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The
Five Elements & Shamanism
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Aromatherapy, Astrology, Astrological Signs, Candles, Crystals and Gemstones,
Earth Celebrations, Heavenly Bodies, The Five Elements, Chakras, Medicine Wheels, Energy,
Essential Oils, Flower Essences, Alternative Parenting, Healing Herbs, Incense, Smudging,
Music, Runes, Tarot, Spiritual Guides and Teachers, Sacred Sexuality
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3D
Rendering © Laurent
Antonino 2004
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These elemental associations can be helpful in choosing essential oils, flower essences, dietary needs and supplements, crystals and gemstones, incense, meditations and rituals, in conjunction with one’s astrological sign and any psychological, emotional, physical or spiritual wants or needs. For More Information please visit our Astrological Signs.
EARTH
Direction: North. Season: Winter. Symbolic Object: Salt, stone and earth. Stage of Life: Death. Time of Day: Midnight. Color: Green, black, brown and white. Signs of the Zodiac: Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn. Angel: Gabriel. Tree: Oak.
Earth Energies promote peace, fertility, money, business success, stability, growth (as in gardens), employment and career. Also, nature, sustenance and creativity.
AIR
Direction: East. Season: Spring. Symbolic Object: Incense, feather, fan. Stage of Life: Birth. Time of Day: Dawn. Color: White, bright yellow, bluish white, pastels. Signs of the Zodiac: Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Angel: Michael.
Air Energies promote communication, travel, intellect, eloquence, divination and wisdom.
FIRE
Direction: South. Season: Summer. Symbolic Object: Candle, lamp, fire. Emotional. Stage of Life: Midlife. Time of Day: Midday. Color: Red, white (the Sun’s noon light), gold, crimson and orange. Signs in the Zodiac: Leo, Sagittarius and Aries. Angel: Ariel. Tree: Almond in flower.
Fire Energies promote communication, defensive and protective magic, empowerment, physical strength, spiritual power, courage, will power, ceremonial power and manifestation and purification.
WATER
Direction: West. Season: Autumn. Symbolic Objects: Cup, bowl of water and sea shell. Spiritual. Stage of Life: Old Age. Time of Day: Sunset. Color: Blue, blue green, gray and indigo. Signs of the Zodiac: Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. Tree: Willow. Angel: Raphael.
Water Energies help to promote love, healing, peace, compassion, reconciliation, purification, friendship, de-stressing, sleep, dreams and psychic abilities.
ETHER-SPIRIT
Direction: Center and circumference, above, below and within. Season: The Turning of the Wheel of Life. Symbolic Objects: Tibetan bell, quartz crystal, altar. Part of Self: Higher Self, Intuition and the Soul. Stage of Life: Infinity. Time of Day: Beyond Time-all time is One. Color: Clear, translucent, black and silver. Tree: The lotus flower.
Ether Energies help promote the unification of the personality with the Soul. Oneness with the Soul. Oneness with the Infinite.Inspiration and Divinity. The Void. Everywhere and Nowhere. Immanence.
For more information on this subject please check out these fine authors, books and music (Please scroll below) and Please Visit our Bookstores for many more fine authors and titles.
Balance
"In the Universe, there exists a balance between energies of the light
and energies of the dark. Usually the things that people feel
positive about and things that make people feel happy or joyful, are
called "good". Things that people are afraid of or that make them
feel negative emotions, are called "evil" or "bad". When broken down
to their core, both "good" and "bad" are the same thing, simply
energy that has taken a certain form. They are two sides of the same
coin, and they take form based on our judgements and expectations.
Even the dark is a part of the Universal Life Source, so it can't be
wrong or bad. It's all about perception. What one person thinks
is "good" someone else might think is "evil" and vice versa. So,
there is no standard, really....it's all about individual truth."By Amy Tophan
Shamanism
Shaman is a word from the language of the Tungus people of Siberia. A Shaman is a man or woman who enters an altered state of consciousness at will. TheShaman does this to contact and utilize an ordinarily hidden reality to acquire knowledge, power and to help others. The Shaman usually has at least one or more spirits in his or her personal service.
The trance or "ecstatic" state of consciousness the Shaman enters can be termed as the Shamanistic State of Consciousness (SSC). The Shaman does not enter this state for play, but only for serious purposes. The Shaman must also know the basic methods of accomplishing the work in the SSC before entering such a state. For example, if the Shaman wishes to recover a patient's guardian animal, he must know the techniques for reaching the Lowerworld, entering it, finding the spirit animal and bringing it back safely. Subsequently, he must know what instructions to give the patient in the Ordinary State of Consciousness (OSC).
The Shaman is an accomplished see-er who works in the dark, or at least with the eyes covered, in order to see clearly. For this reason, the Shaman usually engages in such practises at night. Some kind of Shamanistic seeing can be done with the eyes open, but that kind of perception is usually less profound. In darkness, the distractions of ordinary reality are less, making it possible for the Shaman to concentrate on aspects of non-ordinary reality essential for the Shaman's work. The SSC must also be entered with the assistance of drumming,singing, dancing and the use of rattles.
Shamanistic Enlightenment is the literal ability to lighten the darkness and see what others cannot perceive.
"The Shaman looks, the Shaman sees, the Shaman reached inside of me. He pulled the evil from my chest, and threw away the nasty mess. I felt much better, my spirit clean, I am now nice, where I was mean. Thank you sir, you rang my bell. You cured my ills and made me well. The Shaman woke and looked at me. You cured yourself he said with glee. Where you were sick and now are well, you believed my words that I did tell. You opened up your heart you see. You felt your love reach out to me..."
Rhuddlwm GawrTRADITIONAL SHAMANISM
While a Shaman may exhibit magickal powers such as control over fire, wind or magical flight or as a healer, more than anything else, Shamanism is a technique of ecstasy. The distinguishing feature of Shamanism is its emphasis on a ecstatic trance state in which the soul of the Shaman leaves the body and ascends to the heavens or descends into the underworld. The Shaman makes use of spirit helpers, with whom he or she communicates, while retaining control over his or her own consciousness. Either women or men may become Shamans. Traditional Shamans have developed techniques for lucid dreaming and what is today called the out-of-the-body experience. Along with these techniques, the near-death-experience has played a significant role in Shamanic practice and initiation for thousands of years.This ability to consciously move beyond the physical body is the particular specialty of the traditional Shaman. These journeys of Soul may take the Shaman into the nether realms, higher levels of existence or to parallel physical worlds or other regions of this world. Shamanic Flight, is in most instances, an experience not of an inner imaginary landscape, but is reported to be the Shamans flight beyond the limitations of the physical body.
SHAMANIC ECSTASY
From the Greek 'ekstasis', ecstasy literally means to be placed outside, or to be placed. This is a state of exaltation in which a person stands outside of his or herself. Ecstasy may range from the seizure of the body by a spirit or the seizure of a person by the divine, to the magical transformation or flight of consciousness.
There are three types of Ecstasy:
Shamanic Ecstasy
Prophetic Ecstasy
Mystical Ecstasy
Shamanic ecstasy is aroused by the rising of the soul of the Shaman into the heavens or its sinking into the underworld. These states of ecstatic exaltation usually occur after strenuous training and initiation, and often under dangerous and distressing circumstances. The resulting contact by the Shaman with the higher or lower regions and their inhabitants, and also with nature spirits, enables him or her to accomplish such tasks as accompanying the soul of a deceased into its proper place in the next world, affecting the well-being of the sick and conveying the story of their inner travels upon their return to mundane awareness.The statements of the Shaman are in contrast with those who claim prophetic and mystical ecstasy. The prophet literally speaks for God, while the mystic reports an overwhelming divine presence. In mysticism, the direct knowledge or experience of the divine reality, is discernible in two ways: emotional and intuitive. It is not unusual for more than one form of ecstasy to be present in an individual's experience. However, there are three perceptive levels of ecstasy.
The Physical level, in which the mind becomes absorbed in and focuses on a dominant idea. The attention is then withdrawn and the nervous system itself is partly cut off from sensory input. The body exhibits a feeling of inertia, involuntary nervous responses, frenzy.
The Emotional level of ecstasy refers to overwhelming feelings of awe, anxiety, joy, sadness, fear, astonishment, passion, etc.
The Intuitive level communicates a direct experience and understanding of expanded or altered states of awareness or consciousness.
While the physical response is always present, the emotional response may or may not be significant when intuition is the principal means of ecstatic perception. Beyond the intuitive state there is a fourth condition in which a holistic perception exceeds mental and emotional limitations and understanding.These ecstatic experiences of the Shaman go far beyond a feeling or perception of the sacred. They involve the Shaman directly and actively in transcendent realities and lower realms of being. These experiences may occur in either the dream state, the awakened state, or both. Dreams, and in particular, lucid dreams, often play a significant role in the life of a Shaman or Shamanic student.
HOW DOES ONE BECOME A SHAMAN?
The Call to be a Faerie Shaman is often related to a near death experience by the person. Among the traditional examples are being struck by lightening, a fall from a height, a serious life-threatening illness or lucid dream experiences in which the candidate dies or has some organs consumed and replaced and is thus reborn. Survival of these initial inner and outer brushes with death provides the Shaman with personal experiences which strengthen his or her ability to work effectively with others. Having experienced something, a Shaman is more likely to understand what must be done to correct a condition or situation.Although some have wondered if the experience of Shamanic ecstasy or flight makes a person a Faerie Shaman, we would say no. A Faerie Shaman is more than someone with an experience. First, years of training under an experienced teacher are required before one becomes a traditional Faerie Shaman. Second, a Faerie Shaman is not just an initiate who has received inner and outer training, but is a master of Shamanic journeying and techniques of Shamanic ecstasy. Finally, a Shaman is a link or bridge between this world and the next. This is a sacred trust and a service to the Craft community. Sometimes a community that a Shaman serves is rather small such as a Coven. In other instances it may be an entire tradition.One becomes a Faerie Shaman by one of three methods:
Hereditary means.
A Spontaneous spiritual call or selection by a Shaman.
Personal choice and Quest.
This latter method is less frequent and traditionally such a Shaman is considered less powerful than one selected by one of the two preceding methods. In any respect, the Faerie Shaman is not recognized as legitimate without having undergone two types of training:
Ecstatic (dreams, trances, etc.)
Traditional ("Shamanic techniques, names and functions of spirits, mythology and genealogy of the clan, secret language, etc.)
Shamanism is a way of looking at the world and at yourself. There are no hard set rules, no hierarchy to try and work through. Shamanism is a time-tested practice, what works is kept, what doesn't is left behind. It is a personal quest for knowledge and inner power.
Shamans have held an important place in many different cultures throughout the world since our beginnings. They have been mediators, ceremonialists, healers, diviners, many different kinds of artists and much more. They learn and work with power for both themselves and the good of those around them. They understand the connection and need for balance amongst all things, that all aspects of the world that we share with the rest of creation is alive, humans, animals, plants, rocks, and even the wind.
People generally become shamans by deciding that it is the path for them, by being chosen and trained by an experienced shaman, or by inheriting the role from a parent. Often people choose or are led to follow a shamanic path after a near death experience, but that doesn't mean that you have to go out and try to kill yourself if you want to learn shamanism. Anyone can incorporate shamanic practices into their lives. You only need to believe that you can.
Also Please View our Pagan and Metaphysical Links for further exploration into Self.
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Books & Music
Parallel Dreams by Lorenna McKennitt.
Parallel Dreams captures harpist/vocalist Loreena McKennitt at her absolute finest. Fully immersed in the Celtic style, this London, Ontario, performer's voice is lush and layered in warm harmonies, soaring overtop equally beautiful instrumentation.
Music of the Sphere by Steve Shapiro.
This enhanced CD can be played in your audio CD player and your PC or Macintosh computer (with pictures and animation). Five hundred years ago, Johannes Kepler demonstrated how the planets revolve around the sun and challenged musicians to set his mathematical formulas for planetary motion to music. This CD represent my acceptance of this challenge.
The composition began with superimposition of Kepler's planetary arrangements on the musical Circle of 5ths. This provided the road map of musical keys to follow. The mythology of each planet provided the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic elements.
The Music of Cosmos by Vangelis and Assorted Composers.
This album is a must for anyone who loved watching the Cosmos series on TV. There is no doubt that the music was an integral part of the viewing experience and the combination of Carl's voice, the visual effects and the music has to make it one of the most stunning series of all time. This album features virtually all of the music from the series and has been greatly expanded from the original release.
The Seat of the Soul by Gary Zukav.
Zukav questions the Western model of the soul, alleging that the human species is in the midst of a great transformation, evolving from a species that pursues power based upon the perceptions of the five senses--"external power"--to one that pursues power based upon perceptions of the soul--"authentic power." He believes that humans are immortal souls first, physical beings second, and that once we become conscious of this transformation--once we align our personalities with our soul--we will stimulate our spiritual growth and become better people in the process. This insightful, lucid synthesis of modern psychology and new-age principles has been described as the "physics of the soul." Who better to explain such heady concepts than Gary Zukav? (Amazon Review)...This book on the first read is a mind blower--in a very good way!
The Way of the Shaman by Michael J. Harner.
"An intimate and practical guide to the art of shamanic healing and the technology of the sacred. Michael Harner is not just an anthropologist who has studied shamanism; he is an authentic white shaman." This book is a Classic in the true sense.
White Eagle Medicine Wheel by Wa-Na-Nee-Che and Eliana Harvey.
A new spiritual guide includes a deck of twenty-four divination cards and a system that works on three levels of increasing complexity so that beginners, intermediate, and advanced users can use ancient Native American wisdom for health and guidance. (Amazon Review)
The Sounds of India by Ravi Shankar.
A true classic and quite beautiful! This 1960s classic is a perfect introduction not only to Ravi Shankar's brilliant work on the sitar, but also to classical Indian music in general. Shankar offers brief, informative explanations of Indian ragas, scales, rhythms, song structures, and time signatures to set the stage for each.
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