- Curriculum - Toltec/Mayan Program
- Curriculum - Healing Program
- Curriculum - Counseling and Divination Program
- Curriculum - Galactic Program
- Faculty
- Admissions
Universally, a shaman is thought to be an individual who becomes a bridge between worlds, using skills to communicate with the spirit world while healing the living. The word "shaman" is derived from a Tungas word (from inner Asia or the Eastern Steppes region) which possibly means "to know." It is an ancient word with mysterious beginnings.
Shamanism is based on the idea that the visible world also contains invisible forces and spirits which can affect the living in both positive and negative ways. In understanding such energies, persons can be healed, enlightened and also travel throughout spiritual dimensions. Often the shaman is given his or her knowledge through a near-death experience or is taught by another shaman or adept. The purpose of Shamanism is varied—it is a science, an art, and a practice.
On our staff at IMU we have gathered together some of the globe's most recognized authorities in the field of Shamanism and Shamanic Studies. These include individual experts who have studied and worked with actual indigenous shamans, specifically in the Americas.
We are proud to say that at IMU our experts are just that—pioneering individuals who have proven themselves by studying Shamanism, native indigenous religions while putting such practices into the real world by furthering research over their own lifetime goals. They have done this by traveling and teaching what they have learned from Shamanic masters while establishing an educational basis and to reach a broader audience.
The purpose of the Shamanic Studies Department is to create an environment where students can further their growth by learning in the privacy of their own homes. In advancing our mission, IMU's Department of Shamanic Studies program gives each student a good foundation to further their own studies and careers in the researched field of Shamanic Studies.
Very few online universities offer courses which are taught by world renowned experts in their chosen fields. But through the convenience of our online program we able to do this without the experts having to travel outside of their homes or to move to another area in order to teach their courses. In this way IMU becomes a facilitator in helping to make the dreams of our students become a reality while placing them in a learning environment with the world's top experts in the area of Shamanic Studies.
Upon the completion of our degree programs, students are given tools for further studies and enhancements, and are encouraged to carry on with their Shamanic studies over their own long-term goals. Students can use such knowledge in areas of writing and publishing, religious ordination, counseling and healing, facilitating and teaching, media appearances and the development of the professional skills necessary for optimal performance in a wide variety of occupations, not just Shamanism.
Choose Your Track
Shamanic Counseling and Divination
Shamans of both ancient and modern eras are probably most well known as spiritual or energetic healers who use the many tools of shamanism to access healing energies and spirits for their clients. But there are also other duties and states of consciousness that are used by shamans worldwide. One of these is the shaman as Seer. The shaman as seer travels into the other realities or travels through time in the trance state or in the dreaming to bring back knowledge for counseling a client or for forewarning a person or a community of events in the future. The shaman can then use this knowledge to perform a ceremony that can possibly change the future outcome to something more positive for the client.
Ancient and modern shamans have traditionally also used a number of intuitive or psychic divinatory arts to help them access knowledge hidden from everyday awareness or to foretell possible futures. When the shaman receives this information they can then counsel the client on how to avoid or deal with various problems occurring in their lives. So shamans were not only seers or diviners of future events but could also combine intuitive/shamanic techniques with techniques that are almost identical with modern counseling & psychotherapeutic techniques. So the shaman also fulfilled the role of community counselor/psychologist as well as spiritual healer.
Modern core shamanic practice utilizes shamanic journeying and healing techniques combined with intuitive arts such as astrology, card readings, dream work, dowsing, and other arts including spiritual counseling techniques to act as modern shamanic seers, counselors, and diviners.
Classes at IMU’s Shamanic Counseling & Divination department are intended to help train a new generation of shamanic helpers as Shamanic Counselors and Seers who combine ancient and modern core shamanic techniques with divinatory arts such as astrology, tarot, and intuitive and psychic development and spiritual counseling techniques to fulfill this roll for their clients. IMU is devoted to training these shamanic practitioners with focus and integrity. Some of the classes offered in this program at IMU include: Advanced Shamanic Healing & Soul Retrieval, Intuitive Development, Spiritual & Transpersonal Counseling, Western Astrology, Practical Aztec/Mayan Astrology, Dream Work & Interpretation, the Enneagram, and Inner Work.
Shamanic Healing
Shamanic healing is based on the idea that successful and lasting healing must also have a spiritual dimension. All living things have a spirit body which is connected to other spirit bodies. It is through this accessing of spirit for complete healing to occur. Most persons need an expert to do this and this is where Shamanism comes in.
Shamans are individuals who on their own spiritual journeys have learned to heal at first by healing themselves. This is a process that all healers must go through before healing others. This often takes years to master.
Everything that is alive also has spirit body and is intrinsically connected to other spirit body. The physical body often becomes a mirror to the spirit body. If this spirit grows sick with negative energy influences, the physical body also becomes sick.
Shamanic healing helps to balance and create harmony through the spirit body and physical body. In this way all energies are aligned. The invisible reality affects the visible body.
Some of the techniques of the Shaman are through journeying and shamanic states, the use of hands on healing, visualization, gemstones, participating through sweats, smudging, drumming, chanting, soul retrieval and modern psychology techniques. Sometimes the use of animal spirits and totems are also used to assist in the healing. The aura and the luminous body are also accessed during Shamanic healing.
Classes offered in IMU's Shamanic Healing department are at threshold in the development of ancient shamanic healing techniques combined with modern concepts. Classes include Shamanic Journeying, Native American Spirituality, Soul Retrieval, Medicine Wheel work, Energy Anatomy, Native American Ceremonies & Rituals: Cherokee & Eastern Woodlands Traditions Working with Reiki and Shamanism. Some of the techniques of the Shaman are through journeying and shamanic states, the use of hands on healing, visualization, gemstones, participating through sweats, smudging, drumming, chanting, soul retrieval and modern psychology techniques. Sometimes the use of animal spirits and totems are also used to assist in the healing. The aura and the luminous body are also accessed during Shamanic healing.
Classes offered in IMU's Shamanic Healing department are at threshold in the development of ancient shamanic healing techniques combined with modern concepts. Classes include Shamanic Journeying, Native American Spirituality, Soul Retrieval, Medicine Wheel work, Energy Anatomy, Native American Ceremonies & Rituals: Cherokee & Eastern Woodlands Traditions Working with Reikki and Shamanism.
Toltec/Mayan Shamanism
The cultures of Central America such as Mexico have shamanic traditions that stretch back in time for over 5,000 years and are still a vibrant and living part of those cultures. Two of these tribal traditions are those of the Toltec of Central Mexico and the Mayan traditions of Yucatan and Central America. In the last 40 years these ancient traditions have been revived through the works of such consciousness explorers as Carlos Castaneda, Jose Arguelles, John Major Jenkins and others. These shamanic traditions are generically known as “Nagualist Shamanism”. Nagualism is a form of shamanism that combines the roles of shaman as healer and seer with the role of the shaman as an explorer and adventurer of the multidimensional and infinite universe we all live in.
Nagualism is divided into two overlapping schools of shamanic development. First is the Order of the Feathered Serpent which is primarily concerned with spiritual development and the awakening of the Rainbow Light Body or luminous energy field. Second is the Order of Jaguar Shamans who were among the primary shamanic healers and seers in the traditions of Central America.
Shamanic training is Toltec/Mayan Shamanism at IMU encompasses the core spiritual knowledge of both of these interconnected shamanic traditions. We plan to train modern spiritual seekers to be cultural guides and spiritual practitioners for these forms of Nagualist shamanism. Classes in Toltec/Mayan shamanism at IMU include: Feathered Serpent Teachings, Basic Jaguar Shamanism, Toltec & Mayan Dreaming Practices, Basic & Advanced Aztec/Mayan Astrology, Toltec/Mayan Immortality Practices.
Galactic Shamanism
Galactic Shamanism is a new and emerging form of shamanism that combines the essential knowledge of core & indigenous types of shamanism with the spiritual and scientific knowledge of the 21st century. Galactic Shamanism is also connected to the traditions and prophecies relating to the upcoming Galactic Alignment/Dimensional Shift of 12/21/2012 and its possible effects on individual and global transformations of human consciousness. In this new and exciting program, the IMU faculty plans to train a new generation of shamanic practitioners and teachers as healers and guides for people undergoing profound transformations related to the new energies coming into the Earth from the Galactic Center and Higher Dimensions. Plus the knowledge being shared in this study track is also designed to speed up the process of Conscious Ascension for seekers who are ready for that.
The focus of Galactic Shamanism is on the Stellar/Galactic and Multidimensional Realms of Consciousness and how to integrate these powerful spiritual energies into our lives while still being connected to Mother Earth. Galactic Shamans combine the tools of core/indigenous shamanism with modern psychology, sacred geometry, ascension metaphysics, quantum physics, and 21st century scientific knowledge to become powerful healers, guides, and way-showers for spiritual seekers ready to align with the energies of the upcoming Dimensional Shift.
Galactic Shamanism classes at IMU will train a new generation of shamanic practitioners and guides who can grow their consciousness from the earth/human realms into the realms of Solar-Stellar/Galactic/Extraterrestrial consciousness. Galactic Shamanism classes will include: Galactic Shamanism & the 2012 Paradigm, Ascension Magick, Solar Meditation, Practical Sacred Geometry, Aztec/Mayan Astrology, Stellar and Galactic Alchemy, Extraterrestrial Intelligence & Spiritual Development, Merkaba Light Body Work, & Becoming Multidimensional.