Below is a brief explanation of Christian Shamanism, and its beliefs.  Being a Christian-based religion, the bible is quoted to back-up what is said according to our beliefs.

Christian Shamans don't claim to be Pagan.  They incorporate the different ways a Pagan worships into their Christianity.  How do we do this?

We have an alter, for starters.  Our alter consists of candles, a glass of holy water with a small cross in it, figurines of our Saintly guides, a statue of Jesus and one of Mary, a white cloth which covers the table we use as an alter, and a cross that hangs over the alter itself.  We also have smaller glasses of water on our alter to remind us of loved ones passed.

We channel energies and spiritual guides to aid us in our tasks.  We cast a protective circle around us to insure that we will not be interrupted by outside forces as we work.  We do workings on full and new moons.  The difference here is that we do these things on Sundays, our most holy day.

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It's a well-known fact that Christianity does not condone the use of magick.  They renounce it vehemently.  

The catch here is that they used to practice it long ago widely.  Prayers to God and Jesus were their way of getting absolution for their sins (and still is).  They also used to pray and ask favors of Patron Saints and Angels as well. 

As time went on, fewer people began to follow mysticism as they were being taught that they were not to worship anyone other than God.

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This is the belief that Jesus himself was not only a teacher but a shaman as well.  His teachings set a path to be followed, and since he did not request anything in return for his teachings, neither do his followers.

We follow the Ten Commandments and do our best to do all the "do's" in the bible and none of the "don'ts".

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Question: 

 Doesn't Exodus 34:14 State

"You must worship no other gods, but only the LORD, for he is a God who is passionate about his relationship with you."?

How can you have Angels and Saints as Guides?  Isn't the Lord a big enough guide already?

Answer:

Christian Shamans do not worship the angels and saints.  We ask the angels to help up on our journey and fortify or circles when we do rituals.  

We do not worship the Saints either.  We look at how they lived their lives as examples of how we should live.  We sometimes pray to them in circles to give us their wisdom, but we do not place them above Jesus or God. 

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Just as Pagans have their Sabbats and Esbats, so do the Christian Shaman.  The bible tells us when to have them.  Easter and Christmas are the two biggies but there are lesser ones as well.

Feast of Harvest

Exodus 23:16

Celebrate the Feast of Harvest with the first fruits of the crops you sow in your field.

Feast of Ingathering

Exodus 23:16

Celebrate the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.

Passover Feast

Exodus 34:25-26

²⁵ "Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.
²⁶ "Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.
"Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk."

Festival of Harvest

Leviticus 23:14-16

¹⁴Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until after you have brought this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed wherever you live.


The Festival of Harvest

¹⁵"From the day after the Sabbath, the day the bundle of grain was lifted up as an offering, count off seven weeks. ¹⁶Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later, and bring an offering of new grain to the LORD.

Confusing but easy to explain.  The Sabbath they refer to is the Sabbath after the Harvest.  From then count seven weeks.  The new offering of grain is then given the the Lord 50 days after the seventh Sabbath (Sunday) of the new year.

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Prayers are conducted when we gather together, but also when we are separate from one another.  We gather in one another's homes or yards and not in churches.  Our belief in prayer gatherings comes from 

Acts 1: 13-15

¹³When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. ¹⁴They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among the believers^[1] (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

Are belief for gathering in prayer out-of-doors stems from

Matthew 16: 17-19

¹⁷Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.^{[3] 19}I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

The preceding verse is also a lesson in balancing the spiritual and physical.

Meditation is used to get to a higher consciousness.  Those Shamans who are beginning to discover their path and begin meditation are guided by one or more experienced for the first few meditations.  The pupil is asked to keep a journal of when he/she has meditated and what they saw.  Visualization techniques are often used on order to meditate, and sometimes during meditation, the shaman gets a vision.

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Ah yes, the golden rule and judgment.  Do we judge others?  Not on your life!  The following is why...

Deuteronomy 1
¹⁶ And I charged your judges at that time: Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly, whether the case is between brother Israelites or between one of them and an alien. ¹⁷ Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of any man, for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it. ¹⁸ And at that time I told you everything you were to do.

This tells us all that final judgment of anyone should be left up to God and God alone.  We are not to judge others, but a neutral path by listening to both side and offering advice when it is asked of us.

Matthew 7

¹"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ²For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

The Golden rule with a twist.  "Judge not!"  We take this very seriously.  We do not judge others;  we accept them for who they are, no more, no less.

Thank goodness for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Luke 6
³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Judging Others

³⁷"Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

Once again, it is re-enforced that judging is not our job...

John 7
²³Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? ²⁴Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment."

The old "Book by its cover".  This passage teaches all Christian Shamans that one must know a person before deciding whether to like him or not.  Just because he/she is a different color or believes differently, they should not be judged.

Leviticus 19
¹⁴ " 'Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord .
¹⁵ " 'Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
¹⁶ " 'Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
" 'Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. I am the Lord .

Straight and True...  Be kind to others.  Do not mock them, slander them, or make fun of them.  My path considers all these a form of judgment, and a major no-no.

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On the Killing of Animals

We only condone the killing of animals if the entire animal is used in some fashion, etc. food, clothing, health.

We do not believe in killing animals just for their coats, to make cosmetics out of the, or to use for the testing of medicines and products.

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We do not believe in senseless violence.  There is also a peaceful way to resolve conflict.  After all, the bible says, "Thou shalt not kill."

However, we are not push-overs when it comes to defending our family and friends.  Remember, the bible also says, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

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