Journey 151 - The Return of the Spirits

2/8/05: This evening, at 5:28 PM, the Moon turned New. This signaled the beginning of the White Moon Festival, Mongolian New Year and the first day of spring. Most important to many Shamans, though, is that this is the ending of Bituun (the night just before the New Moon when all the Helper and Guide Spirits return to Father Sky to relax and re-energize for the year’s work ahead). I had honored the two-week period between the last Full Mom and today’s New by resisting any Shamanic work, except for emergencies, of which I had none, and a single Journey to meet my Mirror. Today marks the day (in fact, the second the Moon turns new) when all the Helpers and Guides return from Father Sky to begin a new year of Spiritual work through their Shaman intermediaries such as myself. Last night, during Bituun, I humbly offered the column of Spirit Energy above my 5-Stone Altar to the Helpers as a transport medium up to the Sky Father. I told them I would be honored if they chose to use my Sacred Altar as a launching place. Afterwards, as I held my hands out over the Altar, I could feel so much Energy vibrating through my fingers that they almost felt hot. J

There is a small ritual Mongolian Shamans perform to welcome back the Spirits at the precise minute of the New Moon, but before I get into describing my version, I’ll preface by saying that about an hour prior to the “moment of return”, I performed my first Sacred Pipe Smoke in quite a while. I wore my Mirror for the first time during a Smoke. There is really no higher way to pray and honor the Spirits than to Smoke the Sacred Pipe. My readers know that in many of my Journeys the Elders are sitting in a Circle with a Pipe going round. The main focus of this afternoon’s Smoke was preparation. I knew from recent Journeys that the arrival of my Mirror and the beginning of the White Moon would signal a much more involved and serious year of work for me. I wanted to Smoke to cleanse myself, to be ready for my Guides’ and Helpers’ returns. Part of the tasking of the 2-week period leading up to this New Moon is to cleanse oneself of any grudges, angers, resentments, bitterness, etc., toward anyone else. While this is the main goal for all humans, it is especially important that Shamans remove any negative Energies that might be lingering from the past year. So during my Smoke I paid attention most to blowing prayers onto my Mirror and cleansing my Aura, and praying for myself to be worthy of another year of Shamanism. I left a layer of Smoke at ground level for the Helpers to land in as well. The Smoke went beautifully, thick and white, and dispersed gracefully around me the entire time. I laid the Ashes onto the 5-Stone Alter at the conclusion. At the start of my Smoke, a single Duck flew by above me, and at the conclusion thereof, a pair of Ducks flew by at the same height and heading in the same direction (ESE). I have seen so many ducks in recent days that I took this to signify that this coming year will feature Duck as one of my prime totems. Ducks float on Water (emotion, femininity) but dive beneath the surface to find their nuggets of food. This tells me that I will be particularly good this year at intuiting the Truth among surging emotions. During this Smoke, as I alluded to above, I wore my Mirror for the first time. This not only allowed the Mirror to absorb the Energies of this Smoke, but also those of all my other prior Smokes in this Sacred Place. It also welcomed the Mirror to my brand of Shamanism, for every Shaman’s Walk is unique. At one point toward the end of my Smoke, I was able to see the blobs of dark Energy falling from my Aura and landing in the snow at my feet. The blobs merged with the snow and produced rainbow colors in the process.

I then set up for my mini-ritual, following the guidance of Sarangerel. I made an oboo of a mini-mountain of snow, and atop this placed 14 toothpicks. These signify the 7 sisters and honor the Sacred Ancestor Shaman Spirits who live in the Pleiades, and the other 7 the Star People of the Big Dipper. I placed a small sprig of Sage next to them, to be lit just before 5:28. I then lit my Journey Candle and placed it within the boundaries of my 5-Stone Altar. As I stood and watched as the minutes counted down, I saw the Spirits waiting to return, and again prayed that I would be worthy to be the “hollow bone” for their work this year. As 5:27 struck, I lit the Sage and got ready top recite an ancient Mongolian chant at 5:28. Once the time hit, I said the chant while beating on my shed to simulate the Shaman’s Drum. At this time, all the Spirits were flooding back to Earth to begin the new year. I then began to drum on the shed once again, and began a Journey, now perfectly acceptable. I saw my own Aura, exceptionally bright. My Mirror was on my chest and was burned into my Aura, becoming a brilliant sun-white orb simmering on my chest..a blinding white light in our terms. The Mirror is now a permanent part of my Aura, and will protect me whether or not the physical version is on me. I then looked up to see my primary Guides and Helpers: Eagle Claw, Crosses in Front, Pink Swan, Blue Shaman, Two Feathers and Gray Wolf..all around me. It was so good to see them back! They lifted me off the ground and propelled me at tremendous speed through the air. Within a second or so I was plunging into Lake Baikal in Mongolia, ancestral home of many powerful Shaman Spirits. I was just as quickly flung up into space to pass right through the Sun, in all its brightness. We then flew quickly back and passed through the Moon. By passing through both Sun and Moon, Sacred Balance of Male and Female was assured. Then I was scooted up the Pleiades, where a Council of Elders sat with a Pipe. One reached out to me and traced my Shaman’s symbol into my Spirit Mirror, truly making it mine, and empowering it to work with me with the greatest efficiency. I was then escorted quickly back to a spot above the Earth. I looked down to the surface and saw thousands upon thousands of returned Spirits there, of many colors, but each resplendent and glowing. Yes, truly, the Helpers are back, and in amazing numbers. From here I was escorted back to my yard and I re-emerged into this reality. I left the Oboo in place with the Candle burning, so the retuning Spirits could warm themselves. I left the Candle out there for over an hour..