Crafting Your Shamanic Mask

A sacred process for creating and awakening your shamanic mask

The creation of a shamanic mask is a profound spiritual undertaking, marking a significant step in a practitioner's journey. This process involves not just physical crafting, but a deep communion with spirit allies and the ancient Master of Masks. Your mask will become more than an object – it will serve as a bridge between worlds, a tool for transformation, and a vessel for spirit connection. This blog outlines sacred work in contemporary shamanic practice to create a powerful tool – your mask - that will serve your practice for years to come.

Creating Your Primal Mask

Preparing for Creation: Choose an evening when you can work undisturbed, setting aside ample time for this sacred work. Your workspace should be clean and quiet, arranged with intention. Consider how you'll maintain sacred atmosphere during your work. This can be in silence or with gentle drumming or sacred music. You might choose to burn herbs or light candles to purify and illuminate your space.

Materials and Tools

To create your mask, you'll need:

• Plaster-impregnated gauze (medical bandage)

• Vaseline

• A bowl of warm water

• Scissors

• Fine-grit sandpaper

• A special cloth for wrapping your completed mask

• Optional: Drumming track or sacred music

• Optional: Candles and incense

Essential Considerations: Before beginning the physical creation, understand that your mask must serve both practical and ceremonial purposes. It must allow comfortable breathing during extended wear, with clear sight lines that don't restrict your vision during ceremony. Design your mask to stay secure without requiring your hands to hold it in place, as you'll need your hands free during ceremonial work. If you have a beard, plan your mask to avoid covering it. Many practitioners choose to work from the nose upward, creating a partial face mask that balances practical wear with spiritual significance.

Creation Steps

·    Begin by cutting the plaster-impregnated gauze (like that used for craft work and/or making plaster casts in clinics) into strips approximately 2cm wide and 15cm long. Apply a thin layer of Vaseline to your face where the mask will sit - this ensures the gauze won't stick to your skin. Have your bowl of warm water ready.

·    Working one strip at a time, dip the gauze into the warm water and lay it across your face, building up the form of your mask. Work methodically, overlapping the strips to create a strong structure. It can help to create foundations over the forehead first, and then down the nose between the eyes, and then across the nose and cheeks to create an initial foundation. As the mask takes form, pay particular attention to the edges, including around the eye sockets, ensuring the edges are smooth and won't catch or irritate your skin.

·    Allow this initial layer to dry completely - this usually takes about 24 hours. Once dry, add additional layers of gauze to strengthen the mask, paying attention to areas that might need extra support.

·    After these layers have dried, use fine-grit sandpaper to smooth any rough edges or surfaces, creating a comfortable finish both on the exterior and interior that sits well against your skin.

·    Throughout the creation, maintain awareness that each step is part of a sacred process. Each strip of gauze is laid with intention, each smoothing motion a prayer. Take your time, allowing the meditative nature of the work to deepen your connection with the mask being born through your hands.

Awakening Your Mask

A Shamanic Journey to the Master of Masks

Once you have created your primal mask, it is time to undergo your shamanic journey to meet with the Master of Masks. This is a profound step in awakening your newly created mask. The ancient being - the keeper of mask wisdom throughout time - will guide you in bringing your mask to life. In this shamanic journey, the Master of Masks will give you important insights about how to awaken your mask.

For the shamanic journey, find a quiet space where you won't be disturbed, lie down with your wrapped mask nearby, and begin your journey into the realm of masks. Begin your shamanic journey as usual, engaging in whatever practice you need to go into a transpersonal state and journey to a non-ordinary reality. Go with the intention to meet with the Master of Masks and to ask them what you need to do to awaken the spirit of your mask.

As you begin your journey, imagine yourself in a dense forest, where the ground feels soft beneath your feet. Notice every sensory detail – the damp leaves, ferns, and mosses that surround you, the rough bark of ancient trees, the mist hanging in the twilight air. As you emerge from the forest's embrace, see the great castle perched upon a hill before you, its stone walls alive with faint faces – masks in the process of being born, emerging from the very structure itself.

Passing through the gates, acknowledged by silent guardians, you'll walk up to the main keep. Enter the great studded doors, and into a vast entrance hall. Here, countless corridors lead to rooms filled with masks of every purpose and power. In front of you, you will see the doors to the The Great Hall. This is illuminated by thousands of torches, their light revealing masks of incredible diversity embedded within the walls and pillars of stone that support the immense roof. Some masks weep, others smile, and all are alive with spirit and purpose.

At the far end you will find the Master of Masks, a tall figure in flowing robes standing before you, their head adorned with multiple masks that turn to follow your movement. In the Master's presence, ask them to tell you the sacred art of awakening your mask. This ancient being will give you guidance, such as on how to work with the fundamental powers of creation: the illuminating light of the Moon, the grounding force of Earth, the clarifying power of Air, the transformative energy of Fire, and the flowing wisdom of Water. Each element plays a crucial role in bringing your mask to life, and the Master will show you how to work with these forces in harmony.

The Awakening Ceremony

As you come out of the shamanic journey, you can begin to awaken your mask with sacred intent. Stay in ceremony, holding the essence of your shamanic journey with you as you work with your mask. Make sure you have already arranged representations of the four elements around your mask, with candles providing illumination. This sacred geometry creates a container for the powerful energies you'll be working with.

During the awakening, follow the guidance you have been given by the Master of Masks. Work with each element in sequence, allowing their energies to imbue your mask with intention, power and purpose. Through this process, also begin to feel the rising spirit of your own mask and let them speak to you with new truths. Maybe they will give you a name that may only be spoken in ceremony, or explain a specific purpose of the mask and how it should be used. You might learn appropriate times and ways it should be worn, or how it should be decorated.

Integration and Decoration

After awakening your mask, enter into a period of deepening relationship through mindful decoration and ceremonial use. The decoration process should unfold organically and over time, with you being guided by the wisdom received during your journey with the Master of Masks or the awakening of the Spirit of your mask. Add different aspects to your mask as they are called to you, always working with sacred intention. Store your mask in its special cloth when not in use, and always approach it with reverence and clear intent.

A Powerful Ceremonial Tool

The shamanic mask you have created and awakened will be more than a ceremonial tool - it is a living ally in your practice, a bridge between worlds, and a vessel for profound transformation. Through regular ceremonial use and ongoing attention to its needs, your mask will continue to develop in power and purpose. As you work with your mask, you may discover that it becomes an extension of your own spiritual capacities, enhancing your ability to journey, heal, and serve your community. The relationship you build with your mask will be unique to you, evolving and deepening as you walk the shamanic path together.

Creating and awakening your mask is just the beginning. Through conscious engagement and sacred use, your mask will become an increasingly powerful ally in your shamanic work, helping you navigate between worlds and to bring forth healing and wisdom.

Are you interested in mask making? Our courses explore masking and how to develop shamanic wisdom. [Start here]