I am struck, constantly, at how many people in the 'lightworker' community have grandiose titles *('Keeper of the Tablets of...', 'Divine Seer', 'Avatar', 'Celestial Shaman' etc.). This is often accompanied with some vaguely Indian-sounding name, ('Amajhzi' etc.).
I don't get it, frankly. I have a real streak of arrogance, in fact, some would say that by questioning or commenting on other people's self-titling, I'm being arrogant, and that's one way of looking at it. But for me, these baroque titles have a feeling of aggrandizement, bordering, at times, on parody. Where does this come from? Is it a need to stand out from the crowd? Is it borne of some lack of self-confidence that is ameliorated by the title? Is it really a heart-felt self-labeling and I'm just being a curmudgeon?
Often, these titles are doled out by Gurus, Swamis, and other teachers. Perhaps they are heart-felt, but to me, they often feel like part of a franchising operation: such and such a teacher from such and such a lineage (often there is no lineage, of course), gives you a title, and it's an imprimatur, a symbol of your successful 'graduation' from their course of study. It simultanously reinforces the teacher's 'brand' while also puffing up the recipient the way a graduate degree might.
Others simply describe who they are and what they do: 'Channel', 'Medical Intuitive', 'Psychic', 'Shaman' etc. Though I really don't like the word 'Channel', and I find the world chock full charlatans and con artists using this label, a well as the label of 'psychic' and 'shaman', these are descriptive words, not grandiose titles. I find that while they may not connote humility, neither do they reek of grandiosity, and so I have, grudgingly, adopted some of these descriptive terms for myself. I first learned of the term 'medical intuitive' only about 5 years ago, but I have been one all my life (often called a 'witch' as a child). I only heard of the terms 'energy healer', 'energy worker' and 'light worker' in the last decade, but these too, apply to me. And, while 'channel' and 'shaman' seem particularly loaded, I have reluctantly come to realize that I do channel in my work, though I do not give long, pontificating speeches on behalf of aliens or divine beings (some of these channels also seem to hawk the channel's very own CDs and courses too). I do ask questions while working with my clients, and I get answers, in words, images, and sometimes I just 'see' or 'know' or 'hear' things from their past and present.
I've also shied away from the term 'Shaman', but I've come to realize that I am indeed one. I like this definition of shaman, found on another, gifted and highly-trained shaman's website, that of Rebecca Singer:
A Shaman is someone who, either by birth and lineage, or serious illness, which acts as an initiation, gains the capacity to travel between the physical realm and the spiritual realm – the Spirit World. The process of moving between the worlds of earth and spirit is called journeying.
In most cases, the purpose of a Shamanic Journey is to gain information on another’s behalf… to assist with their healing process. When a Shaman travels to the spirit world, she or he will return with information regarding that person’s physical, emotional or spiritual health and well-being. With this information, the Shaman is able to guide the healing process using various practices and/or ceremonies.
I was either born with this ability, or learned it very, very early (having never been exposed to the concept of reincarnation, I told my mother at age two, in her words: "in my last life, I was an old Chinese man, and I knew everything, and I'm angry, because day by day, I am forgetting it all!"). I saw things other people didn't 'see' (the sex of a baby in a woman's belly, someone who was harboring cancer in their body). I spoke up about it, and eventually, I got in a lot of trouble for it, and shut my abilities down for the most part, rarely using them or even allowing myself to think about them. I also did 'energy healing work', including, to my skeptical first wife's amazement, quite successfully on my daughter, who was a toddler at the time. But I rarely let these gifts out; they had caused me much grief and misunderstanding in the past.
And, of course, I'd had quite striking experiences of detailed, specific prescience, throughout my entire life.
Then, at age 32, I suffered a horrendous injury that reopened these abilities - forced them open, blasted them out into the open. According to Rebecca's definition, I am a shaman, though I have no formal training, nor a lineage, and I am just really still in the process of uncovering what exactly this means for me, and for my clients.
As I say, I can be arrogant, egotistical, all the trappings of all-too-human, which is why I will never give myself a grandiose title, or some exotic-sounding name, and why I am uncomfortable labeling myself even as a 'channel' or 'shaman' or 'medical intuitive', though I believe myself to be all of those things.
I am a human of the male persuasion, who, at my best, co-creates healing and transformation with my clients, utilizing my senses, and information I gather from some other place - some place beyond intuition and experience, that Rebecca terms the 'spirit world', which is a label that makes as much or more sense to me as any other.
Be Well!
- Samuel
I don't get it, frankly. I have a real streak of arrogance, in fact, some would say that by questioning or commenting on other people's self-titling, I'm being arrogant, and that's one way of looking at it. But for me, these baroque titles have a feeling of aggrandizement, bordering, at times, on parody. Where does this come from? Is it a need to stand out from the crowd? Is it borne of some lack of self-confidence that is ameliorated by the title? Is it really a heart-felt self-labeling and I'm just being a curmudgeon?
Often, these titles are doled out by Gurus, Swamis, and other teachers. Perhaps they are heart-felt, but to me, they often feel like part of a franchising operation: such and such a teacher from such and such a lineage (often there is no lineage, of course), gives you a title, and it's an imprimatur, a symbol of your successful 'graduation' from their course of study. It simultanously reinforces the teacher's 'brand' while also puffing up the recipient the way a graduate degree might.
Others simply describe who they are and what they do: 'Channel', 'Medical Intuitive', 'Psychic', 'Shaman' etc. Though I really don't like the word 'Channel', and I find the world chock full charlatans and con artists using this label, a well as the label of 'psychic' and 'shaman', these are descriptive words, not grandiose titles. I find that while they may not connote humility, neither do they reek of grandiosity, and so I have, grudgingly, adopted some of these descriptive terms for myself. I first learned of the term 'medical intuitive' only about 5 years ago, but I have been one all my life (often called a 'witch' as a child). I only heard of the terms 'energy healer', 'energy worker' and 'light worker' in the last decade, but these too, apply to me. And, while 'channel' and 'shaman' seem particularly loaded, I have reluctantly come to realize that I do channel in my work, though I do not give long, pontificating speeches on behalf of aliens or divine beings (some of these channels also seem to hawk the channel's very own CDs and courses too). I do ask questions while working with my clients, and I get answers, in words, images, and sometimes I just 'see' or 'know' or 'hear' things from their past and present.
I've also shied away from the term 'Shaman', but I've come to realize that I am indeed one. I like this definition of shaman, found on another, gifted and highly-trained shaman's website, that of Rebecca Singer:
A Shaman is someone who, either by birth and lineage, or serious illness, which acts as an initiation, gains the capacity to travel between the physical realm and the spiritual realm – the Spirit World. The process of moving between the worlds of earth and spirit is called journeying.
In most cases, the purpose of a Shamanic Journey is to gain information on another’s behalf… to assist with their healing process. When a Shaman travels to the spirit world, she or he will return with information regarding that person’s physical, emotional or spiritual health and well-being. With this information, the Shaman is able to guide the healing process using various practices and/or ceremonies.
I was either born with this ability, or learned it very, very early (having never been exposed to the concept of reincarnation, I told my mother at age two, in her words: "in my last life, I was an old Chinese man, and I knew everything, and I'm angry, because day by day, I am forgetting it all!"). I saw things other people didn't 'see' (the sex of a baby in a woman's belly, someone who was harboring cancer in their body). I spoke up about it, and eventually, I got in a lot of trouble for it, and shut my abilities down for the most part, rarely using them or even allowing myself to think about them. I also did 'energy healing work', including, to my skeptical first wife's amazement, quite successfully on my daughter, who was a toddler at the time. But I rarely let these gifts out; they had caused me much grief and misunderstanding in the past.
And, of course, I'd had quite striking experiences of detailed, specific prescience, throughout my entire life.
Then, at age 32, I suffered a horrendous injury that reopened these abilities - forced them open, blasted them out into the open. According to Rebecca's definition, I am a shaman, though I have no formal training, nor a lineage, and I am just really still in the process of uncovering what exactly this means for me, and for my clients.
As I say, I can be arrogant, egotistical, all the trappings of all-too-human, which is why I will never give myself a grandiose title, or some exotic-sounding name, and why I am uncomfortable labeling myself even as a 'channel' or 'shaman' or 'medical intuitive', though I believe myself to be all of those things.
I am a human of the male persuasion, who, at my best, co-creates healing and transformation with my clients, utilizing my senses, and information I gather from some other place - some place beyond intuition and experience, that Rebecca terms the 'spirit world', which is a label that makes as much or more sense to me as any other.
Be Well!
- Samuel