I think I'm actually getting somewhere now with this fookin' book.. just a few more bits to finish off then I can start on the website... feedback most welcome..
The Aqua Course
Exploring a different meaning
Magic Sam Murray.
Welcome to the Aqua Course a practical guide and introduction to Suburban Shamanism a new way of doing spirituality in the 21st century.
As you may have noticed, the Aqua Course title and strap line are a cheeky parody of the Evangelistic and Charismatic Christian ‘Alpha Course’. However the similarities between the two programs pretty much ends there. Whereas the Alpha Course is based on a more or less literal understanding of the beliefs and practices found in the Bible, the Aqua Course embraces a holistic spirituality that draws from both canonical and heterodox scriptures, neo-pagan teachings, eastern wisdom, alternative research, and the works of a selection of modern mystics.
When examining such a broad and disparate collection of material it would appear that we need a rule of thumb with which to measure what are true and reliable teachings from those that may be toxic and damaging. When researching mystical texts we often encounter an array of incomprehensible sayings, accounts of strange experiences, tampered with and coded material that is difficult to properly decipher from our modern perspective. This dilemma is further compounded by the fact that there appears to be no real objective place where we can stand in order to measure the various truth claims of the many individuals and communities who created this material in the first place.
Although these various truth claims may be tricky to measure from an objective point of view, this does not mean that we cannot distil truths from them that we can use to develop an authentic and meaningful Shamanic practice. With this aim in mind I have developed a system that I call the ‘Archontic Filter’ that filters out the toxic teachings that emanate from the corporate and religious ruling elites that the ancient Gnostics called ‘the Archons’ or rulers of this world. This involves employing the simple but profound idea that if a teaching facilitates the process of moving away from self-centeredness to selflessness, from fear to love, and from attachment to liberation, then that teaching can be considered ‘true’ and deserving of further consideration. Conversely, teachings that appear to promote mixed up, dualistic, divided, clinging, grasping, fearful, thought bound, schizoid states of mind can be considered false, or at least to be put on a shelf marked ‘awaiting further light’ (1) .
Another way of looking at this methodology is to compare it to mining for rare and precious minerals. What we are digging for in this case are fragments of golden teachings, textual nuggets that when melted in the furnace of contemplation turn into ingots of profound wisdom that can deeply enrich our lives. This methodology is the antithesis of accepting a dogma because those who may claim authority over us insist that we should. Nevertheless the digging is very demanding and involves a great deal of hard graft and soul searching, and sometimes the gold is elusive and hard to come by. There are dark passages to explore and sometimes without warning the roof suddenly collapses and we may need rescuing. It is easy to lose one’s way in the labyrinths of textual caves and it is important to maintain a lamp that is in good working order to navigate the passages and locate the glistening seams of gold along the way. A helmet may also be a good idea for when you begin to think outside of the box, rocks may begin to fall on you from those who fear freedom of thought and expression!
Religion has been used as much by those who seek to enslave humanity as by those who seek to liberate us. There are countless toxic teachings to be found in the spiritual traditions of the world that need to be thoroughly diagnosed and suitable antidotes applied whenever possible. This process is akin to using a Homeopathic remedy of treating like with like. The cure to a diseased religion is often to be found within the tradition itself and this is particularly true of the Christian traditions. The Aqua Course sets out to offer a range of cures for many of the spiritual ailments created by many of the toxic forms of religion that still sadly proliferate throughout the world in our time.
In many ways the Aqua Course is aimed at those who have lately been dubbed ‘the Post Churched’. That is, nominal Christians, recovering fundamentalists, and others that for whatever reasons have become bored or disillusioned with mainstream institutional religion. It is also addressed to those who have never been particularly drawn to the Christian faith but who nonetheless have an interest in spirituality in general. These are people who may have become attracted to religious studies courses at colleges and universities; or who read books on ‘world religions’, or who have become interested in spirituality and the supernatural through the media. Some have perhaps become curious via science fiction films like the Matrix, or through the novels of Dan Brown. Others may have experimented with meditation, Yoga, Reiki, Tai Chi or other New Age practices or developed an interest through the findings of the alternative research community. I want to demonstrate that these new forms of spirituality have a deep legacy that go back to very ancient times, and what often appears to be radical and innovative new teachings were actually conceived long ago in much earlier times.
When I emerged from mainstream Christianity over 40 years ago I felt it was important not to ‘throw the baby out with the bathwater’, so hence the decision to uncover an alternative spirituality that includes the baby, all washed and dressed, that I now present through this course and website. Like life itself, these astonishing ‘uncoveries’ are constantly evolving, demanding constant revision as I continue evolving as a 21st Century Suburban Shaman.
The Suburban Shaman is a person who lives, works, and plays in the so-called ‘normal’ 3D world but who is also able to transcend that world and enter freely into the dimension I call the Spaceground or Realm of Spirit. This is the realm that includes all we can perceive with our five senses but also reaches far beyond into infinite worlds and parallel Universes. Ordinary language and thought processes are not adequate tools to describe this infinite realm which must be experienced firsthand to even begin to comprehend it.
The Suburban Shaman is typically a solitary practitioner who has little time for organised religions with their hierarchical frameworks, laws, rules, and dogmas. Suburban Shamans maintain their own psychic sovereignty and evaluate for themselves the truth of a proposition, or the efficacy of a practice. Suburban Shamans don’t follow leaders, gurus, heroes, saints, or ministers but instead learn directly from the Universal Source and become their own spiritual authority operating from their own spiritual centre or ‘home page’ (2).
It is estimated that 86% of the UK population live in what we call suburbia (3). Although there are many different types of suburban housing I will simply define suburbia as a collection of boring looking dwellings situated on the outskirts of a town or city. I have spent the majority of my life living on these kinds of housing estates that function mainly as dormitories for 9 to 5 commuters or as cultural ‘sinks’ for the burgeoning disenfranchised underclass - an environment that can be rightly accused of fostering anonymity, conformity, boredom, and spiritual atrophy in the people living there. However there are many positive aspects to suburban living that can provide ideal conditions for the practicing Shaman (4). Suburban areas are usually situated close to green belt land and wild places that can provide us with the perfect setting to develop an intimate relationship with the natural world. Being on the edge of the city, Suburban estates are often less affected by pollution, electro smog, microwave radiation, and anxiety producing stimuli that can all interfere with our natural vibrational awareness. These districts are also usually quieter places than inner city metropolises, and most suburban houses have large gardens that can be used for growing organic vegetables and healing herbs rather than following the modern custom of laying down regimented tracts of ‘lawn order’ - a tragic waste of one of Mother Earth’s greatest gifts to humankind in the form of fresh organic garden produce!
Suburban Shamanism is one of many contemporary expressions of spirituality that come under the category of Neo-Shamanism. Neo-Shamanism is the cluster of beliefs and practices concerned with experiencing higher states of consciousness and entering other dimensions, while at the same time displaying a deep connection with Mother Earth and her ancient spiritual legacy. Neo-Shamanism is usually distinguished from traditional indigenous Shamanism in that it is generally practiced by Westerners who tend to draw from a broad and eclectic range of spiritual resources - employing a ‘pick and mix’ philosophy that involves cherry picking the tastiest parts of a tradition and blending it with other juicy morsels from around the world (5). In the long history of human spirituality we find countless examples of this kind of cultural appropriation and syncretism, but in our present era this tendency towards wholesale syncretism has now turned into an epidemic. An increasing number of contemporary Shamans have become suspicious of this kind of cultural appropriation and are beginning to develop a more authentic path that utilises resources drawn from their own indigenous culture and setting. The problem for most Westerners is that our own ancient indigenous Shamanic traditions have become lost or obscured over the centuries, and so it is understandable that when we feel unable to access our own legacy we will naturally become attracted to living Shamanic traditions foreign to our own where the teachings and practices are still to a great degree whole and intact.
Happily there is an alternative to the wholesale appropriation of other indigenous traditions though of course there is much we can still learn from our culturally distant cousins. Despite being obscured behind a veil of Archontic Christian belief and praxis, it is possible to re-construct an effective and authentic Shamanic practice from the careful study of a selection of Western mystical and mythological traditions, particularly when they are combined with a choice of related contemporary psychological and philosophical thought. Ideally, this study should also be conducted within the atmosphere of an ever deepening connection with the natural surroundings of one’s own place of origin. As contemporary American Shaman Loren Cruden suggests:
We may not have access to traditional Celtic teachers and ceremonies, but I believe that a spiritual base can be found in Celtic lands and in ancestral memory, both of which are still accessible (6).
The so-called ‘Celtic’ lands that she speaks of are mainly situated in what I call the ‘Isles’- a generic, apolitical name I use to denote the individual nations of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, and the many smaller islands surrounding (7). The Isles have probably the most varied geography to be found anywhere in such a small region, an area filled with a vast array of moors, mountains, and rugged windswept coastlines - places that still echo with the eclectic spirituality of the many visitors who have sojourned there over the years. There is, I believe, a unique mystical temperament that threads through the history of the peoples of this region, a freethinking, independent streak that perhaps comes about from living at what the ancients believed was the very edge of the world. Legend has it that the original indigenous Druidic Shamans of the Isles were the surviving remnant of a highly advanced antediluvian civilisation. Whatever the actual origins of the Druids, it is evident that when Christianity first sneaked into the Isles, (probably in the early 1st century CE in the south west of England), the so-called Celtic version that developed was deeply impregnated with Druidic beliefs, customs, and ways of living. Tragically, the Druid and early Celtic Christian traditions were virtually eliminated by the later invading Roman political hegemony that brought in its wake a revised, centralised, and institutional Christendom that I consider to be the very antithesis of the egalitarian spirituality as taught and practiced by its founder. It would appear however that the legacy of these ancient Druidic Shamans continues to live on today, deeply embedded in both the Christian and Pagan folk traditions of the people of the Isles - gnosis still patiently waiting to be re-discovered by those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
It is said that all island places are natural energy centres due to being surrounded by the ionically charged minerals that are present in the sea water. The Isles are considered by many to be an important heart centre in the global meridian energy grid which may also explain why they appear to have a unique magic and spirituality all of their own.
Not many of us enjoy the privilege of living in the countryside, but dwelling in suburbia still affords easy access to local wild places that often contain traces of ancient indigenous peoples in the form of place names, megalithic monuments, sacred wells, and natural mystic portals. Every region has its own mystic portals, what the ancient Druids described as ‘thin places’ where the spiritual dimension can be entered more easily. Everywhere there are thin places, some actual, some metaphorical, where we can discover the same enlightening presence that guided the ancient mystics in decoding the mysteries of life. Most Shamans speak in very similar ways about what we find when we enter one of these mystic portals. The world that lies behind the wardrobe appears to be the same whether that closet is in Dagenham or in Delhi. It’s not that all spiritual experiences are the same but they all seem to be coming from the same place only viewed from a variety of human perspectives.
The Aqua Course is an introduction to an authentic form of Western Neo-Shamanic spirituality that I have divided into two parts. Part one deals with theory, ideas, stories, myths, and speculative material, and part two is more of a workbook dealing with ‘praxis’ - the practical aspects of Shamanic living. As an introduction it provides enough material to lay the groundwork for students to begin to build a Shamanic practice based on the Western Mystical Traditions. By utilising some of the techniques found in this book the student practitioner can begin to safely open up to the Realm of Spirit, and locate and retrieve their unique authentic self, and begin to experience fully the true magic of earthly existence. However for those who wish to explore the more advanced methods of accessing other dimensions using means such as extreme sensory deprivation and entheogens or Psychedelic medicine usage, then an authentic Shaman fully qualified and experienced in these techniques must be sought out. Although we briefly discuss the use of entheogens we do not recommend that you experiment with them alone. These advanced techniques cannot be safely practiced following instructions from a book. A close relationship with an experienced Shaman practitioner who can safely guide you through these more extreme terrains must first be found if you choose to explore these more hazardous yet exhilarating mountain pathways.
The material you will find here is both personal and subjective and is not presented as dogma or a definitive path to be followed, but it is rather an example of how authentic forms of Neo-Shamanism can be uncovered, developed, and practiced in a modern Western context without the need for wholesale appropriation of other Shamanic cultures. How you work out your own Shamanic path is your decision and how far you choose to follow me down this particular rabbit hole, or adopt the suggested practices herein, is down to you and to your judgement alone. However I hope you find this book an interesting and enlightening read that will assist you formulate your own life pathway that enables you to leave this world a more experienced, loving and enlightened being than you were when you first entered it.
Magic Sam Murray
Park Hall Estate
Mansfield Woodhouse
Nottinghamshire
England
October 2010
Notes
1) Thanks to Professor John Hick of Birmingham University for introducing me to the original hypothesis that eventually developed into the concept of the Cool Filter.
2) Of course the Universal Source may choose to speak through any person or being from any culture or none, for even stones have their own tales to tell! It’s just that Shamans tend to have a deep suspicion of hierarchical power structures and those who maintain and support them.
3) www.bioregional.com/files/.../OPLinthesuburbs_Nov06.pdf
4) The ‘man’ in Shaman, has nothing to do with gender and Shamanism can be practiced by both men and women. The term is derived from the Turkic word ‘saman’ a word used to describe such a practitioner. The Turkic populace are a broad ethno-linguistic collection of indigenous peoples that are widespread throughout Asia and Eastern Europe.
5) By ‘West’ I am describing a philosophical rather than a geographical area, a particular mind-set rather that a continent or collection of nations. Australians and New Zealanders are about as ‘east’ as one can get geographically and yet, indigenous peoples excluded, they clearly operate from a Western cultural mindset.
6) Cruden, L. The Journey Home: Reclaiming Our Celtic Roots. Shaman’s Drum Magazine/ summer 1996.
7) ‘Celtic’ is perhaps not the best term to describe the original indigenous peoples of the Isles and though there is evidence of some European Celtic migrations to this region their origins appear to be elsewhere. We will continue however to retain the popular and romantic description of these ancestors as ‘Celtic’ for want of a better term.
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