Frequently Asked Questions About
Shamanism & Shamanic Journeying
Q: What is direct revelation through shamanic journeying, and why does it matter so much right now?
Direct revelation is exactly what it sounds like: receiving guidance, healing, and wisdom directly from Helping Spirits, the spirits of nature, and the sacred web of life. When we journey, no authority figure, intermediary, or approved doctrine stands between your inner knowing and the spirit realm.
This is no a small thing. In a time of rising fascism and authoritarianism, the most dangerous thing a person can do is learn to trust their own heart. Every fascist-authoritarian system in history has depended on people giving away their inner authority to an external power: a strongman, a doctrine, a political party, a church. Shamanic journeying is, at its core, a profoundly anti-authoritarian practice. Perhaps this is why the forces of colonialism have so violently sought to wipe it out.
In these times, we need people who are grounded in the power of soul, spirit, and nature. We need loving, courageous people who are willing to receive their own guidance, envision a new (old) world, and act on that vision. Direct revelation gives us a way to find our ground when the systems around us are collapsing.
Q: Will this work for me if I am Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or another faith?
Absolutely. Shamanism is non-denominational and anti-fundamentalist. People from many different religious orientations have experienced profound benefits from learning how to journey. And the roots of the more mystical branches of these traditions intertwine closely with our shamanic heritage.
Shamanic journeying is essentially another way to pray. Only with this approach, we receive answers.
Many open-minded Christians who have learned to journey have experienced direct communication with Jesus, Mary, and the saints.
All people who are open-minded and respectful of other belief systems are welcome.
Q: I have indigenous ancestry, but have been severed from the spiritual practices of my people. Could this be for me?
Yes. This work is for all of us who have been severed from the spiritual practices of our indigenous ancestors. This practice will not replace the unique, culturally-specific teachings of your people that were taken from you. But it can help you begin to find your way back to an animist worldview and a direct relationship with Helping Spirits.
Q: I feel called to this work but I have zero tolerance for people telling me what to believe. And/or: I have religious trauma as a LGBTQIA2S person, a woman, an indigenous person, a person of color.
Then there could be no more empowering practice of reclamation than this. Shamanic journeying is profoundly anti-authoritarian. I have worked with some clients whose religious trauma is so severe that, no matter how much they trust me, they are incapable of letting down their protective walls enough to hear what the Helping Spirits are saying through me. For these clients, I have found that teaching them to journey on their own behalf is the most liberating practice of all.
On a personal note, I have been deeply hurt by people wielding religious doctrine to tell me there is something wrong with me as an LGBTQ+++ person. Three moments on this path stand out to me as life-changing:
When, in an unexpected, spontaneous “journey” while solo-backpacking in the wilderness, I received guidance directly from Spirit welcoming me, letting me know that I am loved just as I am, and that I am home;
When I learned to journey and realized I could receive guidance from Spirit all on my own, without a patriarchal, church father to tell me I was wrong, any time I needed;
When I learned to journey with others. When two people journey on the same question and receive different visions, we ask not "who is right and who is wrong?" but rather: "how can both of us be right? How do these different perspectives fit together into a larger whole?" This revelation not only helped me to heal, but has served me in all aspects of my life.
Q: What if I’m not capable of journeying? Not everyone can be a shaman, right?
This is like saying that not everyone can pray because not everyone can become a minister, priest, rabbi or imam. From experience with untold numbers of clients, I have come to believe that with enough practice and support, everyone can receive guidance and healing from the spirit realm through shamanic journeying. It is our birthright. If you find that it does not come easily to you, it does not mean that you are not suited to it, or defective in some way. It likely means your analytical mind has taken over your life! In my case, it took me and my over-educated brain many years of practice and healing before I was able to trust the process.
On the use of the honorific title of shaman: in indigenous cultures, people generally didn’t call themselves medicine people or shamans. This was a title that was conferred by the community, based on the effectiveness of their work and the strength and integrity of their character. In fact, many people believed that if someone called himself a shaman, he would lose his powers because it his ego was taking over and his spirit helpers would leave him. See also the question on cultural appropriation below.
Q: What is your shamanic lineage?
This form of shamanism is known as cross-cultural or "core shamanism.” My primary teacher is Sandra Ingerman, one of the most well-known and trusted shamanic teachers in the modern Western world, perhaps best known for bringing the sacred healing practice of soul retrieval back to the West. Her teacher, Michael Harner, is the anthropologist who studied shamanic practices across the globe and recognized a startling pattern: that nearly all of them engaged in some form of shamanic journeying. Harner created this particular method because it works well in modern culture and makes direct revelation accessible to everyone.
I prefer the term "cross-cultural" to "core" shamanism because the latter phrase suggests that one person, limited by his own individual perspective, culture, and historical era (as we all are), could determine which elements are "core" and which are peripheral. See also the question on cultural appropriation below.
Q: What’s the difference between ayahuasca (or some other plant medicine) journeys, and drum journeys?
Plant medicine journeys last much longer than drum journeys, involve more intense physiological responses, and require a person to surrender a much greater degree of control. I have supported several clients over the years to heal from harm they experienced with unsafe facilitators of plant medicine journeys.
Drum journeys (which are the kind that I offer and teach) can last anywhere from a few seconds to an hour or more, typically involve no physiological discomfort, and require much less surrender of control because you can choose to exit a drum journey at any moment. Because of these features, drum journeys are much more easily integrated as a spiritual practice into daily life. They do require more practice and cultivation of focus, especially in our screen-dominated culture of distraction. But that cultivation is itself part of the healing.
Q: I want to be respectful of other cultures, and don’t want to engage in cultural appropriation. Is this style of shamanic journeying cultural appropriation?
This is an important question, and there are probably as many perspectives on cultural appropriation as there are people. All I can do is offer mine, and invite you to draw your own conclusion.
Shamanic journeying has arisen in indigenous cultures all over the world, including Europe, Africa, First Nations in North, Central and South Americas, and Australia. As my teacher Sandra Ingerman likes to say, “If you are alive today, you have ancestors who practiced shamanism.” No one owns this practice; it would be like saying that one particular culture owns prayer. The problem is, the vast majority of us have been violently severed from the shamanic roots of our ancestors and many traditions from our own specific lineages have been lost.
This cross-cultural form of journeying was created to make journeying accessible for modern Western people. In my teaching, and in Sandra Ingerman’s lineage, we do not steal any specific ceremonies, practices, drumbeats, songs, styles of dress, or language from any specific culture.
I feel that it is important to acknowledge there are indeed egregious examples of cultural appropriation by white people who call themselves shamans. These involve taking specific ceremonies (such as sweat lodges), tools and methods (such as a sacred way of building a sweat lodge), and regalia that are worn by specific peoples, without permission.
I have journeyed on this question many times over the years. The messages my Helping Spirits keep giving me is that my soul is called to this work, and that modern Western people need this work in order to heal ourselves and the planet. Notably, this guidance fits with the increasing number of indigenous scholars who are calling on all of us — and especially the descendants of colonists, since we are the ones destroying the planet — to restore the kinship worldview and become indigenous to place.