Shamanic Healing

Shamanism is an ancient spiritual practice that predates organised religion and spans cultures worldwide. It is rooted in animism, which is the understanding that everything is alive and possesses a spirit, an intelligence, an aliveness. In animistic traditions, every tree, river, mountain, animal, and even the winds carry a spirit. Human ideas, sicknesses, and emotions are also understood to have a spirit.

Shamans serve as intermediaries between the physical and spiritual realms, restoring balance when the harmony of life is disrupted. By journeying (in a trance state) into non-ordinary realities, they seek guidance, retrieve lost power, and heal the soul, addressing the spiritual root causes of illness or imbalance. These practices rest within animism, as shamans communicate with the spirits of nature, ancestors, and guides to bring healing and wisdom.

Indigenous shamanic practices have existed for tens of thousands of years, from Siberia to the Amazon, from the Wixárika people of Mexico to the Sámi of Scandinavia. While rituals, tools, and traditions differ across cultures, the core principles of honouring the spirits of the land, maintaining balance, and fostering reciprocity are universal.

I studied shamanism and shamanic practices with Second Sight Healing in the UK, a practical training course grounded in deep respect for the land we reside in and the renewal of a reciprocal relationship with it. Second Sight holds a rare collaboration with the Wixárika Nation, who reside in the Sierra Madre of north-central Mexico. The Wixárika have long safeguarded their traditions from outsiders, but for reasons, they have chosen to share their sacred knowledge with others. This relationship and collaboration is rooted in deep respect, recognising that our indigenous brothers and sisters are keeping the world alive. Although they comprise less than 5% of the world’s population, indigenous peoples protect 80% of global biodiversity (a fact I read in Nemonte Nenquimo’s memoir, We Will Not Be Saved).

You can read more about the relationship with the Wixárika Nation on the Second Sight Healing website.

Through my training with Second Sight, my personal shamanic practice is grounded in a spiritual lineage that is working to renew shamanic traditions here in the UK. This is a multi-generational process, and it would not be possible without the teachings and collaboration of the Wixárika marakames and community through Second Sight.

To honour the roots of shamanism is to embrace its animistic worldview, recognising the sacredness of all life and the interconnected web of existence. It involves acknowledging the contributions of indigenous communities who have safeguarded this knowledge for millennia and practising with humility, reciprocity, respect, and responsibility. Shamanism is more than a set of techniques, it is a way of life that invites us to listen deeply to the land we reside in, honour and feed the spirits, and live in harmony with the sacred balance of the modern world.

Lineages and Influences

The spiritual and cultural influences that shape my practice reflect a broad, syncretic lineage, drawing on my ancestral traditions and the traditions that have contributed to Second Sight’s teachings, passed down to initiates (students).

Second Sight honour these roots as part of a seven-directional altar system that is worked with throughout the training, forming the container for the work. Below lists four of these directions, of which acknowledge the diverse streams of wisdom that inform their work, and now mine.

• East: The inspiration from the Wixárika people of Mexico, the desert, and Hikuri (peyote), where the first seeds of the training were planted. We honour indigenous traditions and the fire that continues to inspire and guide the work.
• South: The Hellenistic traditions, which have profoundly influenced our understanding of astrology and divination. These traditions carry echoes of the animistic roots of Western civilisation, where communion with spirits, deities, and celestial forces was an integral part of life. The Roman conquests also introduced gods and spiritual practices from the Near East and North Africa to these lands, shaping the syncretic traditions that emerged.
• West: The Celtic and Norse traditions, honouring the gods and spirits venerated on these lands for centuries. These traditions maintain a deep connection to nature, storytelling, and the cycles of life, death, and rebirth.
• North: The most ancient ones, those buried in the land, whose names and stories have been lost to time. These are the earliest animistic peoples of these lands, whose spirits still linger in the stones, rivers, and trees. The traditions of my own ancestors rest in the North.

This lineage is not static but ever-evolving, continuing the syncretic traditions of the past while being firmly rooted in the present.

My own ancestral lineages span the UK, East Prussia, the Baltic region, and Ireland – lands rich in magic, healing, and shamanic traditions. From the Baltic and Prussian kriviai and vaidilutės, who tended sacred fires and communed with nature spirits, to the Irish bean feasa and draoi, who worked with herbs, charms, and the land’s deep wisdom, these traditions share a reverence for the unseen. Each of these cultures held strong animistic beliefs, honouring the spirits of land, water, and ancestors through divination, healing rites, and offerings. These traditions, though fragmented by time and within my history, live on through ancestral memory, calling me to weave their wisdom into my own practice today.

My connection to healing work is also deeply personal. My late father was a healer, and it was through this path that he met my mother, when he healed a javelin injury in her knee. This inheritance, combined with my training, weaves together a tapestry of ancient wisdom and lived experience, guiding my practice in service to both the spirits and the land.