top of page

Shamans and the Shamanic Journey

half circle w dot.png
two dots.png

Shamans can be found on every inhabited continent — woven into cultures and ancestral lineages. Whether your roots trace to Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, East India, or the Americas, the practice of journeying into non-ordinary reality is part of our shared human heritage.

 

The word "shaman" originated with the Siberian Tungus people and referred to one who makes “journeys” to non-ordinary reality in an altered state of consciousness. Many cultures have their own name for these sacred healers — often called holy people, seers, or walkers between worlds.

​

While the term "shaman" comes from Siberia, the practice of entering sacred space to seek wisdom, healing, and guidance is a universal human inheritance — a sacred thread that runs through every culture on Earth. Long before organized religion, our ancestors journeyed with drum, chant, fire, and Spirit.

​

Sacred Healers Around the World​

Across time and geography, these sacred practitioners were known by many names. Here are just a few:

​

  • Granny Women / Conjure Folk — Appalachian seers and healers who worked with herbs, prayer, charms, and second sight to support healing and spiritual balance in mountain communities.

  • Yatiri — Aymara healers and wisdom keepers (Andes, South America)

  • Mudang — Korean shamans, often women, who work with ancestral and nature spirits

  • Bean Feasa — Irish "wise woman" known for their healing abilities, connection to the spirit world, and role as a seer and guide 

  • Ban-Fiosaiche — Scottish female seers and healers known for second sight, dream interpretation, intuitive insight, divination, folk healing, and connection to the spirit world. 

  • Böö / Udgan — Mongolian male and female shamans of the Tengri tradition

  • Szeptun — Polish whispering healers, known for prayer-based healing

  • Noaidi — Sámi shamans of Northern Scandinavia who journey with drum and chant

  • Dukun — Indonesian spiritual healers and mediums

  • Bomoh — Malaysian practitioners of spirit communication and healing

  • Miko — Shinto shrine maidens of Japan, rooted in ancient trance and spirit work

  • Wu — Early Chinese mediums and ritual healers

  • Ngakpa / Ngakmo — Tibetan Bön and Buddhist non-monastic ritual healers

  • Shen — Ancestral spirit mediators of the early Bön tradition

  • Babaláwo — Yoruba diviners and spiritual guides (West Africa and diaspora)

  • Sangoma — South African ancestral healers

  • Nganga — Central African spiritual specialists and herbalists​

​

  • Curandera/o — Latin American folk healers blending Indigenous and spiritual wisdom

  • Paqo — Andean mystics aligned with Pachamama and the Apus

  • Kallawaya — Bolivian healers preserving pre-Incan spiritual knowledge

  • Midewiwin — Anishinaabe Grand Medicine Society using sacred teachings and ceremony for healing

​

Anthropologists adopted the term "shaman" as a cross-cultural descriptor for spiritual healers and wisdom keepers who travel into unseen realms to retrieve insight, power, or healing on behalf of others.

​

Core Shamanism and the Journey Between Worlds

In Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, scholar Mircea Eliade noted that nearly every spiritual tradition has roots in shamanic journeying — with the defining feature being an intentional journey into other realms in an altered state of consciousness.

 

In the system of core shamanism (the lineage Amara practices), this is called the shamanic state of consciousness — a state beyond ordinary time and space. Amara’s approach also carries threads of her Celtic Scottish and Irish ancestry: a reverence for nature, ancestral presence, and the liminal space between worlds. These roots echo the old ways of journeying through mist, memory, and myth.

​

The shamanic journey — sometimes called the “magical flight” or “soul journey” — is a disciplined practice of entering non-ordinary reality to receive insight and support from Spirit. Using rhythmic drumming (typically 205–220 bpm), the practitioner enters a theta brainwave state — a deeply meditative space of spiritual receptivity.

 

Within this sacred awareness, the practitioner sets aside the noise of ordinary life and opens to wisdom from compassionate helping spirits — guides who transcend the limits of this world and offer healing from beyond it.

​

A Return to Ancient Wisdom​

Shamanic journeying is not just a technique — it's a remembering. A return to sacred rhythm, ancestral connection, and the unseen hands that guide us.

​

If you feel called to experience this work, I invite you to explore further. 

bottom of page