The Circular Mind
One aspect of shamanic philosophy that has deeply influenced me is the aspiration towards equality in relationship. I often think of this as developing a circular mind—one that recognises each person's inherent value rather than organising people into hierarchies of importance. Like those sitting around a circle, each person brings something unique that cannot exist without the others. In many ways, this reflects the inner work we all face; it also reflects person-centred therapy practice.
Reconciliation often begins when we become willing to lay down the battles we carry within ourselves. And much like the battles in our minds, reconciliation and peace can only truly come when we are able to disarm ourselves.
Their culture was one of connection and community. This means the ways were not without negative human emotions, but held the trust and capacity to see that anger comes from pain and suffering. That jealousy and greed are destructive tendencies that must be guarded against to enable the best interests of everyone. The universal truth that all of humanity shares is the yearning for a place to call home, with traditions and healing interwoven in relationship to the culture that surrounds us.
“Find out what your own traditions were before you were colonized into the industrial mind. You have your own medicine, look into your blood and bones and you will find them.”
— Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions, Lakota People
The practices, like many other ancient practices, hold so much medicine that I simply cannot ignore. Their trust in intuition enables deep wisdom and healing that often reaches beyond logic, but this work begins when it is honoured by cultivating respect—for the people who have carried these traditions and enabled us with the knowledge. When we can respect that, then we can look to our own roots for our practice: ancient ways that have long since been forgotten.
The search is to recognise the land beneath our feet, our own ancestry and a remembrance of our own lineage. In the West, we had paganism, druidism and Celtic traditions that have been lost over the centuries. Holding respect for our ancestral lineage means recognising the ways our lives have been shaped by those who came before us.
I don't describe myself as a shaman. For me, these traditions and all holistic practices, like Yoga or Buddhism, for example, must be treated with deep respect, honouring the sacred lineage of each practice and, more importantly, how they have landed within Western culture. Honouring shows how they can aid us in holding onto the great mystery of life, learning to alchemise pain and find the path to human connection and vitality.
Much like my therapy work, I honour you and your path and hold trust that you can find a way through whatever it is you're experiencing, because ultimately, humans have that same thing in common.
I held circles of women for three years for meditation, sound and drumming. The image you see above, is from a lady who attended my groups Shirley Tierney an elder who I learnt so much from and who offered more than an attendance in the group, who shared herself wholeheartedly; Shirley is a very talented lady and made the leaves for all the members. I held space, but the ladies all played their own parts in the circle and contributed to it. Each of the ladies took a leaf and it contributed to the unity that we all felt. It seems apt that I display this here.
I have never been able to grasp the concept of hierarchy, a strong leader for me creates a circle and actually holds together the core values with adaptibility and care for this. There is no doubt we’ve all indulged in power imbalances and all humans have a tendency towards power imbalances that have a tendency towards division and segregation, interpersonal aspects are very nuanced and intrinsic. However hierachial power goes against my values in terms of human growth and shuts out the capacity for growth in another.
And when we look at history and current world issues of war through the lens of a circular mind, we see that perhaps with power comes ownership battles, which can, and have, caused atrocious damage. That is not something that I stand for here.
Peace and harmony are much harder to work for, but I am not about the easy life, and I am not going to betray myself by walking blindly into the catastrophic path of success in leadership.
CopyRight Emma Kennedy 12/08/2026
