29/11/2025
“You will not become a shaman because you choose to be. You will become one because Spirit chooses you—and breaks you open so that the light can enter.”
— Darren John Maxwell
Shamanic Crisis: There are defined stages in a shamanic conversion that mark the progress of an individual into shamanic knowing. First there is the journey through the underworld of darkness and death. It is through the darkness of the unknown and the death of ones personal self and ego that the shaman travels on their journey to enlightened knowing. As the shaman first journeys through the underworld of fear and pain the demons of past misgivings and a necessarily uncertain future place the initiate shaman in great mental and emotional peril.
What Is a Shamanic Crisis?
A shamanic crisis is not a breakdown. It is a breakthrough.
But before the light breaks through, the world as you know it must dissolve.
In every authentic shamanic tradition across the Earth, there is a sacred ordeal—the moment the individual is called, taken, and dismembered by Spirit. This is not symbolic. It is real. Often painful. Sometimes terrifying. And absolutely necessary.
This is the moment when the ego dies. When time bends. When the soul leaves the well-worn path and enters the Dreaming. When the self is stripped of everything that is not true. It is the dark night of the soul—but with wings.
In Flying Eagle Medicine, we honour this crisis as a rite of passage.
It is the first gate of real shamanic knowing.
Signs You’re in a Shamanic Crisis
You feel like your life no longer fits, but you don’t know who you’re becoming
You’re experiencing intense dreams, visions, synchronicities, or psychic openings
You feel like you're dying—emotionally, mentally, spiritually
You can’t relate to others the way you used to
You're drawn to nature, Spirit, or ancestral wisdom, without knowing why
You feel lost, but also called
If any of this resonates, you are not alone.
You are not broken. You are breaking open.
The Purpose of the Crisis
The shamanic crisis is not punishment. It is preparation.
It initiates you into deeper perception. It opens the “Cosmic Eye.”
In my own crisis, I was taken by my spirit guide Flying Eagle beyond time, beyond the small self, and beyond light itself—to a place of no-thing and everything. There, I rested in the stillness of all creation. I became the witness, the creator, the breath of the universe dreaming itself awake.
This is the gift of the crisis: it reveals the truth of who you really are—
not a name, not a body, not a personality—but an eternal spark of creative spirit.
What You Need to Know as You Begin This Journey
You’re not crazy. You’re awakening.
You’re not alone. You’re part of a lineage of soul initiates across time.
You’re not failing. You’re being stripped down so you can rise whole.
This workshop honours that process.
You are not here to be taught—you are here to remember.
How Flying Eagle Medicine Supports the Crisis
The Flying Eagle Alphabet and message stick system were given as a way to navigate the path of becoming. They are not just tools; they are mirrors, maps, and medicine. Each symbol, each orientation, each message carries the vibration of remembrance.
In this workshop, we will:
Explore the underworld journey and how it appears in your life
Work with the Shaman Oracle to activate intuitive knowing
Use the Flying Eagle Alphabet to receive messages from Spirit
Practice meditation and journaling to reconnect with your dreaming
Begin the process of transformation—not by fixing yourself, but by becoming yourself
You Are the Medicine
The shamanic crisis isn’t something you survive to get back to normal.
It’s what births the version of you that was always waiting to emerge.
This is not about healing so you can re-enter society unchanged.
This is about becoming a living channel for Spirit, for Earth, for the Dreaming itself.
You are the wound, the wisdom, and the way.
You are the question and the answer.
You are the lightning and the ground.
And the Eagle has landed.
Let us begin.
There are defined stages in a shamanic conversion that mark the progress of an individual into shamanic knowing. First, there is the journey through the underworld of darkness and death. It is through the unknown, and the death of one's personal self and ego, that the shaman travels on their journey to enlightened knowing. This is not metaphorical. It is an ordeal. And it is unavoidable.
As the shaman first enters the underworld, they are met by fear, confusion, and disorientation. What once brought meaning no longer satisfies. What once seemed certain dissolves. This is the beginning of the shamanic crisis. The initiate is cast into shadow, where the demons of past misgivings and the terror of a necessarily uncertain future place them in great mental and emotional peril. It is here that the modern urban shaman faces their breaking point. And it is here that the real work begins.
The Descent
To the uninitiated, this descent may appear as depression, burnout, illness, or madness. But to the shaman, this is the call—raw and unfiltered. It strips away the masks worn in the world. It disrupts identities that have been carefully constructed. And in doing so, it opens the gate.
The underworld is the realm of ancestors, shadows, traumas, and suppressed dreams. It is the womb of potential and the graveyard of illusions. There is no bypassing this stage. The spirits of the deep do not grant shortcuts. Only through surrender—full, painful, and real—can the shaman begin to uncover the true medicine they carry.
The Ordeal
The underworld teaches through opposition. The body may suffer. The mind may fracture. Relationships may crumble. What once brought certainty—religion, career, family, ambition—may be revealed as scaffolding, not soul. Here, the initiate becomes nothing. And it is in this nothingness that the sacred is made visible.
Many do not survive this crisis of spirit. And yet, for those who do, there is a moment—a silence in the chaos, a breath beyond the breakdown. It may come as a dream, a sign, a knowing that cannot be explained. This is the moment of arrival. This is when the Eagle lands.
The Vision
I first experienced the collapse of time in my mind’s Cosmic Eye through a simple meditation journey I received from my spirit guide, Flying Eagle.
Eagle first took me beyond my "small self" to experience humanity as one event—an energetic continuum where every human life that has been or ever will be is part of one unified experience. Not separate. One whole.
From there, Eagle carried me beyond human energy to the energy of light itself, revealing that light does not travel in a straight line. It radiates, endlessly expanding into the whole of creative darkness.
Then Eagle flew my "light self" into a singular moment of no-thing—a void of infinite potential and complete stillness where all of creation—past, present, and future—exists simultaneously. I rested in the timelessness of this space, observing everything and nothing, in perfect harmony.
In that moment, Eagle asked, Who are you now?
I was no-thing. I was everything. I was not bound by time or space. I was ethereal potential—existing in all things, everywhere, at once. I was Eagle, and Eagle was me. I was the earth, the sun, and stars, and they were me. I was universal wonder in a single moment of creative expansion, and that wonder was also me.
I had become the universe experiencing itself as ethereal thought—expanding from no-thing to one-thing. I had become conscious creation. The illusion of linear time dissolved. I no longer saw my soul's journey as a straight path, but as an eternal unfolding through the infinite dimensions of being.
The Return
When the Eagle returns the shaman from this vision, the ordinary world can never be seen the same again. The shaman now walks in two worlds, embodying the paradox of being both human and eternal, both individual and whole. They become a bridge—not through belief, but through direct experience.
The Eagle does not erase the darkness—it integrates it. The underworld does not disappear—it becomes part of the shaman’s wings. This is the moment of rebirth. The shaman is no longer seeking healing—they are the medicine.
The Flight Forward
To walk the path of the shaman is to remember what has been forgotten: that Spirit is not separate, that life and death are lovers, and that every crisis is a doorway to the sacred. The Eagle reminds us that from above, all things connect. The patterns are visible. The medicine is real.
And when the shaman looks into your eyes, you may feel the underworld stir, the old stories begin to unravel, and something ancient awaken. That is the medicine moving through them.
A shamanic crisis is a deep and often terrifying confrontation with the unconscious, the spiritual realms, and the hidden aspects of self and soul. It may begin with illness, depression, anxiety, the collapse of a worldview, or the sudden onset of psychic phenomena—visions, dreams, or encounters with beings from the other side. But unlike conventional psychological breakdowns, a shamanic crisis is a sacred one. It is an awakening hidden inside a dismantling.
The shaman-to-be is often unaware at first that what is happening is initiatory. It feels like chaos, like death. And in a way, it is. The death of the old self, the conditioned self. The false personality, the wounded masks, the ego structures built for survival—all of it must go.
This crisis is not something you choose. It chooses you. It is a calling issued by Spirit itself, often preceded by trauma or great loss. Many cultures understand this as being “struck by lightning” or “taken by the spirits.”
Core Characteristics of a Shamanic Crisis
Disintegration of Identity:
The personal self dissolves. What you thought you were is no longer enough to hold who you are becoming. This brings confusion, fear, even madness—but it is necessary.
Emotional and Energetic Turbulence:
Grief, rage, sorrow, ecstasy—emotions surge through the body. Kundalini may awaken. Energy moves in unfamiliar and overwhelming ways. Dreams intensify, visions open.
Isolation and the Void:
Friends and family may not understand. The initiate feels separate from the world, sometimes utterly alone. This is the void. The sacred womb of re-creation. Here, the initiate is stripped bare.
Spiritual and Symbolic Visitations:
Animals, ancestors, spirits, guides, and mythic beings may appear. They offer tests, wisdom, initiations. One must learn to see, to listen, to feel what is real beneath appearances.
Ego Death and Rebirth:
The ego is not destroyed, but realigned. It becomes the servant of Spirit, not its master. This is the beginning of authentic power. The shaman is reborn with a new identity, rooted in service and sacred responsibility.
A Universal Pattern
What’s striking is that across all indigenous and mystical traditions—from Siberia to South America, from Australian Dreamtime to African tribal medicine—the pattern is the same. The one called to the shamanic path must die before they can live.
They must be torn apart to be remade whole.
Healing or Madness?
Modern society has few frameworks to understand this. Those undergoing a shamanic crisis are often misdiagnosed with mental illness—when in truth, they are undergoing an archetypal rite of passage. This isn’t to say mental illness and shamanic crisis are never intertwined—but shamanic crises have meaning. They are guided by Spirit. They are not just breakdowns—they are breakthroughs if held in the right sacred context.
The Role of Spirit and Nature
A true shamanic crisis is deeply connected to Spirit, Earth, and the greater soul of humanity. It awakens the individual to the interconnectedness of all things. Nature, animals, elements, and ancestors begin to speak, not as metaphor, but as living beings within the circle of life.
The Gift Hidden in the Pain
The shamanic crisis is a rite of passage that carries medicine. Once the shaman has returned—survived the underworld, crossed the threshold, and come back into the world—they become a healer. But not a healer in the conventional sense. They heal by presence, by vibration, by transmission. They have been there, and so they can walk with others into the dark, holding a lantern lit by their own descent.
You Cannot Teach It—Only Survive It
No one can teach a shamanic crisis. It can’t be faked or bypassed. It is survived. It is endured. It is alchemized. And those who do emerge from the other side don’t do so untouched—they are forever changed. Humbled. Empowered. Reconnected to the sacred.
