“I really like when I’m teaching somebody how to journey for the first time and they find an animal spirit and they get incredible information,” says Ellen Winner. Photo courtesy of Ellen Winner
Most patent attorneys don’t include shamanism in their list of hobbies, but for Ellen Winner, the combination is a natural fit.
Winner (JD ’81) says her interest started in 1984 when she read The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner. She attended a seminar and took classes, then traveled to Katmandu, Nepal, for apprenticeships with indigenous shamans.
Shamanism has been practiced around the world for more than 30,000 years. Shamans believe spirits reside outside of physical matter, beyond what humans can experience with ordinary senses.
Several spirit worlds exist in shamanism. Upper and lower worlds contain compassionate human, animal and nature spirits. Two middle worlds also exist: the world of everyday reality and a spirit world containing both helpful and harmful spirits.
Winner, who lives in Boulder, Colo., says she navigates the worlds and communicates with spirits to bring information and healing to her clients. She says she can clear negative energy and help clients find lost objects, gain insight into challenging situations and deal with fears of death and dying.
Shamans operate in an altered state of consciousness. In native cultures, some shamans use psychedelic drugs to alter their consciousness, but in the Western world many shamans use a drumbeat instead.
“A drumbeat yields a more controllable experience,” Winner says. “It’ll put your brain in the theta brainwave state, which is the one next to sleep, and it makes you less critical and more open to what you’re experiencing.”
For a while, Winner hid her unconventional practice from co-workers and clients in her law firm.
“I thought my co-workers wouldn’t feel that it reflected well on them to have somebody that was doing shamanism who’s ‘weird,’” she says. Winner now works from home, where she conducts shamanic work and hosts a weekly drumming group. She also teaches at the Foundation for Shamanic Studies.
“I really like when I’m teaching somebody how to journey for the first time and they find an animal spirit and they get incredible information,” she says. “They’re so excited — it’s like the spirit was waiting to be able to communicate with them for years.”
She has experienced personal benefits from the practice, as well.
“It’s given me a worldview that’s more hopeful, like miracles are really possible,” she says.
And to the naysayers who doubt the legitimacy of shamanism, Winner shrugs.
“I say just try it; see if it works.”