An ancient knowing lives in each of us.
It is born from the earth we walk on, from herbs, from water, and from the women who came before us.
TO BEGIN WITH
What is shamanism?
It is the oldest way human beings know of caring for themselves and for others. It begins from a simple idea: everything that exists is alive and connected. The earth, the water, the plants, the people. When something breaks, in the body, in the heart or in a home, it is these very bonds that help us find balance again.
It exists in every part of the world, and every people has its own.
Shamanism uses nature in a natural way: it combines its forces to support people’s wellbeing. Its tools are simple, and you already know many of them.
The elements | Herbs | Crystals | Oil | Hands | The word | Song | The spirits of nature
On their own they are simple things. Together, chosen with care and used at the right moment, they restore balance where it was lost. All of this is shamanism.
AND ITALIAN SHAMANISM?
In Italy it lived in the villages, in the hands of women: healers, midwives, herbalists. It was handed down by word of mouth, from woman to woman, in simple and powerful gestures.
Some Italian shamanic gestures include:
Oil in a dish of water, for the il malocchio
The blessed olive branch behind the door
Salt on the threshold of the house
Mallow tea to calm
The prayer whispered before sleep
Grandmother’s lullaby
It lived in every home.
For centuries, in Italy, this knowledge passed from house to house. Every village had its women who knew the herbs, set bones back in place, helped babies be born and removed the evil eye. And every family kept some gesture: a prayer, a herb, a word spoken at the right moment.
Michela Chiarelli received it this way, from the women of her family, but inheritance is only one of the paths: nature, study and listening awaken it in anyone who seeks it.