Jose ATID LEIIA STEVENS 125have developed over eons and have distributed themselves
over every part of the earth. When undisturbed by people,
animals proliferate and thrive in every kind of environment.
There are ample water, air, and raw materials to live in har-
mony and peace for as long as humans need them.
To the shaman's way of thinking, only two things cause
scarcity and imbalance. The first is the limitations within a
person's own imagination. If you believe there is limitation,
there is. The second cause of scarcity is a person's own greed
and selfishness generated by fear (the lack of power). When
people act from these unbalanced perspectives, they perpe-
trate acts of violence toward their own environment and sup-
port systems. This upsets the natural balance maintained by
the dynamic tension between the ordinary world (tonal) and
the spirit world (nagual). The result is incredible pain and
suffering in the ordinary world and general alienation from
the spirit world. People especially suffer because they have
cut off the flow of power that comes from the spirit world
into the ordinary world. Without power, they suffer from
disease, depression, anxiety, and helplessness.
From the shamanic perspective power flows mainly one
way, from the spirit world into the ordinary world. There-
fore, when people interfere with the flow of that power, only
the ordinary world suffers. The spirit world cannot be
harmed, only frustrated in its attempts to provide for and
support the ordinary world.
Creating Balance: The Giveaway
For shamans, the spirit world is a great benefactor pro-
viding them with everything they need. As you have seen,
the spirits of all the elements, plants, animals, and ancestors
can be requested to provide assistance, information, healing,
and advice. During shamanic journeys, shamans are often
given talismans for protection and other gifts that offer a
wide variety of benefits. The spirit world provides all of these
benefits and gifts without charge to those who have earned
them through discipline and dedication. If the gifts are mis-
used through greed or violence toward others, however, they
may be withdrawn.
Native American shamans have spoken of this generosity
as the "giveaway" and have tried to emulate the spirit world
by initiating their own giveaway rituals. Occasionally, a fam-
ily would give away every shred of their possessions to the
other families in the tribe. In the morning after the giveaway,
they would find piled up before them heaps of new skins,