Intervuiew with Rob Shamen

ROB SHAMEN: Baecause it's not an organized religion as such, but rather a spiritual practice, shamanism cuts across all faiths and creeds, reaching deep levels of ancestral memory. As a primal belief system, which precedes established religion, it has its own symbolism and cosmology, inhabited by beings, gods, and totems, who display similar characteristics although they appear in various forms, depending upon their places of origin

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): Sure, sure.

ROB SHAMEN: I mean have you ever tried self-bondage, for example, Karean?

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): Huh?

ROB SHAMEN: Bondage? You know ropes and stuff.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): Oh.

ROB SHAMEN: Me, I'm all over it.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): Oh? Really?

ROB SHAMEN: One of the best ways to enjoy and master the art of rope bondage is to tie on yourself! This practice can assist you in practicing knots, rope handling, and increasing your flow while tying. As someone who initially learned rope through self-tying, honey, I can take you through the basics of ties you can do on yourself to experience restriction, pain, or even meditation!

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): No shit?

ROB SHAMEN: How about it, Karen? Right here, right now? I'm all juiced up.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): Maybe later...

ROB SHAMEN:  I'll hold yopu to it! Hold? Get it? No? OK.... It's OK.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): Tell us about your nudism, Rob?

ROB SHAMEN: Rob has been a nudist since age 16.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): You're Rob though right? Or are you talking about somebody else?

ROB SHAMEN: It's me, sugar. Rob... OK, OK. I've been in and out of various Polyamorous configurations since the mid 1980s before Poly relating even had a name.​ Nudism kind of grew straight out oif that tree.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): In wahat way?

ROB SHAMEN: I focus on power exchange, empowerment and consent. I'm a certified in Clinical Hypnotherapy & Vetenarianism. I delight in tweaking minds and studying the more twisted human desires.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): A Dog Doctor?

ROB SHAMEN: Yeah, honey. A man's gotta earn some crust.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): Back to shamanism?

ROB SHAMEN: I believe myself to be an intermediary between the visible world and the hidden world of spirits and gods.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): Wow, that's just amazing, Rob.

ROB SHAMEN: Mystical figures like me are reviving old traditions throughout Mongolia, Central Asia, and Siberia.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): Does anyone show interest?

ROB SHAMEN: I had 7 people come to my van in Morpeth.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): Is that good?

ROB SHAMEN: Finding a receptive audience for may charismatic rituals is hard work, Karen.

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): Can you tell us more?

ROB SHAMEN: After meditation and chants I move into a trance, the moment when the spirit from the invisible realm would be free to enter my body. “Oh, my spirit, I would ride ten Mongolian cows to see you. Please let the golden cuckoo guide me to the spirit.”

KAREN (Maudlin Leaf): OK, Rob, you can tie me up now.