Shamansim: The Ancient Root of Traditional Oriental Medicine

-Randal Lyons LAc

What is shamanism?

Shamanism is an empirically validated system of healing and problem-solving that was discovered by our early ancestors. Estimated to have originated about 30,000 years ago, it was a worldwide practice of experientially operable techniques developed independent of any religious philosophy but based upon an intimate connection with the spiritual realms and a direct interaction with compassionate and helping spirits. Shamanism is an active and participatory science whose tenets of truth are just as workable and effective today as they were when first implemented.

In 1964, Mircea Eliade’s encyclopedic text Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy was published in English. Translated from its 1951 original French version, it is recognized as the first and remains today as one of the authoritative works on the subject. In the opening pages, Eliade brings clarity to the confusion around the definition of a shaman. He points out “if the word ’shaman’ is taken to mean any magician, sorcerer, medicine man, or ecstatic found throughout the history of religions and religious ethnology, we arrive at a notion at once extremely complex and extremely vague; it seems, furthermore, to serve no purpose, for we already have the terms ‘magician’ or ’sorcerer’” (1).

Eliade says that the actual definition of a shaman is much more strict and that “magic and magicians are to be found more or less all over the world, whereas shamanism exhibits a particular magical specialty: ‘mastery over fire’, ‘magical flight’ and so on. By virtue of this fact, though the shaman is, among other things, a magician, not every magician can properly be termed a shaman. The same distinction must be applied in regard to shamanic healing; every medicine man is a healer, but the shaman employs a method that is his and his alone.” (2)

The method that is “his and his alone” is what distinguishes a shaman from mediums, channels and all others who conduct communication with spirits and perform spiritual healing. A simple and direct definition is offered to us from Michael Harner, Ph.D., in his book The Way of the Shaman. “A shaman is a man or woman who enters an altered state of consciousness — at will — to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality in order to acquire knowledge, power and to help other persons.” (3) While in this altered state of consciousness “the shaman specializes in a trance during which his soul is believed to leave his body and ascend to the sky or descend to the underworld.” (4) This “soul travel” is what has come to be known as the shamanic journey and these places, these separate and hidden realities, are the realms in which the first practitioners of Traditional Oriental Medicine traveled in, explored and returned with information about healing.

Where do shamans go?

A basic concept that separates shamanism from many modern philosophies, including traditional psychology, is “where” these places in the shamanic realm lie. To the shaman, while in trance he is visiting actual places that exist in a spiritual realm distinct and different from himself. In psychology, these places, and for that matter also the helping spirits, are visualized aspects of the shaman’s self that lie fully within his being or psyche. These spiritual places visited by the shaman lie in what has been termed Non-Ordinary Reality (NOR) from the many popular books of Carlos Castaneda. These are indeed different and separate realities from our Ordinary Reality (OR) that we operate here in our everyday waking state of consciousness.

The shamanic realms of NOR are basically broken down into “the three cosmic regions: the Lowerworld, the Upperworld and the Middleworld” (5) with the Chinese finding their equivalent of this concept in the esoteric teachings of Tian, Ren and Di (Heaven, Man and Earth). During the shamanic journey, the shaman travels up through a veil, such as a cloud layer (as in Jack and the Beanstalk), to reach the Upperworld or down through a tunnel in the earth (such as Alice in Wonderland’s Rabbit hole) to descend to the Lowerworld. The Middleworld, which is the spiritual counterpart to the OR we are currently living in, is not as widely used for healing because of the simple fact that help is generally experienced as easier to obtain in the Upper and Lowerworlds.

How does a shaman get to NOR?

There are many methods of entering into trance, accessing NOR and setting off on a shamanic journey. Since the beginning of time, right up to the present day we still use drumming, spinning, dancing, singing, dreaming, hallucinogenic plants, specific kinds of meditation, vision questing, various forms of deprivation, and combinations of the above in individual or group ritual to accomplish this goal.

How are shamans made?

In indigenous cultures where the shaman was an integral part of the society, people generally were not chosen for this “profession” by their peers but rather by the spirits themselves. Indeed, the whole paradigm of this philosophy revolves around one’s ability to recognize, establish and then maintain contact with the spirits for the benefit of all. It is the spirits that are providing the shaman with his information, experience and power, and it is up to the shaman to become a “hollow bone” to let this particular brand of “Heavenly Qi” pass through him as unimpeded as possible.

What are these spirits and how do they help?

Generally speaking, the helping and compassionate spirits of NOR can take many forms. Throughout history, they have been seen as the gods of mythology, the primal forces and varied faces of the natural world, one’s ancestors and any other personalized interpretations of the divine. Again, it is the shaman’s relationship with his spirits and the subsequent results that will determine his status as an effective healer.

Specifically, the shaman heals by going into trance, entering NOR and working in relationship with spirit to bring back lost power, to return fragmented pieces of soul and to remove or sever the connection with any harmful spiritual intrusions on behalf of an individual, a group or a specific place.

In addition, he may return “merged” with these helping and compassionate spirits to continue healing here in OR. This is not a form of possession, rather the shaman remains in complete control of his physical faculties while still in trance, and during this time he invites the power of his helping spirit to perform healing activities through the conduit of his own body. One example of how this can work in a modern acupuncture treatment is to merge with a spirit such as Quan Yin or the Healing Buddha before needling.

Why is there not more information on this in the modern Chinese medical literature?

We do see glimpses of these treatments in the common TOM literature, although it is very limited and often incomplete with the Ghost Points and Possession being two examples. We must keep in mind that there is a very good reason for this, and unfortunately it is the same reason found again and again throughout the world’s history. Having one’s own connection to the divine undermines the social, religious and economic authority that has been, and is still, used to keep the general public “in line”. Techniques such as drumming, dancing and public ritual calls attention to oneself and harsh persecution has forced this way of life into hiding. Despite this, we can still find this knowledge when we look at certain forms of Qi Gong, the Yi Ching, Chinese astrology, animal style Kung Fu (another example of merging) and also if we interpret acupuncture point names and treatment protocols with their intended metaphoric intentions.

These ancient experiential concepts that TOM is founded upon are not lost; indeed, they are surfacing once again so that we may re-establish relationships with spirit. Once this is done, bridges that carry all forms of healing Qi back and forth from the body to the mind and to the spirit can be constructed and accessed to create balance and harmony from Heaven to Man to Earth.

Notes

Eliade, 1964: p.3

Eliade, 1964: p.5

Harner, 1980: p.25

Eliade, 1964: p.5

Eliade, 1964: p.270

Eliade, M. (1972). Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy. (W.R.Trask, Trans.) Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1964)

Harner, M. (1982). The Way of the Shaman, A Guide to Power and Healing (2nd ed.)

New York: Bantam Books, Inc. (Original work published 1980)

Biography

Randal Lyons is an Acupuncture Physician licensed in Florida and California. He maintains a successful private practice in Palm Beach County, Florida, is a consultant for several in-patient addiction treatment facilities, and is author of the new book, “Opening the Eyes of the Heart”.

He is a graduate of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies’ 3 Year Program in Advanced Shamanism and Shamanic Healing and incorporates indigenous healing techniques into his practice.

He can be reached at:

Seven Dragons Holistic Health Care, LLC

6615 W. Boynton Beach Blvd. 354

Boynton Beach, Fl 33437

www.7dragons.org

info@7dragons.org

561-313-1611