1
JESUS AS SHAMAN
Christ was and is the ultimate shaman. . . . In a real sense, every Christian who allows the Spirit to move in him or her is a shaman. . . . An important study might be made comparing the ministry of Jesus with that of shamanism.
CONTEMPLATION
We need only mention the story of a man going into the wilderness and surviving spiritual ordeals and temptations to recognize a classic case of shamanic initiation. Shamans throughout history typically have been required to seek solitude in a place of wilderness. While fasting and praying in a place of natural isolation, they confront good and bad spirits and experience a death and rebirth into shamanic reality. They learn to traverse the boundaries separating human beings from alternative ways of being. Thus they receive the mysteries of communing and allying themselves with sacred presences, ancestral spirits, and holy manifestations.
Jesus was no exception to this tradition of initiation in the wilderness. After surviving his ordeals in the desert with the devil, he lived the life of a shaman, performing many extraordinary deeds—from feeding a multitude of people with a few loaves of bread to turning water into wine. Although his shamanic abilities were unparalleled, most of his miracles were performed quietly and without boastful fanfare. It is important to acknowledge that during the time of Jesus, there were many reports of miracles performed by many different shamanic practitioners. These other miracle workers believed they possessed great and privileged power and kept their practices secret and inaccessible.
One of the most remarkable things about Jesus was that he allowed miracles to be seen and understood. He revealed that the source of these miraculous events was not a magic wand, but simple faith that grows into a dynamic presence. As the Bible teaches us, this faith is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of seeds. But when planted it becomes the largest of the garden plants—it grows into a tree. Perhaps the greatest achievement of Jesus was that he relied not upon the tricks and strategies of shamanic one-upmanship, but instead upon the sacred strength of faith in the divine. His shamanic alchemy was based on the sincere practice of humility, forgiveness, and loving service to others.
While addressing an audience, the disciple Peter summarized the lifetime of Jesus with five short words: “He went about doing good.” His life made people “re-contemplate” the nature of God. As philosophers like Huston Smith put it, if God were pure goodness and were to take human form, this incarnation of God would act exactly like Jesus.
The main lesson given by Jesus for shamanic practice concerns the power of goodness. It is the strongest and most effective incantation, magic, and medicine on Earth. The shamanic way of Jesus cultivated a singular focus on the practice of good. He came to Earth and walked among its creatures as the good shaman.
MEDITATIVE FOCUS
Visualize yourself in a vast desert with Jesus at your side. Imagine every great shaman in the history of the world coming up to you and demonstrating his or her magic. One by one you see them each perform powerful and extraordinary acts of alchemy. Merlin creates a forest with a beautiful stream, inviting you to relinquish your dry thirst. Swamis demonstrate their ability to levitate and fly to infinite heavens of pleasure, while Siberian shamans take you on journeys into the mystical underworlds. In the inner landscape of your mind, see the greatest display of shamanic power ever performed.
At the end of this shamanic Olympics, hear Jesus say these words to you:
You have seen the great powers that are possible to harness. I offer you a power that is greater than the combination of all these other powers. To receive this power requires that you completely abandon all thirst for any power. When you have become empty of all desire for power, you will understand that the greatest power comes from simply trying to be good. You must be good to all the creatures in the house of my Mother and Father.
This is the first lesson of the most powerful shaman. Be without power and relinquish the desire for power in order to have all powers at one’s disposal.
LOST PARABLE: JESUS MEETS THE INDIANS
If one believes all the stories about Jesus that have circulated through many different cultures, then Jesus must have walked around the entire world. Among North and South American Indians he was greeted as Kate-Zahl and Mahnt-Azoma, among other names. Other legends say that after visiting the South Pacific, he arrived on the west coast of South America near Peru and visited many Indian tribes. The Ojibway Indians who lived on the shores of Mishegahme in Michigan were among the ones who knew of the man with a beard who performed many healings. He eventually went up to Canada accompanied by a couple of wolves. Because of their reverence for animals, the Indian people respected him and followed his advice.
In the story that follows I will tell what I believe Jesus taught other shamans as he walked around the world. We do know one fact that not a single custodian of the oldest cultural stories would argue with. It is agreed that wherever Jesus went, he was immediately acknowledged as the kindest shaman anyone had ever met.
Our story begins in Canada, at a time when Jesus had arrived at a small encampment of Ojibway Indians near what is now known as Lac La Croix. The Indian elders had already dreamed of his arrival. In their dreams, they had seen how he had walked on water and had raised the dead. They respected his great shamanic gifts before he had even stepped on their soil.
They greeted Jesus with a sacred ceremony and taught him that the pipe was a spiritual umbilical cord connecting their hearts and minds to Mother Earth and the Great Spirit. Jesus wept with joy over the sincere and wise humility of these Indian people. They shared many stories and before he left, he warned them about a time when black robes would arrive on their shore and pretend to be his friends. Jesus told the Indians, “No matter what the black robes say or do, they are to be understood as having been sent by the Great Spirit to learn from the Indian elders.”
“What will make the black robes’ learning difficult,” Jesus forewarned, “is their mental condition.” He explained that each of these black robes would suffer from the spiritual disease of arrogance. “They will think they know all there is to know. Their disease will have progressed to the point that they will forget they need to learn from the Indians.”
Jesus advised the Ojibway elders to tell these black robes that some of the Indian holy people speak directly to the Messiah. “When the robed ones arrive,” Jesus directed, “tell them the stories of my life in Galilee. They will be shocked to find that you know these things.” He went on to say:
When they ask how you know me, tell them you know how to speak to me. Most of them won’t believe you and will be frightened by the possibility that I am still alive. But a few, a very small number, will come to you and ask how they may meet you. You are then to remind them of how all shamans must go into the wilderness to find their spiritual voice, eyes, and ears. It is there that they learn to see, hear, speak, and act in the world of spirit. If they continue to be sincere and humble, take them into the woods as you have for others over the centuries. If they are impeccable in facing their raw, naked mind, then I will introduce myself to them.
I will tell them to ask you about the holy nature of the pipe and ask them to honor its practice. You will then receive them with the respect due any human being who has opened the shamanic door to the other worlds.
The Ojibway elders understood what Jesus had told them. They gave him a pipe and held a great feast to celebrate the importance of their time together. Jesus gave them the tiny cross he carried around his neck and said, “These four directions make us the same.”
He went off with the wolves by his side and traveled all the way to what is now Nova Scotia. There he was received by the Micmac Indians, to whom he gave the same instructions.
After Jesus left the North American native peoples, the wolves deeply missed him. No human being had ever been as understanding and as caring to them as Jesus. Not a single wolf ever forgot his tender touch. From that day on, the wolves sang at the moon in the same way they had sung with Jesus. He asked them to never stop singing this way, so that their hearts would always be able to reach him across the evening sky. There is not one wolf today that doesn’t know the shamanic song of Jesus. They are the ones who taught Jesus to sing, and they keep the heart of Jesus present on our fragile planet.
ACTIVE MYSTICAL PRACTICE
Take a walk into the woods, carrying a tiny cross with you. Find a special spot that seems peaceful to you and sit there. Meditate on the relationship Jesus had with the wolves. Imagine them singing together. Wait until dark, knowing that you will sing like a wolf this evening. When the time feels right, hold your cross tightly and howl with as much sincerity and strength as you can muster. Imagine the heart of Jesus awakening the light of his goodness within your own heart.
Take the cross home and place it over a photograph of a wolf howling. Keep this image of the connection between Jesus and the wolves in a place you regard as private and holy.