Shamanism is not a belief or faith system, it is a knowledge system, and divination is one of the ways to obtain direct knowledge. Direct knowledge can be defined as that which is experienced first hand through the senses. Divination is not ‘fortune telling’, it is a way to more deeply understand the events and influences surrounding a situation or person. Divination has always been an integral part of shamanism. One of the most important roles of the shaman has been to seek insightful knowledge from visionary sources, which may be for healing purposes, “why has this person gotten sick?” “what medicine does this person need?” or important communal needs “where are the caribou herds?” divination is also often used to gain meaning from dreams and visions.
Divination is as old as humanity, but unfortunately in mainstream Western society it is seen as primitive, irrational and pandering to superstition. Divination is simply a way of revealing the truth. The fortune teller reveals or discovers to his client hidden truths about himself or the circumstances that surround him. In societies outside of the West, divination continues to play an important role, revealing what is hidden, relieving anxiety, and helping to come to terms with challenging circumstances that may require the implementation of difficult decisions.
In divination, the shaman’s role is to act as a mediator or “go-between.” The shaman, by exploring and providing the initial reading and interpretation, allows the seeker of this information to avoid projecting personal needs, desires, and longings if the question or situation is emotionally charged.
The Shaman’s Multidimensional Cosmos
In shamanism there is another type of time, not linear or sequential, but a time that is a single moment. This vast moment in constant movement has no borders that separate the past, the present and the future. This is a time when whatever has happened to someone anywhere, somewhere is still happening. The shaman travels ‘outside’ linear time into this vast and endless moment in constant motion to seek information in the place where this event is occurring.
One of the main gateways into this vast moment of time or universal consciousness is our own power of imagination along with the three fundamental principles of expanded perception;
1. Intention
All actions begin with an intention, a desire for a specific result. The principle of intention operates on two levels, the obvious, ‘this is what I want to do’, and the subtle level, that is, it is a signal or energy alert to be prepared to move towards a certain destination.
2. Trust
Confidence is an ineffable quality, it is experienced in the body, not in the mind. Trust takes time, and to earn it we need feedback that directly or indirectly validates our experience. With trust our experiences and confidence in our actions increase significantly.
3. Warning
It is about the application and focus of energy and intention. Attention is not ‘hard work’ but you need consistency, to place your awareness at the interface of events or places… Energy flows where attention goes.
divinatory methods
Shamans used many different methods for divination, whether looking for patterns in
natural objects and events, or using techniques to directly obtain hidden knowledge. An example of the above could be the practice of divination with rocks.
rock divination
To do this, the traditional practice is for the seeker to search for a rock while keeping the question in mind, eventually there will be a rock that stands out or ‘metaphorically’ cries out “me, me!”. Here is an opportunity to practice the principle of trust! As a helpful tip, the more facets and internal shapes the rock has, the better, as more facets and patterns mean more detail will be available to the reader. The seeker must then hand the rock to the shaman or practitioner and ask the question. The shaman (who knows as little as possible about the questioner or the circumstances surrounding the question) will gently focus on the rock and allow patterns to form within the imagination. The shaman may ask the seeker to pose the question several times, as this helps to deepen the trance-like state of consciousness, to the place where the shapes and patterns in the rock become a “gateway” directly into the universal field. of energy and images. , images, words, feelings will begin to form within the being of the shaman. Each rock represents a different aspect of the question, and the initial answer is usually “where is the questioner right now”, and this leads to other rocks, each rock exposing and presenting a magnified view of the answer. For me personally, this work is impressive, mysterious and poetic, and I have found that it is as if a person’s life story is contained in a rock.
Sunbeam Divination Journey
An example of a specific technique for uncovering hidden knowledge is the Sunbeam divination journey of the Labrador Naskapi shamans. This trip has a single specific purpose to find out the physical location of a person, object or place where an event will take place. In this practice, no information will be given about the object, person, etc., only its location. The usefulness and practicality of this technique can be seen, for example, in helping hunters locate game animals, or in finding and rescuing a lost tribesman, etc. I have used this practice many times to locate lost keys or a client’s wallet!
An exercise: The Naskapi Sunbeam Divination Journey.
First meditate or reflect on what you want to locate or know the whereabouts, remember the first principle of Intention. When you’re ready, find a place where you won’t be disturbed for about half an hour, darken the room, lie down, and relax. Note: it is best if you have a tape for the drumming of the shamanic journey (which will smooth the transition into expanded states of consciousness). In imagination, the launching pad into multidimensional perception, go to a place where you can visualize, perceive, or feel yourself in the open landscape. Feel to be fully in this place, experience your feet on the ground and the ground pushing against the soles of your feet, experience the air and the wind on your face, become fully present in this landscape and when you are ready look up to the sky . where will the sun be, with the question firmly in mind, ask the sun to show you the location or whereabouts of what you are looking for. Usually one particular sunbeam will shine brightly or grab your attention one way or another, follow this sunbeam, you may even feel yourself flying over the landscape, and where this specific sunbeam hits the ground, there it is. where is the location When you recognize the location and can correlate it to an actual physical location, it’s time to head back. So turn around and go back to where you started from, and when you’ve come back, gently sit back in the physical world and gently open your eyes.
Remembering the second principle of trust, verify the information, try and get verification of the validity of the trip, continue to do this until you have built trust and trust will continue.
Shamanic trance postures.
Another form of specific techniques is the body of work known as Shamanic Trance Postures. They take the form of certain precise body postures. These postures are gateways to an altered state of consciousness and visionary experiences. This body of knowledge originates from ancient civilizations and many indigenous cultures around the world. Rediscovered in the 1970s by renowned anthropologist Felicitas Goodman, these positions are a living piece of history in our heritage of spiritual tradition.
It involves holding non-strenuous but precise physical positions along with an accompanying rhythmic sound, for example. Drums or shamanic rattles. There are a number of specific postures for divinatory purposes, for example, the Nupe people in sub-Saharan Africa use these ritual postures, and the one in which their divinatory shamans work gives the experience of detachment and a dispassionate perspective on the matter.
An Exercise – Nude Divination Pose
Again, meditate or focus on your question as with this work it really helps if the question is sharp, without ‘if’, ‘should’, ‘but’ etc, get your question as sharp as possible.
Sit on the floor, leaning to your left and supporting yourself on your left arm. Keep your left arm stiff, with your hand at a right angle to your body. Place your left hand three to five inches to the left of your body and just behind a straight line along the back of your buttocks. Bend both legs at the knees with both feet pointing to the right, position yourself so that your left foot rests just to the left of your right knee. Place your right hand on the bottom of your left leg, where the muscle indents at about the middle of your calf. Turn your head slightly to the left so that you are looking over your left knee and close your eyes.
If possible, listen to a shamanic percussion or rattle tape, as this will enhance visionary potential and make the experience more fluid and powerful. Allow the visionary imagery, or simply the ‘knowing’, to take place, when you get a sense of an answer (even if you don’t understand it rationally) just gently release yourself from the pose and come fully back to the present. If an answer is not immediately understood, incubate it, play with it, draw or paint it, this is important as the answer is not always addressed to the rational mind. Being with the images or vision will often lead to a deep and profound revelation.
To conclude, there are many other forms of divination in shamanism, many of which underlie well-known practices, for example; divination with quartz crystals, casting objects, Scrying.
As the Tungus shamans of Siberia say “we are all connected, we are all one”. So it is not surprising that we can discover ourselves through the natural world.