Notice the shaman in pop culture images is widely portrayed as a tribal witch doctor, wearing exotic masks, using rattles, magic or nature spirits to heal others. True shamans beyond media may be misunderstood. Each is a wounded healer; having suffered through adversity and confronted inner demons. Shamans make the unconscious conscious to access innersights and act as an authentic guide for others so they light the way through their own darkness.In essence, the shaman is a multidimensional seer, traveller, communicator. This being has ability to connect with spirits, animal guides, does things often forgotten by those disconnected from nature. Shamans assist others to release themselves from their own pain. In some ways, a shaman is a soul healer, not a body healer. Yet all division is illusion as body-mind-spirit are already unified.
So, to truly understand suffering, one must also have suffered, know what it feels like. Through trials and tribulation, each being is invited grow, learn, teach. The shaman is divinely guided to share personal lessons with those s/he works with to facilitate healing and vibrational shifts. Integration is journey back to wholeness.
On the path of knowledge, the shaman confronts layers of ego and undergoes ego deaths. It is ego that keeps us wanting more material things, that fuels jealousy, harms our self esteem by making us compare ourselves to others. Many equate ego with identity. By losing sense of self, we see the much bigger picture.
The key is expansion of consciousness. To allow this requires letting go of beliefs we are separate entities and recognizing we all echo one energy source. In this unity, we are much more aware of others feelings, interconnected experiences. By breaking down the ego, the shaman within each of us is able to put to rest selfish desires and focus energies on service. In doing so, the shaman within must die to self, be reborn multiple times. A series of literal and figurative deaths and rebirths shapes the shamanic path.