Shamanism and Creativity

Shamanism is the world’s oldest healing and problem solving technique. It is also the way in which almost all our ancestors around the globe interacted spiritually and practically with the world around them. There are a lot of misunderstandings about shamans and shamanism and the word is used to describe many different kinds of healers or energy workers.

In fact, a shaman is a person who has learnt how to leave their body, travel to other ‘realities’ and meet spirit helpers specifically to find power and healing for others.  This same technique, called ‘shamanic journeying’, can by learned by almost anyone and can be used to help many of our modern problems. Because, although our world has changed since the first shamans walked the earth, tens of thousands of years ago, the structure of our brains has not, which means we can re-learn what our remote ancestors knew about spirit and energy.

Shamans work with energy and power, the same energy and power that created the Big Bang and brought consciousness into being. By experiencing this energy through the shamanic ‘journey’ we can learn to heal and enhance many aspects of ourselves, including our own creativity. Many of us imagine that creativity is something other people have, professional people like photographers, dancers or maybe successful entrepreneurs.

True creativity however is something that we all possess; it is an integral part of being human and alive. From a shamanic perspective, creativity is a part of everything, it isn’t just something humans do it is what we are, whether we are artists, craft makers, writers, parents, or simply women and men wishing to make everyday life fuller and richer.

Through learning shamanic techniques we automatically become more creative. The shamanic journey helps us focus on what we want and need in our lives; it helps us structure our thoughts and create ‘stories’ that connect us to our deepest hopes and fears with a fresh and compassionate eye. The spirit helpers we meet on our journeys can show us what it truly means to be one with everything; what it means to be, not just a tiny, insignificant part of creation, but creation itself.

Dr. Zoë Brân

Email [email protected].
Blog www.shaman.uk.net
Website www.shaman.uk.com

Dr. Zoë Brân has worked with creativity for fifteen years and is the author of eight books, which include travel literature, guides to sexuality, and fiction. Zoë was a Writer in Residence at London’s University of the Arts from 2004-2008 and lectured in both Creative Thinking and Travel Writing at City University in London. As a travel writer and journalist Zoë travelled extensively, focussing on troubled areas of the world such as Burma, Bosnia and most recently, Cuba.

She has been a speaker, teacher and presenter at conferences, academic institutions, charitable organisations, companies and businesses and has worked with media on topics as diverse as AIDS – the subject of her doctorate – sexual behaviour, Vietnam and shamanism. She has appeared on BBC TV and national and local radio, including ‘Panorama’ and ‘Woman’s Hour’. Currently director of Shaman UK, Zoë has been involved with Core Shamanism since 1998 and is one of the UK’s leading practitioner/educators.

She offers one-to-one shamanic counselling and healing and leads shamanic seminars and workshops on a range of subjects, including: Sex and Gender, Death, Soul Retrieval. Her weblog is among Europe’s foremost resources for contemporary shamanic practice and has a worldwide readership. Zoë lives in London with her lurcher, Arlu.