Like a bridge: shamans east and west

When I was in my early twenties, Simon and Garfunkel were immensely popular. We would play their tunes night and day, and revel in the idea of being part of the culture they, and others like them, were ushering into the world. One song in particular that stuck like glue was “A Bridge Over Troubled Waters”. It is still with me. Round and round and round it has played in my head and heart over these many years.

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In recent years the term “shaman” has been popping up quite frequently. An image which comes to mind is often a wise elder, who is part of a long lineage, and who is able to contact the spirits directly. In order to make contact with these invisible entities, there is often drumming, chanting, ritualistic dancing and hand movements, trance states, and possibly sweat lodges in some cultures. At least these are things that I have been told concerning the world of Shamans. The entire process has an aura of mystery and deep power to it. And because of the highly charged power involved, contacting the spirit world is a very sacred experience, only to be done with the greatest of reverence and respect.

I have a friend in America who has chosen the way of the Shaman. It is her route into the spiritual world. She herself is highly attuned to non-material dimensions, so having a means to enter that world safely is crucial. The Shaman’s way provides that for her.

She is a serious practitioner. So she regularly goes to Ecuador, where her Shaman lives. There they perform rituals, enter into trance states, and commune with spirits. She comes back from those dimensions transformed. Her energy is almost like sparks in its pinging intensity. And she seems to glow from the attunement. Yet, no matter how powerful and other-worldly the experience, she knows the importance of grounding it and herself. So she uses it in her work as a therapist. In that way, not only she, but also many others benefit from her spiritual contacts.

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I have another friend who is here in Japan. Her name is Kumiko and she calls herself a Shaman. But outwardly she appears to be an ordinary human being. She has an administrative job in a university, where her responsibility is to help foreign students. She drives a big box van. She wears attractive clothes, and is always sure her hairstyle matches the trends. She does not perform any unusual rituals or go to sweat lodges. She never attends retreats to attune to other dimensions. Outwardly her life is one of an average middle class working woman. So, her repetitive use of the words “Shaman” and “Warrior” in reference to herself made me very curious indeed. I decided to ask her about it. And this is what she told me.

First is her family’s long “outer” history, which in part goes like this. Her family on her father’s side comes from a long line of seers. They have always been connected to the world of spirits. But they were also significant in Japanese feudal history. My friend herself has a particularly strong attunement to one of her ancestors, who lived about 1000 years ago. His name was Abe-no-Munetou. He was a samurai in Northeast Japan. His brother, Abe-no-Sadatou, was the main ruler of the region. But he and his brother worked well together. Their kingdom was very prosperous thanks to good management, gold, iron, and excellent horses. They did a lively trade with China and Korea. The capital of that kingdom was called Koromokawa. And very interestingly, the center of the very strong earthquake in June 2008 was precisely in that spot. “Maybe the spirits of the Abe kingdom are ready to come back to earth”, speculates my friend reflectively.

Kyoto was a capital of Japan at the time and it was quite prosperous. And like political entities anywhere, the Emperor in Kyoto wanted to expand his territory in order to gain more power and prestige. Also the Emperor wanted gold of the Abe Kingdom, so waged frequent wars with them. He chipped away at the Abe territory and finally his hired great samurai Genji conquered that empire. The decisive battle took place all over present Iwate-prefecture.

Abe-no-Sadatou was beheaded. His samurai brother, Abe-no-Munetou, was banished to Kyushu, far to the south. He went there with his faithful followers and lived the rest of his life in relative seclusion. He was buried there. And even today his grave is carefully and reverently attended to by one of the descendants of his followers. Such is the loyalty of the Japanese. It goes on for generations and for thousands of years.

The sister of those two brave men should have died or been banished, but instead she married the head of the Kiyohara clan, who was used by Genji to beat the Abe clan, and had a child with him. Later in the jostling for power he was killed. Instead of dying with her husband, she astutely chose to marry his murderer. She did that for her son. It was the only way she could be sure his bloodline would stay pure. And her sacrifice for her offspring did reap its reward. It was the line that became the great and mighty Northern Fujiwara clan. The center of their northern kingdom was in a place called Hiraizumi, which today is a pleasant tourist destination.

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My friend Kumiko’s “inner” story is also very rich and deep. She draws her inspiration from her very brave ancestor Abe-no-Munetou. Yet, coupled with that warrior energy is a very strong attunement to the spirits. In fact, as early as age two she was aware of a guardian spirit or angel who was always with her. Many children have this special attunement, but in Kumiko’s case rather than vanishing with age, as it usually does, it became stronger. Kumiko told me, “Just as Mozart was a great musician at a very young age and could not escape his fate, I also knew my calling when I was very young. And I cannot escape my fate of seeing and knowing spirits and working with them.”

As Kumiko aged, her intuition developed and became extremely sharp and focused. “I am so attuned that I am like an animal. I know without using my intellect. I know things from deep within every cell of my being.” And indeed she is astonishingly sensitive to the energy of people and places around her.

“As a Shaman I am like a bridge,” she wisely says. “ I link worlds. I link people. I link ideas. That is one of the jobs I am here to do this time round.”

In the mundane world that calling manifests in several ways. She is an interpreter and translator, for one. She often interprets when officials or foreign dignitaries come to town. Likewise she does a lot of translating of books or special articles and documents.

At her job she is constantly there for the foreign students at her university, helping them through the complicated maze of Japanese systems and culture. She goes beyond her job and spends many a weekend with her young friends, who are deeply connected with her by souls, encouraging them in their various pursuits.

“They show me so much. They open so many worlds to me. And one link always leads to so many others. Even though I am perpetually exhausted and even though my free time is very rarely my own, I would have it no other way.”

Kumiko is constantly on her mobile phone, sending text messages far and wide. “I have to say thank you,” she says. “I have to arrange for my students to meet someone who can help them. I must be sure my friend is all right. She just lost her baby.” The necessary connecting goes on and on.

And that brings her story to the esoteric work she is now doing. All through her life, Kumiko was torn between the mundane world and her intense awareness of spirits. Her sensitivity pulled and tugged her in many directions. She always sensed that she was not fulfilling her spiritual purpose as she lived through a very difficult childhood, a violence-filled marriage, a divorce, giving up her daughter, and secretly keeping in touch with her beloved only child. (Kumiko and her now adult daughter are best friends.)

Her mother was highly rational, so punished Kumiko for her “imagination” or for any talk about spirits. But Kumiko’s connections to the spiritual world were much too strong for it to be shut out or closed down. And now, finally, at this ripe stage in life, Kumiko is fully able to open up and let the gods, goddesses, and spirits work through her.

“I do nothing. Of course, I have an ego. I am here on earth. I live in a body. But I have to constantly keep my ego in check. It only gets in the way of my work. I am here to serve humanity through “The Powers”. They guide and direct me. I have to keep my ego out of it, and follow the voice of the gods, which come through my intuition. And it is crucial to always act only for the good of others.

“In the presence of others, I say nothing. I listen and listen and listen. I send positive energy to them. That is my way of aligning a person with harmonious, healing patterns. I believe in the good of people. Given a chance, a path, courage, they will find the best way for themselves.”

Her current work is very, very challenging. Spirits of people who committed suicide and miscarried babies find her and plead for assistance. But that assistance is not what one might expect.

“In many traditions suicide is a very grave sin, “ reflects Kumiko. “But there are other points of view. We cannot judge. We do not know what stage a soul is going through. We do not know what lessons a soul has to both learn and teach. That is a personal matter within each soul. Only they know.

“But when they come to me asking for help, I find they are only concerned for those left behind. They want to sooth those who are distraught over their death.”

The miscarried babies also ask Kumiko to comfort their grieving parents.

“Most suicides and miscarriages are surrounded by terrible guilt on the part of those left behind. Most often they feel it is their fault. So I am now being used to help those troubled souls who are still on earth. I do not do anything special. I let them know I believe in their innate goodness. And indeed, everyone has deep inner goodness. They just have to find it and water it so it can grow. I provide a safe space where it is OK to grieve and OK to move on beyond grief.”

“Sometimes the energy of those in grief is very ugly and fierce. Those spirits seem to hang on me like a very heavy, devouring weight. Those are the hard cases. I cannot handle them alone. So, I turn to other Shaman friends for help. We pray constantly. Together we do all we can to relieve their stress and to bring them back into harmony. But ultimately the work is theirs. We cannot do it for them. We can only provide a way.”

Currently Kumiko is working on four recent cases of suicide. All of them searched and found her from the spirit world. All of them came asking for help for those left behind.

Today, Kumiko goes to shrines whenever she is called by gods. She will open herself to the natural world, as is the ancient Shinto practice. And she will open herself to the gods and goddesses who are guarding and guiding her. Then she will return to the mundane world, get out her cell phone, and contact those in the greatest need.

“I am a bridge. A bridge to sooth very troubled waters. Yes, I am definitely a bridge, between this world and the next. And my work is to bring harmony and ease into people’s very troubled minds.”

For further reading, please check out these sites:

For information about Kumiko’s ancestors, please see:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emishi

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_no_Yoritoki

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abe_no_Sadato

www.city.munakata.lg.jp/e-shigai/sumouyo03.html

For information about Emishi's enemies, please see:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamoto_Yoshiie

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyohara

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenkunen_War

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosannen_War

For information about Hiraizumi of the Oshu Fujiwara clan, please see:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiraizumi

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiwara_no_Kiyohira

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Fujiwara