Awakening to the Spirit World: The Shamanic Path of Direct Revelation by Sandra Ingerman

Author:Sandra Ingerman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-12-30T03:25:00+00:00

So far we have talked about the Navajo use of sand paintings, carvings made by the Ulcchi, and icaros, or healing songs, embroidered into cloth to give you some examples of how shamans use art for healing. We continue on with a method for healing used by the Kuna Indians of Panama.

The Kuna create wooden medicine dolls called uchos in order to perform soul retrievals for patients. Uchos are figures carved from sacred trees by a medicine man or blessed by a medicine man. The spirit of the tree, as embodied by the ucho, travels through the spirit world to find and retrieve the lost soul part needed to heal the patient. The uchos may also travel into the world to help heal the Earth and to retrieve messages for the Kuna people about how to cope with the changes affecting their lives. The Kuna honor and respect their uchos because, to them, they are alive. In gratitude for their protection and healing help, they sing to their uchos and ceremonially bathe and feed them with the smoke of cacao beans. They are seen as extended family members.

The Kunas are only one culture of many who consider some of their art pieces to be alive. The Zuni people of the American Southwest, who are known for their carvings of animal fetishes, utilize different forms of stone, bone, and shells to create powerfilled objects that not only represent a spirit but actually hold a spirit. They treat these fetishes as living beings and believe that they will bring protection to those who own them, as long as the fetishes are fed and nurtured. The Zuni often feed their spirit creations with blue cornmeal or tie turquoise or coral onto them as an offering. A hunter, for example, might use a fetish to invoke the presence and power of Mountain Lion, the guardian of the north in their mythology, the elder brother of all the animal spirits, and the master hunter as well.

We have given you a variety of examples of how different shamanic cultures use art for healing. As we look at the petroglyphs and pictographs on the walls of rock shelters and caves, and as we observe the paintings of Ayahuasca visions from the Amazon,' and the visionary yarn paintings of the Huichol shamans in Mexico, we see imagery of the well-traveled territories of the hidden worlds, as well as the powerful helping spirits who are so familiar to the shaman. Through shamanic art, we are touched by the mystery and are given the opportunity to heal and discover more about ourselves.

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