Shaman Sayings and Quotes

Below you will find our collection of inspirational, wise, and humorous old shaman quotes, shaman sayings, and shaman proverbs, collected over the years from a variety of sources.

Shamanic healing is a journey. It involves stepping out of our habitual roles, our conventional scripts, and improvising a dancing path. Gabrielle Roth
One of the things that's so striking about shamanism in the native context is the absence of mental illness. Terence McKenna
Shamanism is a kind of universal spiritual practice with indigenous cultures around the world, and one important element of it is taking care of spirits. Daniel Pinchbeck
Any priest or shaman must be presumed guilty until proved innocent. Robert A. Heinlein
Shamanism is the oldest form of communicating and healing. It probably resides in all of us. Amy Hardie
Shamanism is essentially a living tradition of alchemy that is not seeking the stone but has found the stone. Terence McKenna
Shamanism is about shape shifting. Shamanism is about doing phenomenology with a tool kit that works. Terence McKenna
A man without persistence will never make a good shaman or a good physician. Confucius
The true shaman, the true naturalist, works to reconnect conscious human life with Nature and Spirit through totems and ritual Ted Andrews
A shaman is someone who has a wound that will not heal. He sits by the side of the road with his open wound exposed. Rachel Naomi Remen
Shamanism is not a course, but a life journey. Alberto Villoldo
Life lived in the absence of the psychedelic experience that primordial shamanism is based on is life trivialized, life denied, life enslaved to the ego Terence McKenna
Shamanism is not a religion. It's a method. And when this method is practiced with humility, reverence and self-discipline, the shaman's path can become a way of life. Hank Wesselman
Humans are a part of creation and shamanism is our way of connecting with the whole. Will Adcock
The shaman is the figure at the beginning of human history that unites the doctor, the scientist and the artist into a single notion of care-giving and creativity. Terence McKenna
Shaman is a spiritual shuttle between three realms of existence: Heaven, Mankind and Earth. He pierces through inter-dimensional veils in order to heal the parts and unite the whole. Lada Ray
The shaman is a self-realized person. She discovers the ways of Spirit through her inner awakening. Alberto Villoldo
Shamanism is a great metal and emotional adventure, one in which the patient as well as the shaman-healer are involved. Michael Harner
True shamans live in a world that is alive with what is to rationalist sight unseen, a world pulsing with intelligence. Paula Gunn Allen
Shamanism is a path of knowledge, not of faith, and that knowledge cannot come from me or anyone else in this reality. To acquire that knowledge, including the knowledge of the reality of the spirits, it is necessary to step through the shaman's doorway and acquire empirical evidence. Michael Harner
The shaman has access to a superhuman dimension and a superhuman condition, and by being able to do that he affirms the potential for transcendence in all people. He is an exemplar, if you will. Terence McKenna
Remember that drumming opens portals to the spirit world, draws spirit in, and opens you up to receive it. Michael Drake
Becoming a shaman is a fate that can strike anyone. Even you. Kim Stanley Robinson
Man has not really vanquished Shamanism and its spooks till he possesses the strength to lay aside not only the belief in ghosts or in spirits, but also the belief in the spirit. Max Stirner
I become like a tuning fork to the information that is coming through me, in shamanism they call it being the hollow reed. Tom Kenyon
Consciousness is naturally shamanic. Joy Manne
Every time a shaman dies, it is as if a library burned down. Mark Plotkin
It's been important to cultures throughout history with the court jester and the witch doctor and the shaman - all preach the same thing. RuPaul
The knowledge of the realm of death makes it possible for the shaman to move freely back and forth and mediate these journeys for other people. Stanislav Grof
For shamans the world over, illness has always been seen as a spiritual predicament: a loss of soul or a diminishment of essential spiritual energy. If the soul totally vacates the patient, the patient will die. It follows that, if the shaman can retrieve the lost soul parts, the individual can be restored to harmony and well-being. This retrieval is done by the shaman in an altered state of consciousness. Sandra Ingerman