Shamanism is a very practical spirituality. A modern day shaman could live next door to you and the only clues you might have are that they get along well with people and animals and have a green thumb with plants. Also, shamans have a knack for putting people at ease and for saying and doing the right thing at the right time. 

In his book, Urban Shaman, Serge Kahili King defines a shaman as "a healer of relationships, between mind and body, between people, between people and circumstances, between humans and Nature and between matter and spirit." If you have a taste of divine ecstasy, shamanism can teach you how to ground it, how to bring it into your everyday life through using your natural gifts and talents. 

Shamanism can support you in translating that experience, that creative energy, into physical form so it can benefit you and everyone around you. The essence of shamanism is not an esoteric, mysterious, ritualistic tradition which can only be practiced by native peoples in a tribal environment. This ancient spiritual perspective on life is a down-to-earth, pragmatic, realistic way of living that anyone can use anywhere, anytime, including in our modern world. Currently across the planet, the sacred knowledge of the shaman is being translated into everyday street language in order to create more healthy, harmonious and enriching lives for people.

The spirit of shamanism is more of an open, flexible attitude and approach to living than a rigid set of rules, formulas and techniques. By applying the basic principles of shamanism, people open themselves to new possibilities and options for dealing with modern daily challenges. From Alaska to the Andes, from Tibet to Tanzania, shamanism is a worldwide phenomenon. Virtually every religion has its roots in shamanism, although shamanism is not a religion. It’s a perspective—a way of seeing all things as sacred. Shamanism does not preclude any religion. It simply says that anyone can have a direct experience of the divine without an intermediary. By honoring the sacred essence of everyone and everything, one’s whole life can truly become a spiritual adventure.

OMENS AND SIGNS

The shaman relates to every form of life as being alive, filled with energy and always communicating something to us. The key is in learning how to receive the communication. "Omens are a way Spirit communicates with us in the physical world," states shaman Ken Eagle Feather in Traveling with Power. "You can decipher omens from virtually anything, but pay special attention to unusual occurrences, whether it’s the strange behavior of birds, or conversations in which someone says something that catches your attention in a special way, or when a book falls off a shelf in front of you. You might find that messages on billboards change right in front of you, so that while others are reading an ordinary advertisement, you end up reading a message from Spirit. Be careful about being too strict in your interpretations, though. Remember, you are looking for guidance, not assurance. An omen might be the same for several people, or it might mean several different things. It’s up to you to create your personal omen dictionary. This open-ended response is called nonpatterning, and it provides the space for Spirit to communicate with you." Using personal experience as the means through which wisdom is gleaned (rather than through reading, thinking or analyzing), the shaman presents opportunities where people begin to sense a real, interactive connection with everything else that exists, even those things believed to be inanimate such as rocks, plastic, glass or metal.