Ceres' Shamans

(Please forgive me if words aren't all well chosen on here... It's pretty hard for me to translate some very detailed and complex concepts due to my lack of vocabulary... ^^'' )

I wanted to talk about the specificities of Shamans' work on Cérès before introducing some new characters on :iconCeres_world:. So here are some more detailed informations.
(Note : Concepts are not really mines, these were greatly inspired from the Native American and Inuktitut cultures.)



A Spokesman and a Mediator :

The first Shaman's duty is to be a mediator.
An intermediary between intelligent beings and nature beings.
A mediator between members of the clan.
A intermediary between living being and spirits.
The Shaman is an intermediary between the living ground dimension and the spiritual/supernatural dimension of spirits which can be natural spirits or dead spirits. Which also means that they can « connect » with old trees' spirits and learn some old memories from them.

But to be able to communicate with the supernatural/spiritual world, the Shaman has to be bound to a spirit which will accompany him or her throughout all his or her life (then, all real Shamans have a very unique and personal spirit totem and guide). But that's the spirit which choose the Shaman and not the contrary ! Without a spirit bounded to him or her an apprentice Shaman can't be considered as a real Shaman.
Because it's the spirit which will allow the Shaman to communicate with the spiritual world by creating a link to it.

A Healer :

A Shaman must be a good healer too.
That's why a Shaman must also know perfectly the healing powers of plants and how to cure or calm almost any type of injuries and wounds of the body or soul (on curing them with decoctions, medicine beverages, plasters, bandages or even with healing oils and incences).

A Traveler :

When the Shaman reaches an upper skill level, he or she acquires the ability to separate his or her soul from his or her body.
He or she acquires this ability but cannot use it without passing a « traveling rite » led under the supervision of a confirmed Shaman. It's called the « First journey ».
Once this first journey was passed successfully, the Shaman's soul can travel as it pleases him or her in the spiritual fields, but always joined by his or her spirit guide.
The ceremony of the separation of the soul from its body can be from different types :
- The soul can transform into an animal to travel.
- The soul simply goes out of the body and floats/flies to reach the spiritual world and travels on it the same way.
- The soul transforms into a spiritual version of its owner's body and will travel on the spiritual world as as spiritual version of the Shaman.

This ability also allows the Shaman to « connect » with other living beings' souls to find them.
But, something important is, as long as the Shaman's soul is traveling, the Shaman's body remains as « asleep » and completely « cut off » from what is happening all around him or her. So... it's making him or her be very vulnerable...

But the Shaman is also here to help you to find guidance in your life thanks to totemic allies and spiritual guides. Mostly, totems are animal spirits. Here are the different totems a Shaman can help you to find, notice or interpret :

The Life Totem :

The life totem is the totem who will follow you during all your life long, unless a sudden radical chance in your life, like a psychological shock or a sudden awareness. Most of the time, only a sudden change of personality can cause a change of a life totem.
This totem represents you the best or what you're lacking as an example you must follow.

The Journey Totem :

The journey totem is a temporary messenger, a guide to follow when it appears because it's here to teach you something.

The Messenger Totem :

This totem will appear to warn you, or to deliver you a spiritual message concerning an upcoming event, something that will happen very soon.

The « Shadow » Totem :

Last but not least, this totem will show up to make you realize a weak point, something you have to change or fight about or in you. It will challenge you, and once you'll defeat the reason why it appeared it will disappear, satisfied. It's mostly kind of an antithesis, here to represent your opposite and or the dark side in you.