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www.shamansociety.org 39 the building of a pipeline or the mining for uranium or supporting indigenous peoples in their struggles to preserve their culture and land base. But the core shamanism of Cave and Cosmos seems to be more concerned with and to prefer - Heaven than with Earth. To Michael Harner core shaman- ism is sufficient unto itself. To me core shamanic methods can be used to recon- nect to the shamanic traditions of your own landscape but then you also have to transcend core shamanism. Shaman- ism cannot be culture free at least not if you really want to put your shamanic feet deep down into the earth making yourself accessible to the kiss of knowl- edge that is given not in heaven but by the spirits of the Earth the landscape from real existing animals and plants from Mother Earth herself and through ceremony and prayer. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jrgen I. Eriksson has been working with the runes and shamanism since 1983 and was a co-founder of the Swedish shamanic network Yggdrasil. He has writtenbooks in Swedish on Saami and Navajo spiritual traditions. Today he lives north of Stockholm and is a devoted horticulturist and teacher of shamanism. His book on the runes Rune Magic and Shamanism Original Nordic Knowledge from Mother Earth is available through his website www. norrshaman.net the landscape the world view and the ways of life where shamanism developed. Even if you dont look at core sha- manism as a new religion it is obvious to me that it certainly has the potential to move in that direction. The core sha- manism of Cave and Cosmos seems to be totally focused on soul journeying with the help of a drum or other sonic driv- ing devices which only is part of what shamans traditionally devote themselves to. It represents a coherent system a shamanism that is systemized in a way that is unknown to traditional shamans. One might call what Harner has created a shamanic body held together by cer- tain basic theoretical key tenets that bears many similarities to religion. For years Harner claimed that core shamanism has no dogma. Sadly Cave and Cosmos negates that statement. The main topic of Michael Harners paradigm seems to be the question of spirits the existence of spirits the proofs that they exist and the differences between varied types of spirits those that dwell in this world the middle world those that dwell in heaven and those that dwell somewhere between. In The Way of the Shaman Harner wrote about energies power and power animals now this has changed into detailed descriptions and classifications of spirits. The shaman is seen mainly as a mediator between the humans who need help and the compas- sionate spirits who always know what everybody needs. Which spirits do Harners disciples meet in heaven It can be Benjamin Franklin or Albert Einstein or Jesus or Buddha. The spirits are clever and adopt guises that are adjusted to the journeyer. These compassionate spirits according to Harner all have experiences from life on earth either as humans or animals they know everybodys need and they only wish to do good in contrast to some of the spirits in the middle world that have not been able to make it into heaven. Those spirits may cause chaos sickness and all kinds of problems. For me this talk about good and evil spirits is distressingly familiar and gives me bad vibrations. Has Michael Harner turned into a prophet He stresses that his heavenly journeyers have the same experiences as the founders of the great religions and he interprets his disciples reports as proof that the heavens do exist. I accept that this is Harners experience but my own thirty years of shamanic work tell me quite other stories about the cosmos and Mother Earth. Harner writes that the power of the universe is so strong that shamans have to work with mediators such as power animals and spirits. My experience and understanding is that the cosmos chooses to let its power take familiar forms when it meets our consciousness just to make it possible for us to handle this power. Carlos Castaneda wanted to take a further step namely to experience energy directly instead of via its mediated forms. In his book The Wheel of Time he lets don Juan Matus explain how he has used shamanic rigmarole about allies power plants Mescalito the little smoke the wind the spirits of rivers mountains and chaparral as a way to lure Castanedas attention as a way to trick him into the way of the spiritual warrior. Harner chooses the opposite way instead of transcending form and experiencing energy directly he elaborates a highly systematic way on how to deal with the forms of power. This is not what I call spiritual freedom. To me shamanism has always had a political dimension a Mother Earth dimension and shamans sometimes have to take a stand in very practical and concrete ways e.g. trying to stop www.shamansociety.org 41 Lenore I cant wait either In the sum- mer of 2011 I moved to oakland to set about bringing it into production. And then the occupy wall Street movement began and I was powerfully drawn to it. Jonathan of course you were there was a lot going on in oakland too wasnt there Lenore Yes. It was huge. I started get- ting involved. I wrote about it from a shamanic perspective held a teleseminar and did a Tuesday Morning Conversation with Christina Pratt. But I saw the writ- ing on the wall Lenore if you get involved in this AMERICAN UBUNTU never will be made. I feel that making that choice to hold back from getting deeply involved in occupy and keep a clear focus on the filmhas served well. Jonathan thats a really good point how important it is to be really present and aware of your role in a given situa- tion. So there were all these temptations but you kept your focus throughout. I think focus is something that we can lose very quickly and easily. In closing would you tell us a little about AmerI- CAn uBuntu You call it a healing story for the uSA. what does ubuntu mean Lenore ubuntu is a Zulu word. It means I am what I am because of who we all are. In the story I apply this to the very diverse country the uSA is today Ameri- cans are what we are because of who we all are. Jonathan thats a very powerful and important statement in a country so split as the u.S. is today. Lenore It is truly a shamanic tale of our times. one of the main characters is in the ancestral realm. the script has won an award and at this point Im looking for a professional producer. Ive always known this film would be made through a groundswell of support from the sha- manic and spiritual activist communities. Jonathan For me what you have been talking about is what I see as the role of the shamanic activist to bring healing to our world with the help of the spirits liv- ing the teachings they give us following the path they show us. thank you for do- ing that. Its been inspiring. About thE AuthorS Lenore Norrgard is a teacher of shamanism a writer filmmaker and a shamanic activist. She resides presently in Oakland California. If any readers of this article are inspired to help in any way with the production of American Ubuntu please contact her at lenoreamericanubuntu. com or 415 671-5864 in the U.S. Jonathan Horwitz is the European editor of the Journal of Contemporary Shamanism. He is co-founder of the Scandinavian Center for Shamanic Studies and a teacher of shamanism for more than twenty-five years. He lives in Sweden and can be contacted at jonathanshamanism.dk.