I won’t pretend to be one of those North American hippies who is searching for the psychedelic transcendence of an aboriginal shaman. The closest I came was my teenage mushroom phase, and that crashed and burned a long time ago, probably because I was searching for oblivion, not wisdom. But I am fascinated with the traditional process of connection to the universe, and the plants that make that connection possible. I do believe that there are doorways in the human mind that can only be opened through the use of certain substances, ones that close the door to one reality as they open the door to another. Photographer Swiatoslaw Wojtkowiak travels around the world capturing these moments of mental transition and spiritual healing with reverence and respect, and his photos are magical. He documents his and others’ journey to better understand shamanism and its global forms. Take a look at some ancient sacred practices still alive in the modern world, and see more and read his stories on his blog.
Shane Bermingham
June 17, 2015 at 2:32 am
“Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream, it is not dying.”
Sancho Calimquim
June 17, 2015 at 12:32 am
Close your eyes and forget you name. Step outside yourself and let your thoughts drain.
Blake Viola
June 17, 2015 at 12:27 am
It’s disrespectful to assume that taking hallucinogenic plants and “certain substances” are the only methods that exist to open these doorways. Contrary to the western belief, not every single shaman culture uses plants or other substances to reach these places (though many of them definitely do). Also not everyone is a shaman, there is a reason why only certain people within these groups are called to be one. Not everyone can see. (I am not saying I’m a complete expert that knows everything there is to know about this, though I will say that I have studied the subject for some time now, I am just bringing what I have learned.) I just think western people tend to wrongly appropriate these cultures and use their traditions of taking psychoactive plants to romantically idealize their own drug culture practices that have nothing to do with what these people are doing within their specific traditions. Doing mushrooms or dropping acid with your friend is not at all the same as what these people do, not even close.