Masks, Shamanism and the Twelfth House
INTRODUCTION
We all wear masks at various points in our lives. Some of us wear them more often than others. Not only do we all wear masks, we usually wear many masks. One could say that the ascendant is a specific mask that we wear the most frequently, presenting that mask to the public with regularity, and often for our entire lives. Transits and progressions may change the expression of the mask of the ascendant, but they also may not, depending on the individual. A mutable sign on the ascendant may see a person present many masks to the public. Prominent planets in any house can see us present masks related to the prominent placement. We wear a particular mask to work, sometimes a different mask at home. We may wear one mask with our family and another with our friends. Even the most fixed people may not always present themselves exactly the same in all settings, but in this post I want to look at a particular way that masks have been used throughout history.
MASKS
The earliest use of masks may have been in magical and spiritual practice, something similar to what we might call 'shamanism' today, and may extend back tens of thousands of years. Shamanism, or the interface of humans with the spirit world, likely predated organized religions, and may represent the earliest stirrings of spiritual thought amongst Homo sapiens. A prominent aspect of shamanic practice around the world, both in antiquity and into modern times, is the use of masks. The oldest confirmed mask currently known to archeology comes from the Levant. This mask is a carved stone face that dates to 7,000 b.c.e., or 9,000 years ago. This is the period after the end of the Younger Dryas, a couple of millennia after the beginning of the Holocene, which is thought to have begun about 11,650 years ago.
While this is the oldest confirmed mask, it is unlikely to be the first mask. Being a carved stone item, it has survived, while earlier masks, made of wood, hide or other perishable materials, likely have not survived to be found. A recent find in Star Carr, England is of a group of deer skulls dating to 9,000 b.c.e. (11,000 years ago) that have been modified by having two holes drilled into the front, giving the impression of eye holes. Archeologists are uncertain if these were worn as headdresses, used as masks or used in some other ritual manner, but I would point out that the famous cave painting of the Sorcerer of Troi-Freres, dating to around 13,000 b.c.e. (15,000 years ago) shows a very similar looking headdress/mask upon the face and head of the 'sorcerer'. I have also found a drawing from the 17th century (two to three centuries ago) detailing a Tungus (Siberian) shaman playing a drum and dancing while wearing a headdress that looks surprisingly similar to the skulls found in Star Carr and the mask/headdress upon the face/head of the Sorcerer of Troi-Freres. These may have no relation to each other, but the notion that this is all just some chance coincidence strains credulity, to me. See what you think in the image below.
We know that by the advent of written records, masks were being used throughout the Old World in shamanic, magical and religious uses, and by the time of the Greeks, masks had become a standard aspect of the theatric arts, as well. I would point out that theater undoubtedly arose from shamanic/religious ritual, and so the transition of masks from shamanic/religious ritual to theatrical uses seems natural and fitting.
Ancient Greek Theater Masks
The Romans adopted the use of Masks in theater, along with most of the rest of Greek culture. Masks were in use in religious ritual within the Roman Empire, as well. From the cult of Isis to the cult of Bacchus to the Galli priests of the Goddess Cybele (Magna Mater), masks were frequently used in religious rituals of the time. The use of masks continued in Europe throughout the last two-thousand years and are still used in certain folk festivals to this day.
Masks are used throughout Asian cultures in shamanism, in religious ritual and in theatrical arts. From deep antiquity to the modern day, we find the use of masks. The below quote gives a picture of masks in Asian culture.
"Masks are a cultural phenomenon which has always been and is still widespread all over the world. Owing to its long history, wide spread(nature)...(and) richness in shapes and depth of meaning, Shamanism enjoyed an important place in primitive cultures...masks are a deposit and a 'mirror' of the beliefs, the taboos and the sense of beauty of specific populations... These masks were certainly a product of shamanic ideology."
'Functions and Features of the Shamanic Masks - Guo Shuyun, éƒæ·‘云 and Emilia Simoncini - Central Asiatic Journal - Vol. 47, No. 2 (2003), pp. 163-182
Masks in Asian Cultures - Photos upper left and lower right: Tibetan Buddhist religious rituals. Photo upper right: Chinese Theater. Photo lower left: Sri Lankan Shamanic mask. Below image - Balinese Topeng Dance Masks
Throughout the world, in the Old World and the New World, from Australian Aborigines to Amerind peoples, from the Northern Polar region to Tierro Del Fuego and New Zealand, the use of masks in shamanic, magical, religious and theatrical arts is commonly found. Such a wide dispersal of mask use indicates to me a very ancient advent for the use of masks, perhaps as far back as 65,000 to 75,000 years ago - the last time all these people's ancestors were in one place, just after Homo sapiens had left Africa and come into the Levant, when the first interbreeding with Neanderthal occurred and just before the ancestors of the Australian Aborigines departed from the Arabian Peninsula, perhaps dating back to Professor Michael Witzel's proposed Gondwana or Pan-Gaean mythological ages. Certainly the use of masks would have begun before the rise of Witzel's 'Laurasian' culture, because the ancestors of the Australians had departed before the rise of the Laurasian mythological cycle, which he proposes to have arisen around 45,000 - 40,000 years ago. Whatever the case may be, the use of masks, and specifically in shamanism, must be very ancient to be so widespread throughout cultures around the world.
In the modern world we still find shamanic, religious and theatrical use of masks, just like we saw throughout the ancient world. Surviving tribal peoples still use masks in their practices. Even in Europe, masks are used in many folk festivals and holidays with their roots in ancient rites and celebrations.
Modern Masks from Europe and Asia used in modern folk festivals
In the United States, where all of our traditions have been lost, or given up in our pursuit of money and tabloid fame, we don't have any cultural, traditional uses of masks, beyond perhaps Halloween. The closest thing beyond Halloween might be Mardi Gras, with its roots in the ancient Carnival festival, (Venice and Rio certainly turn out the Carnival too, and have taken the use of masks to very high levels of artistry). Carnival may originate in the Roman Saturnalia festival (associated with the god Saturn - ruler of the planet we call by his name). However, in the US, we have turned ancient masked archetypes into new archetypes, because those archetypes don't ever die, no matter how deadened human consciousness may become in the pursuit of wealth and attention.
One area where we have brought masked archetypes into the modern Western world is in the Hero and the Villain. Deriving from older archetypes, such as the highwayman, Robin Hood and Zorro, we see the archetypes beginning to emerge in the Old West as the masked hero, the masked outlaw and vigilante, which eventually developed into modern film versions of Robin Hood and Zorro, and from there The Lone Ranger and the early masked Superheroes.
Zorro to the Lone Ranger to the early superheroes of the early 20th century - the maverick cowboy as hero.
The dark side of the masked hero: the bandit, criminal and thief.
My favorite modern manifestation of the masked outlaw/hero cowboy is Orville Peck, who is a progressive country music singer/musician who produced the critically acclaimed album 'Pony' in 2019 and who has another album on the way at some point in 2020. Blending visual intrigue with queer, punk, rockabilly and classic country sensibilities, his songs are a delight for the ears and his videos and visual styling a treat for the eyes. If you haven't heard of him yet, go check him out on Youtube or go to his website - www.orvillepeck.com. And in the center picture with Orville is famous Drag Queen, Ru Paul's Drag Race All-Stars season 3 winner, musician, makeup mogul, author and Youtube personality, Trixie Mattel. Drag is another form of masking using makeup instead of fabric to create masks and new personas. Makeup is often used along with masks in many cultures, and if you have ever heard a woman refer to 'putting on her face' or her 'war paint', you have some idea of the fact that full makeup is a mask. Check out Trixie's Youtube and website.
The early stories make a stark delineation between the hero and the villain, using simple tropes such as "white hats" and "black hats" to define the difference, but life is more complex, and as the Superhero genre evolved, so evolved the Super Villain, and eventually the more complex question of where is the line drawn between hero and villain, vigilante and criminal.
Superheroes and Super Villains...where is the line drawn between the two? Which is which? As the famous comic series Watchmen asks, "Who watches the Watchmen?"
And so we find the most prominent manifestations of masks and mask-wearing in modern American culture: Halloween and the Hero/Villain duality. Because we like simple black and white tropes, obvious dualisms, we like our heroes in white hats and our villains in black hats, and so we grasp at simple answers, but life often falls into the gray areas - a thing the 12th house teaches us in spades!
When we look at the masks we wear, what do we see? The 12th house asks us to take off those masks and look at them, to stare deeply beyond that which we present to the world and find the face we wore before we were born...and the face we will wear again when we are no longer living. We are asked to look beyond our own dualities, or paradoxes and find the eternal All lurking behind those dualistic structures.
Other aspects of masks in the modern world are less cerebral. In the modern world, as in the ancient, various professions require specific masks, though the modern are often far superior, especially those which filter gas or particulate matter from the air. The use of masks in the medical profession dates back to the plague doctors, and again, our technologies are much superior to the beaked masks of the plague doctors, as the modern are based in science. Both in terms of profession and health, masks of this kind fall firmly into the 6th house.
Masks used in professional vocations
Masks used in the health profession and as protection against disease. Greatly superior to the plague doctor masks of the middle ages, it is surprising, shocking even, to see the use of masks attacked and politicized during a pandemic...Science and practice has shown us again and again for a century that the use of masks can greatly decrease the spread of airborne infectious disease.
Luchador masks for sale in a Mexican store.
Other modern arenas where masks are used to great effect include the Cosplay community and various fetish communities. While fetishes enflame the popular imagination with ideas of wild, kinky and even violent sex, there are an extremely wide range of fetishes, many that don't involve sex or violence at all. Certainly, there is a community of fetish around sadomasochism, and the deranged and violent can be drawn to such practices, so those with any interest in that fetish should take great care and only work within negotiated agreements of limits and consent, and there are a whole range of sexual fetishes, but in the main, the fetish community is much broader and more diverse than the popular imagination would presume.
Within the wide range of fetishes, more than one branch integrates aspects of shamanism. Animal play, role play, bondage, postures, masks, breath work, sensory deprivation and altered states of conscious achieved without chemical means all have been found in shamanic practices around the world and throughout time, and are also found in some of the branches of fetishism. Masks especially have a long history of creating altered states and allowing alternate aspects of the personality to emerge. Practices and states found in and sought through both shamanism and fetish practices. The masks of the fetish communities may have different house associations, but the major house associations are the 8th and the 12th. The 8th because of the association with eroticism, and the 12th because of the Underworld, transformative aspects. There is likely also association with the 5th house due to the underlying implications of pleasure, but we can't associate fetish masks strictly with any one house because there are so many different styles, meanings and reasons they are being used.
Masks in the Fetish community
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THE SHAMAN
Much like masks, shamans probably can't be associated with any one astrological house exclusively. They certainly can't be associated with one planet or just one specific behavior or activity. If there is one rule of thumb for shamans, it is that they defy simple description and, often, any kind of logic. The anthropologist will tend to define a shaman as, "an individual that interacts with a spirit world through altered states of consciousness." Technically, that is absolutely true, and it is work with the spirit world that is the one major theme common to shamanism the world over. Shamans, being human, are as diverse as any other group of humans, and probably always have been.
The fact that there is commonality to shamanistic practices all over the world suggests to me that shamanism is a very ancient human endeavor. Because it is found in surviving Gondwana and Laurasian groups of humans in the modern world suggests to me that shamanism, spirit work, is older than the Laurasian mythical cycle (dating to about 45,000 YA), and probably even older than the Gondwana mythic cycle, perhaps tracing all the way back to the Pan-Gaean origin of human myths as proposed by Witzel. Regardless of the age of the practice, or its specific origin, shamanistic practices have been known throughout recorded history.
Shamans occupy a wide range of social roles in various cultures. Some are only 'shamans' and occupy a socially-defined role within the culture that only they occupy and they may not engage in the regular work of the rest of the tribe or culture. In other cultures, an individual is a shaman, but is also a regular member of the tribe, engaging in regular work such as hunting or farming, and not occupying a 'set-apart' status. Differing levels of taboos exist concerning the status of the shaman in various cultures. To some, they are seen as something 'other', a necessary outsider, who is more at home with the spirits, and more a part of the spirit world, than a part of humanity. In some cultures, the shaman is just another member of the tribe, clan or community, though perhaps one with awesome and frightening powers. In some cultures the shaman is honored and beloved, while in others they are feared and shunned, only sought out in times of need.
The most common tool of shamans throughout time and space is the drum, followed by other musical instruments, and masks. The drum is the heartbeat of shamanism. Research has shown that the human heartbeat synchronizes to a drum beat, and so creates changes in pulse, breathing and other physiological functions, creating altered states of consciousness. Drumming can also syncretize the heart beats of groups of people, creating a high level of group cohesion. Rhythm-based musical instruments can also have similar effects. Shamans in many cultures receive songs from the spirits they work with, and musical instruments such as flutes may be used in these songs, or as accompaniment to their songs.
Masks are used by many, many shamanic cultures, have been throughout recorded history, and likely well before recorded history too. The mask allows the shaman to become a vessel for spirits, which can come through the shaman to communicate information, for healing, for prophecy and other magical or mystical functions. Just as there are magical drums, instruments and songs, there are also magical masks. These masks allow the shaman to contact and become a channel of specific spirits that work through or inhabit the mask. Not all masks are considered magical by all shamanic practitioners. Some view the mask as a tool of their own magic, while others view specific masks as the magical device that facilitates their practice. Many shaman make their own masks, and thus imbue them with their own magic. The making of masks is a fulfilling and creative act, but even if you just buy your masks, it can still function.
A commonality of shamanic practitioners throughout the world is the practice of entering the spirit world, both the Underworld and the Upper World. Many cultures, modern and ancient, including a great many cultures that feature shamanic practices, view reality as a three-level construct of Underworld, Upper World and a Middle World, which is the day-to-day world that we inhabit. The Celtic peoples referred to the middle world as 'mediolanum' - "Middle Earth".
I want to be very clear in discussing "shamanism" that I am personally most focused on pre-Christian European beliefs and practices, and I am not practicing, seeking to practice or pretending to practice indigenous shamanism from any group other than my ancestors, but I am also not interested in practicing any tradition whole-cloth. Not even the traditions of my ancestors. I am informed by the past, by my ancestors and by the many cultures of human history where we know something about their beliefs and practices, but for me, shamanism is a living practice, an interface in the now, and no shaman can practice another's shamanism. Even in the same culture, the same tribe, even in cultures where very strict traditions were handed down, the fact is that each shaman developed their own interface with the spirits, gods, guides and ancestors. Each must develop their own shamanism, for it is the individual who must be able to ascend to the Upper World and descend to the Underworld, face the denizens of those realms and achieve their objective unscathed. So shamanism is always a living practice, when it isn't just empty show and the words and practices of others.
In many traditional cultures where shamanic practices are known, each practitioner receives their own guiding spirits. Some must be given their own healing songs. The Icaros (sacred spirit songs) of South American practitioners are often given to each practitioner by the spirits they work with. These songs are unique, and so are not a static set of rituals or dogma. The practitioner may hand down songs to other practitioners, but the system is not dependent on a static and unchanging set of rituals.
In the Upper World, in addition of various spirits and ancestors, are found the stars and the star beings. The energies of the planets are part of the Upper World. Even when a planet has association with the Underworld, it still resides in the Upper World, though its spirit, or those lesser spirits that serve the planetary spirit, may also be found in the Under World, as well as in the Middle World where we encounter them in our lives as 'planetary transits'. A classic example from the ancients of a planetary spirit that can be in the Upper World and in the Underworld is Inanna, the Sumerian goddess associated with the planet Venus. A metaphor for the retrograde cycle of Venus, Inanna enters the Underworld where she dies to eventually be revived by emissaries of the god Enki, who is associated with both Mercury and Saturn. After she is revived, in order to be allowed to leave the Underworld, she agrees to spend half the year in the Upper World and half of the year in the Underworld. A substitute has to be found to spend six months in the Underworld in her place, while she is in the Upper World. (For more on this mythic cycle, click here). So this myth explains the presence of this goddess, a planetary ruler, in both Upper World and Underworld, while also explaining the retrograde cycle of the planet Venus, during which time she becomes invisible and changes from Evening Star to Morning Star.
In cultures where shamans are seen as marginal figures, we can likely easily find planetary and house associations for them (Saturn/8th and 12th houses, etc.). In cultures where they are respected religious officiants, they may have different planetary and house associations (Jupiter/9th house, etc.), even if the previous mentioned would still apply. In cultures where shamans do not have 'set-apart' professional status, they may have any of the previously mentioned planetary and house associations, but also have other associations. For instance, should they be a farmer, a plant shaman or have strong fertility magic, they may have associations with the 2nd, 4th, 6th or even 10th houses (especially if they are famous and/or very successful in some aspect of their lives).
What I am getting at here is that all shamans are human and so will have the same planetary complexity as any other humans. When they are deeply marginalized by their culture, they may have a more narrow set of associations. As with any set of humans though, certain shaman may have natal charts that mark them as having specific gifts or focus, and so they may manifest specific powers, gifts and archetypes. Each case will be individual, and each culture where shamans are found will have their own unique and distinct traditions and cultural heritage, even when there are commonalities across cultures, time and space.
THE ASTROLOGY
While the individual shaman may express any houses or planets, shamanism itself, in my opinion will tend to be most strongly associated with the 4th, 8th and 12th houses. In terms of planets, I would associate Saturn most strongly with shamanism, with strong influences from Pluto. Others may have a different view. This is my view after a lifetime of working with both spirit work/shamanic work and astrology, but that doesn't mean other views are 'wrong'. I say the 12th house due to its association with the Underworld, hidden things, and it being the House of Saturn's joy in Hellenic astrology. I say the 8th because of its association with magic, mysticism, and that which is taboo. I would grant some association with the 4th house too because the 4th was the Underworld in Hellenic astrology and because it is associated with our roots and our ancestors in multiple astrological systems. These three houses also form a trine and so all work together in harmony, all representing different aspects of similar energies.
To me, the 8th as part of the Underworld is where sex is the tool that draws spirits up from the Underworld into the Middle World. So the 8th then is all sex-magic, tantra, reproduction (egg and sperm merging and making life) - all 8th house, but underworld-revealing and incorporating activities. The trine of 4th, 8th and 12th are all aspects of the Underworld, but different aspects. If the fourth is the ancestors and our ancestral memory and genetics, the 8th is how we got them, and the 12th is where they came from. My emphasis on the 12th is because it is the doorway through which humans travel in and out of the Underworld. Living humans travel there through turning inward and dissolving into the center of self and from there into Self (shamanism, spirit journeying, etc.), and the dead and dying go to the Underworld through the 12th by the act of dying. The 4th is what you brought with you out of the Underworld. The 8th is how things get out of the Underworld and how you call the Underworld into the Middle World. The 12th is where you go back into the Underworld, either temporarily or permanently.
As I said previously, other houses and planets can clearly be influences. For instance, any planet placed in the 12th may have its energies tied into 'gifts' that can manifest in a spiritual/shamanic/mediumistic nature. There are so many words used all over the world for various abilities and practices that could also be seen as shamanistic, so it is not really easy to talk about 'shamanism' as if it is in a vacuum. Many other practices have parallel practices in shamanism, even if given different names and having different cultural manifestations. For instance, mediumship has parallels with shamanism, because of the communication with the dead and channeling of spirits. However, I have seen astrologers associate mediumship with the 9th house, the 8th house, the 7th house and the 12th house. So which is it? Well in different instances, it could be any or all of them.
Much the same as with shamanism in general, and as I have mentioned previously, masks can have multiple planetary and house associations. Yet, for me, the house most associated with masks, and especially masks as used in shamanistic practices, is the 12th house because it is the house that deals with that which is hidden and is the house of the Underworld. While shamans may go into the Upper World, the most frequent destination is the Underworld, because that is where the spirits involved in sickness and difficulties are most often found. The Underworld is also where ancestors and the dead reside, at least those who haven't moved on to the Upper World, and the Underworld is where lost soul-parts most often retreat. So the shaman spends a lot of time visiting the Underworld, communicating with the spirits of the Underworld, or channeling spirits who are associated with the Underworld.
It is important to remember that the Underworld is not the Christian Hell. It is not a place of suffering and punishment. It is a place of rest and creation, for it is in the darkness that the light is born. The Underworld is a place where some may wander, but it is not a realm of the lost. The Underworld may be filled with outsiders, outcasts and those who transgress societal norms, but it is not a place of only one note. It is a place of multiple levels. It is the inner realm where we find our power, our knowing, our lost soul pieces that we have denied and cast off out of fear. It is the dazzling darkness from which all creation arises. These are all aspects of the 12th house. These are the energies the shaman works with and these are the spirit energies that the mask allows the shaman to bring forth into the Middle World.
Different forms of astrology will have different planetary rulers for the signs and houses, and the associations with the houses will be different too. Astrology is a living practice and there are changes of associations over time. Modern astrology has integrated the Outer Planets, though I don't personally really feel comfortable with the assignment of Outer Planets as sign rulers. However, having started with modern astrology many years ago, I know all the rulers and associations. In traditional Western astrology, there are a different set of rulerships and house associations. I tend to find these a bit more applicable, though I don't unquestioningly accept every single aspect of any particular system. If one looks at the astrology of the pre-modern Middle Ages, we will find a system different from modern astrology, but also different from Hellenic astrology, certainly in terms of house associations. So when I talk about the association of planets with houses or the associations of any given house, I may be drawing from any of the systems of astrology I have studied, or I may be drawing from my own experience of the planetary spirits and their manifestations in the Middle World.
I can assure you that I am fully aware that modern astrology has Pluto ruling the 8th house and Neptune ruling the 12th. I just don't agree. I don't see the Outer Planets as ruling signs or houses, and further, I don't do the 1-for-1 sign-to-house association of modern astrology, so I don't see the 12th house as the same thing as the sign Pisces, or the 8th house as the same thing as the sign Scorpio. So when I say that Pluto strongly effects the 12th house, I know that is counter to modern astrology, and I know that ancient astrological systems didn't use Pluto, but my personal experience is that Pluto is strongly connected to the 12th house and is strongly connected to Saturn, and both are major forces of the 12th house. It is also my experience that both planetary spirits are strongly connected to spiritual, mystical and shamanic activities and practices. It is my experience that a strong 12th house, whether through planets there or the placement of the ruler of the sign on the 12th, will often grant strong mystical, spiritual, magical, intuitive and/or shamanic gifts (whatever words you want to use). It won't do this in all instances. Some people will have a strong 12th house component and not have any of these experiences. Some won't recognize these gifts for what they are. There is always the exceptions to any rule. Everything will depend on the total chart at birth.
MASKS AS A TOOL OF THE 12TH HOUSE
For many people with a heavy 12th house emphasis, it will be very natural to mask themselves in some ways - keeping aspects of themselves hidden and/or feeling a sense of invisibility, as if they are wearing a mask that they can't take off. This can be a frustrating experience for many people. When society has told you that you have to be a super-successful extrovert, the life of the party, and a famous celebrity to be of any value, the invisibility and lack of recognition that the 12th can produce may seem like a curse. Yet, when we begin to understand how to use the mask of the 12th, we can find immense value in its gifts. Those who are not noticed can go places others can't.
For those who feel 'masked' and unseen in any way by their 12th house, there it the opportunity to learn how to use masks, to enter the Underworld (for their own healing and to help others) and to gather information. It is amazing the things people will say in front of those whom they don't notice!
The shamanic use of masks allows the individual to depersonalize, in some ways to dissociate from their socially-created personality, and so to open to a vaster realm of knowledge and information. While depersonalization and dissociation can absolutely have negative connotations, in the sense of mental illness, in the sense I am discussing here, it is how the shaman channels spirits and their knowledge. In this state, the personality of the shaman dissolves to the extent that 'the other' can speak, often presenting information unknown to the channel. It is not uncommon for the channel to not remember what has been said once they return. This practice can be dangerous, as most 12th house issues are, to some extent. A strong meditation practice is helpful, and anyone with any chemical addiction issues, mental weakness or mental illness should probably not endeavor to use such practices. These practices are for people with very strong minds, strong personalities, and who have a very strong and healthy sense of self. The shaman learns to stand in the eye of the hurricane, to dissolve and return whole. Apprentice shaman were often trained for many years before they became full shamans. One shouldn't rush into such practices!
However, some of us really don't have any choice in the matter. For some, and especially for some with heavy 12th house placements, these abilities will be present, wanted or unwanted, and the natural ability to slip into trance, to channel spirits, to communicate with and see the dead, to travel into the Underworld, being invisible to the 'daylight world', are unavoidable realities, even if they are seen as a curse. For those who are in that situation, it is probably necessary to learn how to harness these abilities, as they aren't just going to magically go away, no matter how much you want rid of them. In my experience, the only way to not be their victim is to learn to control them. While some may never be able to control them, knowing what these abilities are and how to work with them is essential to living with them.
If you have a strong 12th house emphasis and manifest these energies of the 12th in your life, you have unique opportunities, and unique burdens. The regular socially-accepted life is probably not an easy thing for you to maneuver, and it may never be. If that is the case, don't mourn for not fitting into someone else's idea of what life should be. Embrace your gifts, even if they feel like burdens. A lot of the time, our sense that something is a burden is because others have told us it is, or because those gifts stand in the way of our beliefs about what our lives 'ought to be'. The place to start in understanding such gifts is to accept them and then begin to figure out where you are believing things that just aren't true for you.
If someone has an interest in the shamanic uses of masks, I would recommend they start by reading up on shamanic practices, masks and begin experimenting by creating their own mask. In some instances, you might find a mask pre-made that speaks to you, but making a mask can be revelatory. Even if you just take a simple paper mask and paint it to speak to your energies and ideas, that creative process will give you a deeper insight into the power of masks, and such a mask will have a direct connection to your energies. Take your time in learning these practices and listen to your inner knowing and guidance. Use your mask with care - it contains a doorway to the Underworld.
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