Journey 108 - Future Training

10/21/04: A Journey to discover the next phase of my Shamanic Walk. The 19th of this month was the three-year anniversary of my Hawk Epiphany (found in this blog under 10/19/01), during which I found myself chosen to begin the Shaman’s walk in earnest. I’ve come a long way in the intervening years, but just like a 3-year old child, I can walk and talk Shamanism, but still have a whole lot of experience and training to go before becoming a full “adult”. I’m very pleased with my progress to date, particularly in the realm of these Journeys to the Spirit Camp, but am now curious to find out what lies ahead..where I should be concentrating my efforts in the near term. So off I went on my Journey, after Rattling, lighting the Sacred Candle and Smudging. I used the 15-minute Drum segment, although very tired, hoping I wouldn’t drift off to sleep outright. However, fall asleep I did, but not before getting the info I was seeking. As I walked into the Spirit World, I saw Owl fluttering about in front of me. Behind him were the black and orange colors of Halloween! I found that kind of unusual, as Halloween in this country is a scare-and-greed-fest for kids, by and large, versus the ancient view of the day in which the Fabric between this “reality” and the Spirit World thins a good deal. Many Shamans used to use this “holiday” to seek deeper and fuller enlightenment from the Spirits. So, I took the colors as a bit of humor as well as a signal of the deeper meaning. But the modern Halloween imagery did not stop here, as you shall see. But first, Owl took me quickly laterally in the wooded open-circle area I have visited before. As he flew around in tight circles, he was shedding small Feathers, like a columnar veil. Behind him, the seasons rapidly went through a full cycle, ending up in next winter (2005-6). At that point, Owl pointed to a newly filled gravesite there in the falling snow, and I got the distinct impression it was my mother therein. A bit horrified, I quickly tried to jerk my awareness away from this scene..this is info I would prefer not to know However, the shock value and recognition had already sunk in. So I have just a little over a year left with my mom? Very quickly, the Journey now proceeded before I could get too involved with this possibility. Owl pointed me up to a swirling section of the black sky to my right, and we went up through this Tunnel to the Upper World. Its walls were flaky and had several colors (I recall dark green and blue), but there were large patches where there was nothing, also. And lo and behold out of the Upper World came a witch in full regalia..black dress and pointy hat, green face with long nose..the works. She asked me if I thought she was beautiful, and I said I assume you are a Spirit Helper and thereby beautiful within, but then I found myself thinking this hag-like perspective was beautiful in its own right. My definition of beauty was shifting on the spot! Then she began talking to me, and gave me two takings for the next year..assignments if you will. First, she told me to get deeper into shape-shifting, the ability to change from a human to a Hawk, etc, in order to go places and witness things a human can’t. Also, one can appear to others as a Spirit Helper in this new form. She also wanted me to learn to shape-shift other objects as well..turning a glass into a pen, etc. So I shall devote a good deal of my next Journeys to this aspect of Shamanism. The other tasking she gave me was to help me become a better healer: she told me to learn to feel other people’s pain, but not in the comical, western “I feel your pain” surface brush-off way. To REALLY import someone else’s pain from their body into mine, in order to better know where the source of trouble was and how to fix it. I then fell asleep. When I woke briefly, I was sent down a River, walking on the surface, absorbing millions of particles of Mana, i.e., Spirit Essence. This was no doubt to strengthen me. Next thing I knew, I was waking up well past the end of the Drum Loop. I did not return through the Tunnel from the Upper World, and so felt quite disconnected for an hour or so, until I went back into my room and manually returned through the Tunnel and back to grounding.