Image from Lankapura.com
The word “shaman” may bring to your mind images of medicine men in colorful outfits, dancing around a fire to the beat of tribal drums, much like the image of Sri Lankan devil mask dancers, above. And you’d be right, though you’d be getting only part of the picture.
The REASON they do all of that is to get past our attachment to the “real” world and connect to our inner workings--to help us travel the landscape of our hearts and souls and make us whole in mind, body and spirit.
Now for you and me, their performance probably would not work. This is because they’re not speaking our cultural or symbolic language. To do that, they’d have to tap into our religious and spiritual beliefs, our cultural upbringing and the images we see in our dreams.
Wikipedia describes shaman as “intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds… Shamans are said to treat illness by mending the soul…[which] restores the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness.” They also said “Cultural anthropology approaches shamanism as an integral part of the study of culture, belief, and practice.”
So who are the shaman of our modern Western culture? Who guides us through the realm of dreams, symbols, metaphor and stories to help us make choices in our lives? Joseph Campbell said it’s the artists—painters, poets, singers, dancers, actors, directors, comedians, etc. They take inspiration, which is a message from the spirit world, and communicate it in a language we understand. And when they really get it right, it not only entertains, but touches our hearts and inspires us. (Of course, that’s not always their goal.)
Joseph Campbell and Caroline Myss both have said that in today’s world, it is up to us to find our own way through our spiritual landscape. We have to be responsible for the well-being of our own souls. In other words, we need to become our own shaman.
The extra bonus of this book is that by signing up for the promotional offers, you can access a TON of free offers, including a free e-book version of my novel, Echoes Across Time! You can also take part in a contest to win, among other things, an Apple iPad2. (Talk about cultural symbolism – the apple with the bite taken out of it means we’ve eaten from the Tree of Knowledge.)
Hay House was kind enough to ask me to be part of the promotion of this book, I’m guessing because they found the following in the intro on my webpage, malaynadawn.com:
Sometimes meditative, other times sassy, she acts as a modern-day shaman, helping people to navigate their way through their inner and outer worlds through symbolism, stories and metaphor.
Sometimes I call it Practical Spirituality, sometimes Self-Growth and Personal Improvement, and other times Eco-Ethical Living, which incorporates body-mind-spirit with environmental and global concerns, but it’s all taking positive concepts and applying them to day-to-day life. I just like to throw out ideas and share how I use them, but this book tells you HOW.
So, don't wait, get Be Your Own Shaman today!
(And if you watch for Survivorman Les Stroud in his show Beyond Survival, you can see Sri Lankan devil mask dancers in action!)
Written by Malayna Dawn for her blog, Symbolic Themes. When you register at http://promos.hayhouse.com/beyourownshaman/ for your free gifts, be sure to scroll down or search for Malayna Dawn to get your free e-book copy of Echoes Across Time! Whoo hoo!
I love Malayna Dawn and her writing and am so glad to hear of her association with Hay House. Keep up the great work, Malayna!
Posted by: Jacquelyn Riggs | April 20, 2011 at 01:56 AM