I remember quite vividly every single one of my meetings with Huichol shamans for the purpose of healing. Each session has been life changing and transformative. Each session has been different. And in fact, I’ve never gone to a shaman because I feel unwell physically. I go to them because they are experts at returning us to spiritual health and wellbeing. I am not a shaman. I am a Plant Spirit Medicine healer. My teacher, Don Eliot Cowan, refers to Plant Spirit Medicine as a kind of household shamanism. As I understand it, it is a basic kind of shamanism that we as PSM healers can practice safely through our deep relationships with plants.
What shamans do
Bona fide shamans can cover, let’s say, a lot more territory when it comes to our spirits, our relationship with Divine, and our sacred purpose. Sometimes, after a client has been receiving PSM, they become ready to let go of deeper patterns, deeper attachments and different conditions of the body, mind and spirit. The visit to the shaman is then an amazing journey in itself.
A shamanic healing story
During one such visit, the shaman asked me about my dad, from whom I had been estranged for many years. He said, “Don’t be surprised if that changes this year and you hear from him.” Within 3-4 months I happily had heard from my dad again and we have been in touch ever since. This re-connection with dad brought back a deep sense of peace and confidence. I did not know it, but that re-connection was essential (some would say critical) to my overall wellbeing.
Plant Spirit Medicine and Shamanism
Some clients have asked me recently why Plant Spirit Medicine Healers at times refer their clients to Huichol shamans.
The best way I can explain it is that Plant Spirit Medicine and Huichol shamanic treatments just work beautifully together. It may be that the root or inspiration and fountain of wealth for both is the same, the ancestral spring of wellbeing that is the Huichol culture.
I have often described the healing process and my work with my Plant Spirit Medicine clients as akin to the peeling of an onion … it takes us many years to become as disconnected, stressed and imbalanced as we often are. So it takes time to return to a state of balance. As the layers get shed and we move closer and closer to optimal health of body mind and spirit … different issues or conditions may begin to make their presence felt, sort of to let us know they are “ready to go.” It just occurs to me that the plant spirits help get us ready to shift these more profound patterns, and when these patterns or conditions are ready to “go,” the shaman helps them along their way in the best, most effective, safest and powerful way possible … and I must add, in the case of the Huichol shamans I’ve had the privilege to know … they do this with gorgeous (there is no other word) integrity.
