We remember Arthur, a few words that fall far short of capturing a whole life. Keep the fire alive!
Text by Kjell H Silkoset, Blaker 25.03.2020
Tonight we light a candle in memory of our dear friend Arthur Sørensen, who tonight, 24 March 2020, has crossed over to another dimension. He was born in 1950 and grew up in Bergen, and Bergen never let go of Arthur; he kept his dialect even through a wandering life. In 1985 he travelled to the USA and to shamanic training with Michael Harner. Michael formulated the theory of a shamanic state of consciousness that is often referred to as modern shamanism. In 1985 Arthur became the first Scandinavian to be initiated there into modern shamanism. Arthur brought his experience and learning from this time and held many seminars and courses on the subject. Earlier Arthur had worked in the book trade and acquired quite broad knowledge and contacts through developing a cataloguing system for genres within alternative fields. He also had his own book, "The Shaman's Heart" (Sjamanens Hjerte), published, a collection of notes and thoughts he had while with Harner. The book has now been published anew and is an easy read in which I had many experiences I recognised, something I think many readers who are curious about shamanism will want. I was fortunate to get to know Arthur better over the past year, a year that was sadly marked by illness and cancer treatment. Arthur is known in Sjamanistisk Forbund as the leader (forstander) of Bergen and Hordaland from 2013, and he received SF's highest honour, honorary member, in 2017. Shaman is a designation given to a person appointed to safeguard spiritual experiences and to guide tribal people. Shamanism is often defined as a nature religion and has traditions going back more than 20,000 years. So the example Arthur showed by having dreams and plans during the years he was able to keep going commands respect. As mentioned, he held courses and workshops until autumn 2019 in Lillestrøm, and he had plans and contacts in Spain, on Gran Canaria, where the great dream was to establish a shamanic centre and health centre. He often mentioned his brother, who has an apartment down there that he could use, and the brother's sceptical attitude, "Is there even any money in this then???", which did not seem to have much effect on Arthur's philosophy and focus. The last time we spoke, he was trying to look ahead with a solution of alternating between living with friends in the Lillestrøm area and Gran Canaria, depending on the chemotherapy treatment and the monitoring of the cancer. Bergen pulled at him too, and the network of contacts there wanted him over as a friend and course leader.
As I sit here trying to put down some thoughts and words from the short time I managed to spend with Arthur, thanks to our shared interest in shamanism, I must express my gratitude for the conversations we managed to have. He lived according to shamanic ideas about using his time in the best possible way, taking care of his own integrity through thoughts, words and deeds. Since the new year I have had a feeling that more and more of his attention was turning towards the way forward after this life. The cancer and its treatment demanded a great deal; he asked me to bring him along in SF's new-moon ceremony and drum journeys when he no longer had the strength to take part physically himself. So tonight and on the evenings to come, you will be with us in spirit in ceremonies and drum journeys.
Peace be upon your memory.
