So before I share awesome news about Best Beloved (my soon-to-be-wife, known hereafter as BB), I probably ought to mention what a shaman actually...is*. I'm going to paraphrase Raven Kaldera's definition here, because he's brilliant and far further along the way than I am, and also better with words.
Basically, a shaman is someone who:
1) Has a sortof inbuilt ability to feel and move energy, otherwise known as chi, ki or prana or whatever else.**
2) Is chosen or contacted by a god from any pantheon, and then
3) Is put through a set of trials to bring them to the brink of death, insanity or (usually) both.
4) To survive this - and it's perfectly possible that you won't - you need to work hard, keep going, get in contact with your god, and allow them to help you through. In so doing, they will remake you however they need you to be - physically, mentally, energetically, and all the rest.
5) When you come out the other end, you'll have learned a decent set of skills, and you'll start doing your job. This is the beginning of the apprenticeship.
It's...not for the faint of heart. And you do get a choice, though you may regret saying no. But once you've said yes, there's no turning back***. For the record, I've survived! Success. The experience has left me fairly unwell, and I'm still rebuilding my health, but this is a massive learning curve that's teaching me how to fix people, the hard way. Convenient, given that it's my job. My Goddess is known by many names, but the one I'll share here is Summer. She is both a hard taskmaster, and kinder than you can imagine.
Anyway. Shamans aren't terribly common, and usually fairly solitary, so the fact that BB is also a shaman is...well, it makes for an interesting life. She's a little earlier on than I am, and her path was different; her god waited a long time to contact her, though he dropped lots of hints, while she was working with her spirit animal**** to survive her trial.
In fact, that's the exciting news - last night, after we made a big breakthrough in my ability to channel energy into her to help her chronic fatigue, she was contacted by her god and given some instructions! She reports this is a relief, because she's been feeling confused and directionless for quite a long time. And having some fairly simple instructions to follow is new and comforting.
(It does get overwhelming, when you get too many at once, but that will come later).
I will call him The Laughing God for now. He's a frighteningly appropriate choice for her.
My instructions are a really long list - including stuff I won't be able to do for several years, which makes it seem longer - but as for the ones I'm actively concentrating on:
1) Learn to listen and channel more effectively
2) Go to Bujinkan training as often as possible
3) Do my own private weapons practice, daily (I'm working on sword right now and will soon move to knife)
4) Improve meditation frequency
5) Move house
6) Read two series of books: The Hollows series by Kim Harrison, and Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead
7) In the background, continue working with western herbs.
Phew. Move House is taking up most of my attention right now; We've got a place, and we're sorting out the papework to finalise the letting application and packing all our stuff. I haven't been able to do as much of the rest as usual, but I have been doing some weapons practise, some listening/channeling things, and herbal things.
The books are owned by BB's father, so I'm borrowing them from today and I'm going to try to get through them. Since I'm not well I have to spend a fair amount of time resting, which is a good opportunity to get in some reading, and then I feel like I'm able to be useful and productive while resting, whereas I often feel a bit useless and frustrated.
Still, I have more energy today; my body and energy are getting used to the channeling thing. I am getting better: it's just taking a while.
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*I could attempt to tell you what a shaman does, but the answer is basically "this blog" - and that would be different for each of us.
**Almost everyone, with a little effort, can learn this, by the way. But some people are born more open to it than others, or were forcibly opened by a really rough childhood, or have a kind of intuitive facility.
***I really mean that. Quitting is...basically deadly.
****I don't really know what else to call this. Accuse me of cultural appropriation if you like, but I can't think of a non-appropriative english word for a concept that, from my point of view, is as real as chairs and summertime.
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