Shamanic Journeying - Ecosystems
Jun. 18th, 2009 07:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bookofmirrorsI've not been able to sleep all night, and have spent a lot of time re-reading the posts in the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
core_energetics group, and being quietly grateful at the progress I've made working on mySelf over the past 5 years. Classes ended last Sunday, and while I haven't officially graduated yet (I need to see clients under supervision, and I owe lots of money still), the entire process was invaluable.
Anyway, it's put me in a state of mind to make a post I've been meaning to make for a while.
At the end of May, after doing all the apartment stuff in Champaign, I attended class on shamanic journeying, Spiral Ecosystems. As part of the class, we Journeyed to various ecosystems. We were told we could go to places of our choosing, or to places that our Teachers took us, or both. I did both, and got some very interesting results.
One of the places my Guides took me to was what appeared to be an arctic area... something like the North (or South) Pole. I was immediately excited. "Oh, I know what you need! You need cold!" The Guardian of the Land who was there (someone who appeared to be a shapeshifter between a polar bear and an Eskimo) immediately said "No! We need HEAT!" I immediately got a picture of myself sitting naked in the ice, and the warmth of my body melting the ice. I was confused at this. I mean, y'know, global warming and all that, right? He was emphatic, though. "We need HEAT. We created humans for just this purpose! The Earth is redecorating." I immediately started to think about all the work that's going on all over the world now, trying to reduce the impact of humans on the planet; I asked if all that was a waste, if we should just stop trying to fix things. "No, no," he replied. "You're going to need all that knowledge and technology to live in the world after it changes." Then I thought about the TV ad with Noah Wylie and the dying polar bears, and expressed dismay over this. "Don't worry," he assured me. "All those who die in the transition will become the new guardians of the land." This made some sense to me, as I had already been made to understand that he was the first shaman in that land, and that when he died, he had become its Guardian.
This was a whole new perspective for me. I've certainly seen the same shows most have seen. We're destroying the Earth/No we're not, it's just the usual Earth cycles back-and-forth arguments, and my personal take is that it's a bit of both. (And also that factory farming and monoculture is more to blame that the usual suspects, but that's another rant entirely.) But to be told that this was all the plan to begin with has given me a whole new outlook on it. It felt like an important Message, and one that I knew needed to be shared. Take it or leave it.
Interestingly enough, also in the realm of being corrected when I think I know what's best for something, I chose in the course of the Journeys to visit Atlanta. Of course, I assumed that Atlanta needed water (even though the drought has been declared over). But I felt this tired feeling, and this flick of the hand, as it were... "No, no... no water. We're just so TIRED. We need REST." So my Guides and I completely covered the city with pillows, which seemed to make it feel better. Very interesting.
The one that touched me the most, though, was a Journey that we did later. We were told to specifically go to an ecosystem that we thought/knew needed a major healing. I immediately knew where I wanted to go. There's a place that I drive past on my way to visit my parents. I'm not sure if it's in Tennessee or Kentucky (I think the former), but every time I drove past it, I burst into tears. The first few times it happened, it caught me by surprise. I now expect it, and can recognize that particular rock formation right about the same time as the wave of pain hits me and I start crying again. There's a HUGE sense of pain in those rocks, and it at first seemed silly to me. Certainly, the roads were carved out of those rocks years and years ago; then I thought about it, and realized that, in terms of the age of the Earth, it must seem like just yesterday, and a very fresh wound. (Note: Why this particular rock formation projects pain to me, and all the other countless miles of roads carved out of rocks doesn't, I have no idea.) Anyway, I went there, and connected with the rocks/earth there. I got this immediate sense of panic/fear/pain, and heard very clearly "My babies! My babies!" which I understood to be the trees, the life, that had once been a part of the rock. It was heartbreaking. When healing energy was directed to that place, I had a sense of the larger Earth, of Gaia, reaching up to encompass the area, to cradle it and hold it, even as seeds were planted. The pained rocks relaxed, and seemed to sleep peacefully. I had a sense that, while she was sleeping (had a strong sense of a female presence), the seeds would grow, and she would have a new family to love. I got the sense that, when the rock was blasted, and the trees/etc. were killed, the reaction was very much like a mother who had seen her children killed. There was all the horror, and also guilt. She had felt herself the protector of the life on her section of land, and had failed to keep them from the blast. After the healing, there was a sense of rest and recovery. I wonder what it will feel like next time I drive that way. I actually wonder if I'll be driving that way again... my next trip up north will be to Champaign, which takes me along a different route, and it's unlikely I'd pass that way again. Oh, well...
I'm now debating if I want to crawl into bed for a while, or if I think that's counterproductive...
core_energetics group, and being quietly grateful at the progress I've made working on mySelf over the past 5 years. Classes ended last Sunday, and while I haven't officially graduated yet (I need to see clients under supervision, and I owe lots of money still), the entire process was invaluable. Anyway, it's put me in a state of mind to make a post I've been meaning to make for a while.
At the end of May, after doing all the apartment stuff in Champaign, I attended class on shamanic journeying, Spiral Ecosystems. As part of the class, we Journeyed to various ecosystems. We were told we could go to places of our choosing, or to places that our Teachers took us, or both. I did both, and got some very interesting results.
One of the places my Guides took me to was what appeared to be an arctic area... something like the North (or South) Pole. I was immediately excited. "Oh, I know what you need! You need cold!" The Guardian of the Land who was there (someone who appeared to be a shapeshifter between a polar bear and an Eskimo) immediately said "No! We need HEAT!" I immediately got a picture of myself sitting naked in the ice, and the warmth of my body melting the ice. I was confused at this. I mean, y'know, global warming and all that, right? He was emphatic, though. "We need HEAT. We created humans for just this purpose! The Earth is redecorating." I immediately started to think about all the work that's going on all over the world now, trying to reduce the impact of humans on the planet; I asked if all that was a waste, if we should just stop trying to fix things. "No, no," he replied. "You're going to need all that knowledge and technology to live in the world after it changes." Then I thought about the TV ad with Noah Wylie and the dying polar bears, and expressed dismay over this. "Don't worry," he assured me. "All those who die in the transition will become the new guardians of the land." This made some sense to me, as I had already been made to understand that he was the first shaman in that land, and that when he died, he had become its Guardian.
This was a whole new perspective for me. I've certainly seen the same shows most have seen. We're destroying the Earth/No we're not, it's just the usual Earth cycles back-and-forth arguments, and my personal take is that it's a bit of both. (And also that factory farming and monoculture is more to blame that the usual suspects, but that's another rant entirely.) But to be told that this was all the plan to begin with has given me a whole new outlook on it. It felt like an important Message, and one that I knew needed to be shared. Take it or leave it.
Interestingly enough, also in the realm of being corrected when I think I know what's best for something, I chose in the course of the Journeys to visit Atlanta. Of course, I assumed that Atlanta needed water (even though the drought has been declared over). But I felt this tired feeling, and this flick of the hand, as it were... "No, no... no water. We're just so TIRED. We need REST." So my Guides and I completely covered the city with pillows, which seemed to make it feel better. Very interesting.
The one that touched me the most, though, was a Journey that we did later. We were told to specifically go to an ecosystem that we thought/knew needed a major healing. I immediately knew where I wanted to go. There's a place that I drive past on my way to visit my parents. I'm not sure if it's in Tennessee or Kentucky (I think the former), but every time I drove past it, I burst into tears. The first few times it happened, it caught me by surprise. I now expect it, and can recognize that particular rock formation right about the same time as the wave of pain hits me and I start crying again. There's a HUGE sense of pain in those rocks, and it at first seemed silly to me. Certainly, the roads were carved out of those rocks years and years ago; then I thought about it, and realized that, in terms of the age of the Earth, it must seem like just yesterday, and a very fresh wound. (Note: Why this particular rock formation projects pain to me, and all the other countless miles of roads carved out of rocks doesn't, I have no idea.) Anyway, I went there, and connected with the rocks/earth there. I got this immediate sense of panic/fear/pain, and heard very clearly "My babies! My babies!" which I understood to be the trees, the life, that had once been a part of the rock. It was heartbreaking. When healing energy was directed to that place, I had a sense of the larger Earth, of Gaia, reaching up to encompass the area, to cradle it and hold it, even as seeds were planted. The pained rocks relaxed, and seemed to sleep peacefully. I had a sense that, while she was sleeping (had a strong sense of a female presence), the seeds would grow, and she would have a new family to love. I got the sense that, when the rock was blasted, and the trees/etc. were killed, the reaction was very much like a mother who had seen her children killed. There was all the horror, and also guilt. She had felt herself the protector of the life on her section of land, and had failed to keep them from the blast. After the healing, there was a sense of rest and recovery. I wonder what it will feel like next time I drive that way. I actually wonder if I'll be driving that way again... my next trip up north will be to Champaign, which takes me along a different route, and it's unlikely I'd pass that way again. Oh, well...
I'm now debating if I want to crawl into bed for a while, or if I think that's counterproductive...
