I am sure there is no "1 secret trick that shamans don't want you to know!", but is there some advice for practical learning? What sort of ritual or actions help facilitate connection? My best hope would be to find and meet a genuine Sami or Siberian practitioner but, well let's face it unless there is one living in my area (highly unlikely), this is not going to happen. The way I see it is a little like how I see my woodworking. You can only do it if you care about it. If you don't care for a spiritual path, then you can never connect to it, like doing a university degree to become a doctor when you really don't care about the career to dedicate time learning it. Furthermore, books will always be the lowest form of education in something so practical, with tutoring at the top and trial and error somewhere in the middle, based on your tutoring / books balance.
I genuinely and earnestly believe in the ongoing existence of ancestors, although I am uncertain on who constitutes ancestors, and how far back it goes. I don't think I will ever be 100% certain. However I also believe in the genius loci, the spirit of a place, and am also an animist and also believe that not all spirits are lovely and friendly, some may abuse those who are too open, either passively by leading them away from where they want to go, or with real intent to harm. As such I want to ensure the bad doors remain locked and that I can safely ask for the good doors to be opened. I cannot get tutoring in such a path, but I need some sort of direction.
I think a part of what holds me back is my rather arrogant Christian history, scoffing at certain pagans because of New Age influences incorporating into their practice the things I wish I did, but I don't want to be seen as "being like them". I don't know if it's because their behaviour is comical to me, or because they go further than I would. I'm a non-worshiping person. I venerate and thank, but I don't think I could worship anything.
This is turning into a blog post, so I'll try and wrap it up with a question: how did you go from "that sounds right to me" to "I understand what I believe personally, through experience"?
I genuinely and earnestly believe in the ongoing existence of ancestors, although I am uncertain on who constitutes ancestors, and how far back it goes. I don't think I will ever be 100% certain. However I also believe in the genius loci, the spirit of a place, and am also an animist and also believe that not all spirits are lovely and friendly, some may abuse those who are too open, either passively by leading them away from where they want to go, or with real intent to harm. As such I want to ensure the bad doors remain locked and that I can safely ask for the good doors to be opened. I cannot get tutoring in such a path, but I need some sort of direction.
I think a part of what holds me back is my rather arrogant Christian history, scoffing at certain pagans because of New Age influences incorporating into their practice the things I wish I did, but I don't want to be seen as "being like them". I don't know if it's because their behaviour is comical to me, or because they go further than I would. I'm a non-worshiping person. I venerate and thank, but I don't think I could worship anything.
This is turning into a blog post, so I'll try and wrap it up with a question: how did you go from "that sounds right to me" to "I understand what I believe personally, through experience"?
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