Discovering the Power of Perception

by José Stevens
©2023 All rights reserved
www.thepowerpath.com

In this article we are going to revisit the topic of perception and how important changing our way of looking at the world and ourselves is in order to cope with new realities. This is a highly condensed opening sentence so let us unpack it a little. Perception can mean several things; for example, it may have to do with becoming aware of something through our senses such as the perception of pain or pleasure. In addition, it may have to do with how we perceive and interpret an experience such as the perception that someone we meet is angry, sad, fearful, amused, or maybe on drugs. Furthermore, it can have to do with our interpretation of an event as being unfortunate or discouraging versus seeing it as encouraging, fortunate, or a good omen.
 

How we perceive our world has a great deal to do with how it shows up according to our expectations as in the perception that the world is in terrible shape and it is all the fault of a particular political party or official. Our perceptions, then, are closely tied to our beliefs and expectations and these are what tend to form our reality over time. If I believe that the world situation is hopeful then I am inclined to perceive each event or experience as a sign that this is so, even if an event according to most people is seen as a disaster. If most people are discouraged and seeing climate change as hopeless then this will subtly make it so because they will be more inclined not to invest money in fighting the effects of it or by changing personal habits. Seeing climate change as something that can be influenced by changing our lifestyles is more likely to produce some beneficial results.
 

Some of the things I am going to say now reflect my own bias based on what I believe the long-term prospects of life on this planet will most probably be. Despite what appears to be much evidence to the contrary I believe that, come what may, the human race has already decided to have a future on this planet and that we will find ways to thrive and transform ourselves as a result of and because of a radical elevation in consciousness that is already beginning to occur. This bias has an influence in how I see the nature of the obstacles and what I believe must be done to realize our highest possibilities.
 

The nature of the obstacles
 

Despite the soaring visionaries, poets, musicians, and philosophers amongst us, the human race can be incredibly concrete at times. For example, we still believe verbatim the highly distorted, influenced, and reinterpreted words of sacred books written over two thousand years ago and take the parts we choose as gospel. We are still smiting the philistines, oppressing our women, and stoning our sinners in the name of a wrathful and vindictive God who we believe wants to control us, oppress us, and ultimately cast us into everlasting flames. So attached are our scientists to their theories that we are loathe to accept new discoveries and evidence that the world works in totally different ways than we thought.
 

When I was a sociology major in college, I took a class on the dynamics of social change and the professor shocked the class by informing us that social change becomes possible only by the holders of the present theories dying off of old age. In other words what he was saying was that most people tend not to change their minds once they are set in their ways despite all evidence to the contrary. This accounts for the relatively slow evolution of social change in relation to the rapid technological change we have experienced in these last few decades. Another way of saying this is that we humans tend to lag behind our discoveries and adapt rather slowly. While this viewpoint has proven to be fairly accurate it has not accounted for several other facts that sociologists don’t understand. We are living in a time frame where the children being born are much more adaptive to new ways than their forebears or ancestors. The difference between people of various generations is enormous compared with the differences say five hundred years ago, so while we are waiting for older generations to die away, the new generations are light years ahead in their attitudes, creativity, and beliefs. What is oppressing them right now from exerting more influence are a couple of things. They are outnumbered by the Boomers who dominate politics and positions of authority and they are oppressed by the fact that Boomers are favored economically and as hard as they try to catch up, the economics of the times prevents many of them from getting ahead. Ask any of the recent generations about buying their own homes and you see despair in their eyes. This too will pass.
 

Anyone can see that the new generations are born equipped with the skills to handle and understand all the new technologies and then some. They also seem to not care what their elders think about gender identification, social equality, and a host of other notions. Contrary to popular opinion the new generations are hard working and highly principled with regard to the environment. They are no slouches but they are somewhat handicapped by the hypnotic social media technologies that have interfered with their need for intimacy. They will overcome all that because of where we are actually going as a species.
 

When people see the world a certain way it tends to reinforce the reality of that way of seeing it. This has become an enormous obstacle to our evolution. Seeing the world according to fixed beliefs tends to fix the way reality shows up. The world however, is not waiting for us to evolve out of this problem. The amplitude of the physical plane has already begun to increase substantially in the last thirteen years and like a learning curve it is headed rapidly upward. This gives the impression that reality is speeding up and for all practical purposes, it is. So, while many humans march to a slow beat of the drum, the world all around, nature if you will, is marching to a much more rapid beat. This throws those humans who do not perceive the faster beat, the younger souls, into a very difficult situation. They march very slowly while the fires and floodwaters are racing up behind them, not a pretty sight. Their tendency is to double down in the belief that their pace is the right one, despite all contrary evidence.  This is like watching a train wreck already in progress.
 

In addition to this tendency to double down they are experiencing a world that seems to have run amok and this causes them massive fear and stress. In response to this anxiety, they seek strong authoritarian father like leaders who cater to their most primitive notions of who to blame, revealing the racism and bigotry that has been present all along but not acknowledged. They believe their leaders will solve everything and make them feel safe again, the blind leading the blind. Fortunately, this is only approximately 48% of the population of the world at this time which creates dangerous polarities considering how vocal the minority is and how willing to take action they are. That is another subject for another time.
 

Meanwhile the world is relentlessly moving on, climate change being only one of the visible aspects of this total transformation. Nature truly does mirror and reflect the inner dynamics of the consolidated consciousness that human beings are, but refuse to admit.
 

When perception is at odds with the way reality is there can be serious consequences. Let us take for example the reality of the flow of a particular river in an easterly direction. When someone perceives the flow of the river opposite to how it is actually running, they can produce all kinds of optical illusions and even hallucinations. This person might look at the river and actually believe it is running in reverse, to the west. This does not change the actual course or direction of the water in the river to the east. It only changes things in the mind of the beholder and can make them very vulnerable to danger. If according to a more accurate person’s perception they see that the river is actually running east, they are not only seeing things the way they are but they are able to perceive a whole host of things that the first person could not, for example what this does to the plant life and animal life living along the river, how it is impacted by the weather and climate as the flow goes further east. The first person who believes it is running west has to be in denial about all this and they will make assessments based on a false set of facts that could prove fatal for them in the long run as they think they are going west, not east.
 

Accurate Perception
 

When we see the world the way it is meant to be seen, life becomes so much simpler. Most people see the world as “not me.” I am here in this body and everything and everyone else is out there. This means that according to this perception I have to control the world to make it work for me. I have to effort and struggle to manage it and force it to bend to my will. It means I am always afraid I might not be able to succeed because the world is so big and I am so small. So, this means that fear always runs me and the world and this is based on a denial of Spirt, quite the hallucination, and a rather dangerous one. In an interesting way it makes this scary version of the world real, not because it is real, but because it is real in my perception of it.
 

Let’s consider the alternative. I see the world as my home, as within me just as it appears to be around me. It’s all me, it’s all Spirit, and I am intimately related to it. The whole business of me and my body and my inner world and the whole world I see and feel around me are all one vibration, the ancient sound of AAAAHHHH, the sound of Spirit, God, the Source, the Creator and so on. This is what the Tibetan Buddhists say in agreement with the Toltecs, the Mayans, the Ancient Egyptians, the druids of old and a host of mystic traditions. There is no in here vs out there. It is just one awareness. In this perception of the world there is nothing to fear, nothing to control, nothing to manage, nothing to fight with. It is in the words of the Buddha and the ancient Taoists, empty. It is the kingdom of heaven in Christian terms. It conforms with the ancient saying, “Be still and know! In this perception there is no need for racism, bigotry, fighting, polarizing, fearing, judging, saving, and so on. It just IS. When this becomes the perception, the truth of reality is quickened, is activated, is acknowledged. Since reality in this viewpoint is eternal, everywhere, and nowhere, it is never fixed and therefore always becoming, always new because there is no real past to fix it in place and give it a narrative. When we see it this way, we make it new because we are it, and we are always being new. We are in total harmony with it.
 

Now it is important that this not become just another theory. What would be the use of that? As the Mandalorian’s are wont to say, This is the way! To adopt this way of seeing is to see it as we always have known it to be on an essence level, like a diamond, beneath the dust and the dirt. It may need a good scrubbing after being in the dirt for so long. Try seeing reality as all one at least once a day, in the morning is best. You will like it. Then do it twice a day. You will like it. Then three times. Again, you will like it. You get the idea. This practice will gradually take over and your perception of reality will change in a good way. You have everything problematic to lose, everything great to gain.
 

All is blessed as are you. Spread it around.

Initiation into Shamanism

Shamanic initiation is a rite of passage, connecting the apprentice shaman intimately to Spirit. It is probably the most powerful and least understood of all forms of spiritual awakening. It is not achieved by having mastered a body of knowledge or having completed some long-term training program. Though it may be set in motion by an apprentice's human teachers as part of an ordered training process, authentic initiation can only be conveyed by the spirits themselves. Ultimately, shamanic initiation takes place between the initiate and the spirit world. It is the spirits who choose and make the shaman.
 

The most frequent and most genuine manner of shamanic initiation is that of crisis, often involving psychological and physical suffering. The encounter with illness, suffering, and death not only opens the world of the spirits to the shaman, it also provides an experiential ground for the healing work that the shaman will later be doing. Election can also occur through heredity, signs at birth, a proclivity or gift that is recognized in childhood, through a realization arising in the course of a ceremonial event, or in the experience of a vision quest.
 

Shamanic initiation is typically the final step in becoming a shamanic healer, a process that is facilitated by the aspirant's shamanic teachers as part of a training regimen. However, initiation may also be spontaneous, set in motion by Spirit's intervention into the initiate's life. To be initiated by a helping spirit forever transforms your life. For the uninitiated, this can be problematic to say the least. They may have no clear idea of what is happening to them, and may find themselves overwhelmed by fear of their nonordinary experience. 

The Dismemberment Journey

Initiation into shamanhood often involves the visionary experience of symbolic dismemberment--the experience of being taken apart, devoured, or torn to pieces. In a classic dismemberment journey, the apprentice witnesses their own body being torn apart and perhaps completely destroyed. The apprentice dies a symbolic death and is then restored and brought back to life, whole and empowered. At its deepest level, the dismemberment experience dismantles our old identity. It is a powerful death-and-rebirth process. The experience of being stripped layer by layer, down to bare bones forces us to examine the bare essence of what we truly are.
 

Anthropologist Felicitas Goodman, the modern discoverer of Ecstatic Body Postures, notes that Siberian shamans considered dismemberment to be an essential phase of initiation for healers. Goodman researched and explored ritual body postures as a means to achieve a bodily induced trance experience and discovered that this archetype appears to be universal. In her trance work with Westerners, those who experienced spontaneous dismemberment visions were invariably destined to become various kinds of healers.
 

Completing this restorative rite is precisely the task of the shaman. As Joan Halifax explains in her book Shamanic Voices, "The shaman is a healed healer who has retrieved the broken pieces of his or her body and psyche and, through a personal rite of transformation, has integrated many planes of life experience: the body and the spirit, the ordinary and nonordinary, the individual and the community, nature and supernature, the mythic and the historical, the past, the present and the future." The cure for dismemberment is remembering who we actually are. As Halifax puts it, "To bring back to an original state that which was in primordial times whole and is now broken and dismembered is not only an act of unification, but also a divine remembrance of a time when a complete reality existed."(1)
 

Shamanic initiation functions as a transformer--it causes a radical change in the initiate forever. An initiation marks a transition into a new way of being in the world. It informs us about the mystery of life and death. According to noted shamanic teacher and author Sandra Ingerman, "Initiation is the death, dismembering, and dissolving of old forms, structures, and ways of life. And I have come to understand that true initiation is allowing Spirit to sing into creation the new forms and new creations. Allowing Spirit to sing formlessness into form creates a new evolution of consciousness."(2)
 

Shamanic initiation is complicated, profound and nothing short of life-altering--in the best possible way. While it may not be easy, it will improve your life for the better with patience, trial and error, and the passage of time. If you find yourself in one, all you can do is trust the process, hang on tight, and get ready for a newly awakened life.
 

Global Dismemberment
 

There is so much more to discover and explore about shamanic initiations and the deep spiritual knowledge held in Indigenous cultures. Now that the present world-age during which all human civilization developed is ending, it might be time to pay more attention to the experience of those whose world has already ended: Indigenous peoples. Depending on how you count them, there may be up to three hundred million Indigenous people still on the planet. Most are survivors of colonialism. The genocide of the Indigenous peoples was the beginning of the modern world for Europeans, but the former remain as veritable end of the world experts. Models for restoring our relationship with the earth exist in the cultures of Indigenous peoples, whose values and skills have enabled them to survive centuries of invasion and exploitation.
 

From an Indigenous perspective, the global climate and ecological crisis represents a mass shamanic dismemberment--the experience of being taken apart, devoured, or torn to pieces on a global scale, allowing for a shift of awareness and transformation of collective consciousness. The acceleration of planetary crises can either provoke a planetary awakening and a shift into a regenerative planetary culture based on shamanic wisdom and sustainable principles, or a destruction of human civilization in its current form, and perhaps extinction for our species. We are all responsible, for better or worse.

 

As the global upheaval intensifies, our interest in shamanism represents an attempt to retrieve and include a part of our inner and outer lives that technology and civilization has consistently denied, suppressed, or destroyed since the advent of agriculture. The cultural imprinting of hierarchical, agriculturally based societies leaves the individual outside the realm of personal spiritual experience. Any sense of the Great Mystery is beyond the individual's grasp. In the contemporary world, where our rites of passage for young men mean going to war, in a world where social turmoil and environmental disaster induce fear, anxiety and despair, the way of the shaman, the one who is a master of the initiatic crisis, might well be of great value for all of us.

 

1. Joan Halifax, Shamanic Voices: A Survey of Visionary Narratives (Penguin, 1991), pp. 18-22.
2. Sandra Ingerman. "Messages from Sandra Ingerman." Transmutation News (Mar. 2011): <https://www.sandraingerman.com/transmutation-news/english/english-2011/page/2/>.

Conflict and Unity: An I Ching Perspective

Russia's barbaric invasion of Ukraine is a nightmare turned into reality. I feel compelled to write a post about it as my personal reflection, but also as my small contribution to the joint learning process. The ancient time-tested wisdom of the I Ching could perhaps help us to understand and resolve the complex issues and conflicts that lead to violence and war. The I Ching is an ancient Chinese text and divination system which counsels appropriate action in the moment for a given set of circumstances. For 5000 years, people have turned to the I Ching to help them uncover the meaning of their experience and to bring their actions into harmony with the interests of society and the cosmos as a whole.

 

In the I Ching, there are several hexagrams that offer insight into war. One is Hexagram 6: Conflict, and another is Hexagram 8: Unity. Hexagram 6 describes a tense situation with a high level of contention and strife. Conflict develops when one feels himself to be in the right and runs into opposition. Escalating conflict is a no-win situation, therefore the hexagram counsels compromise and resolution. To carry on the conflict to the bitter end has exceedingly harmful effects even when one is in the right. Conflicts in which one party is not sincere inevitably lead to subterfuge and distortions. Conflicting parties can profit from the advice of a truly wise mediator. Clarification will bring about understanding and resolution. There is little chance of success without a unity of forces.

 

Conflict, in essence, is the absence of unity. We live in a conflicted world and very often we experience conflict ourselves. In fact, conflict is so pervasive in our polarized world that we take it for granted and deem it to be an inevitable part of life. This perspective has significant consequences; among them is the fact that by taking conflict for granted, our efforts to resolve it often fail and conflict turns into violence.

 

Hexagram 8 essentially describes unity as the binding force within society. It represents the idea of union between the different members and classes of a state and how it can be secured. Unity is a conscious and purposeful convergence of two or more diverse entities in a state of harmony, integration, and cooperation to create a new and evolving entity or entities. The hexagram portends that a leader with a strong and guiding personality will be the center of union. It emphasizes that joining people and things through recognizing their essential qualities is the adequate way to handle it. It counsels that those who do not seek to promote and enjoy union until it is too late will be left out in the cold. Conflict within weakens the power to conquer danger without.

 

Unity is the fundamental law of existence. Life takes place in the context of unity, and when the law of unity is violated, conflict and violence is the outcome. Everything that exists is the outcome of the law of unity. At the physical level, the law of unity ensures order and stability in the way subatomic particles, atoms, molecules, stars, and galaxies cohere and operate in a harmonious and integrated manner. At the biological level, the very process of formation and continuation of life is dependent on the proper operation of the law of unity. The same is true at the social level. Families are happy, healthy, and stable when unity exists between all its members. Communities prosper and are safe in the context of unity, and nations advance in every area when peace is present. At all levels of human life, unity, rather than conflict, is the fundamental operative and creative force.

Liberating Ourselves from the Power of Darkness

It is not hard to see that, even though we live on a planet that surrounds us with great beauty, there is a lot of darkness manifesting within humanity. We must learn to deal with this dissonant energy. We cannot make sense of it because it is entirely destructive. In these uncertain times, it is impossible to find stability in the outer world, so do not waste your time looking for it. Instead, we must hold steady within ourselves and observe the chaos from an inner place of power. When we center ourselves and calm our minds, we stop feeding the negative drama that is playing out on Earth. Our inner calm and stability helps contain the darkness so that it is unable to wreak as much havoc upon the world. It can be easy to lose hope at times, yet there are many opportunities for spiritual growth and meaningful action during this time. Here are some helpful guidelines to liberate yourself from the power of darkness:

The most important thing you can do is to smudge yourself and your home each day. Smudging is a method of using smoke from burning herbs to dispel negative energy. Sage, cedar and sweetgrass are traditionally used for smudging. To smudge, light the dried herbs in a fire-resistant receptacle, and then blow out the flames. Then use a feather or your hands to fan the smoke around your body and home. I recommend cracking a window or door for ventilation and for releasing unwanted energies.
 

Use consecrated or holy water. The practice of charging water with intention, words, and sound is widely practiced in indigenous cultures throughout the world. In fact, people have believed in our ability to influence water since the days of antiquity. The Christian tradition is the obvious example, with the ongoing performing of rituals that turn regular water into holy water. Essentially, holy water is water with salt added during a rite of blessing. Learn how to make your own consecrated water, and use it for cleansing, protection and blessing. Pour some holy water into a spray bottle. To bless and protect your home, spray holy water around the perimeter of your dwelling and yard. Many people will dismiss the power of holy water based on its association with the church. This is not about religion; this is about a pragmatic solution to an age-old problem. The fact of the matter is that holy water is your best protection against negative and dark energies.

Practice white light cleansing. Light--imagined or real--is a powerful cleanser. White light can be called upon by anyone for cleansing, healing and protection from negative energies. Begin by finding somewhere that you can sit undisturbed for several minutes, and then do some mindful breathing to calm and focus your mind. The most basic way to do mindful breathing is to breathe naturally and simply focus on your breath as you inhale and exhale. Next, visualize a sphere of white light emanating from your heart. Just allow it to expand outward until it completely fills and surrounds you. Envision the white light purifying your body and displacing any negative or foreign energy. Really focus on seeing it clearly in your mind and keep building it up so it is brilliant and glowing. You can keep expanding the light, sending peace and love out into infinity.

Use protection stones. Protection stones can help dispel negative energies and shield you from psychic, emotional and physical attack. Black tourmaline repels lower, harmful frequencies and is good for general all-round protection. Black obsidian is a good grounding stone to wear in your aura each day, shielding you from negativity, sorcery and spirit attachments. Jet helps clear internalized emotional energy. Apache tears transmute negative energy. These gemstones can be obtained as small tumbled stones which can easily be carried in your pocket every day. To protect your entire home, place black obsidian in the four main corners of your house. Cleanse your stones frequently with holy water.
 

One of the most important things you can do at this time is to keep your heart wide open. To keep your heart open, be willing to accept what life brings you. Regardless of the experience happening around you, how you respond, how you choose to perceive that experience is always your choice. You can use what happens to learn and grow from your experience. Resistance is futile anyway, and what you resist persists. You need a completely balanced and open heart to be able to hold steady during these dark times. Make a conscious choice not to be swept along by unfavorable circumstances or permit your steadfastness to be shaken.
 

You do not have total control over what happens to you--in fact, often you have no control at all. But you have considerable control over how you relate to what happens to you. You can be mindful of your feelings and hold yourself with kindness and compassion. It is important to be mindful of who you are. You are a being of light, capable of the most extraordinary things. You were put here on Earth to hold a steady place in an unsteady world. Remain calm and centered in your power. Never compromise or lose sight of your goals and principles. Such an attitude will sustain the inner light that exists within you in even the darkest of times. We each have a part to play during this dark time. We each hold a piece to the puzzle. Through honest seeking and compassionate sharing, we can weave our threads of wisdom together to create a whole tapestry.

Finding Your Spiritual Dharma

The concept of dharma, or the "eternal spiritual path," is a key Hindu and Buddhist concept, referring to a law or principle which governs the universe. For an individual to live out their dharma, they must act in accordance with this law. In Hinduism dharma is both the eternal order that rules the universe and the duty or law that governs one's life. In Buddhism, dharma is the doctrine, the universal truth common to all individuals at all times, proclaimed by the Buddha. Dharma, the Buddha, and the sangha (community of believers) make up the Triratna, "Three Jewels," to which Buddhists go for refuge. In Buddhism, dharma additionally means acting in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha. The Buddha's teachings and the path to enlightenment are symbolized by the Wheel of Dharma.
 

On an individual level, dharma can refer to a personal mission or purpose. Fulfilling one's dharma or purpose in life is considered the way to transcend suffering and the cycle of birth and death. It is said that all beings must accept their dharma for order and harmony to exist in the world. If one is following their dharma, they are pursuing their true calling and serving all other beings in the universe by carrying out their authentic role. According to the Hindu scripture "Bhagavad Gita," it is better to do your own dharma poorly than to do another's well.
 

Finding your spiritual dharma, or purpose, is more about introspection and self-discovery than about following the same path as others. The most important thing you can do is to develop a spiritual practice. A spiritual practice is the regular performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of inducing spiritual experiences and cultivating spiritual development. This is where you practice a variety of techniques on a daily basis that are designed to expand your awareness with the intention of achieving higher states of consciousness and spiritual enlightenment. Here are a three techniques to finding your spiritual path:
 

1. Mindful Meditation: Meditation is probably the most ancient and well known spiritual practice. To meditate means to focus the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity in order to train attention and awareness, and promote calm and clarity. Mindfulness is the idea of learning how to be fully present and engaged in the moment, aware of your thoughts and feelings without distraction or judgment. Combining meditation and mindfulness together into a single practice optimizes the effects of both.
 

To practice mindful meditation, sit or lie comfortably, and then close your eyes. Begin by silently asking yourself: "What is my dharma or purpose in life?" Then simply focus on your breath and observe whatever comes up without judgment or attachment. You do not need to do anything to your breath. Just breathe naturally and focus your attention on where you feel your breath in your body. It may be in your abdomen, chest, throat or nostrils. As you do this, your mind may start to wander. This is perfectly natural. Just notice that your mind has wandered, and then gently redirect your attention back to the breathing. Stay here for five to seven minutes. It helps to set aside a designated time for mindful meditation each day.
 

2. Mindful Drumming: Drumming is perhaps the oldest form of active meditation known to humanity. It is a simple and effortless way to still the mind's internal dialogue in order to access personal revelation from within. Combining these two ancient practices -- drumming and mindfulness -- can be life-altering. Just like a yogi or a monk, who exists in a spiritual state most of the time because of constant devotional practices, we can readily induce profound states of deep meditation and heightened awareness by using a drum as an aid to meditation. Mindful drumming is a way to connect straight to the heart. The energy that comes in from the source is directed through our hearts. The essence of mindful drumming is the experience of direct revelation, which comes through as a feeling, impression or intuition.
 

To practice mindful drumming, sit comfortably, and then close your eyes. Silently ask yourself: "What is my dharma -- my purpose in life?" Next begin drumming a steady, monotonous rhythm and simply focus on the beat. If your mind wanders, gently redirect your attention back to the beat. Drum for five to seven minutes, maintaining a nonjudgmental awareness of sensations, feelings and insights. The punctuated sound of a regularly beating drum stills the incessant chatter of the mind, enabling you to achieve a mindful state almost instantly -- the fast path to self-revelation. This ease of meditation with a drum contrasts significantly with the often long periods of isolation and practice required by many other meditative disciplines before significant effects are experienced.
 

3. Shamanic Journeying: When we are unaware of our soul's true purpose, or simply not aligned in our actions, we often experience a malaise of the spirit. We can engage the blueprint of our soul path through the vehicle of journeying. Shamanic journeying is a time-tested medium for individual self-realization. We can journey within to access wisdom and energies that can help awaken our soul calling and restore us to wholeness. Journey practice connects us with our deepest core values and our highest vision of who we are and why we are here. It heightens our sense of mission and purpose, empowering our personal evolution.
 

Shamanism is based on the principle that innate wisdom and guidance can be accessed through the inner senses in ecstatic trance. Basically, shamanic journeying is a way of communicating with your inner or true self and retrieving information. Your inner self is in constant communication with all aspects of your environment, seen and unseen. You need only journey within to find answers to your questions. You should have a question or objective in mind from the start such as identifying your innermost purpose in life. After the journey, you must then interpret the meaning of your trance experience.
 

To enter a trance state and support your journey, you will need a drum or a shamanic drumming recording. The drum, sometimes called the shamans horse, provides a simple and effective way to induce ecstatic trance states. When a drum is played at an even tempo of three to four beats per second for at least fifteen minutes, most novices report that they can journey successfully even on their first attempt. Transported by the driving beat of the drum; the shamanic traveler journeys to the inner planes of consciousness. Try a shamanic journey.

Out of the Darkness, Light

From Hitler's Rischstag Fire to 9/11, history is beset with instances of governments using terrorist attacks to justify invasions or suspend civil liberties indefinitely. The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on February 27, 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Hitler's government stated that Marinus van der Lubbe, a Dutch council communist, was the culprit, and it attributed the fire to communist agitators. A German court decided later that year that Van der Lubbe had acted alone, as he had claimed. The day after the fire, the Reichstag Fire Decree was passed. The Nazi Party used the fire as a pretext to claim that communists were plotting against the German government, which made the fire pivotal in the establishment of Nazi Germany.

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, restrictions on civil liberties began to grow. The attack spawned wars to export democracy abroad, while degrading it at home. Our military actions, from Afghanistan and Iraq to Syria, have reflected increased investments in the military, accompanied by diminished attention to political change, economic development and institution-building -- the essential prerequisites for democratic freedoms. Fear of terrorism has justified excessive and persistent suspension of good governance, ultimately creating more fertile ground for terrorists. Our leaders have nurtured a crisis of "domestic terrorism" within U.S. borders, perpetrated not by foreigners, but by U.S. citizens.

The question is not, "is it happening?" but, "why is it happening?" To fully comprehend the "why" of it, we must first understand the meaning of the Latin phrase "ordo ab chao" or "order out of chaos." The  expression "order out of chaos" or more accurately translated, "out of chaos, order" is the idea that the order of the world emerges out of chaos or the undifferentiated. The term is often used to capture a fundamental dimension of evolutionary change within nature. It has become popular in contemporary times to identify chaos as a precondition for transformation, rebirth and creativity.

However, to our political leaders and their inner circles, chaos is a way of getting power and keeping it. That is, if you can create just the right crisis or chaos, you will necessarily get a citizen outcry for the kind of solution or order that you wanted to have all along. It really is a "shock and awe" military strategy based on achieving rapid dominance over an adversary by the initial imposition of overwhelming force and firepower. Politicians engage in shock and awe politics in order to stun their opponents into inaction.

The idea that the order of the world emerges out of chaos is actually not new at all. It was preceded by more ancient principles such as "lux in tenebris," or "light out of darkness." Light out of darkness is an expression of an ancient wisdom about the relationship of complementary opposites in nature. In the eastern tradition of Taoism, light and darkness are represented by yin and yang, each of which contains the seed of its opposite within it as expressed in the ancient Chinese symbol (T'ai Chi Tu) of the yin-yang. The two teardrop figures within the circle illustrate the balance between the dark yin and the light yang. The black vibration of yin is dark, passive, feminine, nurturing, intuitive, and corresponds to earth or matter. The white vibration of yang is light, active, masculine, creative, expansive, and corresponds to heaven or spirit. Yin and yang pulsate within all things and in unison, they are the moving force of nature and all its manifestations.

Various mystery traditions such as Hermeticism had similar concepts such as "As above, so below" and "As within, so without." In Hermeticism, the phrase "As above so below" can be taken to indicate that earthly matters reflect the operation of the Cosmos. In other words, the human experience is a microcosm of the macrocosm we call the universe. Each human being is a hologram of the Cosmos, a weaving together of universal information from a particular point of view. Essentially, we are the universe experiencing itself in human form.

The idea that "As within, so without" can be found in the world's indigenous shamanic traditions. In the shaman's world, all human experience is self-generated -- our inner thoughts actually create what we see and experience. Everything that we perceive began with a thought. The structure of our universe is thought, mind and consciousness. Consciousness determines the form of our experience. The shaman traverses the inner planes of consciousness in order to change and shape experience. It is an inward spiritual journey of rapture in which the shaman interacts with the inner world, thereby influencing the outer world.

Shamanic rites involve many technologies for inducing altered states of consciousness. These vary from drum and dance to ingesting sacred plants. Practitioners enter trance states in order to perceive and interact with the inner world of the self. The essence of shamanism is the experience of direct revelation from within. Shamanism is about remembering, exploring and developing the true self. Shamanism places emphasis on the individual, of breaking free and discovering one's own uniqueness in order to bring something new back to the community. The goal is inner transformation; not outer.

Those who presently call the shots and pull the strings on the world stage only use "order out of chaos" to create favorable circumstances for themselves; to gain and sustain the same authoritarian power relations. For the power elite, external order is the goal. To achieve their goals, they first create the conditions for chaos/disorder to bring about order. The controlled chaos we are witnessing in society today is the direct result of the coordinated efforts by some to turn people against each other. This is a classic "divide and conquer" strategy.

A highly centralized government relies mainly on lies, fear and economic prosperity to maintain equilibrium. Allegiance is achieved through various means of socialization and indoctrination. Political propaganda emphasizes material and technical development while suppressing access to personal revelation and spiritual experience. Citizens are discouraged from thinking for themselves and required to follow the laws of secular authorities regardless of the discrepancy between what is legal and what is considered to be moral, ethical and right. The individual is left morally and spiritually impaired; their soul abandoned in darkness and chaos while urged to acquiesce to the needs of the collective.

This imbalance is reaching such heights that the pendulum of change will soon begin swinging back in the opposite direction. The movement for external transformation will reach a psychological extinction -- meaning there just won't be a situation chaotic enough or carrot sweet enough to keep people hoping external transformation and order will bring salvation without a shift in the internal direction. People will begin to realize the limits of external order when their internal worlds are in chaos, thus discovering the seed of the one in the other… out of the darkness, light!

Earth: The Free Will Planet

Earth has always been a free will planet. We incarnate here on Earth to experience freedom of choice. A free will system is an experimental laboratory for creation. We can choose to do anything we want, no matter how it affects others. There are other worlds where we learn other experiences, but the human realm is the only one in which our choices (good or bad) affect our future. We live in a reciprocally interrelated world where there are repercussions for our actions. As conscious moral agents, humans have power that the beings in other realms do not; this clearly underscores the importance of moral action and spiritual development.
 

Freedom of choice is our human birthright and gift from the Creator. When the Creator created the world, he gave humans the option to choose between good (light energy) and evil (dark energy). Light energy is unlimited and comes from the divine source. It is highly vibrational, expansive and full of love. Dark energy is dense, negative, and goes against the flow of the universe. It is about manipulation, oppression, conquest and fear. Darkness is part of who we are, and we all have to take responsibility for it.
 

At any moment, each of us is confronted with choices between good and evil forces. The dark forces were created so humans could realize their inner powers and develop the soul. The darkness consistently tries to make people choose between the good and bad and tries to tempt them to choose the bad. Its goal is to force us to behave in opposition to our true soul, to be bad. When we choose good over evil, we grow spiritually and bring more light into the world. This is how we learn to take responsibility for our own actions and eventually realize that self-centeredness is counterproductive to the evolution of the individual and the collective.
 

The Great Shift
 

A growing number of voices in the international shamanic community are telling us that Mother Earth and her inhabitants are undergoing a fundamental, evolutionary change -- a change that many of us will experience first-hand in this lifetime. Some call it the Kali Yuga, the age of maximum darkness and ignorance; a time when the dark forces of the unconscious are at their strongest. Some call it the Era of Strife, Tribulations, or End of Days. Others refer to this unfolding event as the Turning of the Age or a Great Shift in consciousness that was foretold long, long ago.
 

Great shifts in energy are taking place at this time. The veil between the spiritual and physical worlds is growing thinner. In other words, the boundaries between spirit and matter have greatly dissolved, and these worlds are currently overlapping and blending together. There is a major battle going on in the spirit world between the light and the dark, and it is spilling over into the material world. It is not hard to see that, even though we live on a planet that surrounds us with beauty, there is a lot of darkness manifesting within humanity. The dark is making a bid for power. The light is countering every move made by the dark; the light will ultimately prevail.
 

In the struggle between good and evil, we are all being called upon to choose which side we are on -- the light or the dark. This is not judgment day. It has nothing to do with religion or ideology. This is about human existence, free will, and each of us claiming our sovereignty. Sovereignty is the supreme power to self govern -- to be the exclusive controller of one's own body and life. If we claim our sovereignty, we can shape a truly New World.

The Lifting of the Veil of Illusion

The first thing you might ask is what is the veil of illusion? The veil of illusion is essentially the boundary between the physical and the spiritual realms. You might think of it as the border between seen and unseen, or known and unknown. The veil is the barrier that restricts our infinite spiritual awareness so we can perceive ourselves as a limited physical beings. When we incarnate into the physical realm, we pass through the veil, losing awareness of our limitless potential. The veil creates the illusion that we are separate and disconnected from others and from everything else. By losing awareness of our immortality and our interconnectedness with all that is, we are able to have experiences which would otherwise be impossible. When we die, we cross over to the other side of the veil. It then becomes possible to view our earthly life from a highly expanded vantage point. When we are no longer veiled in the illusion of time and space, we can see that spirit and matter are truly interconnected.

We live in a time period in which the veil is growing very thin. In other words, the boundaries between spirit and matter have greatly dissolved, and these worlds are currently overlapping and blending together. As the two worlds merge, the invisible becomes visible, leading to an increase of paranormal activity and spirit contact. The realms of the living and the dead naturally intersect. Spirit sightings and interactions are becoming more common. More and more people are awakening to higher consciousness and direct spiritual experience. As more and more people awaken, the thinning of the veil accelerates. Eventually, the veil will completely dissolve. It's uncertain what the consequences of this will be.

Apocalypse: The Lifting of the Veil

The Greek word apocalypse literally means "lifting of the veil" or "revelation." This term has come to mean the end of the world, but originally meant the end of an age. The lifting of the veil is happening all around us. We are experiencing a disclosure of information hidden from us in an era dominated by falsehood and deception. Everything is becoming very transparent. We can clearly see how the patriarchal powers want to dominate us. We realize the folly of materialism and the unsustainability of consumerism. We recognize that happiness cannot be measured by wealth. We can longer deny the risks to our planet and our health. Because we've opened our eyes, we can see through the illusion that spirit and matter are separate. As we awaken to our true nature, we dissolve all feelings of separation and alienation.

We are coming to the end of an age and entering a new one. The veil is lifting, so what can we do about it? The first thing we need to do is to get out of denial about what's happening. It's time to pay attention to what's occurring in the physical world around us--the breakdown of all of the systems and the inevitable collapse of societies that comes with it. There's no way to tell if an impending collapse will take place suddenly or over a long period of time. The thing about collapse is that it can no longer be discussed in future tense. It's happening all around us. We see a global water crisis, severe climate change, destructive earthquakes, massive wildfires, and species dying off...the veil is lifting.

Navigating the Apocalypse

In these uncertain times, it is impossible to find stability in the outer world, so do not waste your time looking for it. Instead, we must hold steady within ourselves and observe the chaos from an inner place of power. When we center ourselves and calm our minds, we stop feeding the negative drama that is playing out on Earth. It can be easy to lose hope at times, yet there are many opportunities for spiritual growth and meaningful action during this time. To navigate these turbulent times and keep yourself sane, you might want to try the following:

1. Learn to Live with Your Heart

We live in a highly visual world that continually bombards us with stimulation, exposing us to a multitude of sensations that keep us in our heads. In a chaotic, rapidly changing world, it can be difficult to figure things out, so it is best to turn away from the external theatrics and move into our heart space--into the stillness at our center. To live fully from the heart, we must learn to still the mind so that our intuitive self can come to light. Stopping the mind's incessant chatter frees us of doubt, fear and limitation. Such inner calm and openness connects us with the guidance of our own inner knowing. Take time every day to quiet the mind, whether in meditation or prayer, and ask to be taken into your heart's sacred space. Then while you are there, practice seeing the world from that point of view. As we learn to live from the heart, we are able to move with the ebb and flow of change with grace and ease.

2. Seek Equanimity or Steadiness of Mind

Equanimity is the capacity to remain poised and calm even when under stress. According to Buddhist teachings, equanimity is an unshakable balance of mind. The kind of equanimity required must be rooted in the insight that we create our own reality. Nothing that happens to us comes from an external source outside ourselves; everything is the result of our own thoughts and deeds. Because this knowledge frees us from fear, it is the foundation of equanimity. To attain equanimity as an unshakable state of mind, we must release all attachments to negative feelings and thoughts that float on the stream of mind. It requires diligence and commitment to release such attachments. Equanimity allows us to stand in the midst of conflict or crisis in a way where we are balanced, centered and grounded.

3. Stay Grounded 

Grounding is a technique that gets you rooted in your body and helps keep you in the present moment. Grounding techniques are designed to redistribute the energy from your head into your body. Doing so has an almost instant calming effect. Grounding can reduce anxiety, quiet the mind and connect you to your inner voice. Grounding begins with mindful breathing. The most basic way to do mindful breathing is simply to focus on your breath as you inhale and exhale. You do not need to do anything to your breath. Just breathe naturally and focus your attention on where you feel your breath in your body. It may be in your abdomen, chest, throat or nostrils. As you do this, your mind may start to wander. This is perfectly natural. Just notice that your mind has wandered, and then gently redirect your attention back to the breathing. Stay here for five to seven minutes. It helps to set aside a designated time for mindful grounding each day.

4. Cleanse Your Space

One of the most important things you can do is to smudge yourself and your home each day. Smudging is a method of using smoke from burning herbs to dispel intrusive spirits and negative energy. Sage, cedar and sweetgrass are traditionally used for smudging. To smudge, light the dried herbs in a fire-resistant receptacle, and then blow out the flames. Then use a feather or your hands to fan the smoke around your body and home. I recommend cracking a window or door for ventilation and for releasing unwanted energies.

5. Develop a Spiritual Practice

The most important thing you can do at this time is to develop a spiritual practice. A spiritual practice is the regular performance of actions and activities undertaken for the purpose of inducing spiritual experiences and cultivating spiritual development. A spiritual practice is something you do every single day that facilitates deeper self-awareness, empathy and connectedness with others. Regular spiritual practice fosters inner peace, insight, compassion, non-attachment, integration and a sense of unity. Consistent spiritual practice helps to build spiritual strength and this in turn becomes our protective armor. We must not fall into hopelessness, but  instead must strengthen our personal practice and act as a light in dark times for those around us that are lost.

The Veil of Illusion, Tree of Life and other fundamental patterns of creation are all illustrated in the sacred geometry of the Flower of Life (pictured above). The Flower of Life is a visual representation of the interconnectedness of life and all beings.

Darkening of the Light

Total Solar Eclipse

In order to gain some insight into the dire situation of our planet, I consulted the I Ching. The I Ching is an ancient Chinese text and divination system which counsels appropriate action in the moment for a given set of circumstances. Each moment has a pattern to it and everything that happens in that moment is interconnected. Based on the synchronicity of the universe and the laws of probability, the I Ching responds to an inquiry in the form of a hexagram. By evaluating the hexagram that describes your current pattern of relationship, you can divine the outcome and act accordingly.

When I consulted the I Ching regarding our current situation on the planet, I received Hexagram 36: Darkening of the Light. This hexagram symbolizes the sun sinking into the earth and is often associated with the "dark night of the soul." It denotes a time of darkness when oppressive forces obscure the beauty and clarity of light. As stated in the I Ching, "Here a man of dark nature is in a position of authority and brings harm to the wise and able man." It is a time of maximum darkness and ignorance; a time when the dark forces of the unconscious are at their peak. It isn't hard to see that even though we live on a planet that surrounds us with beauty, that there is a lot of darkness manifesting within humanity.

According to the I Ching, when the darkness of stupidity reigns in human affairs, it is best that you keep your brilliance "hidden under a bushel basket." The oracle counsels us to show our intelligence by concealing it. Lao Tse, the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching and the founder of philosophical Taoism, gives us the best paraphrase of the idea in his famous proverb: "He who knows does not speak; He who speaks does not know." In dealing with the masses, true leaders act unobtrusively while in fact being illuminated. What sages learn is to become daily more illuminated unbeknownst to others.

For the time being, it is in our best interests to accept the situation. Like the time of winter, the situation requires that we turn within to stoke our inner fire with spiritual practice. A spiritual practice is something you do every single day that grounds you in your own truth by connecting you with your essential self. So we must tend to our inner light and maintain a low profile. So long as we conceal our inner glow, it cannot be extinguished. Until conditions are more favorable, remain yielding and compliant externally, while maintaining your inner vision, convictions, and principles. Such an attitude will sustain your inner light in even the darkest of times. Try not to become too depressed or anxious; this period will pass. The darkness that is now showing itself everywhere will eventually consume itself and perish, for it has no inner light to sustain it. The sun will rise again.

The Owls at Devil's Peak Lookout

Devil's Peak Lookout

I have felt a close kinship with owls for most of my life. Over the years, I have had many encounters with these stealthy raptors, but none was more memorable than an incident with a pair of great horned owls at the Devil's Peak forest fire lookout 11 miles southwest of Oregon's Mt. Hood. I backpacked to the summit and spent the night in the old, decommissioned lookout on three separate occasions in the early 1980's. It is a difficult 3.8 mile hike up a very steep trail that is not very scenic. However, when you summit Devil's Peak and ascend the steps of the historic lookout tower, the views are spectacular. The volcanic peaks visible from the lookout include Mt. Jefferson to the south and Mt. Hood to the northwest. Now that the peak is no longer an official fire lookout, the surrounding trees are growing up and will soon obscure most of the expansive views.

I have visited fire lookouts throughout the Pacific Northwest, but Devil's Peak is one of the few lookouts that still remains open to the public and you can actually camp in. The tower is well maintained by volunteers and there is a log book inside where many overnight visitors have signed in. I have had some interesting experiences while camping at the lookout. I remember being awakened early one morning by the lookout door banging in the wind. When I got up to latch the door, I was greeted by the most magnificent sunrise I have ever seen.

During an overnight stay in the summer of 1980, I ventured out onto the wrap-around deck at dusk. Just as I stepped out the door, I came face-to-face with an airborne great horned owl that narrowly missed colliding with me. I was startled, to say the least, and retreated back into the lookout. I spent the remainder of the evening sitting quietly inside the lookout, observing the owl and its mate hunting mice around the perimeter of the structure. The stealthy owls perched atop the tower's overhead window shutters to stalk their prey. Using keen vision and silent wings, they glided to the ground, capturing rodents in their powerful talons. Even when it became too dark to see the owls, I could still hear the high pitched squeaks of their prey. It was a rare experience in the wild that I will never forget.

Owl Medicine

Many people have a fear of owls and owl medicine. Contemplate what it means if you're not comfortable with an animal. If you dislike or are afraid of an animal, it's especially important to connect with it and learn its wisdom. The message it holds for you will be particularly meaningful. Power animals help us connect to the parts of ourselves that we've lost or denied, so it may be mirroring a trait or quality that is ready to come back to help you be in your wholeness.

Owl medicine includes prophecy, wisdom, stealth, silence, intuition, clairvoyance, clairaudience, shapeshifting, and keen vision that can pierce all illusion. Owls and hawks possess the keenest eyesight of all raptors, giving them broad vision. Call upon Owl to unmask and see what is truly beneath the surface -- what is hidden or in the shadows. Night Eagle, as Owl is called, is the bird of magic and darkness, of prophecy and wisdom. Great Horned Owls have a large repertoire of haunting calls that can be heard over several miles on a still night. Owl is a messenger of omens who will call out to let all share in its vision. Click here to view my music video "Owl Vision - Ayahuasca Journey." 

Butterfly Medicine

The butterfly is an archetypal symbol of transformation, transmutation, and magic in world mythology and religion. Virtually all cultures have marveled at the magical process that transforms an ungraceful caterpillar into a magnificent fluttering butterfly. According to Hindu mythology, Brahma became filled with deep calm while observing a caterpillar’s transformation and was convinced to achieve perfection through rebirth. In China the butterfly was a symbol of conjugal bliss and joy. In the Hopi tradition unmarried girls of the Butterfly Clan wore their hair in the shape of butterfly wings. In many traditions, this most exquisite yet fragile creature was a symbol of the soul. Many cultures around the world believe that butterflies are the spirits of the deceased communing again with the earth.

I love to commune with the fluttering butterflies I encounter in my earth walk. They are dancing spirits made of color and joy. Many butterfly encounters have been powerful spiritual experiences in my life, like the monarch butterfly that landed on my nose the day after a loved one passed on. When I encounter one of these remarkable beings, I stop and observe them carefully. I have learned to trust these endearing spirit guides. Butterflies have brought me messages from my ancestors and guided me to specific places of power in the web of life on many occasions.

Sacred Power Places

Earth, human, and solar processes are interwoven through a vibrational resonant network around the planet. At the intersection points of the planet’s energy web exist holy places, power spots, or acupuncture points. According to the Hopi, the world would fall apart without these nodes of concentrated vitality. These sacred places are like nerve centers that distribute vital energy throughout the surrounding natural systems. When a human being goes to a power place, the attention of the Earth Mother is drawn to that area, and energy begins to flow to that spot because our bodies, like hers, are electromagnetic. Like acupuncture needles, humans are capable of maintaining the harmonious flow of the planetary energy meridians by making an Earth connection at power places.

There are special energy fields at power places that facilitate healing and transformation. Natural ionization occurs at power sites and ionized air is known to affect hormone levels, brain function, and consciousness. Air ions are charged molecules of common gaseous elements in the air, which form when uncharged stable molecules lose or gain an electron due to some disruption. Negative air ions carry an extra electron, producing a negative electrical charge. In nature, the catalysts of negative ions include waterfalls, ocean breakers, evergreen forests, caves, the summits of mountains, and the presence of unusually strong electromagnetic fields at power spots. An abundance of negative air ions invigorates us, reduces fatigue, stimulates the immune system, and helps open the portals of the mind to alternate realities. The spirits that inhabit power points are ready and willing to communicate their energies to those who come in gratitude, openness, and humility. Butterfly Medicine protects sacred power places and facilitates transformation.

The Cycle of Transformation

Butterfly Medicine is all about transformations, the element of Air, and mental powers. Butterfly can bring clarity to your mental process, help you organize the project you are undertaking, and assist you in finding the next step in your career or life path. The power that Butterfly brings to us is akin to the air. It is the mind, and the ability to know the mind or to change it. It is the art of transformation. Butterflies teach us by example about self-transformation. Scientific research has shown that the butterfly is the only living being capable of completely changing its genetic structure. During the process of transformation, the caterpillar's DNA totally changes into that of a butterfly. Thus, it is the symbol of the never-ending cycle of transformation.

To use Butterfly Medicine, you must determine your position in the cycle of self-transformation or transmutation. Like Butterfly, you are always at a certain station in your life activities. You may be at the egg stage, which is the beginning of all things. This is the stage at which an idea is born, but has not yet become a reality. To bring an intended pattern into being, you must first undergo a self-transformation. Make a clean sweep of negative, limiting, or otherwise outmoded patterns, and then start anew. The larva stage is the point at which you decide to create the idea in the physical world. The cocoon stage involves going within; doing or developing your idea or project. You must listen to your inner voice. The final stage of transformation or transmutation is the leaving of the chrysalis and birth. The last step involves sharing the colors and joy of your creation with the world. 

The Rhythm of Transformation

This linear image is Hexagram 50 from the I Ching, the ancient Chinese oracle and "book of change." It is known as Transformation. This hexagram image symbolizes the transforming power of intent (wind) when aligned with the clarity and flow of intuitive mind (fire). It implies that you must rely on your intuition to guide you toward your intended objective. Following the intuitive sense connects you to the guiding forces of the cosmos. When you renew the flow of intuitive mind, synchronous activity appears within consciousness as the most natural thing to do. Whatever it is, it will carry you to what you need to do next in order to embody your idea in the material world. Just as a caterpillar emerges as a beautiful butterfly from the cocoon, so this cycle of transformation will give wings to your vision.

More importantly, this hexagram image depicts a particular drum pattern that renders the essence of the hexagram into sound (see my book I Ching:The Tao of Drumming paid link). The pattern image or six-line configuration is the visual representation of an archetypal condition. The I Ching is a codebook of archetypal patterns, in which the hexagrams counsel appropriate action in the moment for a given set of circumstances. While the pattern image symbolizes a particular condition, the drum pattern pulsates a particular resonance, which stimulates, works with, and informs the body, mind, and spirit in the most optimal manner for effecting change or harmonizing with change. A solid yang line _____ symbolizes consolidated, unified energy moving upward or forward and represents one beat. A broken yin line __  __ symbolizes collective, cooperative energy pressing downward and represents two beats or one heartbeat. All I Ching hexagrams are read or played from bottom to top.

The rhythmic pattern of Hexagram 50, Transformation is depicted below. To play the rhythm of Transformation, you simply drum a heartbeat, followed by three single beats, followed by a heartbeat, ending with one final beat, and then pause before beginning the cycle again. Follow your inner sense of timing as to both the tempo and time span to drum. Trust your inner timing. It connects you to the resonances affecting you at this moment in time.

   

Line 6        _____              drum

Line 5        __  __        drum—drum

Line 4        _____              drum

Line 3        _____              drum

Line 2        _____              drum

Line 1        __  __        drum—drum 

While drumming, you should have a receptive attitude of calm, positive expectation. Such resonant receptivity allows whatever factors or forces are present to fully penetrate your senses. Any attempt to analyze or conceptualize the experience will only fragment the resonant field. The key is still the mind and focus your attention on the hexagram image. As the drumming progresses and your inner image of the hexagram becomes clearer, close your eyes and feel yourself being carried away by the rhythm, as if going on a journey into yourself. With time and patience, the rhythm archetype will begin to release a rush of intuitive ideas. Inspiration and insight regarding the unfolding pattern of your destiny may flow into your awareness. However, it is not essential that you become cognizant or consciously aware of any particular insight or guidance. Simply resonate in sync with the vibrational pattern of the hexagram. The qualities needed to transform a personal vision into a reality will interpenetrate every aspect of your being. These qualities will be engendered in you and resonate out to influence all aspects of your experience in the same manner.

After drumming the hexagram, repose in the sonic afterglow of physical and spiritual well being. When the final drumbeat fades into silence, an inaudible, yet perceptible pulsation persists for a brief period. This silent pulse is ever present within each of us, but our awareness is rarely in sync with it. Sense this silent pulse resonating within your body. You may experience the sensation of every particle in your body pulsing in sync with the rhythm you just played. This inner pulse entrains to the rhythmic pattern as soon as you begin to drum. This synchrony of inner pulse with the appropriate hexagram rhythm brings you into accord with the dynamics of change.

The Opportunity for Transformation

Butterfly Medicine reminds us that we need to allow ourselves to adapt to changes taking place either within us or surrounding us. We should make necessary changes when the opportunities present themselves. Change is inevitable, but Butterfly teaches us that it does not have to be traumatic. Butterfly teaches us that growth and change can be as gentle, sweet, and joyful as we wish. We should emulate the magical butterfly by moving out of the caterpillar stage, cocooning ourselves within the opportunity for transformation and waiting with seeds of patience for our final manifestation. 

Watch out! When you encounter Butterfly Medicine, be prepared to undergo some form of transformation or internal growth. 

Copyright © 2013 by Michael Drake

Signs of a Shamanic Calling

Many people in today's world are being called by spirit to become shamans. A yearning exists deep within many of us to reconnect to the natural world. It is a call to a life lived in balance with awareness of nature, of spirit, and of self. We live in a culture that has severed itself from nature and spirit. Humans have lost touch with the spirit world and the wisdom of inner knowing. The spirits, however, have not forgotten us. They are calling us to a path of environmental sanity, to rejoining the miraculous cycle of nature.

Spirit calls us to a path of shamanism in many ways. It can be as dramatic as a life threatening illness or as simple as a dream. Some people receive signs of a shamanic calling through their dreams. Shamans frequently journey during their dreams, often flying through the air. Shamans may have recurring dreams in which they meet certain animal or teacher figures that are manifestations of the very spirits who are calling them. 

In Siberia, the homeland of shamanism, it is believed that certain characteristics are a sign that the spirits have selected an individual to become a shaman. Sometimes the shamanic candidate will have unusual marks or bodily characteristics such as being born with extra fingers or toes. Being born with a caul (thin membrane) covering your head is recognized worldwide as a sign that a person has a special relationship with the spirit world.

The more common signs of a shamanic calling are ones of personality, such as a desire to spend time alone in nature. Shamanic candidates tend to be loners and are often considered eccentric or "different." One of the most reliable signs of a shamanic calling is the urge to learn about shamanism. One of the things I have learned working with spirits is that they often prompt me through urges to do one thing or another. This is a common form of communication and instruction by helping spirits. The very fact that you are reading this article at this time is meaningful. It is the spirits themselves who are guiding you to search for information about shamanism. Your yearning to learn more about shamanism is a sign that the spirits are calling you. The call functions to awaken your own inner knowing and the yearning to express your true self through the artistry of the shaman.

In contemporary Western culture, people who have shamanic callings often don't understand what is happening to them, and may find themselves overwhelmed by fear of their non-ordinary experiences. To help potential candidates gain an understanding of these events, I have provided the following list of signs that you might have a shamanic calling. Have you had:

• An intense desire to spend long periods of time alone in nature
• Vivid flying dreams, prophetic dreams, or recurring dreams with the same animals or teacher figures
• Recurring encounters with the same animals in ordinary reality, possibly in unusual ways
• Frequent feelings of déjà vu
• Imaginary friends as a child
• Any physical, mental, or emotional abnormality that set you apart as a child
• An strong connection with plants or animals
• An awareness of subtle healing energy in your hands
• A near-death out-of-body experience
• Astute and accurate intuition and the ability to "read" other people
• A parent who has paranormal abilities, such as prophetic dreams or telepathy
• Ancestors who were healers, herbalists, or doctors
• An occupation in the healing arts
• Frequent clairvoyance, clairaudience, or other paranormal experiences
• Were you born with a caul (thin membrane) covering your head
• A life threatening illness, accident, or unusual event such as being struck by lightning, especially if this included a long recovery
• A strong inner urge to learn about shamanism

If it seems that these signs are very general and happen to a lot of people, it is because the spirits call many to work with them, but only a few may respond to the call. Choosing to ignore a calling may have undesirable consequences or none at all. For some, it can lead to depression and illness as the life force is constricted and thwarted. Those who choose to follow their shamanic calling may have no idea how to begin.

What do you do if the ancestral shamanic tradition no longer exists in your culture, but you still feel the call today? While traditional, indigenous shamanism continues to decline around the world, shamanic ideology has gradually entered Western humanities and social sciences and developed into the neo-shamanic movement. Neo-shamanism is a term used to describe the creation or revival of a shamanic culture. Most modern shamanic practitioners fall into this category. Neo-shamanism is not a single, cohesive belief system, but a collective term for many such philosophies. Neo-shamans use a variety of core techniques from different shamanic disciplines.

Mircea Eliade, a religious scholar, was perhaps the first to write about neo-shamanism. In his classic work, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (paid link) Eliade discusses the three stages of becoming a shaman: the Call, Training, and Initiation. The first stage to becoming a healer, as described by Eliade, is that of the calling -- this call comes from the family, the community, or from the world beyond. Some are called, initiated and trained by spirit guides and/or human teachers from childhood.

Shamans are called, and then receive rigorous instruction. Training may follow an ordered tradition or take a spontaneous course guided by the shaman's spirit helpers. The function of training is to develop the skills and talents so that shamanic practitioners don't unintentionally hurt themselves or others. Though the spirits give shamans their healing powers, shamans must learn the technique of invoking them. Traditional shamanic training requires considerable devotion and personal sacrifice, not so much to gain power, but to become the person who can wield that power responsibly. Ongoing practice and learning are essential to perfecting any art or skill.

Where does one find shamanic training in the digital age? There are growing numbers of spiritual seekers who learn about shamanism from the internet or through reading the published works of individuals who have received shamanic training. Though a handbook is no substitute for an apprenticeship program, it can convey the fundamental methodological information. Authentic shamanic knowledge can only be acquired through individual experience; however, one must first acquire the methods in order to utilize them. Once you have learned the basic skills, your helping spirits can provide you all the training you need.

Then there is Initiation. Shamanic initiation is a rite of passage, connecting the apprentice shaman intimately to the spirit world. It is typically the final step in shamanic training, though initiation may be set in motion at any time by spirit's intervention into the initiate's life. Ultimately, shamanic initiation takes place between the initiate and the spirit world. It is the spirits who choose and make the shaman.

In my 2012 book, Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits (paid link), I recount my own journey into shamanic practice and explore what someone should do if they feel the call to become a shaman. Working with the guidance of my helping spirits, I have written a guide to becoming a shamanic healer that encompasses the power of the drum, of community, and of the accountability inherent in authentic shamanic practice.

How does someone embark on the shamanic path? To be an effective shamanic healer, one must go through the three steps. The first step is to acknowledge the calling.

© 2013 by Michael Drake

"The Calling"

An excerpt from the newly released book, 

Shamanic Drumming: Calling the Spirits 

Copyright © 2012 by Michael Drake 

The spirits called me to a path of shamanism. I do not know why I was chosen. I ceased making such queries long ago. Over the years, I learned to just go with the flow. The how and why of my circumstances became less important to me than the lessons that I was learning along the way. As time passed, I began to see how my life experiences honed me into the artist I am today.

For as long as I can remember, I have been an explorer--pushing beyond familiar territory to investigate the unknown. As a child, I had a near-drowning, out-of-body experience that opened my eyes to the hidden dimensions of life and propelled my explorations. Like everyone, I was trying to find myself. I was also searching for something that resonated with me--anything that evoked a shared emotion or belief. I identified with people whose words were congruent with their actions. My inner self was most nourished when I was immersed in Nature. Being introverted and eccentric, I often felt a closer kinship to Nature than I did to people.

My birthplace was Oklahoma, but Topeka, Kansas became my home at the age of five until I moved away at age twenty-three. I was raised in a conservative Southern Baptist Church, which shaped my personal ethics and early life. I had my first ecstatic experience as a youth at a church revival, an evangelistic meeting intended to reawaken interest in religion. This state of rapture and trancelike elation inspired my spiritual quest. For much of my youth, I had aspirations of attending seminary to prepare for some form of ministry. I met my wife, Elisia, at a church function. We were wed by our pastor in a church wedding in 1976.

After I graduated from college in 1977, I felt a great pull to “Go West.” I mailed résumés to employers up and down the Pacific Coast. As fate would have it, I was offered a job with the Glidden Paint Company in Portland, Oregon. Elisia and I promptly sold our house and moved to Oregon. As a couple, that is how we often did things and that is how we still do things, after thirty-five years of marriage. We decide to do something, and then we just do it. Elisia and I have learned to trust and follow our inner yearnings. One of the things we learned working with spirits is that they often prompt us through urges to do one thing or another.

Upon our arrival in Portland, we soon found a house to rent. After settling in, we spent most of our free time hiking and exploring. Enamored with my new home, I began studying the geology and ecology of the Pacific Northwest. What I began to understand is that Nature sustains us and everything around us through an interdependent web of life. There is no separateness. We are all one consciousness.

In early 1980, I lost my retail managerial job. I was ready for a change and, with so much free time, I took up reading full-time. One of the influential books that I read was The Dharma Bums, a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. Kerouac's semi-fictional accounts of hiking and hitchhiking through the West inspired me to embark, with my wife's blessing, on a backpacking/gold prospecting adventure to northern California. After all, in 1980 the price of gold hit a then-record of $873 an ounce. 

In May of 1980, my journey began with a bus ride to Yreka, California. From Yreka, I planned to hike and hitch my way about fifty-three miles over a mountain pass to Sawyers Bar, California. I stepped off the bus in Yreka, shouldered my heavy pack, and started walking south on State Route 3. After walking a few miles, a local farrier in a pickup offered me a ride to the small town of Etna. I spent an uneventful night camped in the Etna City Park.

On day two, I arose early and continued my trek. After a few hours of steep climbing, I hitched another ride to Idlewild Campground, a forest service recreation area on the North Fork Salmon River six miles from Sawyers Bar, California. Idlewild became my base camp for prospecting and further explorations in the surrounding area. 

After a few days of unsuccessful gold-panning, I decided to backpack into nearby Marble Mountain Wilderness. I walked up Mule Bridge Road along the scenic North Fork Salmon River until I reached the wilderness trailhead. From the trailhead, I hiked the North Fork Trail deep into Marble Mountain Wilderness.

I met no one along the trail. I was alone in the wilderness. Late in the afternoon, I came upon the skeletal remains of a large bear along the trail. It was one of the most peculiar sights I have ever beheld. The skeletal paws of the bear resembled human hands and the massive skull was quite intimidating. I later learned that a local bear hunter had reportedly shot a dangerous nuisance bear, but not had not killed it outright. The wounded bear had then escaped, but eventually died next to the trail.

I dropped my pack and walked a short distance down the trail to a river crossing. The North Fork Salmon River was swollen with spring snow melt, making it unsafe to cross. It began to drizzle again; it had been raining off and on all day. I had no choice but to turn around and look for a suitable place to camp for the night. Wouldn't you know it; the only level campsite was only a short distance from the bear skeleton.

I certainly was in bear country. There were tracks in the sand and mud all along the riverbank. I came across a bear footprint so large that I could step into it with my size 12 vibram-soled boots. It wasn’t a fresh track, but it was at the base of an ancient cedar in the very grove of trees where I was going to have to camp for the night. All of the large cedar trees in the area bore the claw marks of a bear marking its territory. The claw marks were so high on the tree trunks that I could barely touch them with my fingertips when standing on the tips of my toes. This was a very large bear and I was going to have to spend the night in its territory in a dark grove of trees along a raging river. I took some comfort in the fact that the tracks and markings might have been made by the bear that I discovered along the trail before it died.

I was nervous to say the least. I am always on my guard when trekking through bear country. After setting up my tent, I fired up my camp stove and cooked a hot meal. To minimize odors that might attract bears, I hung my nylon food bag from a high tree limb some distance away from the camp. I then gathered up as much firewood as I could find for the long night ahead. I found some cedar bark, which is good for getting a campfire started under soggy conditions. Once the fire was going, I stacked damp wood around the perimeter of the fire pit so that it would slowly dry. Heat from the flames warmed my face and hands and the warm glow perked up my spirits. As long as the fire burned, I felt relatively safe. I tended the flames late into the night until I finally ran out of wood.

Without the comfort of a warming fire, I had no choice but to crawl into my tent and try and get some sleep. I lay awake in my sleeping bag for a long time, listening to the night sounds. I focused intently on every strange noise I heard outside my tent. To get to sleep, I focused my attention on the current rushing over the river rocks. At times, the river made haunting sounds as it rolled big rocks along its course. At some point, I fell off into a deep sleep.

Then it started; the most terrifying experience of my life. I was awakened by a mysterious roar. It resembled the sound of a helicopter hovering directly over my tent. The previous day, before entering the wilderness, I had heard the "whop-whop-whop" sound of a dual-rotor logging helicopter in the distance. Helicopters, like all motorized vehicles, are prohibited in designated wilderness areas. Rationally, I knew it was highly unlikely that the sound was emanating from a helicopter hovering over my tent, yet a whirling windlike howl filled my ears in the predawn darkness. I have never been so frightened in all my life. I had spent countless nights camping in wilderness areas across the West and never had I experienced anything like this.

As I opened my eyes, I realized that I couldn't move, or I was too afraid to move. I was virtually paralyzed. I lay rigid inside my sleeping bag and prayed that whatever was outside my tent would just go away. My heart pounded like a drum. My panicked mind was reeling, as I struggled to classify what I was experiencing. Frenzied thoughts of UFOs, alien abductions, and even Sasquatch raced through my mind. I don't know how long the mind-bending experience lasted. It was all so surreal. I started to hyperventilate. Death seemed imminent.

Suddenly, the eerie moaning stopped and the bizarre incident ceased almost as abruptly as it had begun. I could hear the roaring river again, along with the pitter-patter of raindrops bouncing off the top of my nylon tent.

The paralysis ended immediately and I gasped in a lungful of air. I finally managed to sit up in my sleeping bag, my body trembling in shock. I sat motionless, lost in my thoughts, wondering what had just happened to me. The entire experience was much too real to have been a nightmare. As I relived the terrifying event in my mind again and again, the first light of dawn illuminated my tent.

I arose, hastily packed my gear, and then marched out of there as fast as I could. I retreated from the wilderness, returning to Idlewild Campground--back to familiar territory. Upon my arrival on May 18, (1980) I learned from a fellow camper that Mt. St. Helens had erupted earlier that day at 8:32 a.m., killing fifty-seven people. The destructive power and devastation of the eruption served to distract me from my disturbing predawn experience. Though I prefer the isolation and quietude of the wilderness, I spent the remaining two weeks of my vacation camped in this developed campground, never venturing back into Marble Mountain Wilderness.

During my stay in this idyllic area, I made many new friends. I met mountain climbers, backpackers, gold prospectors, miners, kayakers, a hermit, and a colorful assortment of local hippies living on gold mining claims and growing weed. All in all, it was an epic adventure for me. I will never forget it. Idlewild Campground became a restful sanctuary for me at that moment in time. Where the North Fork Salmon River wrapped around my camp, the soothing sound of the water lulled me into a peaceful sleep every night.

Many years later I began to understand the significance of my anomalous Marble Mountain experience, although I realize that I will never understand it fully. I have come to accept that there will always be that which is unknown to me--that which is "the Great Mystery."

I now also know that the eerie howl that aroused me on that fateful night resembled that of a bullroarer. A bullroarer is a thin, feather-shaped piece of wood that, when whirled in the air by means of an attached string, makes a loud humming or roaring sound. Bullroarers produce a range of infrasonics, extremely low frequency sound waves that are picked up by the cochlea (labyrinth) of the ear, stimulating a wide array of euphoric trance states. The bullroarer dates back to the Stone Age, and is probably the most widespread among all sacred instruments. With over sixty names, it is universally linked to thunder and spirit beings in the sky.

The first time I actually heard a bullroarer was in December of 1991. Elisia and I were traveling through New Mexico on a cross-country tour, promoting my newly released book, The Shamanic Drum. By chance we happened upon the annual Shalako festival, which is a series of dances and ceremonies conducted by the Zuni people near the winter solstice in which they celebrate the return of the sun and pray for rain, growth, and fertility. Shalako is named for its masked dancers who embody kachinas or ancestral spirits. Kachinas mediate between humanity and the gods of rain and prosperity in a sacred ritual performance that ensures the transformation of winter’s death into spring’s rebirth. Standing ten-feet-tall and resembling birds, the colorful Shalako kachinas dance rhythmically, clacking their long beaks together. They come to the human realm to collect the people’s prayers and take them back to the spirit realm.

On the day of the Shalako ceremony, the six kachinas, one for each of the four cardinal directions plus zenith and nadir, entered Zuni Pueblo at dusk. Each Shalako deity was escorted by a group of singers and an attendant whirling a bullroarer over his head. As the first procession filed into the plaza, the sound of the bullroarer elicited an intense feeling of déjà vu, triggering memories of my traumatic experience in Marble Mountain Wilderness. Reflecting on my ordeal created anew the conditions for revelation, learning, and reintegration. I finally realized what had transpired on that life-altering night in 1980. Although I didn’t know it back then, my guardian or tutelary spirit was "calling" me. Chosen by the spirit of a bear, my shamanic initiation had begun and, like a sluggish bear emerging from the slumber of winter hibernation, I gradually awakened to the knowing of my true self.

I have since had other initiation experiences, such as a shamanic death-and-rebirth. However, none of these subsequent experiences have impacted me as much as my Marble Mountain experience did in 1980.

That mystical encounter with Spirit shattered my ego, cracking me wide open. Shamanic initiation serves as a transformer--it causes a radical change in the initiate forever. It is typically the final step in becoming a shamanic healer, a process that is facilitated by the aspirant’s shamanic teachers as part of a training program. However, initiation may also be spontaneous, set in motion by Spirit’s intervention into the initiate’s life. It is probably the most powerful and least understood of all forms of spiritual awakening.

This excerpt also appeared in the 2015 book "Shamanic Transformations: True Stories of the Moment ofAwakening." It is a collection of inspiring accounts from contemporary shamans about their first moments of spiritual epiphany. Contributing writers include Sandra Ingerman, Hank Wesselman, John Perkins, Alberto Villoldo, Lewis Mehl-Madrona, Tom Cowan, Linda Star Wolf, and others.

Entering Marble Mountain Wilderness