What comes to mind when you think of a Shaman?  What about a Shaman Chief?  Most would imagine an older Native American male.  What if I told you they lived in Michigan and that they were a woman?  Let me introduce you to Charli McBride.  She is a wife, mother, doctorate holder, ordained minister, demonologist, Shaman Chief, renowned author, international speaker, and Shamanic Master Mentor, and up until 2018 was one of the first women on the register of the International Association of Exorcists. Charli is also certified in 12 different shamanic sects and last year has started her journey into African shamanism.

Charli’s journey began after a horrific accident that almost took her life, well it kind of did take her life.  She was clinically dead for 6 minutes and 36 seconds, “the reason why that sticks in my head is because I had two children who were born at that time. Exactly.  So that’s always stuck in my head. Like, that’s weird. That’s a very significant time frame.”  When Charli finally came back and tried to process all that had happened, she was now able to see and hear spirits very clearly.  There was one fallback from this accident, Charli has no memory of her life before the accident and spent years trying to understand why now she was seeing dead people until one fateful day when looking for answers she walked into a metaphysical shop and saw a man that she was quickly drawn to and asked the woman at the counter “What does he do”? and the reply was he’s a Shaman.  She quickly set her appointment up to meet with him and it is here where Charli began her journey through Shamanism, and he would become her mentor. 

When asked what a Shaman is Charli replied, “You know, as a shaman, I am a perfectly in my  small piece in the much bigger puzzle of life. I am an extension of the creator. You know I am everything and nothing. As Shaman, it is only from this space I can truly be of service.”  There is a very specific energy trait and quality to the individual to make them a Shaman, you must be able to walk a very fine line between light and dark and never to teeter wholly on either side. Shamanism is different than other metaphysical practices. We are like the culmination of all metaphysical practices, we are the psychics, we are the mediums, we are the channelers, the healers, and tarot readers. We are the heavy energy workers.