Journey 103 - Back Trouble

9/27/04: A Journey to try to bring some help and Healing to an older male family member, who is in great agony after a back operation in which pins were installed, and subsequent nerve damage and medication have caused a seizure and intense discomfort. I prayed with my Shaman’s Prayer Wand held high at the Sacred Prayer Spot out back, in the presence of Grandmother Moon last night, and sent much Spirit Energy and Helpers his way over a 5 or so minute periods of intense communication. I asked the Prayer Lodge Dwellers to gather around him and protect him overnight. Even in the dim light, I saw the Aura of my Y-shaped Prayer Stick, and there is a big ball of Energy right between the two prawns..so I spoke directly into that to energize the response of the Spirit Helpers on my brother’s behalf. I felt lots of Energy out there, and could see a gathering of Elders moving in around him to spend the night with him. Now, this afternoon, it was time to see what the Spirit Nation had to reveal to me..

So I lit the Sacred Candle, Rattled and Smudged with Sage and Sweet Grass, then set off. I found myself on a brush-like terrain, fairly hard, with very small bushes about. I found my Lower World Guide Crosses in Front, the Snake, sunning himself on a Stone Person that was alternating colors between red/orange and speckled gold. As I approached him, one of my Upper World Guides, Snowy Owl, swooped in and took her! I saw him lift Crosses well up into the air and begin circling with her! This has never happened in a Journey before, where one of my Guides took another in possession. This did not give me a good feeling about this Journey, but I knew I had to keep on. So I decided to shape-shift myself into a Snake and lie on the Stone Person myself. Having done so, I was quickly picked up in Snowy Owl’s other talon, and Crosses and I were both dangling aside one another as we soared into the heavens. I looked at her and she at me, and she congratulated me on figuring out how to get back into the picture. We soared very high, over an immense Waterfall, and then dived way down to a small sandy area next to the base thereof. We saw a thatched hut of dried grasses before us, and slithered into it together. Within was an Aboriginal Medicine Man, complete with huge face Mask, concocting up a Medicine. He was using very ancient Herbs to brew up this Medicine, and we could tell these were rare and old Herbs. He told us to drink the Medicine and so we did. This is one of only perhaps 2 or 3 Journeys in which I have been given Medicine to aid in moving further. Immediately all around us became white, and the only color or shape before us was a small red Hole straight ahead. We decided this was the Tunnel entrance to the Lower World, and so down we went. We ended up inside my brother’s back. Before stood a huge, thick steel column which I took to be one of the rods in his back. The nerve channels were severed along this column, and there was an insurmountable gap between ending that used to be connected. I could see ends of nerves firing off blue energy streaks that were missing their intended counterpart by either falling short of hitting the wrong ones. It looked unfixable to the untrained eye. I saw numerous Power Animals comes into this Chamber but none were able to engage the problem. The closest was an Armadillo, but his spikes were just too short to help. A lot of nerve damage has occurred here. At this point, a new figure arrived from the wall of the inner back. His name was Holds His Own, and he began to assess the situation. I was glad to see a human-form Spirit Helper arrive. At this point, a Journey flux occurred, and I slipped into the Theta state for a few minutes. When I returned, we were out in a forest. My brother was lying on a slab of hard wood or concrete, on his back, motionless. Holds His Own was standing over him, waving a wand made of the Elder Tree. A Bluebird sat on his left shoulder, overlooking things. Holds His Own began to glow quite brightly with a golden hue surrounding him as he worked on my brother. I then got the impression that Bluebird was to serve as my brother’s Power Animal. I also saw Holds His Own working with a red, jam-like substance, massaging it into his back. I could not tell what it was, but sensed it might be elderberry jam in keeping with the Wand. I then saw my brother sitting up in great humor and with lots of Energy. I saw him walking, with some difficulty but in a way that told me he was used to it, through his mom’s living room. But almost as quickly I saw him lying lifeless in the same place. I then decided to try to visit his brain to see if there were any damage there, but the Journey was coming to an end and I never got a good sense of what was happening there. The impression I got was that whatever might have happened there was not a great danger to him and all would be well, but again it was too little, too late to really get a hold on that. The Call Back Drum sounded, and I wended my way back with Crosses and Snowy Owl, thanking them after the fact.

Some notes: The remarkable thing that stands out most to me is the sense of conflict running through the entire Journey. I’ve never seen one Guide “attack” another before, nor a Stone Person wavering between opposite ends of the spectrum. The Stone Person changing colors shows a lurch from raw emotionalism to calmness and Life Force, and back. This tells me there is great emotion swimming around (and obviously through) my brother, but also strong forces for Life and Healing are trying to counter-balance them. It is important therefore that everyone be thinking in Life and Healing terms, not in anger or fear. The Elder Wand even speaks to this conflict: the Elder tree itself has a poisonous chemical in it that can serious harm a person, yet Elderberry jam is perfectly safe. Holds His Own was using a stick filled with poison to heal. Even Bluebird as a Power Animal speaks to “passage, a time of movement into another level of being.” Bluebird also has to do with Fertility and Feminine Power. This suggests my brother is transitioning from one state to another, but it is hard to say from what I was shown exactly what that means. I saw him his normal smiling self, and flat on his back unconscious, within seconds. The Healing Ceremony in the Forest also implies that he is at a critical turning point. The fact I saw him both ways, but with the healed version first, gives me hope things will turn out OK. But it would seem that attitudes and decisions over the next few weeks will play a very large role in how this all ends up. Bluebird Power also means that females will and should be playing a large role in these next few weeks. The presence of a large Waterfall also implies Feminine Power is or needs to be at work. The use of Elderberry Jam on his back implies my brother will have to seek out Alternative Medical solutions and not just rely on the standard Medical people in the future. Also, perhaps a female doctor would be more effective. It is wonderful that he has a Power Animal (Bluebird, the bird of happiness..means we should be trying to cheer him up as much as possible) AND a Spirit Doctor, Holds His Own..even his name implies my brother can hold HIS own..working for him now. But it is still up to all of us to say and do the right things over the next few weeks..the situation is fluid.