What
is Urban Shamanism?
In western societies we no longer live in the same ways as indigenous peoples; therefore to appropriately meet our needs as city-dwellers, shamanism, while retaining some of its salient features, has also evolved and adapted in order to better serve us.
Cross-culturally, the most common characteristics of shamanic practice include ceremony, journeying and healing. Most shamanic practitioners use the medicine wheel as a focal point for all three.
The medicine wheel is a method of dividing the world into different directions. Most indigenous cultures identify seven directions—the obvious north, south, east, west and then also above, middle and below. Each direction is assigned a meaning, usually based on geography and/or movement of the sun, moon and seasons.
The medicine wheel is also an archetype, or universal prototype, as well as a teacher. The more the wheel is used in ceremony and ritual, the more it accumulates energy which can be used in healing or in changing one’s situations and surroundings.
Many Shamans set up a “medicine wheel” or personal altar (sometimes called a mesa, which is the Spanish word for “table”). It is like a table of visual delights with its colorful stones, animal symbols, musical instruments and personal power objects. Each direction reflects an aspect of the elements with the south being the earth element, the west the water element, the north the air element, and the east the fire element. The lower world is the residence of the subconscious mind, the middle world the location where we carry out our day-to-day activities (where you are right now) and the upper world is the place of the light beings and spirits. It is important not to mistake or confuse the lower world with that in the Christian dogma of Hell. The lower world is not Hell just as the upper world is not Heaven (although it appears that way to most).