The figure of the chaman is intrinsically connected to art and ritual. A chamán generally performs many roles inside his community. A chamán is a curandero or curandera, a ceremonialist, an artist, the wise narrator of stories and music. They are very creative and use their creativity to change reality, change perception and refocus any distortion to a balanced and complete pattern or vibration. They dance between the worlds in many ways, to bring healing, vision, leadership and transformation to the world, restoring integrity, balancing the connection between man and nature. The chaman is a translator of visible and invisible languages, an artist who works with the world of illusion and dream, as much as the artists and creatives of our time. Our art can give vision to our ideas, communicate with the hidden parts of our interior, create a connection between us and our surroundings. The connection is established through the ritual and the creativity intentionally expressed.
The creation of sacred and shamánic art is a modality of curation from which it is possible to access and create travel spaces, activating the quantum field, it is to say, the luminous heart, connecting more to time and space, transpassing the linear reality and tridimensional reality towards multidimensionality. The creativity expressed through intention, such as art forms, music, theater works, books, films, etc., makes sure that the invisible and mystical kingdom are available for many, activating the memory and the restoration of the Alma, the Soul. When it is undertaken as a ritual and as an instrument of the divine to express itself, the art opens portals between the worlds in the expansion of consciousness and the higher vibratory states. Whether we create shamanic art work or experimenting it as an observer, we can travel through the ordinary reality into an altered state of consciousness, transcending time and ordinary space. This change of conscience allows a healing to occur and a return to wholeness.
Shaminic cultures are creative and artistic by nature. The indigenous people of the whole world are great artesans and include the symbol and the history within their creations. Even the ancient Etruscan culture had healers and women who used art as curative instrument. When a person was sick, we intend with a sick organ, the traditional doctor elaborated a sculpture of the same healthy organ for the patient to take in their house ot have, to look at and to “visualize”.
In another ancient culture, the curandero, the healer, created sacred rolls with written prayers and put them in the house of the sick person. The roll would serve as a physical form of the prayers to help manifesting them on the earth.
The Shipibo Indians in Peru believe that we are born like a song, that it is not just a sound vibration, but also a form. Sound and visual creations are not separated in their culture, nor in any other shamánic culture. They know that we experience trauma or emotion, hatred, unhappiness, depression, these things distort our song or energy field. The anger, the depression, the unhappiness y other emotions, sickness and unhealthy affections are a reflection of these distorted patterns. To donate to a person to their wholeness IS restoring their song or natural vibratory pattern. A Shipibo shaman will sing sacred songs or icaros to a patient, providing healing and balance. The woven songs on the shipibo clothes are just another form for the sacred song to be manifested. The vibratory patterns of the songs are transferred onto cloth which can be used in altar clothes, wrapped in houses, clothes and buildings. The canvas of the sacred song “sings” these patterns in the space in which they were created.
The wixarika or huicholes from Central México, draw another colorful and curative art through their labors of thread paintings and clothes. Amidst this vibrant art, they create sacred symbols of their powerful alias as sacred medicine for protection and power. These works of art are ceremonial and give shape to the prayer.
Regardless of the shamaninc culture we are aiming for, we can find sacred, ceremonial, symbolic and ritual art, that gives it meaning and purpose to life. Each work of art is capable of transporting it beyond than ordinary linear reality, towards one that is divinely orchestrated and transcendentally healing, sacred from the beginning to the end.
Here from this beginning until the end I invite you, to look at art not only with your eyes but with your heart. Being open to receive a healing, an awakening of some kind and a transference of consciousness. Experiment with your creativity to harmonize and fine-tune with everything around you, connect with your inner world and let the sacred penetrate your life from day to day through art, giving you the opportunity to be the co-creator of your reality and your life.
Arts and Rites 