I have been away for a while and in that time have had time to do lots of thinking about the nature of Shamanism and the deep feelings I have for my native Druid traditions. Furthermore my good American and Canadian friends here at OBOD have instructed me about the beliefs and traditions of the Native Americans. As someone with a Celtic bloodline I feel a great empathy with all of these traditions and have always wondered why. I used to think it was just a deep emotion I felt that couldnt be rationalised but then I started to do a bit of research.

As I read about other cultures and their beliefs I am more and more drawn to the conclusion that many of the ideas overlap and indeed become almost identical. For example at this time of year the winter solstice - it is primarily a festival of lights and rejoices in the return of the sun or son. Many religions have this belief.
The customs of so many religions complement eachother and so I got to looking at Shamanic traditions and especially the link between Druidry and Native American spirituality. The belief in nature is so strong, the Geat Spirit the call of the wild, the shapeshifting, etc. etc. The word Shaman originated in Siberia in North East Europe and was practised amongst nomadic peoples. These people were the same people who travelled across the Steppes of Russia and into central Europe forming or at least mingling with other peoples. The Celts were amongst these ancient people.
Now as I look at the globe it doesn't take too much of a leap of the imagination to see that if the Shamanic cultures in the region of Siberia were to travel East the next land mass is North America. Is it not possible then that Native American spirituality derived from peoples somehow travelling across the ocean and bringing the spirit of Europian Shamanism with them?

I think I saw some research on this a while ago but cannot remember much about it. If this were to be the truth and I can't really see why it shouldn't be possible. Then both Shamanism, Druid and Native American spirituality have the same rootes.
This makes me feel extremely warm inside and happy in my skin to know that within my spirituality I have so many soulmates!
Peace and Love