Finding your own answers. Through direct experience.
There are decisions where you wish you could ask someone who knows more than you. Someone who has already walked this path, a wise elder who knows the terrain. Sometimes that person does not exist, because you are navigating new ground, because no one has made this particular decision before, because you are the one furthest ahead.
Harner Shamanic Counseling offers a structured space for situations like these. You bring a question, turn your attention inward and work with images, sensations and symbolic experience. The method opens another form of access: direct, embodied and less filtered through analytical language.
What is Harner Shamanic Counseling (HSC™)?
Harner Shamanic Counseling is a structured way to learn shamanic journeying as a means of gaining clarity and finding direction.
Developed by Michael Harner on the basis of Core Shamanism, it places self-perception, inner imagery and symbolic experience at the centre.
You learn to enter a focused altered state of consciousness and work with your own questions through direct experience. The meaning of what you experience remains yours to determine, in relation to your question and the context of your life.
Accompanied by rhythmic drumming, you learn to direct your inner attention, hold a question, notice what appears, and integrate the experience afterwards. The method is clearly structured and relatively easy to learn. It requires no special prior knowledge, but it does require a genuine willingness to look and to engage with what you find.
How it works
A session, in practical terms
A session lasts about 90 minutes. You lie down or sit comfortably with your eyes closed while a steady drum rhythm helps you turn your attention inward. Holding a clear question, you enter an inner journey, usually for 15 to 30 minutes.
Afterwards, we talk about what you experienced. I do not reinterpret it for you. You record what appeared and bring it into relation with your question. From one session to the next, you become more confident until you can use the method independently.
The counselor’s role
I teach you the technique, guide the process and hold the frame. I do not interpret your experiences for you. In the conversation afterwards, I help you place what you encountered in context. Meaning arises from your own experience and the life in which it occurred.
The process
HSC usually comprises six to eight sessions. Over the course of the process, you practise shamanic journeying so that you can use the method with increasing independence. Supervision or deepening sessions can follow if you want to continue exploring.
How to enter the shamanic state of consciousness reliably. How to formulate clear questions. How to notice what is shown to you. How to build a direct relationship of your own with what you encounter there.
The aim is independence, not dependence on a guide.
What you learn
Who it is for
This work is for people who want to learn shamanic journeying in a clear, experience-based way, without cultural overlays or spiritual inflation. Openness and the ability to concentrate are more useful than prior knowledge.
HSC can be particularly useful for people navigating genuine uncertainty: founders in early stages, leaders without a blueprint, and anyone who has to cross a particular threshold before others and finds no one on the other side who has already made the crossing. Openness to non-ordinary forms of perception is helpful. No previous spiritual experience is required.
Practical note
This is a spiritual practice and not a substitute for medical, psychiatric or psychotherapeutic treatment.
If you would like to explore the background of the method in more depth, read “Harner Shamanic Counseling: When Analysis No Longer Helps”.
FAQ
What is Harner Shamanic Counseling?
A structured way to learn shamanic journeying for personal inquiry and orientation, developed by Michael Harner on the basis of Core Shamanism.
What happens in a session?
A session lasts about 90 minutes. With a clear question and accompanied by a steady drum rhythm, you enter an inner journey for 15 to 30 minutes. Afterwards, you record the experience and relate it to your question.
How many sessions are involved?
HSC usually comprises six to eight sessions and is designed to help you use the method with increasing independence.