as the practitioner. Their guide. The role of the healer. The client may be looking for something which they expect to find, in me.
It is always an interesting step on the road to empowerment. But this experience can be a time of frustration and/or resistance. It also becomes a time of observation. Witnessing. As the practitioner becomes the human being which is exposed to the judgments of others. It is natural for the logical mind to want an explanation or understand. Therefore it is t practitioner who ends up being under the microscope. Despite the person seeking for self.
The journey through me, to the discovery of you.
I had been Teaching an online programme as part of my own case studies for my shamanic practitioner training. A small group of clients kept in contact via online communities. Each person was at a different stage in their own journey. Some were completely new to spiritual practices. Others were seeking a new experience and wanting to explore Shamanic practices. Each person seeking something which resonated with them.
“The first problem, we all have, is that we are here” I told them.
We are in this group seeking something as if we will find it here. Outside of the self.
There is nothing to be discovered outside of the self.
This is a perplexing statement which can lead to feelings of frustrated. Afterall, as human beings, we have questions. We forget the role of the practitioner. Dismissing them as human being and believing they have the answers.
The practitioner reminds each person, the answer is within.
The mere suggestion that the answer is within suggests, to the logical mind, they have wasted their time. Because the practitioner has no answer to give.
What we do not realise, as a collective. As Human Beings, Whilst we continue to seek, we will never find.
“I do not seek. I find” Picasso
Of course, this can affect the poeple who work Shamanically. This pathway is not for everyone. Whilst some people hear the statement that all is within them, they stay the duration. They see the work through and have this realisation for themselves. They begin walking their own pathway. Empowered in the discovery.
Others look elsewhere. Search for other Gurus. Different healers. The ones with the answers. Unable to let go of the concept that another human has the answer to thier question. That the healing they need is not inside of them. The medicine they seek is held by another person.
Some continue to wait for the breakthrough. Believing this will happen, only in the practitioners’ presence and not in their own.
There is a wonderful duality that happens at this stage. The individual begins to see people outside of the self, as the same. The individual part of a whole. The concept that we are one.
Yet, at the same time the logical mind cannot help itself and it chooses the preferences.
“We must surrender our hopes and expectations, as well as our fears, and march directly into dissappointment, work with dissappointment, go into it and make it our way of life..” Trungpa, 1999
It is a perfectly natural strategy. The ego begins to construct a new reality. A new identity. It chooses its preferences. What it has learned so far. Then it begins to embed the preferences within its new construction. The creation of another identity. Another role.
However, it is this exact process which deceives us upon our spiritual pathway. The construction of a new identity only serves as a mask to the true self. When walking a spiritual pathway, it is those identities we are removing. It is the creation of the many identities which we are letting go. The pathway inwards, involves removing the layers of self. Stripping back. To the core. To the true self.
Why am I telling you about this part of the process?
Because it is a deception that you will meet on your pathway. It is unavoidable.
When we begin this journey we are often seeking outside of the self. However, the only true spiritual pathway to walk, is the one which leads inside of yourself. Therefore a true spiritual pathway can be one of discomfort and darkness. The notion of spirituality being formed in the light, is another deception that we meet upon the way.
Many of us feel fearful when meeting the dark. When we strip back all the layers and come to the place of nothing. But this is where the healing can begin to place.
Nothing, holds Everything.
First, we must conquer the fear. The fear of being still and silent. Being left alone, with the self. For this is our greatest teacher and ally. The observation of self. Our response and reactions. Our behaviours and patterns. Our triggers and traumas. All provide us with a lesson. A deeper connection to the self. A true connection to the source. But we have to go on the journey. We must find what is in there. Inside. Inside of you as the individual. Not what is inside the person/practitioner guiding you, or the community which you belong too..
The Mirror
The intention of Shamanic work is to empower. It is vital to the process, that the work we do in the session, is brought by the client. During our interaction, every part of the conversation has a theme, topic, or experience. All of these are initiated by the client.
Whilst communicating, I as the practitioner, am listening. I am not offering any aspects of creation.I am listener.
The client becomes their own advisory.
I am the silence, and they are the words.
I am the stillness, and they are the action.
In this scenario the client effectively coaches, or advises, or answers, themselves.At this stage of the work, they may be using the voice of the prctitioner to express themselves. But it is the importance of the expression, which becomes the focus.
The interaction between practitioner and client offers a space for an interaction with the self.
The ego self is more willing to listen to the voice of someone else. It us to decipher what we, as the individual, believe. It is willing to connect with the vision of a whole. Their own eyes hold the vision. The ego self will explore how it can resonate with the values and beliefs of others. Whilst underneath the frameworks, it is constructing it’s own belief system.
The reason this begins to happen is because the mirroring offers us the opportunity to gently remove the layers. Almost, without consciously knowing.
This can happen during the Shamanic work. Working together as client and practitioner. In their depiction of me. Whatever way they perceive me, in the role. The client willingly explores what they believe, are the layers of me. The practitioner. In reality, they are peeling off the many layers of the self.
“The guru can be a person who acts like a mirror, reflecting you, or else your own basic intelligence takes the form as a spiritual friend. When the internal guru begins to function, then you can never escape the demand to open”. Trungpa;1999
Being of Service
The blessing of this work is watching a person become empowered. To speak. To make changes to their life. To raise their own voice to be heard.
This is another space where deception can creep in. Whilst we walk the pathway to empowerment,we shed more layers. The aspects of self which long to remain hidden can feel threatened.
That is why Shamanic work offers a safety net for the shadow parts of self. The parts of the self which seeks protection. Which want to remaidn hidden. The aspect of self which can be most uncomfortable with the spiritual pathway. It allows for space.
This stage of the process can offer a preview for the client. They can see something they do not like and stop.
The shadow can witness it first. In me. The practitioner. Not in the self. This is safer. From this point, it can remain hidden. It has a choice.
It can stop walking the spiritual pathway. Safe with the belief that what has been witnessed is something in another person. It is not in the self. They do not have to remove any more layers. They know what the layers will uncover. They can stop right here. Or search in another direction. Avoiding the layers of the self.
The difficulty with the Shamanic pathway is that, in my experience, we cannot un-see what we have seen. Once we KNOW we know. Finding layers of themselves, even if they appear to be layers of someone else at first.
It is the beginning of an awareness.
An awakening.
The client is empowered to decide which layers they want to peel off.
This is exactly the place we want them to begin.
The client is in control of their journey
Their journey, their discovery,
Their question, their answer.
GRIMSBY SHAMANIC 
Leave a comment