Shamanism And A Psychic Fair

an essay

“Shaman Poster #1”

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Get this post in a pdf file .. {-here-}
I made this educational sheet to hand out free at our
Charity Psychic Fair this Saturday. The essay’s on the front
and your souvenir poster’s on the back. There’s no balloons,
but Beven will be cooking at the food stand. You’re welcome
to stroll among our little tents and chat us up, all for free.
But if you want a reading you must buy a ticket, either
$25 for 15 minutes, or $50 for a half-hour, which,
as such things go, is a low small-town rate.
It’s popular; we have lots of readers
and we draw a big crowd.
It’s part of our rural New England town’s annual fair.
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First, if i may, term­i­nol­ogy: Our culture uses 2 words
for the work done at a psychic fair. – I don’t much like
either one.

“Fortunetelling” is common speech, and i love common
talk, for i love Shakespeare. But the word “fortune”
suggests advis­ing Clients on Money and Luck,
which is a tiny fraction of our work.

“Divination” is more dig­ni­fied but i feel it’s impious,
for it means consulting Divine Be­ings. I ask the Cards
ques­tions; Or i’ll invite Client’s de­parted Loved One to
speak, then report what they say; Or i hear something
Client left unspoken and say that.

So let me replace the words. Let me say Readers and
Clients together practice our cul­ture’s favorite kind
of “Shamanism”.

I’ve studied this for years.

“Shamanism” is a scientific word from Anthropology,
and the Anthropologists define it broadly, including
certain practices in all the varied Human cultures.
What we do qualifies for inclusion.

For one thing, Sha­manism typically involves healing of
some kind. We heal broken hearts and broken lives.

Also: Some Clients ask how to find the right physician,
or how to live well with a terrible disease, and that’s in
our purview too.

But our DEEP likeness to the worldwide Shamanism
of Anthro­pology is this: We work in the realm of
Human Instinct.

Ancient ancestors gave us a treasure chest of instincts.
Our joy in natural gardening is theirs. How to parent,
how to teach, village-defense sol­diering, crea­ting and
beholding art, a world of rich Human instincts.

So it is with Psychic Arts.

For a moment accept Quan­tum Physics: You’re connec­ted
with everything. How would that look in your mind? It’s
the realm of Psychic Arts and we Hu­mans evolved to
walk there.

Now let’s ask Anthropology: What’s the deep worldwide
uni­ver­sal feature of Shamanism?

This: ..
You go out there and bring back something useful.

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