What is a Modern Day Shaman? by Antara Davis

WHAT IS A MODERN DAY SHAMAN?
(an excerpt from an article written by Antara Davis)


First and foremost a shaman lives in harmony with Mother Earth and Father Sky. A shaman understands that Mother Earth (mater, matter, the divine feminine aspect) is alive, that we are her children, and that all living things are our brothers and sisters. Because of this, a shaman never feels alone – one’s true family is all around you. Father Sky represents the vastness, the unseen, the unknowable, the Great Spirit. Spirit & Matter merge and we are born, sacred children along with all of creation. In this most fundamental way, we are related to “all that is.” This is the greatest harmony, the greatest connection and understanding you can have. You know your place in the universe, your true family, you see all with great respect and you have a deep love and compassion for “all your relations” in an unending way – beyond any boundaries, even of the earth.

A shaman understands the teachings and knows how to develop a heart connection and working relationship with the 4 powers (East, South, West, North) and the 4 elements (air, fire, water, earth). Combining this with the great above and below, (Mother Earth and Father Sky) and the center (our Sacred Self) comes the understanding of unity, oneness, the whole, the medicine wheel , the ever turning great circle of life.

From the development & embodiment of these understandings, comes understanding your place in the medicine wheel universe, how to walk it and use these teachings of balance. In this process, one can achieve complete acceptance of yourself as is, for you are a sacred child of divine forces.  You have a deep love and respect for these forces of the universe and you find that you are living in harmony with yourself, within and without, trusting and surrendering to that which is beyond our little egoic self.

A shaman lives in harmony with her surroundings. She recognizes that her surroundings are a reflection of who she is, and where she is at on many levels. If you are surrounded by beauty, then beauty is the way you live. If not, then there is your work. 

A shaman is peaceful and accepts what is, yet is constantly trying to make a more beautiful peaceful healed world in all that she does. In this way, wherever a shaman goes, whatever a shaman does, she is leaving a trail of beauty behind her. 

With beauty before me, and beauty behind me, and beauty all around me, beauty is the way I live. This is the motto of a shaman.... (for the full article, click here).