Traditionally, the shaman intercedes with the spirits and the spirit world on behalf of the village.  How do you define the village in modern America and Europe?  Our village is made up of the people we know, work with, play with and live with.  Unlike the small native villages of Central and South America where shamanism is practiced, our village is in constant flux, and is spread out over many towns and cities.

In our (SQF) tradition, we talk about working with and moving energy—moving heavy energy (huacha) out and letting light energy (sami, kausay) flow freely again.  This is often in conjunction with healing work-psychological, spiritual and physical.  We also believe that all things have spirit, anima, and that the anima of all things is connected and can and does interact.  We work in the visible (physical) world and the invisible (spirit) world.

Shamanism is an Earth-based belief system, a way of looking at the world and our experiences that is different from the Western worldview.   It is intuitive, not wedded to the empirical, scientific reductionism that dominates Western society.  It sees things in terms of balance and harmony, rather than right or wrong, and gives us permission to stand apart from consensual reality.  

Jeff