My ancestors are circled around my space. The shaman gives thanks to the nature spirits, the animals, the trees and my spirit guides (both known and unknown). She asks my guides to gently cleanse me and remove anything from my field that does not belong there, recreating my natural order.
It’s not how I’m used to spending my weekday mornings. My natural order is that of every other working parent: a military operation involving the chivvying of frequently fractious children, followed by a hectic gesture towards my daily 10,000 steps while crowbarring in breakfast en route to my computer.
I much prefer this morning’s secret ceremony of healing: lying in a dark room with my laptop glowing, listening to Rhonda McCrimmon, a shamanic practitioner and founder of the Centre for Shamanism, incanting ancient enchantments and whistling tunes that evoke birds calling across hypnotically vast distances, all the while monotonously beating a tempo that nudges my brain towards the dreamlike theta state.
In the past decade, many thousands have found relief in such surrender: this week’s 2021 census revealed a twelve-fold increase in those identifying as shamanic followers, from 650 in 2011 to 8,000 last year.
McCrimmon is tranquilly unsurprised by the increase: “Shamanism takes you directly to the source of the divine in nature-based spirituality, empowering people to take responsibility for their own health and wellness,” she said.
“I think Covid played a big part because it made people question what was important in their lives at a time when the only way they could entertain themselves was by going outside,” she added.
While shamanism is still niche, McCrimmon said, the thread that connects her online community of more than 10,000 followers is an intense search to make sense of their place in the world. “Often people are really desperate to find a place of gratitude, openness, kindness and compassion by the time they get to me,” she said. “Those who find shamanism have often tried every other avenue.”
Matt Guy, from the Northern Drum Shamanic Centre, believes the growth in numbers stems from people “becoming aware that our way of living is coming apart”.
“People are finding that that they no longer want something to fix them from the outside,” he said. “They’re looking for something that feeds them inwardly and also empowers them. That’s what shamanism does.”
This is not middle-class yoga teachers going deep, said Simon Buxton, the founder and director of the Sacred Trust Faculty. It is not new age, it’s stone age.
“This is people coming home, back to something that we were engaged with right back to the dawn of human consciousness. It’s only the last 2,000 years or so that we’ve practised monotheistic traditions and religions,” he said.
Shamanism is a healing tradition, a spiritual practice with its own symbolism and cosmology, inhabited by beings, gods and totems. Built on four pillars – connection with nature, healing of self and of community, spiritual practice and pilgrimage – for those who practise it seriously, it is a way of life.
That is not to say shamanism has not adapted to the modern world, said Leo Rutherford, the founder of the Eagle’s Wing Centre for Contemporary Shamanism. “Any practice that seeks to help its followers must address the contemporary issues they face,” he said. “For example, shamanism has to adapt to the fact that modern-day people have uniquely difficult childhoods compared to the ancients, who grew up in community.”
Everyday shamanism is generally invisible to the outside eye. McCrimmon counts NHS doctors, university lecturers, social workers and the chair of a multi-academy trust of primary schools as part of her community. Most bring shamanism into their everyday lives without anyone noticing – as she used to do.
“When I opened up to shamanism, I was an accountant in charge of 10 people,” McCrimmon said. “Shamanism helped me to see the business I was running as an entity into which I could bring an intention of peace. I used to spend a few minutes in the meeting room before people arrived, setting the intention to peace and gentle resolution. It made a huge difference.”
Buxton agrees: shamanic followers do not generally seek to make their belief known in their everyday life. “There should be nothing glamorous or mysterious in the way that people who practise shamanism present themselves,” he said. “The work itself is so profoundly, exquisitely mysterious that we have to be just completely normal – invisible – in our presentation.”
For me, however, the drums and rattles fail. I don’t know if the lorries bouncing over the speed bumps outside my window distracted my spirit guides but they prove laggardly and my soul refuses to journey.
McCrimmon cautions, however, that it is not shamanic to question the guides. “It is key to have no attachment to the outcome of the ceremony. You simply surrender into the loving arms of the universe,” she counsels.
But she consoles me for my lack of visions by revealing that she saw images on my behalf: an egg cracking, the shell peeling away, and an acorn – a seed of joy. It is unexpectedly touching.
Four steps for shamanism in daily life, by Rhonda McCrimmon
1) Connect with the elements
Spend a few moments each day connecting with one of the four elements – earth, air, fire, water. Notice details, like, is the wind gentle and what direction is it blowing in? Feel the water pass your lips when drinking, flow down your throat and enter your stomach while giving thanks for the nourishment it provides. Breathing crisp winter air with your eyes closed and feeling what emotions that brings up for you that can then be released on the out breath. Walking barefoot on grass and thinking of your ancestors walking the same way giving thanks for their life.
2) Listen to the beat
Try listening to steady drumbeats, breathing deeply and slowly for five to 10 minutes. Take time to notice how you felt during and afterwards – this can be developed into shamanic journeying for yourself when you feel ready. This is good for regulating and de-stressing after a hard day.
3) Practise gratitude
Daily gratitude practice for the earth, the land and the ancestors. Gratitude is good for our body, mind, soul and community, and is great for lowering anxiety.
4) Get to know your guides
Invite your shamanic guides to make themselves known to you. A guide supports you in your life. Although your guides are always with you, whether you know them or not – they might be an animal you see all the time or that you have an affinity with – it can take time to build a relationship with them. You’ll know you have met a guide when they appear in your mind unbidden and you feel them around you in difficult moments.
