New Vision

NEW VISION
Seeing higher realms
In color coats they shift the walls
They do and don't exist
In radiant hues they penetrate
The spirits on the mundane breed
And I await in fascination's delivery room
Tending to
All the newborn elemental codes
They go fro and back and mate and multiply and paint for me
With senses splashed in colored brush blot sprays
They birth a smeary story I have never dared to read
How stabbing is the artist's sharpened tip
On my three-piece throbbing head
Mischievious is their play
Was it they
Or did I just prick myself?
Exhausted, weak from all the astral plasma spills
Something stays and through the point of skin abrazed
My loss is their gain
And now to turn illusion on its head
I see that I am different not
When I come back
Alive or dead or somewhere in between
I see
And the world sees back less worrisome to me

National Geographic Article

Shamanism finally going mainstream? Here is an article on Shamans and Ayahuasca in National Geographic, of all places. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0603/features/peru.html

It involves the familiar story of an American, Hamilton, who had once lived in desperation and was called to the other realms by the inexplicable. He made his way to Peru and is now a practicing master shaman there.

I just skimmed through it but here are my favorite excerpts:

To prepare the brew, apprentices spend years under the tutelage of an elder shaman getting to know the different plant ingredients, passing weeks or months at a time learning their individual healing properties and governing spirits. These beings, they claim, teach them icaros, or spirit songs, which, when sung or whistled, call forth the plants' unique assistance during ceremonies.
The training isn't easy; those like Hamilton who earn the title of "master shaman"—highly respected members of Amazonian communities—receive patients from far and wide. Based on the individual needs of their patients, shamans must know which plants are required for a ceremony (there are two primary ingredients, but any of an estimated 100 species have been used in ayahuasca brews), how much of them to harvest, and how to prepare them for ingestion. The plants' spirits are then said to work together to produce the most successful possible healing for each person, regardless of what ails them.

According to Grob, ayahuasca provokes a profound state of altered consciousness that can lead to temporary "ego disintegration," as he calls it, allowing people to move beyond their defense mechanisms into the depths of their unconscious minds—a unique opportunity, he says, that cannot be duplicated by any nondrug therapy methods.

"You come back with images, messages, even communications," he explains. "You're learning about yourself, reconceptualizing prior experiences. Having had a profound psycho-spiritual epiphany, you're not the same person you were before."

But the curious should take heed: The unconscious mind holds many things you don't want to look at. All those self-destructive beliefs, suppressed traumatic events, denied emotions. Little wonder that an ayahuasca vision can reveal itself as a kind of hell in which a person is forced—literally—to face his or her demons.

Hamilton explains it this way: Everyone has an energetic body run by an inextinguishable life force. In Eastern traditions, this force, known as chi or prana, is manipulated through such things as acupuncture or yoga to run smoothly and prevent the buildup of the negative energies that cause bodily disease, mental illness, and even death. To Amazonian shamans, however, these negative energies are actual spirit entities that attach themselves to the body and cause mischief. In everyone, Hamilton asserts, there is a loving "higher self," but whenever unpleasant thoughts enter a person's mind—anger, fear, sorrow—it's because a dark spirit is hooked to the body and is temporarily commandeering the person's mind. In some cases, he adds, particularly evil spirits from the lowest hell of the "astral realms" take over a person
permanently—known as full-blown demonic possession—creating a psychopathic mind that seeks only to harm others.

Shamans will tell you that during an ayahuasca cleansing they're not working with the contents of a person's hallucination but are actually visiting that person in whatever plane of reality his or her spirit happens to be. We are not, they insist, confined to the reality of our five senses, but can transcend it and enter a multidimensional universe.

And this notion of a spiritual experience marks the very juncture where Western science and analytic thought depart on the subject of ayahuasca and where indigenous culture and mysticism come in. Most ayahuasca researchers agree that, curiously, the compound appears to affect people on three different levels—the physical, psychological, and spiritual—complicating efforts to definitively catalog its effects, let alone explain specific therapeutic benefits.

Lectures on Shamanism

A dear friend shared this link with me. She's recently been inspired by shamanism and I thought that the resource was good enough to share with the tribe.

I've only listened to Ingerman's lecture so far. She goes through the functions of a shaman and into indigenous rituals. One thing she suggests, which we have experienced in a collective journey before, is the power to help souls move along and transition into death. She calls this service "Psychopomp Work." She reminds us that there is a growing trend of mass trauma in the world and that the human devastation imposed on the environment and other humans is so extreme that bad energy can collect from souls caught in limbo and unable to move on to the other realms. It's implied that these souls stay here and create mischief or pain. Trapped wandering souls need love, evolution, and healing, according to Ingerman. She then goes into alchemy some and suggests that within its secrets are the keys to healing the earth and reversing the damage caused to the environment. My favorite quote of hers,"It’s who we become that changes the world not what we do."

indigenous wisdom / shamanism
	Spirit Medicine by Hank Wesselman, Ph.D. » The Prophets Conference Sedona | Introduction by Cody Johnson
	Shamanism: Healing Ourselves and the Planet by Sandra Ingerman » Just For The Health Of It! Boulder | Introduction by Cody Johnson
	Shaman, Healer, Sage: Energy Medicine of the Americas by Alberto Villoldo, Ph.D. » The Prophets Conference Palm Springs: Transforming Ourselves and Our Planet

The Mask and Energy Healing

I went to a European museum earlier this year and caught a "masks" exhibit that fascinated me. I took this picture of a procession mask. Masks from this exhibit were used in festivals and processions as a way to chase away bad spirits, to disguise identity, but also to take on the strength of the beast/figure represented. Recall our shapeshifting exercise months ago. It's interesting that the mask is both a tool of psychic combat and a transmutation device. It's as if you can live out a hero's journey in the waking world and in real time with their use.

One of the panels at the exhibit showed a teenager's prosthetic mask and described her shapeshifting processes as she took on the role of a fantasy figure engaged in what is known as Live Action Role Playing (LARP). In LARP, "masked participants get together and perform a story. It's a chance to experiment with roles and identities that do not fit into ordinary life. " Here's what she had to say about it, "It is awesome to act out in a way I could never do in reality. I love letting out my masculine side, taking the initiative, and testing the limits. I love being in charge."

There is something to be said about the energy created through this process. As the Hands of Light book suggests, we suffer from various blocks in different parts of the body that can lead to disease if untreated. The author specifically differentiates between forms of energy that are associated with different parts of the body. Western medicine can help with repairing anatomical damage but the energetic and soul level healing is hardly addressed by our doctors and surgeons. Could the mask have been used in the past as an energy healing instrument; to channel in energy to different parts of the body, to take on human energy field blockages and balance the chakras? I believe so.

The young woman quoted above seems like she craves assertive, masculine energy and "being in charge." Through LARP, not only is she engaging in a fun activity, she may be undergoing a form of energetic body treatment. It might be a good experiment to examine her pendulum patterns before and after LARPing.

Teenagers are our most vulnerable population. They exist in the unenviable position of being unsure about their identities while traveling through and transitioning between new and old realms of human being every day (while unsure about both). It's no wonder that teens are likely to experience a high level of satisfaction from the mask's healing powers--the mask can serve as armor against upheaval. It can be their spirit guides' embodiment in the waking world.

I would submit that unless these alternative "spirit" identities are explored and given space in their right time in a healthy way and through these types of energy charging exercises, chakras can cease functioning and close.

Journeying Amnesia

My inner universe sparkles when I enter altered realities and tap into visions of different worlds inside my head. But one of the challenges I am just beginning to overcome is trying to recall the details of my visions. Sometimes I get swallowed up by the whole experience entirely. Unless I write the points down in my journal immediately after surfacing, I'm often stranded trying to remember what just happened.

I believe this kind of struggle carries over into the waking world. I need notes with me to organize my thoughts like airline pilots need a flight plan before they ascend into the sky. To some extent, memory blocks are somewhat conditioned appropriately. I rarely ever recall memories or stories exactly the way they were first introduced to me; I hone in on the most critical aspects of moments gone by and try to resurrect the past based on my perception of what occurred. I do this with every kind of stimuli--art, meetings, speeches, news reports--cherry-picking the points that speak to me and reinforcing or challenging the stories that dominate my current state.

I realize that I spent a big chunk of my life not being aware of some of the basic things happening to me--I don't know if this changed or started when I began to record my thoughts. When employing a listening or recording device, part of the magic of being in the moment is lost by concentrating on the documentation itself. But the clarity of feeling and thought at each point seems essential to recomposing the story. I am fixated on trying to recall it all and end up building a reliance on the device rather than the spirit chase--the present is lost in favor of a more accurate historical account. The sword of technology cuts both ways.

There may also be unexpected interruptions after I've gone under, where one vision thread gets overlapped with another. This is frustrating and requires concentration. It seems I am a social butterfly in the spirit world with many pre-engagements--it's like my altered state cellphone going off left and right, forcing me to remove the battery.

I have been journeying regularly in recent weeks and have gotten to the point where I can use the beat of my ticking clock to sink into visions. When a space inside calls for attention and its message is finally received and opened, it makes the voluntary journey all the more easier. The awareness of the chakras thanks to the Hands on Healing book is also helping me link the journeys to the different body parts that feel neglected and target areas that have felt blocked.

Shrinking Lake

Much was not shared about our last reading assignment, so I'm going to add a reflection or two about the shrinking lake metaphor in "Entering the Circle". The shrinking lake to me is the beleaguered self. Defeat comes when our inner sea becomes completely overwhelmed or occupied. Sometimes we give up ownership and actively invite outsiders to garrison the lake. May be invaders infiltrate parts of it and we are locked in a struggle for recovery. When it flourishes with life, we too flourish. Sometimes it freezes over as if in a state of perpetual winter.

My lake has appeared in my visions as far back as the first month of our apprenticeship. It appeared as a still and serene body of water. Everything about it is perfect. I was introduced to the lake by a personal guide: a ferryman. I was shown three cities lying on its shores, forming a perfect triangle. They were abandoned at the time-- I had planned to draw a map of these locations and journey there further. Has anyone else journeyed to their lake/sea?

Veiws from Sedona

Cockscomb

Kachina Woman

Cathedral Rock

Grand Canyon

Coffe Pot Rock

Bell Rock

Colorful Local