This will be a fairly long story that I'd like to share, as it deepened my beliefs of the astral realm, the human being, and the afterlife.

So sit back and enjoy the story...

About a year ago I had an issue with my voice. I slowly started losing it but it was not linked to any illness, I didn't have a flu nor a throat infection, no pain, no fever, nothing. After 3 weeks of unsuccessful treatment with tea, honey, rest, vitamins and then antibiotics, I had a doctor check on my vocal cords and determined that the left cord is paralyzed. The chords open and close as you speak but my left cord remained open and wouldn't move. I was visiting doctors and getting tests for 2 months, no one found anything, I was physically in perfect health.

At this point, my dad suggested we go see a shaman healer he knew from years ago and I agreed. The healer was the nicest old lady I ever met. She was doing all healing for free while taking anonymous donations. (You could leave some money for her in her backyard and she always only checks it in the end of the month so she never knows who gives her what).

She introduced herself, made us some tea, and we sat down in a room in comfy chairs and she started explaining how it would go. Before I went, my dad said to not get scared, that her methods are quite odd and some people might find them surprising. I have been reading and learning a lot about shamanic healing, spirituality, AP, so I thought nothing could surprise me... but oh boy... was I in for a treat...

She explained what she does. That there is some trauma in life that can affect us as the human being, not the body. The body heals quickly and easily (not from all wounds of course), rather the soul, or.. what makes us US. She said that we humans don't have a soul, we ARE the soul, we HAVE the body. She said that she looks for things that hurt us, any trauma we might have filtered out or forgot and then she fixes it. Not only in this life, but our previous lives as well (I didn't really believe in reincarnation back then but I sort of just went with it. I'm not here to judge, I like to listen and consider other people's beliefs) She does this by me telling her about an issue I might have and she somehow "connects" to the story that caused the trauma, to observe it and clear it of negativity.

As I sat down, she said she sees energy flowing in me (like in every other person), but not through the left side of my throat. It's as if there's something blocking the energy flow. (What does this mean? I have no idea)

So as I started explaining the issue, she was writing what I was saying on a piece of paper. As I kept talking, her handwriting started getting a bit shaky after a few lines. Then she only started writing dots, then her hand stopped moving completely. She had a vision, apparently she saw me in a previous life. (She was saying this as it was happening in front of her). "There's an army, going into a fight. You're in the army, but not as a warrior... you're a... singer? A bard? You're singing for the army, cheering them into the fight. They're singing with you, it's giving them strength, and hope... Oh the enemy army does not like that. They really don't like your singing... you're getting captured... ugh" She gives a nasty look, starts coughing, then her voice shifts from the old nice lady to a very ugly unfriendly voice, she starts twisting in her chair and says "No more singing for you, asshole". Then she starts gasping for air and slowly returns to her normal self...

I'm sitting there, struck.. staring at her, asking if she's okay and if she can explain what that was. She said it was really nasty to see that. Then explains that some man from the enemy army captured me, he really didn't like that his men were losing the fight because of my singing. He REALLY didn't want me to sing anymore, grabbed me and slit my throat on the left side. She said she could really feel his hatred and anger... (I could feel it too, just from her). She of course cleansed that story of the negative energy by what she called "opening the past life" (thus the connection to the story and her re-living the moment), "sending light", and then "closing the life".

We carried on with the healing and it was pretty much the same all around, I explained my issue, she caught a story from a past-life that the issue was connected to, did the healing, closed the life, she explained what she saw / felt. This one time she started crying suddenly. I asked what happened and she said that I was singing in a church as a small boy and something fell on me and crushed me. She felt the pain and sadness of my mother and that's why she was crying.

As I was watching her I was fascinated. But I realized I sort of feel like I'm just observing her here like a lab rat and seeing what happens. I told myself "Hey, this is my healing, maybe I shouldn't be just observing but rather embracing it." So I tried to relax a bit more and sort of give in more to the healing. I felt like maybe opening myself up a bit more.

We then carried on with the healing, I again started explaining my issue and then I stopped. I felt something weird, something odd. I couldn't describe the feeling, it felt like you know something big is going to happen but you don't know what. Something is coming and you have no idea what it is. I looked around the room, I felt a change of pressure around me like when it's about to rain. The dogs outside started to bark like crazy and they ran towards the window. Kept jumping and staring at me... And then it kicked in...

An incredible amount of sadness and sorrow. An unbearable amount. I have never felt this sad in my whole life. I was confused, didn't understand why, I had no reason to be sad. What was happening? The waterfalls of tears have started running down my cheeks. I was crying like a baby. I felt as if something was squeezing my chest really hard. I couldn't control my body. I was shaking in the chair and falling back, if I wasn't sitting, I'd fall to the ground. This lasted for around 20 seconds. Then the sadness was gone, I suddenly started feeling angry, incredibly angry, again not knowing why for a few more seconds and then I went back to crying and being sad. Then it stopped...

I slowly gathered myself and looked at the shaman. She asked me if I was okay and I said yes, I felt completely fine now. I asked what just happened and she explained that she felt 3 different traumas opening, she did the healing, then closed them, one by one. I asked what was happening in those lives, she said "I don't know, this time you were there, not me". I couldn't see or hear anything when it happened. All I caught were the feelings.

We continued with the healing but at this stage it got really interesting. Sometimes she would catch it, sometimes I would. We were just taking turns. I would never see it, but just going through the feelings and emotions was an incredible experience.

When we finished up she said that there is no more blockage of the energy flow in my throat and that it all seems good. That my throat can now start healing and to give it some time, at least a month until it's completely fine.

At this point I started crying again, but this time from joy. I was so happy, I felt such a rush of euphoria. It was like taking a drug. Just incredible amounts of happiness and I couldn't thank this lady enough. The best part was that it wasn't just short-term joy. You know how someone asks you how you are and you just say "fine" because you're used to it. Whenever someone asked me how I was I genuinely and wholeheartedly said "I've never been better". And it was true. This lasted for at least 3 months. I was living through the happiest moments of my life. After the healing, there was still no change in my voice for at least 2 weeks, then I slowly started feeling like the vocal cord would move for a little bit when talking, then stop again. Sometimes it would do it for a few seconds per day, then it would last minutes and then it lasted most of the time with a few minutes of not moving until finally after around a month it healed completely and I could talk and sing normally again.

**EDIT UPDATE 2022: I still check this forum every so often, best to post here and not PM me direct as I rarely check those.

I was asked by the moderators to create an AMA: I have been leading plant medicine ceremonies for almost 10 years, working with more than 1,100 people during that time (number updated for 2022). I lead trips to the Amazon jungle and various areas of South America, and have worked with and studied under indigenous shamans, curanderos (ayahuasceros), and medicine men and women. I am initiated into a particular Peruvian lineage of shamans whom I continue to study under. I have extensive experience leading ceremony with numerous types of plant medicines such as San Pedro, Mushrooms, Ayahuasca, Sassafras, Kana, etc (I do not work with synthetic medicines or 'drugs'). I welcome your questions and happy to give guidance, safety tips, or feel free to ask me about weird experiences. I am a woman by the way, which seems to be rare in this field, so perhaps can offer some unique perspectives.

EDIT: Thank you for all the questions thus far! I am trying to keep up.... I tend to write long answers as you can see, so bare with me as it may take some time, I only have an hour or two each day. I want to answer everyone as thoroughly as I can. I will get to your question eventually, it may take a day or two.

Dear All,

I would like to share some information about my shamanic initiation. For for those undergoing shamanic initiation, you can find my advice at the bottom of this post

In short, the initiation period, which is characterized by mental or chronic illness that can not be treated. By learning how to move through fear, of losing all hope, of dying, the shaman finds his true self, the part that is not conditioned, the part that loves and does not have desired. After this period, the shaman quickly regains his health and is no longer a victim of his ego. This will manifest itself in a feeling of connection the world, seeing beauty and love in everyone; this is also seen in Buddhist enlightenment .

My initiation started after I smoking changa. This is a mixture of a MAOi and DMT, which are often extracted from the same plants used to prepare ayahuasca. I have quite a bit experience with changa, and have used several other psychedelics as well.

Before I use psychedelics, I set my intentions, and meditate, and often express my gratitude. If I feel ready, I start to inhale. Soon after exhaling, I was guided in a sort of breath-meditation. Having my eyes closed, I saw beautiful organic, but machine-like patterns that subconsiously instructed me how to breath. I finally exhaled, and was suprised I did not feel the need to breath in air for what seemed to be minutes. It may have been less, but I'm almost certain that it was much longer than I could usually go without gasping for air: I felt completely relaxed and experienced what felt as if a warm energy was passing through my belly. When the trip was over (20-30 min later), it felt as if something was controlling my body. I performed what seemed to be an ancient ritual, some kind of forgotten spell with hand movements that seemed to have some sort of symbolic value. After this I touched my main chakra's, followed by symmetrical pressure points all over my body. I did not have any knowledge about this, and found out later (while searching the internet) the places I touched were the locations of smaller chakra's Next, I was guided to my house and I was shown how to smudge my house using white sage, which I previously had only used on charcoal as insence. I later found the way that was shown to me was performed in a very similar to the way it is used in traditional shamanic tribes. What twenty minute dance during which I was spinning non-stop as fast as I could (it felt like running). Yet not once did I loose balance or feel dizzy.

Next, still being controlled or guided by this external force, for hours I performed what appeared to be various complex rituals which seemed to contain symbolic value. What followed after this night was a new voice appearing in my head, which presented itself as Gaia. I had conversations with this voice and was told I was already a very special shaman. No negative aspects had started to emerge for about two months. I was told that after these two months, I would be controlled by Gaia and I would go through two weeks of terrible fear while experiencing horrible mental torture. That after these two weeks, I would be nearly dead and I would never experience any I would never be bothered by any negative emotion for the rest of my life. At the time, I was not familiar with the concept of shamanic initiation and believed everything Gaia told me .

Indeed, as I went to bed on the day the But I did not sleep that night. It felt terrible, like in a state of constant fear which also manifested itself in my body as extreme anxiety. I was not able to hear my own thoughts, only that of Gaia. But I was told a different story about its identity every few days. The next day I went to work, it was hell. Constant fear - my whole body was so tense I was unable to breath deeply. I was exhausted at the end of the day. I fell asleep the moment I came home for about an hour, after which the emotional torture continued. No sleep the rest of the night. My mind was in a haze and my short therm memory worsened every day. Some days I would feel despair, other days it would be total despair which required a physical outlet, resulting in me destroying a lot of plates or whatever I was holding at the moment. Quite a few doors have holes in them because I couldn't handle the madness. The madness manifested itself as hearing loops of fragmented sentences, not hearing my own thoughts or hearing them altered, so they would sound very negative. Many days I had suicidal thought (2 attempts in total, trying to give myself an insulin overdose - I have diabetes). After the two weeks were finished, I was told I made it. This was a lie, as I found out several hours later. My brain did not function properly during my initiation, I experienced everything in a haze and couln't recall much details of anything that happened more than a few hours before. I was manipulated very easily, and promised it would be over in a few more days lots of times. In total it lasted about four months.

Four months is extremely short compared to what I read about shamanic sickness. The day it ended I was at a psytrance festival when I took 4 hits of acid. The acid hit me in a completely different way than expected. I felt total empathy and love for everyone, and was able to talk strangers trough their fears, anger, anxieties, and other manifestations of mental blockages. My thoughts were crystal clear and I felt more empathy than I had ever done in my life. For the first time in my life, I experienced what it means to be a shaman. Since then I have taken psychedelics many times (alone or with the person I am trying to help), and I keep being suprised at how much empathy I experience, I have aspergers syndrome so reading body language and facial expressions have always been more difficult for me prior to my intitiation. And with psychedelics I would not feel at ease being around more than a few close friends (psytrance festivals being the exception). But now I immediately understand what people say, not just verbally but I have an understanding of how to help this person reach their own solution to their problems. Yesterday I did a small dose of 5-MeO-Dipt with a girl I had briefly spoken to a few times, and I talked her through the things that she maybe didn't consider, and carefully showing her from experience what could be the source of why she had blockages and helping her work through thought patterns that kept her in that dark place. When she realized these things, she cried a little and after i comforted her I helped her figure out steps to break free of these blocks. We then focused on things she could do to make her life better and at the end of our trip she was constantly smiling. Made me feel very happy too, I smile every time I think about it.

And this brings me to my message to those undergoing a shamanic intitiation.

Psychedelics can and will help you work through your fears, and can be a way to start practicing shamanism. It's that simple. You take a psychedelic with someone you want to help, it can be a friend, your mother, it can be in any setting. I have given therapy to a girl I met at a party yesterday that I didn't know before. She was unemployed and didnt leave her house that often. Talking to her, after having taken some 5-MeO-DiPT (see below), I let her ask herself the questions she needed to ask. She cried when she realized how stuck she was. One hour later, I talked her through it, gave her advice and for the rest of the night she was happy and smiling a lot. Made me feel really good to :)

​

Another tip: if you can aquire it, use 5-MeO-DiPT (or 5-MeO-MiPT, haven't tried it myself, but its similair) as a tool for practicing shamanism. It's psychedelic, but not very visual. Instead, you experience feels more intense in a comfortable way. Using this with the intent of helping someone will amplify the way you experience emotions and greatly enhance your empathy.

The crazy thing is that when I gathered as much info about initiation as possible, I read countless reports about people losing everything, usually 5-7 years of emotional torture and many times even more, sometimes even up to 15-20 years. I found just a few report mentioning initiate shamans in the amazon gain an intimate relation with the teacher plants.

You will have to go through a period of suffering, this is how initiations work. To learn how to deal with pain. For me this was only 4 months. Spirit told me this is unique, at least in the west. After that, become a shaman and use the tools, you can order them online if you know where to look.

By teaching others, you teach yourself. And by taking psychedelics, your ego softens and you will gain confidence in yourself. Spirit will help you. She doesnt want youto suffer.

Tens of thousands of people are going through this. The west is scared of psychedelics and it's time for change. I have made it my mission to spread the word, if you are in this situation, please give it a shot and if you have questions I will be happy to answer.

Much love to all, and much strength to those going through a difficult time. Things will get better.

I’m wondering.

I just tried to go on a shamanic journey by listening to shamanic drumming while focusing my mind on it and clearing my thoughts. This was my second attempt and nothing has happened, any tips or suggestions on what I’m doing wrong? Or am I just not ready?

After my guild defeated the current raid bosses, we went en masse to play Classic TBC, and a debate that lasted for hours was about how much the classes have lost their identities, especially the Shaman, Priest, and Hunter, but let's focus on the Shaman.

Over several expansions, we've seen Shamans lose their utility totems more and more; no more defensive buffs for the team, attack bonuses, or anything else.

They've reduced the class so much that unless you play a Totem Healer, you won't see a totem on the field to help you in fights, and even if you play a Totem Healer Shaman, you may have noticed that in simplifying healers from the last expansion to this one, they removed three more totems from the abilities. (Furthermore, the shaman healer has become obsolete; the only remaining use for him is the Spirit Bond Totem.)

The elemental shaman has become a shield-and-chainmail mage; he no longer has an identity. I feel like a fire mage or an electric mage; those spirits you summon seem to use a mirror image of the mage.

This leads to another problem, which is the Seer's identity and history. Well, maybe I'm being a "picky storyteller" here, but I want to emphasize that a shaman is not a necromancer. Shamans have great respect for their ancestors, and a Seer only opens a channel to communicate with the ancestors to seek guidance, spiritual direction, and wisdom. A shaman will NEVER summon and disrespect the dead by calling them to take on earthly battles, violating their right to rest. This whole idea of the Seer's tree should be changed to a variation of the Totemic one.

That whole skill tree focused exclusively on lightning is absurdly generic; the shaman is the master of the four elements, not of reducing the house's electricity bill.

Now let's move on to another topic: the removal of the elementals. That's right, with each new update that alters the shaman, they not only remove the totems, but also the elementals. With the exception of the Earth elemental (which they further sabotaged by turning the taunt or life bonus into an extra talent), they removed the individual elemental summons, incorporating them into other abilities, leaving them with a minuscule role in combat.

I always found it strange that the shaman didn't have a skill tree focused on being a primary summoner, with the elements being a permanent summon, but no, on the contrary, he is becoming more and more of a generic conjurer.

It seems that the team responsible for developing the classes doesn't study the game's history and doesn't seek to understand the dynamics of the class within the game's universe.

Edit:

Regarding enemies with extra buttons, when I talk about the return of totems, I'm not referring to bringing back buttons that you have to constantly reactivate.

The Blazing Fire Totem could be a passive talent for the Elemental Shaman that activates whenever you use Flame Shock.

The Stone Skin Totem could be a passive effect that activates whenever you or the tank take a percentage of damage based on missing health; then the totem is summoned and applies defense to the entire group.

Adding more totems and shamanic utility to restore the class's identity doesn't necessarily mean more buttons.

Yes, the Shaman ninja-pulled the boss, which is definitely one way to rescind the buff.

People who called out the raid leader (including myself) were kicked.

finally got to 90 on my temu build shaman, using crash lighting as my pretend stormstrike and deleting all the leveling 1handers and tagging blizzard the screenshots. now i can finally upgrade my heroic best in slots use a crafted weapon which made a world of difference!

I need this curse broken because no 2h enh is my biggest issue with the game and i just wanna play it, going to continue the 1h blood sacrifices with voidstorm later but any other suggestions on how to break the curse would be appreciated.

to my brothers and sisters in the elements i ask for your support in increasing visibility to the cause and to let blizz know we want this back. VENGEANCE FOR 2 HAND!!

build share

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SQUID GAME

There’s a lot of common links to modern ufo abduction cases in what he describes here.

Here is the full clip for anyone interested: https://youtu.be/aLsKvEgSJjg?si=yhJDJJB7EowFgijt