I'm not sure Shamanism is the right word. It evokes images of pan pipes and feathers in hair.
But here's the thing.
There's a role our culture has kind of lost, and I think we need it.
The role of the shaman. I figured it out in 2009.
In this blog I'd like to explore what the role of the shaman might be now.
They hold the rituals - whatever the rituals might be. That's for exploring. They hold the knowledge and expertise.
But the role is broader, I'm thinking. Shamans help people flourish in their life stage, and transition between life stages. They offer support, I guess, for personal, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
What does it mean to transition from youth into adulthood, and how do you do that well? How does your identity change, what clarity of purpose do you need to find, and what rites of passage help you make sense of your changing life?
Ditto with the transition of adulthood to eldership. What is the role of the elder? How do you be a good elder? What do you need to let go of and open up to?
The Shaman would potentially hold something like workshops in which people make sense of this stuff together, and then hold the rituals by which we make our rites of passage.
Questions about money start rattling around. What is the economic model for life as a shaman?
There are lots of people. People make transitions all the time.
If you could create workshops that were plugged in, relevant and popular enough, you could potentially be offering workshops all the time. You could charge for them and make a living. My yoga teacher Alaric runs classes at about £15 for 2 hours. He also runs three retreats a year. He makes a living that way.
How many people could be prepared to pay for this sort of thing, and how much? I guess these are questions about the personal development and spiritual development market.
My instinct is towards professionalising shamanism, in time.
Alaric is solely a yoga teacher, that is, he doesn't prop up his income with other work. He won't teach a class for less than £50/hour, and railes against pricing models that keep yoga teaching in the preserves of middle aged women who are supported by their husbands. Yoga teaching and practice is his career, he's damn good at it, he has a large following and earns what seems like a perfectly comfortable living from it.
To be a Rabbi or a vicar is a profession; that's what you do, and there's an economic model to support it. Thought I don't know what they are.
Where do Rabbi's and vicars' pay come from?
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