What a Real Shaman Is

I found a great blog post about shamanism at a pretty cool website called Blue Plant Shaman. The whole thing is worth reading – I just pulled the juicy part out for posting here:

Here is a list that I came up with that I call the basic requirements for a person to be a good Shaman.

• You need to come from a dysfunctional family.
• You need to understand abuse, alcohol, drug, sexual, physical, mental, verbal, the more the better.
• You need to have a fast mind. This is usually shown through a quick humor and/or problem solving skills.
• You may have a thought that nothing is sacred nor should it be.
• You will probably have a very strong sex drive.
• You may think some things are funny while other people severely disagree.
• You have the ability to teach without formal training.
• Even the most introverted people will instantly open up to you.
• You can make friends with the most vicious junk yard dog because you can relate.
• You had the “visits” from the other side at an early age.
• Sometimes we can seem like a twisted bunch, but everyone wants to come to our parties.