The Shamanic Poet
Every word is steeped in mystery. Every line emerges from the crack Between the Worlds. Every stanza bears the blessings of Spirit, And every verse is layered in meaning. Come closer, for there is more to tell! The ink shapeshifts onto the page, From the confines of cartridge To carve wisdom onto the bark of the world, Conjuring memories from the paper Of the forest, of which once it was a part, And from which it has never truly left. The Poet writes from Dream, from Innocence; Not merely a passive channel, But as a mischievous herald, A passionate creator, A bridge between the Worlds, Seeking a higher Truth.
The above poem, The Shamanic Poet, was the inspiration for this site. It was written in January 2019 and was first published on May 28, 2020, in Issue 5 of the online poetry publication, As Above, So Below.
ANNOUNCEMENT!
‘Into the Wolf’, my first poetry collection, will be published by Iron Press on March 30, 2023.
The Shamanic Poet writes under two names; Damon Leigh and Robert Best. Which of these, if either, is his real name, matters not.
He’s written poetry since childhood. However, after attending a poetry reading event in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in June 2018, he decided to start taking his art seriously and has now had works published by PoetsOnline, The Oldie Magazine in the UK, October Hill Magazine out of New York, PoetCrit in India, Ledbury Poetry Festival and, of course, As Above, So Below. All published poems appear under the Published Poetry tab right here, on this site.
Why ‘shamanic’?
The Poet has been firmly rooted in the esoteric world since his early teens and, in the decades since, has studied the Kabbalah, Enochian Magic, Ritual Magic, Qi Gong and Egyptian Magic. In 2000, when he began a deep exploration of the shamanic traditions, he realised that all his practices up to that point were, in effect, refined versions of shamanism.
Shamanism is the global proto-religion, or the proto-belief system if you will. Go far enough back into the history of any region of the world and you’ll eventually find a shaman. Indeed, you’ll find traditional shamans at work even today in places as diverse as Korea (where they’re almost all female), Siberia, Aboriginal Australia, among the surviving native tribes in both North and South America and Canada, and parts of Africa.
The Poet takes his place in a line of shamans stretching back to the beginning of time. He takes pride in his shamanic practice which, in turn, informs (some of) his poetry.