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HAWIDEARI!
Shamanism is an Art Form
This became clear to me throughout all the years I have walked a traditional shamanic path of the old school. It is a spiritual art form that gives the forces and Spirits that dance through our souls the space to express themselves.
The deep beat of the drums, combined with the broad spectrum of the human voice, creates an energetic field in which the Spirits can express themselves. We can interact and communicate with them, find our own place again, and take our rightful place within the great web of life.
Shaman or not, every human being is not only part of nature, but is nature itself. As soon as we remember this again, untapped sources of power become available to us, capable of profoundly transforming our everyday lives for the better.
Hawi!
My name is Günther, and my shamanic name is Morzuk. The name was given to me almost 15 years ago by my teacher, Karagai Kam, a shaman from Khakassia, Siberia. I carry it with honor and will continue to do so until the day I eventually give up the ghost and see the potatoes from below.
However, it must be said right away that it is not about the number of years, but rather the actual intensity of the experience.
For me, the name carries a great deal of memory, as well as the experiences gained through the various stages of traditional path and beyond.
The name carries the qualities of a Guardian and Architect of the Underworld, embodying the energy of the Black Wolf-Badger, a fusion of the Wolf and Badger Spirits. A totemic name carrying animal forces connected to the Underworld.
Much more could be said about this, as well as about its shamanic classification within the tradition. But I will spare you the details here.
My Shamanic Journey
My shamanic journey has taken me through many different stages and experiences. To give a brief overview, I would like to offer a short summary here. I deliberately leave out excessive and unnecessary self-promotion, and certainly have no interest in certificates and all that stuff.
In shamanic art, it is above all about the people who need help, and less about the shaman himself.
The real journey into traditional shamanism began in India in 2010 and then led me quite quickly to Nepal and the Himalayas. Severe health problems brought me to the shamans there. I found a teacher and began to learn. At the same time, I slowly began to recover. My teacher belonged to the Tamang people.
Before that, I spent some time at cremation grounds with Aghori Sadhus, some of whom were cannibals. A profound experience and a direct confrontation with the great teacher, Death.
After spending some time with the shamans and making my first progress and experiences, I began to have dreams of shamans, obviously of a different tradition, not from nepal. At that time, I was living in caves in Nepal. The dreams continued for several weeks. I saw shamans wearing feathered headdresses and garments adorned with many colorful fringes and ribbons, with drum around a ritual fire.
An inner calling began to emerge, and I had to follow it to truely find my path. It turned out that these shamans lived in Russia, more precisely in Khakassia, Siberia. So I set out to find them and make my way there, with the blessings of the nepali shamans.
The journey was successful. After returning to Austria for a time, I had already begun to see nature and the mountains with different eyes. I started searching for regional customs and remnants of shamanic traditions, and became increasingly interested in what had survived.
Then the journey continued. After several detours by Trans-Siberian Railway and across the Altai Mountains, I finally found the shamans from my dreams in Khakassia and was immediately welcomed among them.
I met Karagai Kam and the Spirit of Wolf community. They were indeed the shamans from my dreams.
Karagai took me in immediately and became my teacher. This relationship was of profound importance to my life, my path and continues to this day.
Back in Austria, I began putting into practice what I had learned from Karagai. At first, I worked alone, regularly performing fire rituals throughout the cycle of the year and offering simple treatments. Every step was guided by my Siberian teacher.
At the same time, I continued my research into regional animistic shamanic heritage and my visits to various local and more distant places of power.
One particularly significant journey took me to Val Camonica in the northern Italian Alps. A valley with more than 250,000 petroglyphs and countless menhirs and artifacts unearthed by archaeologists. For me, this revealed a clear and direct connection to the Siberian shamanic tradition, and with it an indication that such a tradition must certainly have existed in the Alps, and most likely throughout Europe as well.
Over time, this assumption was increasingly reinforced through further research and exchanges with others.
There were also further trips back to Nepal, where the knowledge was integrated and implemented, but now within the framework of the wolf tradition. Today, elements and principles of the Himalayan tradition are still part of my work.
Spirit of Wolf Union
Things began to unfold more and more. I took the step into self-employment and opened a Spirit of Wolf practice in Austria, offering shamanic treatments. This was followed, in cooperation with Karagai and Spirit of Wolf in Siberia, by the founding of the shamanic community Spirit of Wolf Europe.
The first people interested in the path and the first students soon joined. The community slowly continued to grow and eventually gained members in America as well. Thus, Spirit of Wolf Europe became the Shamanic Community Spirit of Wolf International.
In 2022, I was entrusted with the leadership of the community, while Karagai turned his attention to other matters. To this day, we maintain a great relationship, and he continues to support me in leading the community.
In 2026, the Spirit of Wolf Community became a Union, following stricter guidelines and principles.
As of 2026, the community consists of 75 members across approximately 10 countries, including several members in the Netherlands, Scotland, Estonia, Germany, and the USA.
My role is to lead the community worldwide and to serve as Bashky (teacher) and initiator of the various stages of initiation.
Shamanic Healing – Shamanic Help
From the very beginning, shamanic healing practices have been of particular interest to me. Ultimately, this was also the driving force behind the inner calling that led me to search and follow this path.
Over the past 15 years, I have been able to gain experience in many different areas of shamanic work, working with a wide variety of people from diverse backgrounds and many different countries. It is deeply rewarding to see lives change for the better. I remain grateful to this day for being able to do this work, to help others, and to accompany them for a part of their journey.
The accounts of students around the world who work with the same traditional methods, and the stories of how they have been able to help those seeking support, are continually inspiring and fulfilling. To me, they are a clear confirmation that shamanic art is timeless and is needed today just as it was long ago. There is good reason why shamanism has survived to this day.
My approach today is still rooted in the methods and foundations of the Wolf Spirit Tradition, yet over the years it has developed a strong regional character. I therefore work primarily with the Spirits of my homeland, as well as with the ancestors and symbols of the land.
Many elements have also found their way into my practice that reach far back to the Celts and even further into the Paleolithic era. Elements that can still be found, in part, in Alpine customs and traditions today.
At the center of it all, however, is always the human being. Helping people in the various areas of their lives through the use of archaic methods is, and remains, the heart of my work.
My Homeland -
Pinzgau, a jewel of the alps
Although there is no longer a living shamanic or animistic tradition in the Alps, or even throughout Europe, nor a living culture that carries it, many fragments have nevertheless survived. In any case, all knowledge is stored within the animate nature and can be accessed through expanded states of consciousness.
It is especially in traditional customs that many strongly animistic and shamanic elements can be found. The customs surrounding the Rauhnächte, when Frau Percht roams across the land, are one example. She remains a central figure in the traditional Perchten processions to this day.
Frau Percht can therefore be understood as an Alpine goddess, the Alpine form of the Earth and Mountain Mother. Her mythological descendants are the Saligen, the Wild Women who appear throughout countless Alpine legends.
The Perchten figures are manifestations of various regional Spirits connected to the Alpine landscape, and they offer a wonderful way of working shamanically with these forces.
The entire cycle of the year carries many shamanic elements within it, including the Krampus, Allerseelen and Maypole tradition, and as i said already, the Perchten tradition. Many of these key points in the year are most likely ancient and of pre-Christian origin. I consider myself lucky that much of it is still quite alive in Pinzgau.
There are countless sacred and places of power throughout the mountains, often connected to legends and myths. The Alpine region possesses an immense treasure of stories and mythology in which much of the shamanic has survived, although it was often heavily distorted by later Christian missionaries.
There is also a rich knowledge of herbs, countless petroglyphs dating back many thousands of years, a more or less preserved runic tradition, and a deeper meaning embedded within the language, dialects, and the names of mountains, rivers, fields, and places.
All of these are fragments that can be brought together to form a greater whole.
This greater whole does not mean returning to a bygone age in which people lived animistically, such as the Celts, nor does it mean attempting to reconstruct or imitate such a way of life exactly as it once was.
It is rather about finding a way forward. About integrating and adapting these old elements, these timeless human values of our ancestors, to the present day. And making them accessible to everyone who is open to reconnecting with the spiritual roots of their homeland, among other things through the messages of the myths and legends that have been passed down to us over very long periods of time.
I see it as one of my tasks in this present times to make certain things that have been buried and forgotten for a long time accessible again to everyone who is interested. I want to inspire, encourage thought, and ultimately make a small contribution towards freeing the Salige, the Wild Woman, from her cave, so to speak and helping the great Mountain Mother Percht, the Alpine Goddess with her three faces, reclaim her rightful throne and so open up in the hearts of people.
