Chaos Shamanism Reclaiming Your Indigenous Soul

      

By Barry Goddard

Shamanism is a Spirit, winging its way down from pre-history. It is rooted in our belonging to the natural world. It has no founder, no holy book, no teachings that are not dispensable. It is the original spirituality, seen as through a glass darkly by the major religions, but often clearly so by their heretics. Shamanism is a current of energy, a high voltage cable. The teaching of Shamanism is as much about the transmission of this spirit, this energy, as it is about words. This is the real meaning of lineage — the passing down of that current through the generations. And it is also playful. People get so serious when it comes to their ‘spirituality’. There is no such thing as ‘spirituality’. There is only life to be lived in a balanced way. This book originated in unscripted short talks I made for YouTube. I generally spoke from whatever thoughts were presenting themselves that day. This is the most traditional, and I think the best, way to teach. Whoever heard of a medicine person reading from a prepared text? No, the traditional way allows for spontaneity and play, and allows room for the Spirit to speak.            Why ‘Chaos’ Shamanism? All traditions turn into religions, to a greater or lesser degree. It is inevitable, and a necessary launch pad for many of us. We need to know ‘what’s what’, and who the guy with the ‘answers’ is. A good teacher will allow for this, and hand the projection back. But inevitably, it seems, the forms will take over. The Upper, Middle and Lower Worlds become real places, instead of ways of structuring experience. A Sweatlodge has to be built in exactly the right way. Teachers come to believe in their pedestals. And so on.                        Chaos Shamanism has arisen as a necessary and ongoing protest against Shamanism-as-religion, much as Dzogchen, with its emphasis on direct experience, represented a return to the original spirit of Tibetan Buddhism. It is Chaos in the deeper, ancient Greek sense of the ground of existence. It is also Chaos in the sense that it cannot be pinned down, being open to all practices and teachings, and allied with none. As such, it is particularly suitable for the age we live in, where by necessity we pick and choose from the available traditions.                             Chaos Shamanism is heretical in the best sense. ‘Heretic’ comes from the ancient Greek word hairetikos, meaning ‘able to choose’. Chaos Shamanism shows us how to do that with depth and with wisdom.        Creating this book was for me an exploration of what Chaos Shamanism might mean. It seems to be a live idea that keeps unfolding. I wasn’t even planning to write a book. All I had in mind was one short video about this new idea that had come to me. And then I found I needed a second video. After that it escalated. I edited the transcripts for people on Facebook who prefer to read rather than watch. And then I realised the transcripts were adding up to a book. So I just let it happen. The book has been a gift that has taken me by surprise. An overall plan for it never developed. I just let it take its own form and length. This is truly in the spirit of Chaos Shamanism. The form of the book, as well as the content, gives a taste of what Chaos is about.                          I hope you can hear me talking as you read. And I hope something of the power and freedom of the idea of Chaos also comes across. I use Chaos in a number of ways, but in the last analysis it means remaining close to your heart in whatever you do.                                                   Available now from Mantra Books! https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/mantra-books/our-books/chaos-shamanism