ABOUT THE SOCIETY

©2003 Mia Bosna

"The soul directs the body-mind to operate differently and we can achieve spectacular healing working in this way. Hence, the purpose of the Society is to gather people working in various shamanic and spiritual practices to do serious clinical work, scientific analysis, networking, exploring, and developing shamanic practice in responsible ways and adapting them to modern practice ." --Ed Tick, PhD

We are a not-for-profit public benefit corporation whose goal is to support the re-emergence of shamanism into modern, western culture. While many other shamanic organizations seek to document and learn from what has been done in the past, the Society is focused on the here and now and is interested in documenting how shamanism is changing and how it is being used as it interfaces with the twenty-first century world.

The Society has approximately 850 members in 16 countries and continues to grow.   Many of our members are degreed and licensed healthcare practitioners, psychologists and/or social workers who help people by using shamanic interventions in their practices along with conventional western therapies. Some of our members have practices that are purely shamanic. Other members use shamanism to help communities, corporations, schools, and other institutions. Some of members are artists, poets, writers, actors, and dancers. And some are simply people who use shamanism to live their lives well.

Our members range from people new to this path to the very wise elders who have guided us for many years.

Shamanism is used around the world in many different cultures and shamanic practices vary from culture to culture.   But the goal -- to heal people, communities, institutions and the earth and to live in balance -- is always the same. Therefore, we embrace all forms of shamanism, all lineages, and all traditions, and we encourage the dynamic exchange of information between all the diverse groups so that everyone can learn from each other. A rising tide raises all boats.

The Society does not credential practitioners in any way. Our mission is not to regulate, but to educate and build community. For this reason, membership in the Society does not imply an endorsement by the Society of any individual or group. Our circle is open to all. But we do provide members with a Code of Integrity, and we encourage a continued dialogue around subjects such as ethics, integrity, and the role of values.

Shamanism is only as useful as it works. As a Society, we are deeply interested in understanding what it is that actually heals; in identifying which practices are truly helpful, and in learning all the ways in which people can become better healers.

The Society of Shamanic Practitioners is committed to the following goals:

• Creating an alliance of diverse shamanic practitioners, which functions as a circle of peers
• Gathering and disseminating knowledge about shamanic practice
• Promoting the importance of personal responsibility in doing the inner work necessary to live and practice with integrity
• Focusing resources and shamanic energies to bring healing and unity to the world
• Providing a forum for sharing ideas about integrating shamanic practice into contemporary society, clinical practice, institutions, and efforts to heal the earth
• Encouraging a dynamic exchange around how people use spiritual practice in their personal daily lives and how we bring shamanic practices into our professions
• Creating grass roots communities that support each other
• Supporting education through an annual conference, regional gatherings and small focused retreats
• Maintaining a repository of stories and clinical case studies of successful shamanic interventions
• Facilitating research evaluating the outcome as shamanic healing.

We invite you to join us.

"The Society provides us with a voice greater than our individual voices, and a place for our calling as caretakers of the Earth to be expressed. We are no longer alone."

--Alberto Villoldo PhD