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matter is that in many cases it does work, and just as often it works repeatedly. So to answer whether it is
real or not, let me quote C.G. Jung, "The real is what works."
Not only does it have practical and effective results, but there appears to be an inherent legitimacy when
you examine the overall shamanic traditions. If you compare the procedures used by shamans
cross-culturally, there are far too many similarities to have been based on quackery or hocus-pocus. Data
collected by the ethnographer Johannes Wilbert found "a remarkable correspondence...not only in
general content but in specific detail" between shamans from Siberia, China, Australia, Indonesia, Japan,
South America, Mexico and native North America. The startling fact is that the geographical isolation
between these regions would rule out any possibility of contact between groups, yet they all have
near-universal beliefs and practices.
One feature that will be of particular importance to us is their universal use of the drum or rattle. The
shaman uses the rattle to go into a trance and "journey" into other worlds. The shaman is said to ride the
beats of the rattle or drum into another realm. Scientific studies of shamanic rituals have shown that the
patterns of the drum s beats or the rattle s pulse facilitate a process known as entrainment. Entrainment is
a process whereby a consistent oscillation or in layman s terms, a cycle of beats, will tend to influence
other oscillations to become in sync thereby entraining them to a common pulse. I ll cover this more in
detail when we discuss tools that can be used for increasing lucidity. For now, the point is that without
even knowing about brainwave frequencies, somehow these shamans stumbled onto a process where they
were changing their brainwave frequencies by use of a drum or rattle. The steady repetitive beats entrain
the shaman s brain to particular frequencies. By analyzing the tempo of the beats it has been found that
the shamans are usually brought into a mind state dominated by theta waves.
So just as these ancient shamans somehow managed to discover means for altering their awareness, they
became skilled at going into a trance-like state to retrieve information, heal the sick, or perform a wide
variety of other functions which would help the community. Some shamans even initiated their
apprentices by requiring them to travel into other non-physical "realities" and come back with an
accurate description of the particular "reality" which the shaman could then verify since he/she had
already been there. This may sound like make-believe, but there are many reports that collaborate this
practice and the successful retrieval of such information is proof positive that it can in fact be done.
There is also a widespread belief that the intent of the shaman or groups of shamans can uphold some
non-physical "realities" and these viable worlds can be visited repeatedly as if they were actual cities in
our waking world. Whole lineages of shamans could maintain contact through these consensual
"realities". Shambala and Shangri La are two such other-worldly cities that have been written about
throughout the centuries.
With the proliferation of war and strife between cultures, there was an obvious negative impact on the
accumulating knowledge that these shamans had been compiling. A conquering country or even a
competing culture would often try to overcome the native people by destroying not just their government
and lands but also their belief systems. It isn t hard to see that by destroying a people s ancient wisdom
and discrediting their leaders they have less chance of regrouping and posing a future threat. This cultural
persecution may have helped the conqueror s colonization of acquired lands, but the ultimate cost was
the repression and annihilation of many centuries worth of accumulated information. Now that there are
many people interested in expanding their views of "reality" it seems that all this information would be
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The Lucid Dreamer s Manual: From the Basics to Beyond
considered extremely valuable. All this knowledge could have been compiled and refined and expanded
upon over time.
Imagine a world where developing our mental and spiritual potential was as important as the need to
develop our physical side? Imagine focusing the power of our technology, or even a certain percentage of
it, upon increasing our levels of awareness and expanding our consciousness as opposed to developing
disposable cameras? If this were the case, do you think that our present state of modern civilization
would be so uncivilized?
In our society there are few remnants of this rich shamanic tradition. Aside from artists and innovators,
psychologists and psychiatrists are the only professionals who consider dreams to be more than just
nocturnal nonsense. Much like the shamans of the past they use dreams as vehicles to treat both people
who suffer from serious forms of mental dysfunction as well as people who just want to maximize their
well-being by having a better grasp of their innermost thoughts and feelings. The importance of this
dreamwork is undisputed, but when viewed from a broader perspective, it also points out a serious flaw
in the fabric of our culture. By failing to place importance on our dreams, our society seems locked into a
vicious cycle of self-repair, literally. Wouldn t it make more sense if everyone were taught the benefits
that their dreams have to offer instead of waiting until it was too late and then using dreams as a vehicle
to heal or make them whole again? An ounce of prevention could result in better mental health for our
overall community.
Luckily, there still exists a great deal of shamanic knowledge that hasn t been extinguished. Several
researchers are attempting to collect and record the existing knowledge before it is lost forever. One such
researcher, Michael Harner, is the founder and director of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies in
Norwalk, Connecticut. It is a foundation that not only funds research on shamanism but also focuses on
sharing the knowledge they find with the public. They hold seminars and workshops where participants
can take an active part in age-old shamanic rituals. I have not yet attended a workshop but I know several
people who have and they all agree that it was a profoundly rewarding experience.
Through personal experience people are beginning to see that these shamans knew and know a lot more
than we have ever been led to believe, or disbelieve in this case. Especially with today s burdening health
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