Journey 32 - Morphing 4-Legged Dream: First Dark Journey

2/4/04: My next Journey was an attempt to unravel the mystery over the Medicine Dream of the prior night, in which a morphing Four-Legged attacked my sleeve, indicating an anger toward me from that Camp. I had been wondering all day if I had done something wrong in my prior Healing Journey (recall the Journey was abruptly stopped by the CD shutting down by itself halfway through), or if my dear friend and co-worker was correct in saying that it was an omen of a snap to come from someone I was trusting. Because I had seen a single Crow sitting atop a Standing Person next to a doctor’s office for a good 10 minutes, I decided to use Crow for my Guide for this Journey. The one problem I didn’t think about in making this decision is that Crow had never come to me in a Journey and agreed to serve as Guide. I was not thinking well, though, and so proceeded to Journey anyway. After smudging all with Sage and Sweet Grass, and lighting the Sacred Candle, off I went using the Drumming CD. I met Crow at the top of the same Tree, and we took off together as I hung onto its feet. We saw a Green Ball forming in the Sky, the Tunnel Entrance, and headed off to it. We went through the intense green and ended up in a courtyard surrounded by Concord Grape vines. “Uh-oh,” I thought to myself..”this is not my normal landing place at all..what are we doing here?” I decided to eat a few Grapes, but was directed by being drawn to a certain cluster that was glowing brightly. Those I consumed. I immediately sensed myself falling into a deep, dark, formless depth. I grabbed hold of Crow’s legs, who was flying above me, and watched in growing fear as Crow grew to the large Black Winged One that set off my Shamanic Dream in which I battled the Dark Force. I was in the hands of that bird! I called in Eagle Claw and Gray Wolf for IMMEDIATE assistance. They managed to cut me lose and I landed on my old postal route, alone. I then saw a series of replays concerning Animal sightings I had made when I first began my Sacred Walk several years ago. It was as if I was being taken right back to the beginning. I then became a Deer in the woods, and sensed what is was like to be shot at, for a hunter’s bullet went whizzing by my head and struck a nearby Tree. I then saw some scenes from my current home, with Kenny in a few, seemingly having no bearing on the rest of the Journey. I then decided to try to get back to the Animal Council from the prior Journey. At the table were the three types of Animal I saw in my Dream last night. They in turn showed me some more animals on my Visual Cortex, and then more unrelated scenes from my life, but I was never given an answer as to why I had been bitten or if/how I had angered the Animal Clan. I then returned to my room, deeply unsettled by the wayward and definitely blacker Journey I had just completed. I remembered to thank all Helpers I had met. But this experience really put me in a bad way emotionally. I have never had a dark Journey before, and as I look back, I’m convinced the main reason was using a Guide that had not revealed itself as such in a prior Journey. Just picking poor Crow like that subjected it to the manipulations of the Dark Force, which tried to carry me away. A very important and thankfully survivable mistake, for it has taught me a great lesson. Later that night I picked the Mountain Lion Medicine Card, a symbol of leadership and walking alone in making important decisions for the rest of the Inhabitants. ML was one of the two Animals that appeared to me after my Visual Cortex was re-engineered in a prior Journey, so I knew the Spirit Camp was asking me to focus on Spiritual Imagery for the ensuing period of time, to help get me through this. They were reminding me gain a fuller perspective that a Shaman’s Walk is occasionally fraught with danger and solitude..not every Journey is all glitter and gold. The full lessons of the past 24 hours remain hidden to me..time will reveal what it is I need to do to keep from being bit again.