Shamanism and The Ways of Power; The difference between energy and majik!

some of this information I found on a site years ago about these people who call themselves christian witches. Now although I disagree with the use of this term personally and some of their ideologies, conclusions, and practices; I do think they they had a lot of good information that is worth knowing, and it did send me on another quest to learn about certain aspects of certain topics that I had never studied before. In the interest of educating people I do not believe that they would mind me using the information that they provided when I wrote these articles for my students. So here are the articles I wrote; some of the original information came from a website called my christian witchery page at;
http://www.fortunecity.com/marina/fishermans/2035/id76.htm and http://witchychristian.tripod.com/links.html

SHAMAN



The word shaman comes from the tungus language. It means “walker between the worlds” traditionally. It has also come to mean “one who knows”, and “wounded healer”. The female equivalent to shaman is shamanka or shamaness.

Other words that are comparable to shaman are medicine man (or woman/ medicine people), druid/ drui (bandrui / bendrui), and curandero (curandera/ la sabia). The celtic shaman or seaman has a few names including taibhsear (pronounced tah’shar) which is a Scottish word for “vision seer”. And secondly and perhaps the most appropriate word for a celtic shaman is a welsh word; awenydd (pronounced awen-ith) meaning “inspired one” (the plural form is awenyddion, although in modern times this word has been demoted to mean a muse). Fili: (pronounced several ways including fee-l’eah, philly, fee-lee, fih luh, etc…) This was a druidic or celtic poet seer, A shamanic oracle, one who enters into imbas forosnai, one who enters the realms of the otherworld to gain knowledge and comes back with knowledge, a type of poet bard, a type of druidic or celtic shaman that used words to wield power – energy- authority- or even healing, related to the seanachai (pronounced shawn ah key of shawn uh k-eye) who were the story tellers of the celts but the fili had a more spiritual or religious nature to their work, seanachai were also called cyfarwydd (k-eye far with). draoi - means druid, but could also mean wizard, or magician.

This refers to any person who practices any form of medicine and dose so from a spiritual or religious perspective. The idea of the wounded healer is that the greatest healers are people who were wounded deeply in some way and so can understand the human condition better. But this does not have to be the case. A healer is one who walks in the way of compassion. This is called good medicine power, walking in beauty, and walking the good red road in Native American traditions. The ancient shamans were medicine people who could walk and work within the spiritual realms just as they did in the physical world around us.

Many people today say “no spirits, no shaman” meaning that a shaman must call upon disembodied spirits to do their biding. This is simply not true. We who are medicine people learn to work with the Bre’hon (the spiritual aids that God sends us, be they angels, saints, fairies, good spirits, spirit guides or teachers, ancestors, or totem animals/ plants/ and stones). However when we who are Christian shamans work with these helper beings, we have tested them or should have tested them to see if they are of God, and we pray to and worship God and God alone. We do not pray to spirits or any being other then God and that includes angels. We ask God to send us helpers and show us our helpers, and we work with them, but God is always given all the glory for the work that gets done.

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAJIK AND ENERGY RITUAL PRACTICES?

Well from the pagan perspective there is almost no difference at all, but from a biblical world view there is a vast difference!

We must begin by defining majik. Magic means slight of hand, the art of stage illusion, as practiced by people like Houdini, and Chris Angel. Majik on the other hand is a force that is utilized through certain forbidden occult sciences by pagan peoples. Practices that constitute majik as laid out in scripture through the original languages. Majik is what is practiced by the kashaph. Contrary to popular belief which is instilled through the English translation of the bible (which is full of a great many mistakes) the words witch and witchcraft do not exist in the original bible. Two verses very common are “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”, and “witchcraft is the sin of idolatry”; what it actually says is “thou shalt not suffer a kashaph to live”, and on further examination of the verse touted in so many churches about idolatry what scripture actually says is that “rebellion is as the sin of the kashaph, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry”.
Rebellion here is referring to rebellion against God, and stubbornness is referring to arrogance, small or narrow mindedness, haughtiness, a person who does not know how to compromise on some things in life, false prideful-ness, arrogance / egomania / egocentricity / narcissism before God (this is someone who idolizes themselves and worships themselves).
There is no exact translation of the word kashaph in the English language. They were evil sorcerers; some by intent, and others out of spiritual ignorance. A kashaph is someone who utilized the following forbidden practices:

Necromancy (summoning of the dead, disembodied spirits, and demons).
We do not need to summon anything. All we need do is ask God to send us the help we need, or think we need or want. Now we can ask for certain aids by name but we are asking God to send them. For example if I feel the need for great protection I will pray to God and invoke the name of Michael the Archangel when asking God for assistance. But I pray to God not to the angel. a necromancer in the bible is called an ob. The most famous ob in the bible is the woman who is now called the witch of Endor. But the word witch is misused when trying to render scripture here. The word is ob and it means necromancer. Séances are also therefore strictly forbidden in the bible.

The practice of Anan is forbidden. Anan means watcher of clouds and is usually wrongly misinterpreted as “observer of times”. Cloud watching as referred to here does not mean that God was forbidding the game of “what does that cloud shape look like to you?”, nor was it referring to the modern practice of meteorology. What it is referring to is the practice of predicting future events by cloud augury. predicting future events here isn’t referring to storms or whether but referring to personal predictions. For example if I were to look at clouds and divine that you are going to win the lottery, or loose a spouse, or have a baby in exactly two years then I would be committing the sin of Anan in scripture.

Divining the future called Qesem in scripture. This does not mean seeing the future as God shows it to us sometimes but rather it speaks of foretelling future events apart from the spirit of God. God shows me sometimes through a vision or through an oracle what will or may come to pass. But I give the glory to God and never seek to know the future outside of him. In fact I never seek knowledge of the future at all, though it is sometimes given. However if I tried to divine the future without God’s sanction or help then it would be a sin. Oracles should be about the present circumstances, the current life questions and events, the here and now, and decision making. The apostles cautioned people to use oracles with gravity and authority each with the gifts God had given to them, in the authority of Christ. The apostles threw lots to choose the replacement of Judas. Many today think this meant to cast a ballad or vote. However throwing lots was a form of oracle back in biblical days and can’t really be compared with voting at all. It was not a democratic decision they were seeking. The wants of the majority didn’t matter in the least. What they were seeking was a word from God about who he wanted as a replacement. Another oracle existed for the priesthood of the old testament that was similar somehow to the lots. The oracle of the Levite priesthood was a set of two mysterious stones called the urim and the thummim. Not all divination is bad; what is specifically forbidden is the divination of the future outside of the spirit of God. We are suppose to trust God for the future. We must believe that things will happen according to his divine will for the highest good of all. When I read an oracle I personally don’t care at all what will happen in the future. I have enough to worry about here and now. What I am concerned with is the present.

1 Pet 4:10-11
10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
(KJV)

the sin of spell casting. A spell despite the noble intentions or sentiments of pagans, is ritual usually involving the use of words whereby a pagan tries to manifest their desires in the world through their own will, power, and authority with little consideration of the divine will, and usually calling upon the aid of disembodied spirits, false gods, and even demons. Pagans will contradict me here and say that spells are concentrated sending of prayers. However I have studied and witnessed enough spell casting to know better. Many spells end up becoming curses. Spell casting in the modern bible is usually and wrongly rendered or translated as whispering enchantments. Enchanting is a ritual now commonly called charging or empowering and is not a sin in the least. However enchanting can also entail using sensuality, seduction, gifts, talents, abilities, beauty, glamour, charisma, or other tools to inspire change, awe, growth, and evolution in the souls or realities of others. Now even though enchanting isn’t bad in and of itself, it can be used for bad or good.

The sin of Idolatry; the sin of human sacrifice, or animal sacrifice after new testament times, offerings to foreign or false gods. Idolatry is the sin of putting anything before God in your life, and this includes narcissism and the love of money which is the root of all evil. “Thou shalt have no other God’s before me saith the Lord”. “Hear oh Israel , the Lord our God is one God”. Another aspect of the sin of idolatry is temple prostitution. The temple prostitutes were said to be channels for various false gods. Sleeping with a temple prostitute is the equivalent of worshiping false gods. Another aspect of idolatry is gambling. This is not referring to setting a side a small sum of money to play games of chance with, but about throwing away and wasting large sums of income and the gifts God bestows on you on games of chance and putting yourself, your family, and your friends in bad positions. There is also talk of passing through the fire. This refers to two distinct practices in ancient times. One of these was sacrificing someone to a fire dedicated to a certain false god. This also refers to fire purification rituals or hot coal type of rituals if the fires are dedicated to false gods. Now if you do a hot coal ritual or pass through a Beltaine fire for purification for example and the fire is not dedicated to any false god, but is left undedicated or it is dedicated to the one true God then it is not a sin. Another issue here is the use of amulets, talismans, fetishes, and totems. This is all about perspective. If someone is placing their faith in these objects then their misplaced faith is a form of idolatry. If however they are using these objects as tools to keep their minds focused, to be mindful, and to remember God, and their faith is in God and in the energy of the prayers and blessings placed upon the objects by the Grace of God, then there is nothing wrong with using any of these tools.


The sins of unlawful behavior; these sins include adultery, fornication (unlawful sexual relations, like bestiality or incest), uncleanness (and un- hygienic-ness), lasciviousness, lies, hatred, rage, wrath, strife, heresies, enviousness (covetousness), murder, rape, and drunkenness.

The sin of pharmakeia; Pharmakeia is the use of any substance to try and control other people against their will, to poison or kill people, to hypnotize people without their knowing, brainwashing people, causing people to go mad, or trying to force others to act against their own will or nature.

So there you go; a complete list of sins that are involved in kashaphism.
Energetic ritual practices are a whole other issue however. Everything that exists in the created universe is made of energy. Every element of nature, every cell of your body, every molecule is energy. We can learn to use, utilize, wield, direct, channel, manipulate, and exercise some control over energy and how it flows and manifests. This is the tool that God has given us to live by. That which we are made of is our gift; our tool to use.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are born to manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And s we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear our presence automatically liberates others”! Nelson Mandela

Rev. Loush M. O’Raven
Mabon, in the year of our lord 2009

note; a word that is very misunderstood that I feel needs to be understood is the word Myth; as this word informs a great many of our historical understandings, misunderstandings, and spiritual prejudices about ritual practices.

MYTH: is a legend, piece of lore, story, or history which may or may not have a bases in reality and or historical fact. The word myth doesn’t historically speaking realate to that which is fanciful or untrue. It is rather a reference to a theme or a traditional story. A vehicle for communicating and relating the lessons that we can learn from God, life, nature, culture, clan, tribe, family, the collective unconscious, spiritual aids, and or archetypes. A story handed down from the past. It is thought by some that the word legend has its roots in the word legacy.

Marie Sjoestedt: “A discussion of the mythological world of the Celts encounters at once a peculiar difficulty, namely,
that when seeking to approach it you find that you are already within. We are accustomed to distinguish the
supernatural from the natural . . . The Celts knew nothing of this, if we are entitled to judge their attitude from Irish
tradition. Here there is continuity, in space and in time, between what we call our world and the other world—or
worlds. Some peoples, such as the Romans, think of their myths historically; the Irish think of their history
mythologically; and so, too, of their geography.