Shamanism

The oldest spiritual tradition of our species, Shamanism is an ancient and ever unfolding wisdom tradition that may be up to 100, 000 years old. Our Ancestors discovered a path into divine experience through a natural, mystical connection with Nature. Through this quest of outward connection came a deep, inner awareness of new consciousness. Within these realms, the source of Life itself became known along with the power to work with the energy systems of the Self, other living beings and the Earth. The word “Shaman” has its roots in the Siberian Tungus, (“Cam” or “Saman”) which was used to identify the medicine man or woman who was a blend of healer/ priest(ess)/caretaker of the earth/wisdomkeeper/counsellor. One of the meanings of the word “Saman” is “one who is on fire”, which indicates an even deeper root from the word “Sram”, an ancient Vedic Sanskrit term meaning “to heat oneself”. As we know through the ages and traditions, heightened consciousness and Spiritual strength have always been associated with light, fire and heat and the Healing Shaman cultivates this fire within fearlessly.

 

The Shaman was and is today regarded as a person of power, one who ‘journeys’ back and forth successfully through territories of consciousness to retrieve insight into the true workings of energy, the currency of Spirit. He/She holds the ability to bring harmony to the living energy systems of the individual human, their community, animals, plants and the greater world. These methods of healing, divining and problem-solving through sensitivity to energy and the ability to balance it, have become known as Shamanism.

 

The practice of Shamanism calls us to awaken our indigenous nature. It is the bedrock of almost all healing and spiritual-religious traditions. However it is not a faith, but a constantly evolving wisdom tradition in which we learn purely from our own, individual and collective, personal experience. Nor is it a religion and it is dogma-free, indeed it supports any existing spiritual practice a person may already hold. The healing shamanic practitioner follows practices that nourish the sacred in the Self and the world and comes to see, know and work with all energy as sacred.

 

Karen and John by the Lia Fáil (Stone Of Destiny) on the Hill Of Tara

 

Slí An Chroí Celtic Shamanism
This holistic model of healing Shamanism is thoroughly rooted in the Spiritual energy of the land of Ireland. This lineage, the origins of our innate healing ways, is pre-Celtic and Celtic, ancient, contemporary and forward looking. There is a deep honouring of the oral Shamanic lineage of this land, the archetypes, mythology and sacred sites that hold our tradition. Slí An Chroí alongside native, indigenous practices incorporates many others from “core Shamanism”, i.e. drawn from the common practices of all worldwide traditions. Outstanding among these non-Irish traditions that support Slí An Chroí, is the Incan lineage into which John and Karen have been initiated during their fieldwork with Q’ero Indians in Peru. Slí an Chroí brings ancient wisdom teachings, indigenous rites of shamanic initiation together with cutting edge breakthrough techniques for Energetic-Spiritual, Psycho-Emotional and Physical emergence. It is a path of holistic development and evolution, a path of remembering who we truly are in our essence and a path of finding the strength to live daily from that place of authenticity.

Sli An Chroí training brings the practitioner deep into Nature and into the Self at the same time, to learn to travel to the world of Spirit, beyond ordinary time and space, to retrieve healing, guidance and vision. This path is one of integrity allowing the practitioner to emerge as an empowered, autonomous truthseeker who is free to touch and express the ecstatic essence of Life. Sli An Chroí Shamanic practice is built upon our native understanding, “leigheas, le brí na taise”, literally “retrieving, through the energy of compassion”. The Irish-Gaelic word for “healing” is the same as the word for “ retrieval” and the training supports self-healing and return to wholeness through our recovery of essential parts of ourselves that have been damaged, hidden or lost. The training takes us from “victim” to “warrior”- a “warrior of the heart” who is testimony to the courage to heal andwho shines with the luminosity of one who lives from their heart. In the Irish Shamanic tradition, there is no difference between the “heart” and the “soul”, a vision that a sacred, soulful life is realised through compassion and love.