During this past summer - August, to be exact - my path took an unexpected turn. In the round-about ways these things often seem to happen, the topic of Shamanism came up briefly in a conversation. I found myself intrigued, thinking “I have been interested in this, but have never pursued it.”. It seemed to be a little “out there” even for me. In less than a month’s time, I found myself signed up for and attending an introductory workshop on Shamanism. I still find this extraordinary, as the workshop was offered just a 45 minute drive from my home here in Upstate Western NY. I didn’t have to travel out west somewhere. Click here for the website of the place where I attended this two day workshop: http://www.cecilecarson.com .
Now, August was a pretty rough month for me. I remember that just the day before the workshop, I was questioning whether or not I should go. What if I had a melt-down right there amidst these unknown people? With all that I was struggling with, was this an appropriate time to start something new? What if all the people there were really weird and I felt really uncomfortable? What if … what if … what if …… . But, obviously, I did go anyway. There was just something deeper than all the “what ifs” that told me I needed to go. So, that last Saturday morning in August, I packed up the stuff that was recommended to be brought along, printed out the directions from mapquest and away I went.
Now, I really am quite introverted by nature and I generally am not overly comfortable in new surroundings with new people and facing a new experience. However, the people I encountered seemed normal enough - friendly even! No alarms were going off in my head, so I took a deep breath and decided to just “go with it”.
One of the first things that was explained about Shamanism was that it was a spiritual methodology. This resonated with me quite deeply, because I really was not looking for any new doctrine/dogma to which I needed to pledge my allegiance. As a methodology, it can go hand-in-hand with any religious belief system, unless that system itself would disallow Shamanism. In this case, the “disallowing” was not on the part of Shamanism, but on the other system of belief.
We jumped right in to learning how to ”journey”. The following is taken from the above mentioned website:
Shamanism is a spiritual methodology, and one of its most important techniques is that of the shamanic journey. In this journey, one is transported, through a change in consciousness, from ordinary reality into non-ordinary reality – that reality in which everything is alive spiritually. The shamanic journey allows one to part the veils between seen and unseen worlds to access information and healing that can help awaken us and restore us to wholeness.
Click here for the full article: What is Shamanism?
Again I started with all the “what ifs”. What if I can’t do this? What if nothing happens? What if something DOES happen? What if I do something wrong? Etc., etc.
So, I followed the directions to what I figured to be the best of my ability. Now, because I am who I am, I had picked up a book or two to read before the workshop and had even attempted to “journey” using a CD of drumming. The results were a bit dubious, at best. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Without any interactive guidance, I did not know what to make of anything. In light of my own lackluster journey results prior to the workshop, I laid down for this journey fully expecting to be unsuccessful.
I was wrong.
This journey was crystal clear. Our intent was to find our “power animal”. I was not anticipating the clarity that I experienced. Now, somewhere in my mind I was hoping that my power animal was something great and powerful or maybe graceful and elegant. I thought Eagle or a Lion or Gazelle would all be wonderful. It was not to be so. I ended up with a power animal that I had not even considered could BE a power animal.
I guess that at this point, if you are reading this, you might now ask, “Well, what was it?” For some reason, I feel now is not the moment to reveal what power animal appeared for me. Perhaps in a later post.
Most of the weekend did continue along these lines, although I did, in fact, have a melt-down of sorts on Sunday afternoon. But I survived even that. After the weekend had finished, I found that I walked away with one singular thought, idea or conviction …
I had found my spiritual home.
Blessed be!!!!
Stumble it!
January 10th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
Deb, I am very glad to see you back and sharing your journey with us. I see you have been through a lot of suffering and hope it is less now and will continue to lessen. I will be very interested to hear about your experiences with shamanism as a practice in your path. I have felt close to the bear as a shamanistic animal, because it has a connection with herbs and I spent nearly a quarter of a century completely obsessed with these plants. (Still love and grow them.) I am still a Catholic who loves Christ, rejects most of the Catholic church as based in Rome, and practices Buddhism. In early October I was able to attend a weekend retreat led by Thich Nhat Hanh and it did lead to becoming more peaceful and continuing my journey in that direction. I am just sad that I cannot find a sangh in this tradition anywhere near where I live. There is a Tibetan on quite nearby, but I am still hesitating, although the teaching is not dissimilar. I am also fascinated to hear about your downsizing since that is something I want to do. But my son is still living at home and I am not quite ready. But oh, how much we accumulate in 30 years in one house! I am trying to “bless other people with my stuff” as my younger daughter calls it! And trying. And trying.
I am very happy to have had the impulse to check and see if by some miracle you had posted anything, and there is was! Sending you the energy of prayer for traveling mercies on your journey.
January 15th, 2010 at 11:00 am
I should say that I’ve never done any sort of vision quest, just read about this ten or 15 years ago and loved what I read about bears being animals for herbalists.
January 24th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
I am so glad you have a power animal, Debbie. Yeah! I am so happy.
I have a totem animal. I should say really my husband and I found ‘our’ totem animal. It has happened to us to encounter deer many times on walks…
And last fall, I came across two wild-boars (for a Gallic person, this is normal). I wondered then whether my totem animal had changed. After all, they survived and so did I, i.e. they did not charge me…
I have never been to a shamanism weekend. I will have to read more on the link you suggest.
Huge hug.
April 2nd, 2010 at 11:57 pm
I Also Agree With you Claire Meditation is not contemplation. Meditation is not concentration. Meditation is a state of being. It is a state of awareness. Meditation is not about doing something; rather it is about doing nothing. So Check out more Intresting techniques and Guidene about Maditation only at [Gurumaa.com]