| Something about using the word 'power' can | | | | something or someone else, it's simply about |
| cause a profound reaction in those who hear it. | | | | becoming increasingly oneself and being prepared |
| Contemporary Westerners often note the word | | | | to live with the consequences of that. Many |
| with discomfort, perhaps associating it with | | | | students can be anxious about meeting |
| misuse, with the power to do harm, the curtailing | | | | experiences they can't handle and I tell them |
| of freedom, or with racism, sexism, ageism. Even | | | | what I was taught myself, that we are never |
| the kinds of power required for making life easier, | | | | presented with situations we aren't ready to cope |
| electricity from nuclear or fossil fuels, are now | | | | with. However, what the spirits know a person |
| viewed by many of us as double-edged as we | | | | can handle and what the person themselves think |
| strive to discard them in the increasingly | | | | they can handle are not necessarily the same |
| desperate pursuit of 'clean power', i.e. power | | | | thing. Accepting the power of the spirits also |
| without consequences. Mention 'personal power' | | | | means accepting one's own power, both the dark |
| and the discomfort increases; I have observed | | | | and the light of it. It is only by recognizing the |
| students react physically to these words by | | | | potential for magt within myself that I am able to |
| shaking their heads, or making dismissive gestures | | | | contain and utilise it in a positive way, or sense |
| with their hands, as if to say, 'That has nothing to | | | | when the opposite might happen. |
| do with me, I want nothing to do with power'. | | | | Some students of shamanism, particularly those |
| The flipside of this are those who hear the words | | | | new to the practice, move to an extreme |
| 'personal power' and immediately recognise | | | | position, surrendering their own power, and hence |
| themselves to be powerless, who know they've | | | | their own responsibility, to the spirits, sometimes |
| lost something and would give anything to get it | | | | becoming unable to make even trivial decisions |
| back but don't know how. So, in the context of | | | | about toilet paper or food shopping without |
| the resistant relationship that many of us appear | | | | consulting non-ordinary reality. In my own work I |
| to have these days with power, where does the | | | | see my spirit helpers as partners, or as one client |
| shaman, that conduit of power, fit in? | | | | recently described it, my colleagues. I am, without |
| When teaching I'm often struck by how many of | | | | doubt, the junior partner but it's always been |
| the questions asked by students are at their | | | | understood that my spirits want and expect me |
| heart questions about power, about relationship to | | | | to carry out their wishes and suggestions and |
| power, the uses of power, and the nature of | | | | simultaneously use my own judgement. A good |
| spirit power. The students' questions offer an | | | | practitioner trusts her spirits but acknowledges |
| invaluable insight into the nature of shamanic | | | | that she is responsible too and does not give her |
| power and some are shared here. | | | | power away. Anyone engaged with shamanism |
| One misconception about contemporary | | | | has to decide their own relationship to power. |
| shamanism is that it's something a person can | | | | We all, in different ways, surrender power |
| simply decide to call her/his own practice, or | | | | throughout our lives and are not always directly |
| mention as an add-on to other healing or | | | | responsible for the loss of that power. There may |
| divinatory work. Many New Age practices draw | | | | be soul loss in childhood, power may be taken |
| on the power of the individual practitioner and | | | | from us against our will as adults. We readily give |
| ill-health and 'burn out' are often encountered in | | | | power away to self-help books, encyclopaedias of |
| practitioners who work in this way. On the | | | | dreams, tarot cards, doctors, practitioners of all |
| contrary, shamanism has a very precise | | | | kinds and of course to our family and friends. |
| methodology developed over millennia that | | | | Power lost leaves an emptiness, a space that |
| protects both the shaman and her client: the | | | | requires filling and just as Nature abhors a vacuum |
| shaman works by shifting consciousness and | | | | so does Spirit. An empty space gets filled, and it |
| sending out part of her own spirit to engage with | | | | can be filled with anything, from the spirit of an |
| spirit helpers in alternate reality and to ask to | | | | illness to a disincarnate spirit looking for a new |
| share their power for specific and stated | | | | home. From a shamanic perspective the quickest |
| purposes. Shamanism is all about power, the | | | | way to disempowerment is fear, giving in to fear. |
| shaman works by filling himself with power, by | | | | As soon as we open up to fear we open up to |
| becoming power-full. How then does this power | | | | disempowerment. |
| from the spirits differ from the kind of power | | | | The issue of power loss raised the question of |
| that makes people uncomfortable? The answer is, | | | | protection; some students were concerned to |
| that it doesn't. Power is power. As with most | | | | protect themselves against malign influences that |
| things that matter, the difference lies in intention: | | | | might be floating around waiting their opportunity; |
| what is the power for, how will it be used and for | | | | others were concerned to protect themselves |
| whose benefit? | | | | when working as a healer. The first rule of |
| At the very beginning of my study of shamanism | | | | shamanic healing is "never use your personal |
| with the Scandinavian Centre for Shamanic | | | | power", doing so automatically creates a drain |
| Studies in 1998 I learnt two words that quite | | | | which leaves the healer open to power loss and |
| clearly and simply defined all these issues.The | | | | possible intrusion. By working with the spirits a |
| Danish words magt and kraft express the | | | | healer's own power remains untouched and whole, |
| distinction between power over and the power to | | | | preventing such problems. Some students |
| do. Magt or 'might' is the type of power that | | | | describe envisaging themselves protected by light |
| causes people who consider themselves balanced | | | | or a bubble of energy which repels negative |
| and liberal to squirm in their seats. The other | | | | influences. Superficially this sounds a good idea, but |
| type, kraft, expresses the neutral aspect of | | | | ultimately it creates an attack/defence situation |
| power that all things require in order to have | | | | and turns into a barrier against life. It's a better, |
| agency. Too often these distinctions become lost | | | | more 'empowering' situation to stay filled with |
| and the concept of kraft is lost in the rejection of | | | | your own energy and that of your spirits so that |
| magt. | | | | protection is redundant. |
| One of the topics often raised by students | | | | Virtually every person I work with is experiencing |
| touches the difference between shamanism and | | | | some kind of power loss, whether through |
| sorcery, a useful illustration of the practical | | | | ill-health, soul loss, relationship problems, family |
| differences between the power to do - | | | | issues or bereavement of some kind. One of the |
| shamanism, and power over - sorcery. A | | | | first journeys a student will do, once they are |
| sorcerer seeks to gain personal power through | | | | able to make a shamanic journey for themselves, |
| drawing on the energy of the spirits and is | | | | could be, "Show me how I give my power away |
| prepared to use that power to control or harm | | | | to family/partner/job/children...". Such journeys |
| others. A shaman asks for power from her spirit | | | | are often very clear and frequently, moving. |
| helpers in order to become a bridge between | | | | Seeing, experiencing, the actions which produce |
| worlds and bring help and healing to those who | | | | loss of power is itself a powerful first step to the |
| need and ask for it. The shaman uses power for | | | | recovery of power. Asking for and receiving help |
| the things they've asked help for, whether it is | | | | from the spirits while experiencing their unqualified |
| for someone else or for themselves. | | | | compassion is however, the most re-empowering |
| So, what are the possible consequences of being | | | | thing I have yet experienced. |
| given power? Ultimately, it's not about becoming | | | | |