“Shapeshifting requires the ability to transcend your attachments, in particular your ego attachments to identity and who you are. If you can get over your attachment to labelling, yourself and your cherishing of your identity, you can be virtually anybody. You can slip in and out of different shells, even different animal forms or deity forms.”
Zeena Schreck
I don’t know a great deal about shamanism but I do know about North American Indian culture where there are Shaman sort of psychic healing doctors as part of each tribe.
“North American Indigenous wisdom, often attributed to shamans or elders, emphasizes deep respect for Earth, the Great Spirit, and community, focusing on inner strength, balance, honesty, and taking responsibility for actions.”
“Hold on to what is good, Even, if it’s a handful of earth. Hold on to what you believe, Even, if it’s a tree that stands by itself. Hold on to what you must do, Even, if it’s a long way from here. Hold on to your life, Even, if it’s easier to let go.”
Unknown North American sage wisdom
I love this quote about what to hold onto metaphorically and I can see connections to Buddhist philosophy through millennia however their cultures would never have communicated with each other until hundreds of years ago.
“Buddha’s teachings emphasize that holding onto things, emotions (like anger), or stories leads to suffering, highlighting impermanence and the power of release, with famous quotes saying, “You only lose what you cling to,”
I agree that when I used to hold onto anger it caused me much suffering.
I wish I could meet a North American shaman to heal me of my aches and pains literally and metaphorically. I have quite a few for someone my age.
Chief Seattle also noted the interconnectedness of all things and how what affects the earth affects its inhabitants.
I agree with this idea by Chief Seattle about the interconnectedness of all things
Mary Brave Bird (Lakota) connected the land to a mother and rivers to blood, stating that losing the land leads to the loss of the Indian identity.
I love this idea and I think Indians had a deep respect and connectedness to Mother Nature.
In conclusion through research, I have learnt just a little about the very deep and broad subject of shamanism and connectivity to the earth by North America Indigenous peoples.