Core Shamanism and Power Songs by Jan Engels-Smith
In core shamanism, we want you to develop your own song; these are called power songs. We all have them. Every person alive has a power song, somewhere inside them.
When you discover and begin to sing your power song, it makes you get bigger. In Siberia they call this feeling of expansion your Windhorse. Do you ever feel like that? Like you are really big and extend way out? And other times you feel really small? We want you to be really big, and full of power. If you are going to do journey or healing work, we want your energy to be full force. You want to be connected above, below, and to the elements. You want to be able to hold that energy and do your healing work from that place. Then the healing work will be powerful; you will become the “hollow bone.” That means that it is not you that is doing the work, but the power of the Spirits working through you.
When we are trying to find a power song, you may notice sounds emanating from you that you don’t recognize. It may be a different language, or in some native cultures they use vocables. Vocables are sounds that are not necessarily words, because it is believed that if you make a word out of the sound it limits it, you have captured its power. That means that the only power it holds is defined by that word. It has more power than that, so you don’t confine it to a word. Vocables are very common.
In discovering your power song, you are invoking a part of your essence that is much more than who you are, in this physical body, in this incarnation. You have a soul history. You have been different nationalities, lived during different times on the earth, and you still have those memories inside you. So, sometimes when you start to bring up your power, it might be coming from that other lifetime. It may even be in a language you don’t know or understand. Just give yourself permission to make noise. It is another example of getting out of the box, and allowing yourself to grow.
Once your power song is established, it will be a song that gels over time. The more you sing that same song, the more it will solidify and the more power it will hold.
When the spirits told me I was going to have to sing in front of other people, I refused! I said, No! I am not going to do that! I put up the biggest fight for the longest time. Finally, I got used to it.
I want you to take one step forward. What is that? You are stepping out of the box! I want you to ask your helpers, your allies, whoever those beings are that love you, “Let me start bringing up this power song. Let something come forth that is my particular power song.” That is your intention, and that is exactly what is going to happen.
So, get a drum, and while you are drumming, open your mouth and make noise. Suspend any discomfort and go for it. Find your voice. Try to give yourself permission, and trust the process. You will not get the whole thing at once, but as you practice bringing up your power, your song will be developed.