Frequently Asked Questions
What is shamanic journeying?
Why do you listen to the drum when you journey?
Do you ingest psychotropic or hallucinogenic substances?
How do you receive information during the journey?
Can anyone learn how to journey?
How accurate is the information that you receive?
How do I know if I need a session or an intensive?
What happens during an initial session?
What kinds of issues, topics or questions can I ask about?
Will you journey on my behalf or do I journey on my own behalf?
May I bring a loved one or friend to my session?
What are helping spirits?
Does everyone have helping spirits?
What is shamanic healing?
Does shamanic healing replace conventional forms of healing, like medical treatment?
Do you work within a culturally specific shamanic context?
Why do you call yourself a shamanic practitioner, rather than a shaman?
What does the word “shaman” mean?
What is shamanic journeying?
Shamanic journeying is a technique for contacting compassionate spirits that has been practiced and evolved by shamans world-wide for thousands of years. To undertake a shamanic journey, a shaman enters into a trance state, also known as a shamanic state of consciousness, and sends their awareness into the unseen realms in order to receive guidance and healing directly from helping spirits. When practicing shamanic journeying, one has one foot in each world- meaning, one remains aware of one’s body while also traveling in non-ordinary reality.
Why do you listen to the drum when you journey?
Many shamanic practitioners use percussion instruments to generate a shamanic state of consciousness, including drums, rattles, clicking sticks, etc. Shamanic drumming is particularly common and consists of a steady, monotonous drumbeat at a pace of approximately 3 – 4 ½ beats per second. In fact, the drum has classically been described as the horse that carries the practitioner into the journey. Science has proven what shamans have known for thousands of years: shamanic drumming produces a shift in our brain waves from beta to alpha to theta, which is the expansive or altered state that practitioners require in order to journey. One of the skills that is essential to successful journeying is the ability to remain alert and focused in the theta state; since we generally experience theta on our way to delta, which is the sleeping state, at first we may nod off periodically! However, with practice, shamanic journeyers develop stability in theta, maintaining concentration, alertness and focus for prolonged periods of time while journeying.
Do you ingest psychotropic or hallucinogenic substances?
Shamanic practitioners generally use either percussion or psychotropic or hallucinogenic substances in order to induce a trance. My personal path does not involve the use of psychotropic or hallucinogenic substances but rather, a self-induced trance that I generate using my own voice, combined with percussion. Each practitioner has their own unique ritual for entering into a trance and mine involves four central elements: whistling, singing, rattling and drumming. Ritualizing the beginning of a shamanic journey enables me to draw a clear distinction between ordinary realty and non-ordinary reality – or my normal, waking consciousness and the shamanic state of consciousness – which is an important aspect of the discipline of shamanic journeying. One of the hallmarks of the shamanic practitioner is the ability to enter and leave non-ordinary reality at will, which is supported by the ritualization of the beginning and conclusion of the journey. My ritual for preparing to journey involves rattling, singing and whistling, which continues until I have shifted into an expansive state or a light trance. Then I set my rattle down, lie down, and begin listening to a CD of repetitive drumming, which serves two primary functions: deepening and preserving the altered state and preventing me from becoming distracted by external sounds so that I can remain completely focused throughout my journey.
How do you receive information during the journey?
During my shamanic journeys, I primarily rely on four pathways of perception for receiving information from the helping spirits:
- Clairaudience: conversing with helping spirits telepathically and hearing their voices (whether or not their lips actually move)
- Claircognizance: receiving a download of information that is transmitted directly into our awareness in the form of a compressed file, of sorts
- Clairsentience: receiving information kinesthetically (or through sensations in the body)
- Clairvoyance: seeing things visually, such as one’s surroundings in a journey, one’s helping spirits, visions, etc.
Some journeyers also smell in their journeys, which has occasionally been my experience, but not pervasively so. How we perceive in our journeys may not be consistent with how we perceive in ordinary reality. On the whole, we have become an extremely visual culture, with our computers, video games, movies, television, etc. Naturally, we expect our journeys to reflect the predominance of the visual sense that we’ve grown so accustomed to in our regular lives, when in fact, many people (myself included) count clairvoyance among the lesser senses that are operative during our journeys, with the others being more predominant.
Can anyone learn how to journey?
Yes! My experience has been that anyone who has the desire and is willing to practice can learn how to journey. As with any learning process, some people may have more success at the beginning, while others may need to work a little harder in order to develop a stable practice. However, with practice and discipline, anyone can learn how to journey. In fact, the view in shamanism is that the ability to journey is adaptive – we are hard wired to commune with the unseen world and have been doing so for millennia. As such, my view is that journeying is not a technique reserved for the gifted few but rather, our universal birthright. Having said that, not everyone who learns how to journey will be called to the path of the shaman, which is an important distinction to bear in mind.
How accurate is the information that you receive?
It is impossible for anyone practicing divination to be 100% accurate all the time. Having said that, one’s ability to sustain a high level of accuracy lies at the heart of one’s success as a practitioner. In the context of my work with clients, I defer to them as to the accuracy of my journeys. Since my journeys are for my clients, only they can determine how helpful, relevant, useful, accurate and supportive the information or healing was that occurred. That being the case, I would surmise that practitioners who are not consistently accurate will likely not have people returning to them for support, whereas those who are will continue to be sought out. Correspondingly, in classical shamanism, a shaman would never self-identify or self-appoint because they would be named by the community. There was a results-based feedback loop in place such that if a shaman was successful, they would be called upon by the members of their tribe or community. However, if they failed to provide accurate information and/or facilitate successful healings, they would not be. The intelligence of that system is just as poignant in the modern world as it was in its myriad traditional contexts. In addition to being self-corrective, this system also empowers the client to remain the authority as to what feels right and helpful to them. In that vein, I wholeheartedly encourage my clients to trust themselves and what resonates for them first and foremost.
How do I know if I need a session or an intensive?
For new clients, I generally recommend a session as a first step. If the helping spirits recommend that we undertake further work together (be it healing work, skill-building or both) you can decide if you would prefer to pursue that gradually in the context of a series of regular sessions, or all at once, in the context of an intensive.
What happens during an initial session?
Generally, I undertake a divination journey on your behalf during our initial session. Doing so enables me to take your questions to the helping spirits and also to inquire as to whether there is any further work for us to do together. At the conclusion of my journey, I’ll share everything I received from the helping spirits with you.
What kinds of issues, topics or questions can I ask about?
My suggestion is that you ask about whatever lies in your heart, be it questions about your health, your life purpose, your work, your relationships, your pets, your family, your past lives, etc.
Does Julie journey on my behalf or do I journey for myself?
Generally, I journey for my client during our initial session. However, the question of who journeys subsequently is a function of number of factors. At one end of the spectrum of my client base, I have clients who like to receive divination sessions perhaps bi-annually or annually and simply wish to receive information, in which case, I always journey for them. At the other end of the spectrum are the clients whom I see regularly, perhaps weekly or even twice a week for extended periods of time. With those clients, there is more apt to be a blending of my journeying for them and them journeying for themselves (whether I drum for them to support their journey or guide them through the journey verbally). In other words, the more complex our work becomes, the more we will draw from a variety of processes in order to provide you with healing support. To clarify the question of what’s needed during a given session as well as the most effective means for accomplishing that intention (including who will journey), I consult my helping spirits. In that way, the intention for our work that day becomes the strongest determining factor with regard to how and by whom it’s undertaken.
May I bring a loved one or friend to my session?
You are more than welcome to bring up to five guests with you to your session. If you are unable to bring someone with you but would like to share the contents of our session with a friend or loved one, I recommend that you schedule a time when you can re-listen to your recording with them.
What are helping spirits?
Helping spirits are benevolent spirits that reside in non-ordinary reality and fall into one of two broad categories:
- Teachers who appear in human form (such as ancestors, gods and goddesses, deities, the spirits of deceased historical figures, etc.)
- Guardian spirits (subdivided into compassionate spirits such as elves and fairies, as well as tree spirits and power animals, also known as animal totems or animal familiars)
Does everyone have helping spirits?
Absolutely! Everyone has spirit guides and they are protecting, supporting and helping us whether or not we’re aware of their presence.
What is shamanic healing?
Shamans have traditionally provided healing for the living, the dying and the dead using a variety of means – the shamanic journey being one of the ceremonies that is undertaken for the purpose of providing guidance and healing for others. Shamans address illnesses of all kinds by identifying and resolving the spiritual aspect of illness, with the view being that imbalance originates on a soul level before manifesting as detectable symptoms on the level of the physical, emotional, mental or energy bodies. To read about the healing techniques that I use, please click through to shamanic healing.
Does shamanic healing replace other forms of treatment, like medicine?
Shamanic healing is a wonderful compliment to myriad forms of treatment although it is not intended as a replacement for them, be they medical, psychological, psychiatric, etc.
Do you work within a culturally specific shamanic context?
My training has taken place within the context of a body of teachings known as core shamanism, which was originated by Dr. Michael Harner. Core shamanism is comprised of practices and techniques that have been found to be universal within indigenous communities world-wide, where shamanism has been practiced for tens of thousands of years. As such, core shamanism is respectfully offered outside of any one cultural context but rather, exists to preserve and evolve shamanic principles and practices. While Dr. Harner has not been one of my personal teachers, my two primary teachers have trained and collaborated with him extensively: Sandra Ingerman and Betsy Bergstrom.
Interestingly, shamanism is based on spiritual inheritance, referring to the process of being chosen and initiated by the spirits themselves. While some shamans have living teachers and/or come from a lineage of healers, shamans or medicine people, and yet others do not, the principle of spiritual inheritance is ubiquitous. The spirits therefore initiate, instruct, train, bless and empower us directly, while each person’s process of being called to path is perfectly unique.
Why do you call yourself a shamanic practitioner, rather than a shaman?
As I described earlier, one of the tenants in shamanism is that one does not self-identify as a shaman but rather, one is named by the community on the basis of one’s success. As such, I would never refer to myself as a shaman under any circumstances. However, it is important for me to use skillful language in order to explain what I do, which is why I choose to refer to myself as a shamanic practitioner. By labeling myself thus, my intention is to convey that I work in the context of a triumvirate: a collaboration between myself, my client and the helping spirits. Yet, whether I am journeying and my client is simply receiving the information and/or healing that I’m bringing through, or I’m leading them on a journey during which they’re actively receiving guidance and/or healing directly from the spirits, it’s clear to me that the power that comes through is not ours. The work of the shamanic practitioner is to become the hollow bone – a clear vessel through which information and healing from spirit can be transmitted. However, we can’t take credit for what comes through as it does not originate with us: it belongs to the universe. That view is held so strongly in shamanism that it is widely believed that if a shaman were to boast about their successes or the potency of their helping spirits, their “power” would be taken away. Meaning, the helping spirits would no longer partner with them and they would therefore lose their ability to work shamanically. Shamanism is predicated upon a partnership between ourselves and the helping spirits characterized by humility and service. And while we can and must aim to improve our abilities as hollow bones, the efficacy of this work is a function of universal intelligence.
What does the word “shaman” mean?
The word “shaman” comes from Siberia and means to be heated up, raised up or excited, referring to the states of consciousness that shamans enter into in order to accomplish their work.
