THE SHAMANIC JOURNEY
A very important aspect of Shamanism is the Shamanic Journey. Shamans are highly adept at journeying to other dimensions of reality in order to produce greater levels of empowerment, receiving guidance and healing self and others. The Shamanic Journey differs from daydreaming in that the journey is focused and purposeful. It differs from guided fantasy in that the Shaman just observes whatever comes, instead of actively creating the different aspects of the journey.
The essence of journeying is to decide what you need, what you want, or what you are seeking; to state your intention and then visit the appropriate world to work on this theme or issue. The possibilities are practically endless: retrieve power objects; receive guidance; receive healing from luminous healers; finding enlightened masters to learn from or receive initiation from; etc. You can also journey for other people, bringing back gifts for them as needed. Two particularly important journeys revolve around retrieving your power animal; and retrieving lost soul parts and returning soul parts to others you may be holding on to. All aspects and possibilities of journeying are beyond the scope of this work.
Shamans believe that we are born with a power animal(s) (a.k.a. totems); we often lose our connection with this power animal due to trauma or other events that lead to power loss. In this journey, you can recover that power animal and once again make it a part of your life. There is some differentiation between Power Animals and Totems. As the Shaman is a Psychic, but a Psychic is not necessarily a Shaman, my view is that a Power Animal is a Totem, but a Totem is not necessarily a Power Animal. As I understand this, Power Animals are with is coming into this incarnation, and they remain with us. Power Animals may be with us all our different life times as their essence basically reflects our own soul essence or nature. Totems may include not just animals, but also plants and minerals or stones. Totems can come and go as they are needed in our life, and some may stay permanently.
A power animal is an energy pattern, if not a divine being or entity, in animal form. It is an expression of the characteristics of that animal; i.e., its nature, attributes, qualities, strengths, energies and even its archetypal symbolisms. It is often a reflection of our most inner and true selves that is not always evinced to the outer world. The power animal’s medicine is the knowledge and abilities inherent to that animal that we can draw on—effectively reaching deep inside ourselves—to perform a task, to learn a lesson, to offer guidance, to protect or whatever is most needed at any given time or period in our life.
I believe that power animals/totems are much more than mere reflections of inner self, or even of Higher Self. It is said that our totems or power animals choose us—we do not choose them. In that respect, their essence becomes part of us—or already is part of who we are. However, we then attain external help to develop the positive qualities represented by these power animals and totems. Power animals are divine manifestations; they are angels or even Archangels, Holy Spirits, that present themselves in animal form so that they can be recognized and understood in our human terms. They appear as that animal we are drawn to, that we do associate ourselves with, and they provide us the appropriate medicine accordingly. They come to us as Guardians, Teachers and Facilitators.
Animal Speak by Ted Andrews is a great reference for one to learn the “language” of animals as totems and spirits. He articulates the “medicine” of each animal, what lessons we should learn from them, and how to interpret the signs and messages Nature sends us through the animal world.
Lie down or sit in a comfortable position with your eyes closed; and relaxing your mind and your body. Envision yourself in a beautiful, natural environment. Somewhere there will be a hole or cave or some kind of entrance that leads down to the lower world. State your intention very clearly: “I will now journey to the lower world to retrieve my power animal.” Enter the cave and observe your surroundings. Find yourself walking down a tunnel; and at the end of this tunnel you will find a light that signifies the entrance into the lower world.
When you arrive there take some time to explore your new environment. One or more animals may present themselves to you; notice the one who keeps presenting itself to you—let them come to you. Ask the animal if it is your power animal; communicate with it for a while and get to know the essence of this animal. Ask it to come back with you into the normal world. Return back through the tunnel and leave the cave, gradually returning to your ordinary awareness. Now breathe the energy of the power animal into yourself. Blow strongly into your hands and then place one hand on your crown, the other on your solar plexus. This seals the power animal into your energy system. The retrieval process is complete. Once again, it is up to the individual to continue working with this new medicine and its aspects, to develop the positive qualities and characteristics evoked by the power animal.
Following are some insights to the Medicine of selected Totems/Power Animals
BEAR MEDICINE
COUGAR MEDICINE
HAWK MEDICINE
OWL MEDICINE
RAVEN MEDICINE
WOLF MEDICINE
More information on totems and power animals can be found at:
http://www.whats-your-sign.com/animal-totems.html
http://www.linsdomain.com/totems.htm www.crystalinks.com/totemanimals.html
Legend of the Dream Catcher and Mother Spider
According to legend, dreams are messages from sacred spirits. It is said that the hole in the web allows the good dreams through while trapping the bad dreams until they disappear in the morning light. Another legend says that the good dreams are caught and kept in the web while the bad ones go through the hole. Either way, the good dreams and thoughts filter down to the sleeping one through the hanging feathers. Dream catchers are believed to protect the sleeping one with pleasant dreams, luck and harmony throughout their lives.
To the Native Americans, spider is grandmother, the link to the past and to the future during the present. Spider medicine teaches creativity, the weaving of fate and the creation of our own reality and karma. Spider teaches to maintain balance albeit sometimes “walking a thin line.” This balance is between past and future; physical and spiritual; male and female; and in fact, in all areas of life. Everything you weave now, the choices and decisions you make in the present, will materialize and you will encounter in the future.
The spider found within the web reminds us that we are the center of our own universe; that we create our own reality in this worldly plane of existence. “Know thyself and know the universe.” Spider reminds us that the world is woven around us. We are but the keepers and the writers of our own destiny, weaving it like a web by our thoughts, feelings, actions, decisions, choices and beliefs. “As above, so below; as within, so without; as the soul, so the Universe.”
The Shaman's Cosmic Web
The concept of the Web is used by Shamans as an explanation of the connected Wholeness and Completeness of all that exists, without beginning or ending, all linked together, webs within webs all part of the larger Cosmic Web; and each evolving within the Law of its own being. Shamans realized the reality that we all live in an intricate and infinite Web in which everything is connected by strands of energy like the arteries and capillaries that carry the life blood to every cell of the body, with all life energy coming from the same “heart” or Source (God).
Within the Web we trace our own path and shape our own reality and destiny, and as Spider teaches, create our future based on what we do now. Since we are connected to everyone and everything else in the Web by energy streams, we then affect and influence all other humans and non-humans who are equally part of the Web and vice versa.
The Web thus has reality, and was the basis of the circular philosophy of the American Natives and Northern Europeans as well as other cultures and peoples. It has specific uses as part of the inner resources of the shaman--the shaman’s “medicine” or his knowledge and powers. He knows that the Cosmic Web links all the circles or webs of existence from the lowest to the highest, threading and interconnecting all levels, and joining the Past and the Future with the Present. A shaman’s consciousness can be considered to act like the spider that is connected with every part of the web through the fine strands of energy that constitute it.