Proposed SHA guidlines

[vikinggoddess]

I just loved this and thought I would share here:

Here's my list of the characteristics of shamanic herbalists/healers. It isn't meant to be definitive, but to spark discussion. I hope it will be copied, circulated, changed. Comments to Weed, PO Box 64, Woodstock, NY 12498 or http://www.susunweed.com/weedforum/viewtopic.php?p=68855#68855

1. Shamanic healers and herbalists answer solely to the universal "way” as their authority and as such cannot be restricted by the language of men's law, for such language constitutes an unfair restriction upon the practices, livelihood and life of the shamanic healer.

2. Shamanic healers and herbalists work without regard for payment, but absolutely insist on being honored for the work they do. Any healer who withholds treatment until payment is made is guilty of blackmail and is not to be considered a shamanic healer.

3. Shamanic healers and herbalists use the plant and animal resources of their locality as their healing allies. These resources are harvested in a way that sustains or builds their abundance and diversity. The plants and animals are accorded power, dignity, and sentience. They are addressed directly, prayed to, and usually thanked ritually as well as actually.

4. Shamanic healers and herbalists frequently use power plants in their work. Power plants include indigenous natural (not synthetic) psychoactives such as psilocybin, tobacco, datura, peyote, marijuana, coco leaves, and the like. Trafficking in such plants is not typical of the shamanic healer, who may, nonetheless, supply apprentices with these plants for the purposes of their studies, and keep a personal supply of up to two year's worth of such power plants. These practices are not to be infringed upon by the language or intent of man's law, as such restrictions unfairly prevent the shamanic healer from accessing certain kinds of information.

5. Shamanic healers and herbalists may be very limited in their ability to read, write, figure sums, or otherwise function in the modern world. To try to conceive of a written test which could give any information which would be of use in determining the worth of a shamanic herbalist/healer is to enter the realm of the absurd.

6. Shamanic healers may also be quite limited in their understanding of anatomy, physiology, chemistry, and other modern medical necessities. Nonetheless, each shamanic healer has a "story" about the nature of the world(s) s/he inhabits, and a vision of the health/wholeness toward which the individual patient is moving.

7. Shamanic healers frequently use drama to potentize healing. Community enactments, melodic messages, rhythmic movements, colorful visions, memorable aromas, and more are interwoven in the work of shamanic healers and herbalists. Expect the unexpected here, the unique, the gift of the moment.

8. Shamanic healers respect the power of kundalini/life force and therefore do not engage in sexual release with their patients/clients. This is not to say that shamanic healers and herbalists do not flirt! On the contrary, they are often very raunchy, suggestive, and lewd. But they never cross the line from loving, healing touch to frank sexual need/exchange. Anyone who implies or suggests that their healing power can be best accessed through sexual connection is not a shamanic healer.

9. Shamanic healers support and direct the processes which are common to all of us - birth, initiation, and death - in ways that are unique to the culture and the individual, but which are always characterized, in true shamanic healing, by the intention to honor the person involved and to increase the person's self-confidence and self-acceptance.

10. Shamanic healers are passionate and compassionate. They move easily into joy, anger, and grief, knowing that all feelings can be healers and liberators. Shamanic healers know few fears. They approach life and healing as a cosmic joke, always ready to laugh first at themselves.

11. Shamanic healers don't claim to have the answer or know the answer or be the answer; they remind us that the answer lies within ourselves.

[vikinggoddess]

so i guess there are no other shamanic chinese medicine practioners at kungfumagazine.com, eh?

[TonyM.]

Pretty good stuff.

[vikinggoddess]

yes that is from Susun Weed in Woodstock, NY. I think I didn't mention that directly.

[vikinggoddess]

what is the evil side of shamanism you are researching..like making zombis and sorcery and sex magick?

[vikinggoddess]

As I already said. These are not my words they are from Susun Weed who in part wrote them to initiate discussion and also out of concern for protection of right's of shamanic healers and herbalist. You can follow the referrenced link for the full discussion on why why she believes herbal medicine should not be regulated. I will be returning feed back to Susun with edited changes based on feed back. We have already edited these some what on a shamanism forum.

Payment for herbs, shamanic services do not nessessarily need to come into the form of cash. Trade for food or other material goods is acceptable. I do agree that to withhold treatment due to inability to pay is wrong. There are many others fighting for universal health care who agree with me on this point. As to my handle, this has previously been addressed and frequently is offensive to patriarchical scientific types for some reason; viking refers to my both my pirate anarchist 'politics', and scandinavian ancestery. goddess in reference to my appearence similar like a Boris sci-fi girl as well as my appreciation of neo-femm goddess religion and matriarchical social structure. I have training from Chinese medicine doctors: Su, Yang, and Jin. I use plants and on occasion crystal/stone medicine. I do not agree with the idea that one needs to be initiated in order to practice shamanic medicine. I have also discussed and learned from others. There are those who practice shamanic style medicine, but are not neccessarily powerful enough or broad enought in thier technical abilities to consider themselves true shaman. But I think what is common with the Jr. Shaman compared to the Powerful Shaman is that they are making communication with that which is unseen.. the spirit of plant, or crystal, etc.

On the point of herb harvest. I think that it is true that shamans do not only collect from plants in their own teritory, but also do herb trade over further distances. Marijuana would be completely harvestable from NY as a weed if there was not prohibition. Shamans do not only use these kinds of plants, but also medicinal plants like Queen anne's lace, dandelion. there are many Asian medicinal plants that are now weeds in North America. I would challenge all the Chinese medicine 'experts' in this country to follow the way of tasting the plants and growing their own herbs instead of relying on China to supply them.

I don't think anyone has said that shamans cannot be doctors. To conclude that if not all shaman are educated than no shaman can be educated is simply a logic error. Shamanist predates Anatomy 101 however, therefore within a temporal perspective it is true that most shamans have not studied a significant amount of anatomony. I do not reject all of biomedicine nor anatomy, but I find it less useful compared to Chinese medicine diagnosis. I do have degrees in cell and mol. bio. I am not completely anti-science. I agree that there is anatomy within Chinese medicine paradigm. i also use this in differential diagnosis. However, this kind of anatomy is a joke to most people.

So Andy Miles, what kind of name is this.. Do you grow any Chinese herbs? do you taste the North American herbs to have an understanding of them from the perspective of Chinese medicine, that is taste, temperature, channels entered, etc.

Finally.. something interesting to me at this forum.
VG

[vikinggoddess]

I think that you can use local herbs for Chinese medicine purposes. By that I mean you can use herbs that grow locally within the paradigm of Chinese medicine differential diagnosis. It appears you are in BC Andy. If you can go for a walk you should still see this plant in bloom along roadsides:
http://www.chinesetherapeutics.org/xiakucao.html used in chinese med for mass in breast, etc

Also blooming in BC now you will find Queen Anne's Lace, not used in chinese medicine to my knowledge, but used by Wise Women herbalists like Susun Weed author of the discussion topic for preventing implantation of fertilized egg. So this is a herb seed to prevent pregnancy. If you taste it you will find it is bitter. One tsp is the daily dose for average sized woman to prevent pregnancy. From the perspective of Chinese med I would say it goes to the Chong/Ren channels and moves blood.

[vikinggoddess]

I also think a lot about stones and 5 element Chinese correspondence. This is what I am trying to go for now in terms of a model with which to use stones externally within Chinese medicine paradigm. I am learning from a woman with 35 years of crystal healing experience.. she is also in BC and has taught classes in the past. She uses color therapy and 5 element categorization, but not Chinese 5 element. Western five element/astological correspondences: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and 5th element-spirit/ether. So I try to understand if Air can be replaced with metal, because Lung is the Metal element and regulater of Air coming in and out of the body. I do not think that spirit/ether can replace Wood though.
I also try to look at stone color and origin for indicator of Element... like carnelian orange and energy tonic- I relate to Spleen/Earth. I also do assiate some stones with herbs.


But I can tell you confidently for gua sha that I would go for the following:

Wood/Liver- Bloodstone donut.. this is the dang gui stone moves liver qi and blood. warriors stone. It is a green jasper with red flecks. Good for all kind of womens menstrual issues. Turns PMSy b**ch into assertive warrioress. I am about to order more of these from a good source either today or tomorrow and can work something out with you if you want to have one, you can email me cory@chinesetherapeutics.org I have a bunch of references from customers in an online bazaar you can check out.

Water/Kidney- A nice polished mother of pearl would be nice too. But I am concerned about cleaning pearl. Alternatively maybe Moonstone.. Pisces stone.. water element. Or Black tourmaline or hematite for grounding energy to the Du1.

Earth/Spleen- carnelian, amber, earth colored jade. (this I can also get)

Metal/ Lung- This is am still wondering about I think Labradorite is a good choice b/c it is good for skin. Pyrite also I like for metal Element because of the metalic look and that my teacher suggests it for nose/throat. Pyrite though you cannot clean with water so easily b/c it deteriorates in the wet.

Fire/Heart- Rose Quartz 'heart healer' good for calming shen-- (this i can also pick up in donut form or figure 8 donut which is very pretty and has a better handle for gua sha.)

This is a very nice idea to have a 5 element gua sha stone set. What is critical though is to do energetic cleansing of the stones between patients, because the stone will pick up the patients junk energy. Black tourmaline you can do this by running under cold water for 20 min or salt water soak. I think the easier way is to let the stones soak in a supersaturated sea salt solution and then place them in the sun. Not all stones it is okay to do this with, but I think it is okay for the ones I suggested with the exception of the pyrite and pearl. My friend cleanses her pearls energetically by putting them next to her fountain.

Additionally as a pure energy tonic there is clear quartz which I associate with american ginseng. It amplifies the effects of other stones. Not to be used with acute infection to prevent tonification of pathogen.

Interesting on the aa's and organic chemistry. I will think on that.
But I was just thinking about Carbon-Hydrogen molecules like Methane, etc.. that is Earth, b/c earth fuels fire.

[vikinggoddess]

Andy

How would you decide when to use different element stones based on diagnosis or location of treatment? I was thinking that since gua sha is mostly a treatment for blood stagnation I would think first of bloodstone. But maybe for pulling out a wind cold malachite.

vg

[vikinggoddess]

I have modified Susun's guidelines for Shamanic Chinese medicine healers/herbalists:

http://www.chinesetherapeutics.org/phorum/read.php?f=12&i=1&t=1

The following is the chinesetherapeutics.org revised version of Susun's Weed's "Shamanic Healer's Associations" guidelines adapted for Shamanic Chinese medicine healers living in North America or other non-Asian countries:


1. Shamanic Chinese medicine healers and herbalists answer to universal law; they do not need permission from, nor to be licensed by, man's law.

2. Shamanic Chinese medicine healers and herbalists work without regard for payment, but absolutely insist on being honored for and supported in the work they do.

3. Shamanic Chinese medicine healers and herbalists use local herbs, harvested in ways that sustain or build plant populations. They talk/pray with the plants and accord them power, dignity, and sentience. They are thoroughly familiar with the Asian medicinal plants growing in their area. They use these plants preferentially to ordering herbs from overseas. Where they cannot grow plants in there area, they look for native species that may be substituted for traditional Chinese herbs.

4. Shamanic Chinese medicine healers look forward into the future to focus on in situ permanent culture of herbal medicine cultivation and harvest, rather than becoming dependent on China's ecological resources. The have knowledge of the Classics of Chinese medicine, but recognize that now is the time to be scholarly and create new classics using Chinese medicine theory with modern application and local herbs.

5. Shamanic Chinese medicine healers study their native plants and classifly them according to their Chinese medicine theory. Therefore they taste plants themselves and do not rely soley on book knowledge for their understanding of herbs. Shamanic Chinese medicine healers share their knowledge of plants and differential diagnostic theory with other Shamanic Herbalists who are capable to benefit from their understanding. They also make a point to learn from local herbalists, such as those from Wise Woman tradition.

6. Shamanic Chinese medicine healers and herbalists may use psychoactive plants as healing allies. Where there is evidence and history of the benefit of a pychoactive plant for a condition such as severe nausea during pregnancy, they defer to natural law rather than the laws of state.

7. Shamanic Chinese medicine healers have an understanding of Western anatomy, physiology, and chemistry, and also each shamanic healer has a "story" about the nature of the worlds she inhabits, and a vision of the health/wholeness toward which individual patients are moving. The Shamanic Chinese medicine healer attempts to bridge these two paradigms for the benefit and understanding of those who would benefit from the insights of the Shamanic Chinese medicine practioner.

8. Shamanic Chinese medicine healers may use drama and ceremony; whether public or private, a shamanic healing is rhythmic, colorful, memorable, and suffused with the unexpected, unique gifts of the moment.

9. Shamanic healers use the power of Qi to heal, and encourage patients to practice exercises such as Qi Gong and Tai Qi to benefit their Qi.