In the realm of Shamanism, as I am sure is true of other realms as well, one will sometimes find themselves encountering a “pretender.” This is a person who claims to be a shamanic practitioner when, in fact, they are not. I recently discovered that someone in the “spiritual community” is, once again, claiming to be something that they are not. Do I warn the “spiritual community” of this? No. Why? For a couple of reasons. 1. This is the same community that criticizes me based on gossip and based on the fact that I am also a successful businessman. They seem to be under the misguided impression that I should be living in poverty. Nope, not going to be doing that. 2. This sort of thing has happened before and, when I warned people about the person, I got ridiculed as being territorial and jealous, when they did not realize that I was trying to tell them that this person is DANGEROUS. So, they have lost their right to any warnings whatsoever and can deal with the consequences. 3. Often it is better to let someone reveal themselves for who they truly are, which does not usually take much time at all, and let the chips fall where they may. Hopefully they will not do too much damage along the way before that happens, but if they do, then this is on them, not me.
So here are some warning signs to look out for:
1. A self-proclaimed shaman. I do not believe any human can initiate a shaman. That is ego power tripping stuff. What tends to happen, however, is that a community will gradually come to realize that someone is a shaman and will declare that themselves, instead of being told that this person is a shaman by the person him/herself.
2. Although initiation is a non-issue, what training has this person actually had? For example, I grew up with shamanic teachings. I was trained by shamanic practitioners in my family. I was also trained by practitioners that were provided for me from around the world. So my training is vast and eclectic. One does not become a shaman by reading a book, watching a video, taking a weekend course, and not actually doing YEARS of training with other practitioners.
3. The trippy shaman. This is a person who will take a medicine plant, usually as a weekend pharmaceutical, a few times and declare, because of the hallucinations that the plant has induced, that they are now a shaman. Be very careful around these folks. They have even less training than the ones in number 2. I often wonder about some as to whether they are a shaman or a drug dealer. Inevitably, they will be trying to convince you to use the same medicine plant that they have in order to induce an hallucination experience. At a price, of course, because those plants are not cheap. When using these plants it is important to have someone supervising the ceremony. Without that…with only some nimrod who is also tripping balls…it can be quite dangerous. So don’t mess around. If you are doing it, do it with a trained leader of such ceremonies and one that is not also ingesting the plant because this will render them useless in terms of supervision.
4. The charismatic shaman. Yes, a shaman can be friendly and endearing. However, are they playing a game? Are they committing the “ultimate seduction” by tricking you into doing something that is not healthy or wise for you in the guise of it being for a spiritual purpose? This is what can lead to sexual abuse, rape, animal sacrifices, flying planes into buildings and so on. Be very careful and make sure that whatever you choose to do is for your betterment and not to prove anything, such as loyalty or faith, to anyone else.
5. The pushy shaman. This is a person who is so arrogant that they actually believe that their way is the one and only way to achieve a goal, such as healing or personal development. When questioned, they can become rude, insulting and abusive. Do not put up with that crap. Run, don’t walk. I always ask, “Have they invited you, or have they commanded you?” If it is the former, then you can always say no. If it is the latter, they will get snarly when you question or say no to the “invitation.”
6. Do they do their own self-work? So often I have seen them preach about how they know the answers to everything and the right way to do everything when their own life is in an absolute shambles. I mean, how hypocritical can you be? These ones will also judge you for using a variety of healing modalities, including contemporary medicine. This is not an either/or situation. You do not have to choose one over the other. And you do not need to feel embarrassed for using a pain killer to get through some physical pain. Once the pain is eased, you can then do the other work better because you are not distracted by the physical agony. If they are not doing their own work, they will be full of advice on things they have no education on and of which they have no experience. Marriage counseling? Give me a break. Your own relationship is on the rocks at best. Medical issues? Nope. That is completely out of scope. You may think you are an herbalist, but are you really? Was that another weekend workshop? And who says herbs are a substitution for modern medicine? Morons do. And that, in and of itself, can cost someone their life.
So, the question that is often missed is WHAT IS YOUR TRAINING? Know that even a two year course is not enough. Try 10-20 years of training. Then you are talking authenticity. Another one that is often missed is ARE YOU TRYING TO HELP ME OR STROKE YOUR OWN EGO? You can tell by how arrogant they come off when talking to you.
Keep your eyes and ears open, people. The pretenders abound.