Storyteller shamans

I have always thought that the telling of stories was one of the most important things for a strong society to bond into a people. Not the news, not documentaries, not the neighborhood gossip sort of stories, but the ones of legendary proportions. The ones where the villain looks to be larger than life and invincible, the heros reluctant to step to the plate, the magic hidden in plain sight. These are the stories that truly matter. They used to be told in the flickering light of a fire at night when the creatures of night stalked their shadows. The Shaman or storyteller would have everyone huddled around scarce to breathe for missing a nuance of tone as the story came to life. Sometimes the fire would help with a dramatic pop and shower of sparks. These were the days when tribes were small.

Our tribes are much larger now, but stories are still a major bonding thread through our cultures. It's not likely that we are going to huddle around a fire ( although that still sounds fun) but we all at one point find ourselves scrunched down in a movie theater chair or a sofa in our living room waiting to be told a story. When we really look at it the storyteller has to jump through many more sacred hoops to tell their tale, but the beginnings of the storytelling process remains the same. The storyteller turns inward and flies up into a realm of ethers that he or she has been invited into. Literally it is a new world with rules, heros and villains all of it's own.

Like the past, these stories link tribes of a culture together regardless of what part of the world the story travels. All who hear and love the story become kith and kin, welcomed into the world with a common understanding of humanity even if the language is different. These stories not only bind cultures together, they can act as a guide in the dark shadowed night of the soul. Often times when we are listening/ watching/ reading these stories, we end up empathizing with a specific character in the saga. During times of demon dancing it becomes helpful to look to these figures and those around them for wisdom and guidance while you dance your own shadow dance. The wisdom revealed may not be a direct application to your own motion, but rather a sudden flash of realization and inspiration. This is a true aspect of shamanism: the application of the shaman's vision to the realm we walk in whether it be a large outer world project or a personal quest.

Shamanism is not a dwindling practice, it is alive and well. It has evolved, shifted to suit the medium, the people, the largeness of the world's tribe. Maybe the traditional means and methods of training have been passed quietly around to certain keepers of these secrets, but lost they are not. There are those out there who continue the traditional practices in secret with a small group of people in clusters all over the world and sometimes in places most unexpected. Often times these Shamans, if you will, do not share their adventures believing them to be irrelevant to the outer world or useful to anyone but themselves. Sometimes what is revealed, the shaman feels should be kept secret for a time until it is the correct place in time to reveal the mystery for further unfolding. Sometimes the shaman never reveals the story because the battle is their personal dance.

Every once in a while, I fall upon a movie, book or painting that reveals to me that the art of the storytelling shaman is still alive and well. These people may not recognize what it is they are doing, but I do. If there is any doubt, ask the story teller this:" how real are your characters and their world to you?" Most of them will tell you something like this:" my characters talk to me and have a running commentary on my life." These storytellers may not have been trained in traditional manners or be keepers of traditional secrets, but they have tapped into something larger than themselves and come back with a legend to pass to their perceived tribe. Some of these modern legends have swayed the thinking and understanding of real people in this realm, possibly shifting this world in a very real manner. If that's not shamanism, I don't know what the hex is.

I believe society needs these story tellers to help make sense of our world and lives. I believe that these stories make us stronger as both a society and individual. Think carefully, who are your storyteller shamans? How have they affected your universe? What untold stories have you been invited to dance within and have you the courage to tell them?

I suppose we shall see. . .

Mr. Oddly and I have weeded through our lives in this process of moving. Thrown things out, preserved precious memories pulled old the roots of stagnation with this whole sacred deconstruction.  Literally I have pulled my life off the walls and out of corners to look at all of it. We looked at all the stuff and decided upon what we were going to keep, what we were throwing out, what we were giving away and why.

What ended up coming into the house with us has not gone back into the comfortable patterns we had already set up at the apartment. We were able to look at our things on a new palate and a better understanding of its purpose. We recast the roles of our objects. We are able to set up defined energy patterns in this space as opposed to having to make do with the space we have and mash everything together and hope for the best. I never really realized how confined I was. . . or  even was I aware that I was allowing my space to define me instead of me defining my space.

I have a feeling that new things are definitely on the horizon for me as far as the craft. The space in my life is opening up for it to happen. I think that I will have to sit and meditate on where I wish to steer my chariot. I pulled out my Grandmother's deck and threw some cards a bit ago. The card that indicates quests and journeys showed up. You know the one when you see it. The one where there is a cloaked man leaning on a staff looking out toward the horizon. His back is generally turned to you. It does indeed look like a lonely card, but most of our significant journeys and discoveries in life are made on this path by yourself.

Only you can make that journey . . . only you can extrapolate meaning from your experiences. The key lies in the emotional response and your response to your emotional ebb and flow. I have no idea what the horizon will bring me when I greet it, but I hope I choose not to allow myself to be defined by anyone or thing other than myself. I hope I handle the emotions that get poured into me with grace. I hope that I am a wise enough cunning folk to handle the reigns. I suppose we shall see.