104 SECRETS OF SHAMANISMstorm had passed and outside lay the debris left in its
wake. The gourds were broken and crushed beneath
fallen branches and seed pods from the trees. Mannaca
called his tribe together and revealed to them his vision.
They collected the remains of the gourds, built a great
fire, and burned them. The people were happy because a
great fear had been lifted from them. They celebrated the
new dance with vigor.Creating and Destroying
Every shaman knows that in order to create something
new, something first must be destroyed. The old form is
taken apart and from its energetic source, something new
arises. Shamanically speaking, all creating is based on some
form of destruction. Shamans are comfortable with destruc-
tion and have learned not to fear it because without it they
know there can be no life.
Nature offers the best examples of this constant destruc-
tion in the form of the seasonal changes. As each season
gives way to the next, something is destroyed in the process.
The fall sweeps away the summer sunlight, kills off the green
leaves, and lays bare the landscape. Winter snow kills off the
grasses, the insects, and the weakest animals. It covers over
the gold of fall in a frozen white blanket. Spring destroys the
snowpack and floods tear out trees and embankments along
the riverside. Hie longer day pushes back the dark nights
and destroys the cold of winter. The summer sun bakes the
land and gradually dries up the water and grasses. Summer
kills off spring as surely as summer dies before fall. And so it
goes.
Everywhere in nature are examples of terrific destruction
that reform the land and seas and create a new canvas for
change. Tornados, earthquakes, floods, slides, tsunamis,
hurricanes, erupting volcanoes, and withering droughts de-
stroy the landscape as it was, leaving devastation in their
wake. And from this terrible destruction comes new life, new
forms, new possibilities.
Shamans acknowledge the terrific power of transforma-
tion that comes with destruction and seek to harness that
power for their own use.
One powerful universal shamanic motif is the destruction
of the apprentice during the initiation as a shaman. In many
cultures, shamans experience initiation through a near-death
experience that literally threatens their lives. This may occur
via an accident or illness from which they recover totally