Summary: How does someone become a shamanic healer in the 21st Century? What is the first step? What do you do if shamanic healing has been dead in your ancestry for 2000 years, but you still feel the call today? This week host and shaman, Christina Pratt, dedicates the show to listeners from all over the globe who email asking how to begin. First there is the Call from spirit. It can be as dramatic as a seven-year illness or as simple as a dream. The call functions to awaken the knowing of ones true self and the yearning to express that self through the artistry of the shaman. Then there is the Training. The function of training is to develop the skills and talents so that shamans don't hurt themselves or others unintentionally. A Korean proverb explains, "Though the spirits give shamans their miraculous powers, shamans must learn the technique of invoking them." Then there is Initiation. Initiation may be spontaneous, begun suddenly by spirit’s intervention into the initiate’s life, or formalized, set in motion by the initiate’s human teachers as part of an ordered, training process. Initiation functions as a transformer; it causes a radical change in the initiate forever. Initiation creates shamans from those who have been called but not all who are called will complete the transformation. Whatever the path that unfolds, the first step begins with spirit.
