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Go Back   Spiritual Forums > Religions & Faiths > North American Indigenous Spirituality

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  #11  
Old 26-12-2015, 11:04 PM
Shaunc Shaunc is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2014
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I can't speak for other cultures but my sister in law was a shaman in the Philippines. Over there you don't choose to be a shaman . You have to be born a breech birth baby (feet first ).
More than anything else they are herbalists , first aiders , midwives.
They also do a very long part time apprenticeship.
It's a trade , not a religion. My sister in law was a good practising catholic
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  #12  
Old 26-12-2015, 11:32 PM
Rokon Rokon is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Asgard, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaunc
I can't speak for other cultures but my sister in law was a shaman in the Philippines. Over there you don't choose to be a shaman . You have to be born a breech birth baby (feet first ).
More than anything else they are herbalists , first aiders , midwives.
They also do a very long part time apprenticeship.
It's a trade , not a religion. My sister in law was a good practising catholic
I've heard that to be a real shaman you either have to write a best-selling book on the topic, live in Sedona and offer private instruction.
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  #13  
Old 27-12-2015, 12:18 AM
Makoiyi Makoiyi is offline
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Location: Up a mountain communing with the Grandfathers, Ancestors, Ravens n Horses beside the Stones
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lol good one Rokon.

Makoiyi
__________________
Religion is for people who are afraid of hell......
Spirituality is for those who have already been there......


****************

Here's where we go off the map.
Out past the power lines,
up that little side road without a sign.
Hidden from the mainstream.

Keeper's of the Ancient future, Keepers of the Drum.
They don't preserve it.....
They live it......!
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  #14  
Old 27-12-2015, 06:33 AM
Native spirit Native spirit is offline
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Like the others have said to be anything you have to have a deep knowing within yourself .in other words you are born with that knowing its not something that you think you are, you would know.


Namaste
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  #15  
Old 27-12-2015, 06:45 AM
Native spirit Native spirit is offline
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Hi Makoiyi no disrespect to you you are correct in saying that there are a few Native people on Spiritual Forums.i just put Thunder Bows name down on my first post because he is a frequent poster.

Namaste
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  #16  
Old 27-12-2015, 09:10 AM
Makoiyi Makoiyi is offline
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Location: Up a mountain communing with the Grandfathers, Ancestors, Ravens n Horses beside the Stones
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Np Native Spirit and no offense taken, and agreed Thunder Bow is a very frequent poster where as I only post once in a while.

Anyhow I wish you all a Happy and Peaceful year ahead with plenty of good experiences along the way.

Makoiyi
__________________
Religion is for people who are afraid of hell......
Spirituality is for those who have already been there......


****************

Here's where we go off the map.
Out past the power lines,
up that little side road without a sign.
Hidden from the mainstream.

Keeper's of the Ancient future, Keepers of the Drum.
They don't preserve it.....
They live it......!
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  #17  
Old 27-12-2015, 06:41 PM
DavidMcCann DavidMcCann is offline
Knower
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 117
 
On the vexed subject of appropriation, Dr Wendi Wilkerson (Walking with the Gods) made the good point that, with the destruction of ancient traditions by Christianity, one often has no choice but to look to living traditions for "spiritual technology" but
Quote:
A significant difference between these polytheists and those who appropriate from living traditions, especially those in the New Age community, is that they generally do not claim to have the cultural authority, ritual expertise, or group membership that belongs to legitimate tradition bearers within that living tradition. ... A good analogy would be the difference between stealing a bicycle and pretending you own it, or borrowing a bicycle to learn how it's put together and then finding the parts and building your own.
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  #18  
Old 28-12-2015, 01:41 AM
darkangel91 darkangel91 is offline
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 13
 
Thank you David, that latter point about the bicycle is exactly what I'm trying to do. And some more about European witches, for clarification:

In the context of the medieval European witch cult, witches were basically like shamans are around the world. They had similar goals and did similar things. They used trance, ritual, song, dance, and sometime psychotropic plants to access altered states of consciousness wherein they could travel to the spirit world, communicate with the gods, ancestors, and nature spirits, receive allies and familiars (often in the form of animals, such as the infamous black cat), and receive guidance and possibly power, to be used upon returning for the benefit of the coven and surrounding community, for healing, guiding of dying souls to the underworld and souls being born into this world, and so on. They were basically a survival of ancient shamanic traditions into the medieval Christian era. Sure, there were bad seeds, but mostly they were positive influences, falsely accused of satanism by those who did not understand.

If you're familiar with Halloween symbolism relating to witches, it's actually based in reality, especially the image of them flying on brooms. The ritual broom or "besom" was a magical tool used to symbolically - and in trance, dream, or psychedelic states literally - "fly" to the spirit world, often carved with the head of a horse, representing travel, on one end - or, due to the widespread psychosexual symbolism of the Witch Cult, it would sometimes be carved more... eh... masculinely. If you know what I mean. (Representing the fertility and life-giving power of the Wild Horned God of Nature, whom they worshipped, of course.)

So really there is a massive overlap between the European witches, whom I am attempting to emulate, and shamanic traditions the world over. They WERE shamans, by another name. My goal is to learn the basic tools of shamanism by studying many such traditions throughout the world so that I can take the tools I learn from that and apply them to get an idea of what my own ancestors (those who were witches, anyway - assuming of course that any were, and perhaps they were, who knows!) would have practiced. I have no interest in stealing anyone's tradition, only in using it as inspiration to deepen my understanding of my own. I want to make that clear.
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  #19  
Old 29-12-2015, 05:54 AM
Myvie Myvie is offline
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Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 140
 
I have documented Micmac ancestors but the tribe they came from was dissolved, assimilated, forced into Catholicism and even the town took the name of the place and *******ized it into something they merely thought that it meant but is only similar lol... I also have a great grandfather on my grandmothers side of the family who spoke Michif, but he was an orphan, called "half-blooded" and not really welcome anywhere... I'm not sure what tribe he came from but he spent most of his life on a reserve is all that I know, and that for some reason my grandmother tries to cover it up.
I have aunts and great aunts who look very obviously native and they have had no trouble mixing with local natives (they never had their own status cards or anything, I was actually the first person in the family to find anything recorded and it was not easy) even though we are far away from home now, and have married into local tribes, but my mother went ahead and married into a very racist family. Basically I grew up feeling like I wasn't quite white but there was a strong obvious "way" that the white kids looked at the kids from the reserve and it wasn't nice. Nor did I feel like I fit in racially with any of the local Ojibwe, and certainly not culturally unless being impoverished and feeling out of place is a qualification, which I know a lot of them dealt with...

In any case, basically I have always wished to learn more about my own heritage, the spiritual practices... And there are things that are shared readily on educational websites and stories told by local elders... But there are things I will never encounter because of the connections that my family no longer has. I can't even contact many of my aunts anymore. They are off the grid and in remote locations now. I have one aunt that also married into the family (not Micmac) who I trust a great deal but don't feel comfortable asking questions of and I'm not sure why...
Maybe I'm making excuses or afraid of being rejected (summary of my childhood right there lol)

Anyhow. Tldr: I would love to learn more also but history is quite shattered and things are quite guarded. I remain quite ignorant, but take the lessons you can find from reputable sources and focus on those, if you are sincere. And I think in time if it's meant to be, then more might follow.
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  #20  
Old 29-12-2015, 06:00 AM
Raven Poet
Posts: n/a
 
Hi Darkangel91. I hope you are enjoying SF!

I will share only what I have learned from the local Elders and Traditional Knowledge Keepers in my area. Unfortunately you are right when you've observed deceit and cultural appropriation in the world. Where I live, we have an understanding that if a person comes prancing up calling themselves an Elder or a Medicine person ... then they are not. Humility is one of the first characteristics of a real Spiritual practitioner, according to our traditions here.

My Uncle, the beloved Elder who helped me find my Spirit name and clan, said once, "You have to earn your stripes before I share some of the teachings with you." He was not coming from a place of self importance - he recognizes that there have been many Anishinaabeweg (Ojibwe people) who worked really really hard to "earn" the knowledge they sought. He did not wish to make light of the sacred knowledge, nor of the suffering and sacrifice that those people willingly undertook for receiving teachings from the Creator.

Some people have read info on the internet or in a book and then pass it off as theirs, with the false title of "shamans." Not once have I ever heard a teacher, Elder, or medicine person in my culture use that word.

I have not undergone many of the ceremonies that my strong, brave relatives have to understand more about our traditions and spiritual laws. The ceremonies I have participated in, however, have given me a few pieces of knowledge to apply in my own life. For this I am grateful.

It seems to me, from what I've observed, that spiritual knowledge is gained or "earned" by living the teachings - by making a commitment to the ceremonies, taking the time to listen, reflect, absorb, and apply what is shown to us there; staying humble by recognizing we know very little compared to all there is to know in this vast universe of Great Mystery.

I don't know how deep one can connect with traditional knowledge by reading about it. Maybe a person can, but I know I can't. I have to get in there and make the pathetic little sacrifices I am capable of so I can be shown the little I know. Creator and the Spirit Helpers make themselves seen and known most evidently in the Sweatlodge, the Sundance arbor, the Shake Tent, the Vision Quest, the Full Moon Circle, the Pipe.

Maybe one day you will be able to experience some of these beautiful ceremonies first hand and be given what you seek. I wish you much success and peace on your path - I was happy when I read you wish to bring light into the world. That is so needed!
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