Shamanic Healing, What is it and why do we need it?
Each human being carries soul wounds, traumas that build up in the subconscious from birth. We carry wounds passed down through generations of family, ancestral hurts that have never been reconciled, passing along our bloodlines creating problems which repeat endlessly. These wounds emerge as self doubt, trauma, fear, bubbling in the subconscious, just deep enough to be invisible to the world around us, but close enough to the surface to affect everything we do. Our conscious mind ignores the subconscious pleas for help and we struggle onwards, falling deeper and deeper into the mire that closes us off from experiencing joy in our lives. We become depressed, fall prey to dis-ease, find ourselves unrecognisable to the person we see in the mirror. Sound familiar?
No matter how hard we try to find happiness those wounds remain, settling deeper into the subconscious, waiting for the opportunity to re-emerge and alert us to the need to deal with them head on. But we rarely do, we run from them, bury them deeper and deeper until they lay so far down we think they are gone. Foolishly we get on with our lives, repeating situations that harm us, finding relationships that cause us pain, repeating mistakes we know we shouldn't, and never connecting our disappointments with the unresolved issues we have hidden deep in the darkness of the subconscious mind. Instead we see ourselves as useless, stupid, unable to be successful, putting ourselves down with every word that comes out of our mouths. How can we treat ourselves so badly when the truth is, we are not to blame, we are victims of wounds we choose to ignore or don't know we have.
The Ancient ones knew the wounds we hide are the source of our problems. Wounds we have gathered into our souls incarnation after incarnation, stripping away parts of the soul, leaving us vulnerable to negativity and dis-eases of the body. Stopping us from being who we are truly meant to be. They knew the incidents we experience as children effect us in every aspect of our lives, and that to carry them unresolved leads to all the problems we hide so diligently in the recesses of the mind.
Knowledge passed down through the generations allows the modern Shaman to continue the work our ancestors knew was essential to bring peace, balance, and stability to the human condition. We are known by many names. Shaman, Medicine Woman/Men, Volva. We draw upon the lineages of Shaman from all over the world, some our indigenous relatives, others who willingly pass on the knowledge of their lineages to those who would carry it forth, all with the same goal, to help those in need of healing find it.
And although our appearances and practices vary, we are alike. We are walkers between worlds. Midwives of the soul guiding our clients through the journey of incarnation as human beings. Holding space for those who heed the call to find the healing they need. But make no mistake, we cannot take away your problems with the wave of a wand or sacred staff. We guide you through the process of restoring the soul to wholeness with the help and support of the spirit guides that have accompanied each of us since the beginning of time. All we ask is that you be willing to trust us to guide you on your healing journey. A journey that is not always easy, but rewards the traveller with more wisdom and joy than they can imagine if they are willing to walk the path.
Lynne Gallagher - Shamanic Practitioner, Volva, Soul Midwife.
This is me Shamanic practitioner, Volva, Midwife of the soul, but what does that really mean? I am a practitioner who helps others find healing but the world likes to use words to contain us, to sort us into familiar categories. Words make us feel safe, comfortable. To many the words I use to describe what I do fall into categories a little too alarming to be allowed into the realms of everyday conversation. Yet if we travelled back five hundred years they would have been common to every population on the planet. The role of the Wise person, Shaman, Medicine person, Healer, Priestess, Oracle, Volva, was unparalleled, their knowledge of healing sought out everywhere they travelled. The natural world their apothecary, the wisdom and guidance they held sought out by Kings and common folk alike. They were respected as the wise ones of each tribe guiding their people to live in abundance and peace. Regaled higher than royalty they were honoured and welcomed everywhere they went.
Shaman are sometimes viewed with a little suspicion, even ridicule, although what we do is ancient and proven through thousands of years of practice, our modern minds have turned away from the guidance of ancestors and the spirit realms, rather looking to science and medicine for pills and potions to fix as quickly as possible. As a Shaman who has practised for over 25 years I've had my share of people laughing at me, thinking I'm a nut job who must be a bit loopy if she claims she can talk to spirits and the dead. I was that sceptic, totally suspicious of psychic communications, feeling they were just the ramblings of a deranged mind, until I found my first teacher, the beautiful Sandra Ramdhanie, an experienced psychic medium and ghost buster, who trained me in the art of psychic mediumship. Never a one to underestimate her pupils she threw me in at the deep end and asked me to make contact with her newly passed over mother. Her guidance was to let the images come into my head, and report exactly what I saw no matter how weird or strange. I tried and found myself with the oddest things coming into my head, on reporting them to her she laughed and confirmed every single weird vision was relevant to her mother, and so my trust in the Other realms was born. Shamanism was a natural progression for me and an ancestral occupation from my maternal grandmothers line. I found myself drawn to Peruvian Shamanism after reading the Celestine Prophecy and then Shaman, Healer, Sage, by Dr Alberto Villoldo and enrolled in the Four Winds Shamanic training program. It changed my life forever, not only was I able to help others find the healing they needed, I was able to delve into my own healing and experience the results I saw in my clients. And that was a powerful reminder of the validity of the work we do as shamanic practitioners.
So what exactly is Shamanic healing? Shamanism honours the natural world, it draws on the healing powers of the elements, plants, animal guides and spirit allies to help humans heal through sacred rituals and journeys to the Other Realms. I do not use or advocate the use of hallucinogenic plant medicines such as Ayahuasca, rather the heart centred medicine of Mamma Cacao. I use rituals, and shamanic journeying techniques to guide clients deep into their spiritual selves to interact with spirit guides and find the healing they need. I work with the inner child, ancestral traumas, perform soul retrieval, help remove limiting beliefs, teach clients to work with their own guides through journeying and other shamanic techniques, facilitate communications with loved ones passed over, assist the dying in moving on to the OtherWorld with Psychopomp work and so much more I would need a book to describe. I understand that this is a very limited outline of shamanic practices but you get the idea. I work one to one and in groups, holding circles and ceremonies throughout the year. I am available to host circles, cacao ceremonies and workshops on request.
I have lived in Ireland, for the past twenty five years, and consider it my spiritual home. The land and culture has seeped into my bones, my connections with the gods and goddesses, Tuatha, and ancient sites of this magickal land inform every part of my life and have taught me that help from the Other worlds is available everywhere, one only needs to ask for it. And it is with that deep connection that I practise Shamanism from my rooms in the Space Above Holistic Centre in Birr Co. Offaly alongside other beautiful practitioners of yoga, qi gong, pilates, ayurveda, and reiki, who share the deep connection to healing that finds all those who practice there.