There are all kinds of ancestors, spiritual as well as biological, of all colors, creeds, and countries of national origin, who are deeply interested in this healing work and eager to help with it. When we meet and form relationships with these ancestors, our conscious awareness that they’re accompanying us on this journey, like the conscious awareness of the ever-present power of Love manifesting as forgiveness, makes the path toward freedom from White racism exciting and joyful rather than daunting.

And so here we come to an introduction to shamanic practices—humanity’s oldest and most widespread spiritual path. The word “shaman” comes from the Manchu-Tungus word šaman, meaning roughly “one who knows,” from a language group that’s widely spoken across northeastern Asia. It’s been adopted to replace loaded terms like “witch” and “sorcerer,” or, worse, “witch doctor.” And since there are Mongolian people among those who have been extremely generous about sharing their shamanic knowledge and practices, it’s nice to honor them by using their name for the workers, and the work.

Shamanic work is done in a light trance state that can be induced with the help of plant-derived substances or by drumming or rattling in a steady rhythm. As it’s generally taught in the West, drumming or rattling is the preferred modality, since it’s less likely to induce a trance that might take an unpredictable amount of time to emerge from: all it takes is a shift to a more rapid rhythm to bring us back. Not to disparage the plant-based methods—used wisely and with good intentions, they’ve worked well for all kinds of people—but for quick effective work, drumming and rattling are easiest. There’s also the difference that with drumming and rattling there’s an intention but no expectation, whereas with plants there are often expectations, and they can greatly influence the experience. In my own experience, journeys rarely are or show what I expected—or else why would I be journeying?

In brief, shamanic work as taught these days usually involves journeying to “nonordinary reality,” in either an upper world or a lower world, both of which are sacred spaces, and sometimes in the middle world, which is here. We don’t ever go alone; we go in the company of a helpful and protective being from the realm we’re journeying to. In the upper world, these beings usually appear in human form; in the lower world, they usually appear in animal form, although wonderful beings in human form are often found in the lower world, too, and animals may accompany us in the upper world. Spirit is indivisible; it shows up in whatever garb or form we can best understand, or is most comforting. We might call this a very beautiful expression of the infinite politeness of the Only Being.