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energetic surroundings. Once these tests have been passed and the forest demons have been faced and mastered, the novice will be acknowledged as a shaman.

In the Japanese religion of Shinto, female initiates follow the path of the "Kami" which are powerful and vivid nature gods under the belief that women have more of the yin energy required for spiritual communication, divination, healing and purification. Shinto novices endure cold water ablution, purification, fasting, abstinence and observe many other taboos over a period of three to five years and during this time become adept at trance, discarnate communication, divination, prayer and incantation, chanting and magic and are responsible for passing on stories relating to local religious custom. Once they have completed their training they are recognised as shamanists via initiation ordeals and a ceremony encompassing symbols of death and resurrection

Here in the West, we lack formal or traditional ritual and as such it is often illness or trauma that draws us to our calling via delirium, coma or mental abberation, which introduces us to the shamanic consciousness. On recovering, the initiate may have no memory on a conscious level of their journey and may continue to "hide" from their calling, resulting in unhappiness which can leave them unfulfilled and suffering from extreme psychic damage which leaves them haunted.

Western thought processes cause us to become caught up in the expectation that we must fit in with the rest of society and this attitude does not give us the freedom to be truly spiritual and develop the necessary shamanistic qualitites required for clearance work without having to fight against these expectations. Courage is required in by Western initiates into soul rescue as we fight not only against the spiritual forces of evil but also against those in the physical who would seek to bring us down. Our weaknesses will be highlighted in the course of following this path, but by being able to push through our darkest point...rock bottom as it were, vision, compassion and wisdom will develop outside the comfort zone of the Western world. Because we are not equipped or prepared to cope with the powerful initiation rites of the otherworld, too many western healers remain superficial and ineffectual in these darkest moments and as such are unwilling to confront the intensity of a true entity encounter. Many dark realities can hold a spirit to the earthly planes and many attached spirits are aware of their non physical status but do not wish to take the responsibility for moving onto the higher realms, preferring instead to hold on to physicality by proxy so that they can deliberately continue their habits and emotional anxieties through another person, regardless of the toll that this takes.

Learn more about this author, Tammie Bowden.
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