Shaman:
A person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits. Typically such people enter a trance state during a ritual, and practice divination and healing.
Our ancestors ventured deep into caves, utilized as both shelter and a place for sacred vision. Paintings found sometimes miles deep into the cave systems far beyond where light touches, were places of recorded knowledge and insight. It is believed that Shamans would perform rituals and walk through the spirit world, and when they'd come out of their trance, they'd record what they experienced onto the walls - a portal between the mortal world and the spirit world.
A cave - a liminality between worlds, a place outside of time, a womb of solace; a pulse of intuition and a place for making the invisible visible again. The cave walls were the altars of - and to - our natural world.
Depicted on these walls were animals - our Gods.
Gods:
All powerful
Givers of resource
Teachers of knowledge
Animals- our eternal teachers, we observed and learned from them, used their hides for warmth and ate their flesh to sustain our own. We were killed by, consumed and were taught by gods. Our drawings of our surroundings were our portals to our natural state of being. Shaman as facilitator of the physical cave (becoming sacred space) and now as protector of transcendent moment.
A ritual of freedom - a place grounded to hold such an event is what is sought. A place to honor ancient traditions - and a place to make new ones - a place to condense past and future. Knowledge is never exactly learned, but more remembered - ancient and universal knowledge should be protected. What is home? What is origin? What is our place in the universe? - Questions we’ve asked and answered since the beginning of time.
Before you enter the cave:
Remember, to bow first
Remember, the earth is our womb
Remember, you are creature and infinite
Remember, we are all siblings
We’ve all descended from the great spirit,
Before people lived and named it,
In the cave:
Set fire to self,
Becoming the light that illuminates the path ahead.