Embrace Your Inner Shaman

A Visit With Linda Star Wolf

By Krysta Gibson

What if we have cells that can pull us into our future? And what if we could access this information through a process called shamanic breathwork? That's what teacher and healer Linda Star Wolf explains in her latest book Visionary Shamanism, Activating the Imaginal Cells of the Human Energy Field (Bear & Co).

New Spirit Journal: What is shamanism and how does it apply to us in today's world?

Linda Star Wolf: Traditional shamanism frequently refers to the wounded healer. We've all had some kind of wounding, but in this case the person who is the shaman has transformed or healed themselves. Then they have the credibility to bring that experience to others. Shamanism is also about dwelling within the organic world and working with nature. When people want to heal, they frequently go to the mountains, ocean, woods, or sit by a fire to be nurtured.

The shamanic world is really about the cycles of change, death, and rebirth, Although there are some indigenous medicine men and women on the planet, now we all have the opportunity to connect with the shamanic nature that lies deep within all creatures on this planet. Shamanism is the archetype or metaphor for connecting with that part of ourselves that knows how to heal and transform our lives.

NSJ: Does this mean anyone can learn to be a shaman, or is it something you are born or initiated into?

Linda: Yes, it all weaves together. My original background was in the field of mental health and social work. For three decades I worked with many different types of problems including addictions, and what I now call mental diversity instead of mental illness. I also worked healing my own issues. I saw how people are able to transform.

Eventually, I began to step outside the conventional treatment arena and moved into the holistic world which lead me to shamanism and Grandmother Twylah Nitsch of the Seneca Wolf Clan. I worked with her until she passed over in 2007 at the age of 93. I learned about the healing power of breathwork and integrated all I had learned including shadow work and Jungian psychology. From all of this, 16 years ago I created a process I call Shamanic Breathwork.

When people took responsibility and began to use these processes to heal and transform, something magical began to happen. Without plant medicine or drugs, people had profound mystical experiences.

People would have visions of themselves standing in front of a microphone speaking to large audiences or walking in the woods with a spirit being talking to them. They had powerful healing visions and they reported changes in their lives. They reported things such as depression lifting or being able, with the help of their physician, to stop medications they had taken for years.

People began to connect with their future selves. It is like an acorn laying on the ground getting kicked around by someone and then looking up and seeing a huge oak tree, and saying "You gotta be kidding!" People were connecting with their imaginal cells.

Imaginal cells have always been in existence. Scientists talk about them mostly in relationship to insects such as caterpillars and dragonflies. These insects molt through several forms before entering their final form. The caterpillar is one of the most vivid examples since it is a creature entirely different from what it morphs into and even goes through a stage where it completely dissolves itself and turns into mush.

Out of that state of letting go, these cells percolate and re-form into a being so completely different that, after having lived on one bush its entire life, can now fly hundreds and even thousands of miles. These cells exist in animals, plants, insects, and humans.

We know when something is over and we need to change our lives. If we can let go into the process and allow ourselves to molt, we can look back and we almost don't recognize the person we used to be.

Imaginal cells are around us and won't come in until we surrender and can fully open to our new selves and are ready to let go of who we've been. Like a computer with a new program, this new energy comes in and starts percolating to recreate ourselves. This is where we're at on the planet right now. It is a birthing or a molting and is a shamanic process.

NSJ: Do people have to be in crisis to go through this process?

Linda: Not at all. Some people come to this work because they feel ready for a transformation. Life can be good and then get even better. I have had several clients whose lives were very good who felt called to this work and then saw their lives get even better. We have to remember that there are a lot of issues being faced by the planet: the destruction of forests and oceans. We can't ignore this but we also can't get demoralized and give up hope. Transformation is calling us. Let's respond.

Hear this entire 30-minute interview in the audio section. Linda will be at East West Bookshop in Seattle Feb. 17, www.eastwetsbookshop.com. Learn more about her books, classes, retreats at Isis Cover Retreat Center, and spiritual emergence programs at www.shamanicbreathwork.org.