Any other believers in Shamanism here?

The term "shaman" is a funny thing, and so it's hard to answer this question. Most of the cultures associate with "shamanism" never used the word "shaman" so it's hard to tell exactly what one means when you ask if you believe in shamanism. I have learned from both someone who practiced Native American "medicine" and someone who followed a Celtic path, both family members of mine. When I was younger I had sort of a dual spirituality, though over the years the relationships I have with the Celtic Gods have has sort of steered me much more onto the Celtic path, to the point where I now refer to myself as a "Celtic Reconstructionist Pagan". What these two paths have in common though is a believe that we can enter the spirit world and encounter spirits there, and that those spirits can either help or harm us, and that seeking the wisdom of the spirits can help in everyday life, in pretty much any matter. Those are all basically shamanic ideas. Use of spiritual healing is basically how I happen to still be alive at the age of almost 27, even though my doctors claimed I wouldn't live to grow up, and every few years in my adult life a doctor has wondered why I'm still here. However, I don't actually say I practice "shamanism" typically, because I don't do many of the other things associated with shamanism. I've never been all that good at healing anyone other than myself, and I don't really have a community to administer to anyway. What is your path like, writersedge?

I believe very much in Shamanism though I am not a practitioner myself (but thats not to say I'm not a healer of sorts..I mean realistically speaking many of us are to some degree).....Whats interesting is Shamanism is more often than not thought to be a Native American healing path that uses the help of the spirit world etc but it's NOT just a Native Am. thing..in fact its very much in a lot of ways similar to Vodou..Ppl dont realize that Vodou rituals and Vodou in general is a healing path and though the terms are different there are MANY "Shamans" within not only Vodou but numerous African paths as well as other non African paths

what is Shamanism?