Kiran Athar
If shamanism wasn’t passed down to you through your ancestors, you may wonder if it’s possible to become a shaman.
The truth is, shamanism is a calling, the spirits choose, and anyone can be selected – even you.
So if you suspect you have the healing, spiritual abilities of a shaman, here are 14 classic signs of a shamanic awakening to confirm your suspicions.
1) You have vivid dreams – also known as “journeying”
As you begin your shamanic awakening, you might become aware of dreams that appear to be out of the ordinary.
Instead of the usual randomness that our subconscious conjures up, your journeying may include messages, or symbols, which hold significant meanings.
They’ll be vivid enough for you to remember them, even if you don’t understand what they mean straight away.
The following might happen during these dreams:
- You receive messages from spirits
- You have visions of the future
- You travel through different realms or time periods
This is the spirit world communicating to you, creating what’s called a “bridge” between you and the spirits.
These dreams will begin to guide you, giving you insights into the healing journey you’re about to undertake. With time, experience and intuition you’ll learn to understand their important messages.
2) Your psychic insights are growing stronger
You might have always felt that you had psychic abilities.
Your intuition is incredibly powerful, and deep down you’ve always had an inkling that you can pick up on otherwise undetectable things.
But now, as you experience your shamanic awakening, these feelings grow stronger.
Your awareness of your abilities increases. You’re conscious of the fact that you can help others intuitively through telepathy or clairvoyance. You might feel energetic power in your touch.
In addition, you might find that your connection with animals has strengthened – even to the point where you can communicate and understand with animals through telepathy.
And not only are you starting to harness these unique powers, but you feel a genuine pull to help others and use these abilities to do good in the world and ease suffering.
3) You have an intense connection with nature
If it wasn’t already, nature is quickly becoming your “escape”. Away from the noise and distraction of the busy world, you can lose yourself in nature.
You might feel like being in nature is the only time you can truly be yourself.
You draw energy from every living thing around you. You feel at home in nature…the connection you share feels more than just superficial, it’s not a quick fix to clear your head.
Ever wonder why?
Well, shamans act as a bridge between the human consciousness and the consciousness of the universe. And all the information that’s passed between comes from nature – the mountains, river, stars, planets, and animals.
So quite often, being in nature is a chance for you to absorb information, messages, and energy, which then guides you on your shamanic journey.
4) You’re starting to become sensitive to the noise of the world
The chances are, you’ve probably never been an extremely social, out-there butterfly. Most shamans border on being introverted, tending to keep to themselves.
Part of the reason comes down to having always felt slightly different. You experience things that others can’t relate to or understand. You may have found it hard to fit in with the crowd growing up.
But it can also be that you might experience sensory overload.
Loud noises, hectic spaces, even spending too long on social media might overwhelm you and leave you feeling drained.
Until you recognize your triggers, you’ll likely suffer from:
- Bouts of feeling emotionally and mentally exhausted
- Stress and anxiety
- Bad habits like comfort eating, alcohol, or drugs
In some cases, you may have gone from one unhealthy relationship to the next, all because you want to numb the sensitivity you feel toward life.
These are short-term solutions that never leave you feeling at peace with yourself. You know there’s more out there than this.
As you experience your shamanic awakening, you’ll become more aware of these issues.
You’ll begin to unpick these feelings and their associated “distractions” which are leading you further away from your journey until you create a lifestyle and environment which suits you.
5) You’ve started taking your development back to basics
Most of us struggle to know where to start when we address our inner demons and try to better ourselves.
We usually turn to external sources and tools to find the answers.
But those with a shamanic calling will instinctively realize that their own body can provide the knowledge they’re searching for.
So, rather than taking part in a developmental course online or spending weeks at retreats in remote regions of the world, you may feel a desire to simply sit with yourself and get to know your inner thoughts, emotions, and desires.
If this resonates with you, I highly recommend watching this free breathwork video, created by the shaman, Rudá Iandê.
Rudá isn’t another self-professed life coach. Through shamanism and his own life journey, he’s created a modern-day twist to ancient healing techniques.
The exercises in his invigorating video combine years of breathwork experience and ancient shamanic beliefs, designed to help you relax and check in with your body and soul.
After many years of suppressing and misunderstanding my emotions, Rudá’s dynamic breathwork flow quite literally revived that connection.
And that’s what you need:
A spark to reconnect you with your feelings so that you can begin focusing on the most important relationship of all – the one you have with yourself.
Only then will you truly be able to connect with your core, furthering your shamanic awakening.
Click here to watch the free video.
6) You feel a strong pull to help and heal others
From a young age, you may have felt an urge to work with people, the planet, animals, anything to do with the natural world.
And it makes sense – shamans are the healers of the world. They heal on a personal level, and a communal level.
But your desire to help won’t only lie in the physical, mental, and spiritual healing aspects of your fellow community.
You’ll also feel strongly about helping others connect and respect mother nature, again, being a bridge between the consciousness of the universe.
Your intuition will guide you, and you’ll begin to see the healing properties of plants, colors, energy, and more.
As all of this takes place, you’re beginning the journey into using your shamanic abilities to help others through soul work, restoring their balance within the world, and thus restoring the balance between humans, the spirits, and the cosmos.
7) You’ve experienced trauma and recovered from it
Shamans tend to go through periods of trauma before their shamanic awakening.
Quite often these are near-death experiences, that are called “death and rebirth”. Every shaman will experience this before actually becoming a shaman.
This could be anything from:
- A traumatic event, like surviving a car crash
- Going through serious life-changing health issues
- Experiencing abuse or trauma as a child
Let’s touch upon the health issues – these can range from chronic fatigue, depression, to even high blood pressure and auto-immune disorders.
You may find that some of the difficulties you face, especially health struggles, will repeat themselves until you accept your shamanic path.
This, known as “shamanic illness”, is believed to be caused by the spirits who are willing the shaman to accept his/her true calling. They’re persistent, so if you’ve been experiencing any of the above it’s time to start paying attention!
8) You’re starting to detach from “shame”
As you move towards shamanism, you’ll begin to reflect and heal yourself of the constraints society has placed on you.
You realize that these expectations and ideals that have been set out under social norms are completely toxic. They’re limiting, while your shamanic path takes you on a journey of liberation.
And that involves ridding yourself of shame – especially shame over natural desires and instincts.
Shame comes in different forms:
- Feeling ashamed of making a mistake or failing at a task
- Shame over our sexuality
- Shame over revealing our true selves to others
- Feeling ashamed of our appearance/qualifications/standing in life
During your shamanic awakening, you’ll find yourself working on these areas in your life, letting go of your and society’s expectations.
After all, as a shaman, how will you heal others if you’re still clinging to society’s expectations and judgments?
This will be an important journey you embark on, for yourself and your future purpose in life. The sooner you rid yourself of these limitations, the quicker you can focus on your role as a shaman.
9) There’s a constant tug to explore your purpose in life
And what’s more, during your shamanic awakening, you won’t be able to ignore the persistent pull from within to discover your purpose in life.
Self-development work will take on new heights, you’ll explore your abilities further, your curiosity in healing and spiritual work will soar.
Chances are, you’ve felt this connection for a while now. Give in to this tug. Embrace the inner voice telling you that this is for you – and close the door on self-doubt.
But what if the methods you’ve been trying have hindered finding your purpose in life rather than helped?
Have popular self-help methods like visualization, meditation, and even the power of positive thinking, failed to release you from your frustrations in life?
If so, you’re not alone.
I’ve tried the conventional methods listed above, I’ve done the rounds with the gurus and self-help coaches.
Nothing made a long-lasting, real impact on changing my life until I tried an incredible workshop created by Ideapod co-founder Justin Brown.
Like me, you and so many others, Justin had also fallen into the hidden trap of self-development. He spent years working with coaches, visualizing success, his perfect relationship, a dream-worthy lifestyle, all without ever actually achieving it.
That was until he found a method that truly transformed the way he approached achieving his goals.
The best part?
What Justin discovered is that all the answers to self-doubt, all the solutions to frustration, and all the keys to success, can all be found within you.
Very much like within shamanism, Justin has focussed on finding the potential and power within.
In his new masterclass, you’ll be taken through a step-by-step process of finding this inner power, honing it, and finally unleashing it to find your purpose in life.
Are you ready to discover the potential within you? Are you ready to become closer to your purpose as a shamanic healer?
If so, click here to watch his free introductory video and learn more.
10) You feel the energy of mother nature run through you
As you experience a shamanic awakening, you’ll start to feel more in tune with the rhythm of the world, the cosmos, and the spirits.
You’ll feel this energy flow through you. As your soul moves throughout realms, time zones, the steady beating of the spiritual drum will keep you feeling aligned with your higher purpose.
And the more you accept your shamanic path, the more in sync with mother nature you’ll feel – now you know you’re on the way to becoming a shaman.
You’ll begin to see just how shamanism is relevant for modern life, and how out of touch we as societies and individuals have become lost from our connection with nature.
As you become harmonious with the world, you’ll naturally start wanting to help others achieve the same.
11) You naturally seem to know what’s good for yourself and others
Even before you had an idea of what shamanism was, you might have experienced times when a solution to a problem seemed to present itself innately within you.
Whether it was helping a friend, advising a sick family member, or pulling yourself out of a personal problem, something inside you told you the answers.
This will be especially true for finding natural remedies and cures.
By now, you might have identified the healing nature of plants and herbs, and how powerful they can be.
Maybe you recognize how an imbalance between a person’s mind, body, and soul, could be the leading cause of their persistent illness rather than a physical ailment.
12) You start picking up on signs and symbols from the universe
Do you ever find yourself finding meaning in the ordinary? Do symbols present themselves to you regularly, in reality, and through dreams?
You might find that you see spiritual significance in the most mundane moments. You’ll likely be drawn to the arts; music, dance, paintings, and stories.
This is another sign of a shamanic awakening.
Symbols and signs are a unique way in which humans have remained connected, and as we know, the collective consciousness is a key part of shamanism.
And not only that, you may experience messages being sent to you – sometimes in the form of symbols, and sometimes are loud and clear as a voice in your head.
Communication from the spiritual world can come in different ways, as long as you’re open to receiving it.
13) You have ancestors who were healers
As we mentioned at the start of this article, many shamans feel a calling if their ancestors were also healers or medical herbalists.
Even if they didn’t go by the term “shaman” they may still have had the healing powers needed to have a positive impact on the world.
With that being said though, this isn’t a requirement. Even if no one in your family was ever a healer, you can still experience a shamanic awakening with just as much authenticity as a shaman with a strong healing lineage.
14) You experience deja vus
You know the feeling, you walk into a shop you’ve never been to before and you have this niggly feeling that you’ve been there before.
Or, you’re taking part in a ceremony, reading a book, practicing breathwork, visiting a new place, and you could have sworn you’ve done it all before. But you haven’t.
So why is deja vu a sign of a shamanic awakening?
Quite simply, shamanic beings tend to have experienced numerous “rebirths”, even before their shamanic awakening.
You may have a clear memory of a past life, or knowledge from a time before or after your years – this is normal for shamans to experience and it’s another sign of your spiritual calling.
Now the choice is yours, will you be ignoring your shamanic awakening? Or embracing the unique, sacred gift you were chosen to deliver to the world?
What can you do to further your shamanic awakening?
You’ve read the signs, and now you should have a good idea of whether you’re experiencing a shamanic awakening.
So what can you do to continue on this path? How do you overcome the understandable fears and doubts that may arise during your journey?
Well, to begin with, understand that this process may not always feel comfortable. You’re going to experience a number of soul-testing events. You’re going to push yourself more than you’ve ever had to before.
But with that in mind, keeping a clear focus on your goal and taking your journey one step at a time will help.
Other important factors to keep in mind are:
- Some of your relationships may suffer as a result. This is okay – not everyone will stay with you as you develop your shamanic powers. Spiritual awakenings often end relationships and while it may hurt at the time, you’ll later realize why those people left you when they did.
- A shamanic awakening doesn’t travel in a straight line. Every journey is unique. As you develop and progress into your shamanic role, you’ll continue to work on yourself, overcoming your ego and material desires. Don’t try to rush this process, and certainly don’t compare your journey to anyone else’s.
- You’ll encounter a lot of misinformation online. Unfortunately, there’s no way to avoid this. All you can do is research well, follow the guidance of established, genuine shamans, and trust yourself and your instincts above all.
- You’ll feel a disconnect from the lifestyles around you. This is natural – you’re viewing the world through a different lens and the lifestyle you used to lead may feel alien or strange to you. Instead of punishing yourself for feeling this way, learn to accept that it was all part of your journey. This will help you embrace every part of who you are without shame.
- You may need to take a break sometimes. Let’s be honest, experiencing a shamanic awakening can feel all-consuming. Your head may be swimming with thoughts, your heart racing with excitement or fear. It’s okay to take a break, practice breathwork or take a walk in nature. Even shamans can suffer from burnout and exhaustion, so get to know your body and mind well enough to pre-empt and avoid this from happening.
While there’s no “one right way” to approach a shamanic awakening, keeping the above factors in mind should help you as you navigate this new part of your life.
But most importantly, you should remain open-minded to the signs and messages you’re receiving from the spirits and the universe. Keep looking within yourself, and the power and potential you have will guide you through your fears and doubts.
Conclusion
If you’ve experienced some of the signs above, you could well be at the start of your shamanic awakening.
It’s important that you follow this path as not everyone is chosen to take on this responsibility – that and the fact that the world is in dire need of such shamanic healing practices.
As healers of this world, shamans are invaluable. Ancient remedies may sound outdated, but they clearly make a difference, even reaching where modern medicine can’t.
And luckily, more and more people are starting to understand just how powerful shamanism is, and how it could be the answer we need in such a materialistic, detached world.
So, even if you feel afraid, don’t shy away from it.
Continue your research, follow the calling of your soul, work on yourself until you’re in a position to heal others. Be proud of the path you’re on.
Good luck on your journey!
