From Old Shamanism to Modern Ecology

Evolution and Patriarchy

Did the modern society advance since the ancient times? Did this advancement or evolution include humans?

Looking at the situation of the world today, I do not agree that human were included in the evolution process, we find patriarchal led society driven by control and power, where few wealthy “elite” control the masses, we are witnessing a world where equality is still a distant wish, and prosperity is out of reach to many. Evolution created advanced societies where the human race is dangerously disconnected from the Natural and the Spiritual worlds.

Ancient Matriarch in Old Egypt, and the connection to EARTH:

let us look back into ancient times, and reflect on old prosperous matriarchal societies such as old Egypt. Ruling Pharos had no objection recognising the equality between the Sacred Feminine and the Sacred Masculine. The matriarchal consciousness was associated with eternity, cycles of time, ritual, magic, altered states, and arts. The patriarchal consciousness was associated with history, linear time, dogma, rationality, waking reality, and science. Both were of equal value.

Throughout history, strong patriarchal societies existed when the sun was worshiped while matriarchal societies submerged when the moon was worshiped. During much of Egyptian history, people worshiped both the moon and the sun, which gave rise to both . For the most part, both the sun, Ra, and the moon, Konsu, were a vital part of the religion of ancient Egypt.

It is very clear, that the connection to Earth, embodied and embraced by the Sacred Divine Feminine had a huge impact in the prosperity of the matriarch society. The question worth asking here is why and how does Earth play this vital role?

The Human Race Connection to Earth is a Spiritual Connection

Our relationship with the Earth is not merely physical. The Earth is alive; it is spiritual. All living entities of the Earth are an expression of the spirit. The soil of the Earth, for example, consists of minerals and organic matter, holding the roots of plants. There is a mysterious, spiritual and alive quality to it. This gives us an indication to the relationship we have with nature, which is of a communion, the life in us or our spirit, is constantly in communion with the spirit animals, plants, waters, mountains…etc , this is what we call Ecology

Ecology Explained

Ecology is the only conclusion of our high human potential: to find our wholeness , we need to love ourselves, and the context that keeps us alive. Just as the organic, logical relation between the cells of the human body, ecology is the rule that makes everything stay together, connected, working, functioning, surviving. Ecology as the rule of Interconnectedness is our default software as beings. When did we as humanity forget it?

“Shamanism represents spiritual ecology. Shamanism is not about the simple veneration of Nature, it is about a reciprocal spiritual communication that restores the lost connection that our human ancestors had with the amazing spiritual power and beauty of our garden called Earth.”

Michael Harner, The Way of the Shaman

In any shamanic tradition around the world the main factor is maintaining balance and harmony within and without!. the concept of balance starts by being in tune with our inner being, and extend it to the community and then to nature. a level of Respect for the ecosystem is also the foundation of the entire ritualistic behaviour of the shaman; the shaman only uses his routines to protect and give forth, from one generation to another, the rules used to live in Sync with nature, to honor it, respect it and express gratitude for it. Rituals of gratitude are part of the ceremonies led by Shamans and the indigenous towards the primordial elements (fire, water, sky, land, wood, metal etc.), animals giving humans food, towards the land, towards the spirits of nature (the wood spirits, spirits of the mountain, oceans etc.), towards ancestors who brought them in this existence and from whom they inherited centuries of wisdom… this profound respect is in fact a constant state of connection with the environment, with all that life is. All this was lost for modern humans, this daily routine of connection, this inner attitude of respect and connection with All There Is, as without our ancestors and without all the environment has to offer… we would not be alive.

Shamans are medicine men/women, healers, seers, (reading signs in the human body but also with the help of the natural elements in the environment). They perform all these activities for the greater good of the community calling for help from the spirit guides. The shamans keep the balance between sky and earth, they balance the body-heart-mind of people and keep the respectful balance between man and nature. They watch out for balance and reciprocity in giving and receiving, by respecting the cycles of nature, they know when to harvest a fruit, when to stop consuming and letting the tree rest and recuperate. Being great observers of life, they feel the subtle signs of change in nature from one season to the next. they know the movement of the main stars in the night sky and if this is going to be a good year for the crops or not. Shamans are the first to understand when ”unseen dimensions” change their harmony (sometimes referring to changes in the electromagnetic field of the Earth reversing its poles, causing the change of the sky routes that birds follow, or the surface water flow used by fish and wildlings to navigate.

a new era of Shamanism

Antony Steven, a psychologist and MD says this two million years old Self, the ordaining centre of the collective unconscious, this continuous chain of experiences called individual life, this Self is a collective character: as Jungians discovered, the particular experience of each and every one of us, counts and influences be it the pathology, or the healing process of everybody. The two million years human understands what it means to be sick and what’s necessary for healing because, as Stevens argues, “acceptance, empathy, attachment and affiliation with this indigenous Self residing in our psyche is the key to adaptation and health”.

(The Two Million-Year-Old Self, Anthony Stevens, 1993)

As per Anthony, there is a resurrection or an awakening of the archetype of the Shaman within each and everyone of us, calling us to reclaim our inner balance and inner union, which will lead us to the union and balance with our community and our nature. each one of us does the mirroring. What is it that psychologists actually do? They mirror and help us in the process of self- resignification. What is it that artists do? They mirror the interior and exterior universe and re-signify it in relation with the Self.

The shaman fulfils some of the transcendental artistic expression, some of the counselling and accompanying done by psychologists and philosophers. Acting as a mirror and also being the creator of the collective dream, he is the storyteller and keeper of the cultural memory, reminding us of the work of a Jungian analyst helping us read and rewrite the ‟circuitry” of our soul. We now live a time when this shaman is showing himself again to the world.

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT AND KEEPING IT CLEAN AND BALANCED , WHICH IS IN FACT THE FUNDAMENTAL ACT OF RESPECTING THE CYCLE OF LIFE.

Embodying the sacred feminine energy

In shamanic culture there is no distinction being made between the natural world and human world, and this is the reason why the human beings community is constantly conscious of the fact that it always has unlimited access to resources by respecting the simple rule to not overly consume, destroy etc. This identification with the environment informs humans (gives them hope and belief) that they live in abundance, that humans are not alone, that life means continuity and cycles, that passing through various stages of evolution and various sufferings are a given Principle of life, of the great All That Is.

“Our interconnectedness with all that exists is an absolute truth: nothing and no one can exist outside of All There Is, the Universe, the Whole.”

Evelyn Rysdyk, The Norse Shaman 2016

All the characteristics listed above, are none but of the embodiment of the sacred feminine energy, the compassionate, inclusive, empathic part of us, the one that sees the world with an eye of togetherness not of separation, the intuitive one, which is always in tune, & communion with nature and with the Creator, the seeker of balance and peace.

By being conscious, living with Presence & awareness, we can co-create and prosper, we can elevate and inspire those around us to elevate too!

There is only one way! which is the way of LOVE! the way of Feminine.