Rev Raz

how do i know if your words shine as rays of truth for here am i beyond the funhouse mirrors of mind here behind fences of stained glass ears and turbulant airs screens and baffles reflective coats distractions tuples and fractions expecting exceptions and so please forgive this shroud between and please don't try and try again to give up trying

Fantastic!! Someday I hope to have a functioning congregation that can do stuff like send flowers on behalf of others. I hate being broke!

I'm sorry to hear this. This is very hard for not just her but the circle of family and friends who surround her. On my next spirit journey, I'll see what we can do for y'all. I can offer your intentions and let my spirit allys decide what's best for helping her and her circle.

I'm re-reading Edible and Useful Plants of Texas and the Southwest a Practical Guide, by Delena Tull. Imagine meeting a hungry beggar and being able to point out some of the abundant food that surrounds us, growing freely out of the ground.

When studying shamanism, one may see the term "journey" used as a verb. What we call "journeying" is a process of navigating the spirit world. How does one go about journeying? There are different ways done by different cultures. Some methods are called shamanic and others have other names. For example, mysticism uses prolonged suffering of fasting along with intense prayer. Meditation uses relaxation and contemplation to reach a beta state. Self flagellation uses pain to eject the spirit out of the body. To me, "shamanic" means "whatever works" so I wouldn't rule out any of the aformentioned methods if that works for you. However, what is commonly identified as "shamanic method" usually refers to the stuff indigenous cultures do, and they tend to go with more direct ways to reach the trance that allows your spirit to move deliberately where you want to go: certain ways of dancing, or chanting, or substances, or rhythms of drums or rattles, or combos of them. That's a lot of options! More than I've experienced, so I can only tell you more about what I do and say that what works best for me won't necessarily work best for you. But that said, I was not prepared to do anything shamanic without my initiation. I was too skeptical. But by curiosity I tried smoking some 10X salvia divinorum (legal in Texas so far) and it almost instantly destroyed my spiritual barriers. I think you might say shamanism found me, not the other way around! So I became curious about the people who used this spiritually and learned about shamanism and it just fit well with me so I continued. I read books and found much help in Michael Harner's "The Way of the Shaman", which teaches practice using drums and rattles. I also searched for local practitioners and discovered a local open circle which was very helpful. So how do I journey? The easiest way is to be with someone who can drum for me. Then it's a real drum, real presence, real vibrations throughout the body, and the shift in state is effortless. The other way is by listening to drumming in headphones. Someone posted a mp3 in this forum that I had success with, but not at first. I need to feel the vibrations while listening, so for me it works when I am on the bus. Strange but true. Not just any funky drum track will work... it needs to be simple "hypnotic" boom boom boom rapid and repetative, keeping me alert and yet entranced. In the local circle, our leader tends to flow with it and that would be a distraction in headphones of a recording, so I can only guess the reason it works so well is the activity of the spirits among us. Now, before doing journeys, I perform a few rituals. What we do as a circle depends on the leader's spiritual guides, and what I do in my home practice depends on that as well. You'll just feel inspired to do something one time and not another, or change it a bit, or whatever seems to call you. I don't do anything weird on the bus, though! Here are the common pieces of it: Calling the spirits (I do this by getting loud and lively with the instruments, shouting, etc), many North American cultures say "Hok Hey" to get the attention of the spirits. Stuff like that. Next, calling the elements. One way I do this is by some kundalini poses the leader of our circle taught us. Hard to explain in writing. Whatever connects you to the elements should work ok, just follow intuition/inspiration. Now that my companions are present, I like to honor the "cardinals" or directions. This is done by spending time facing East, South, West, Up, Down and saying something, waving or blowing smoke, or tossing seeds, or whatever at each direction. Just follow your heart or skip it if you don't get the direction thing yet. Actually, skip anything ritual if you don't connect with it. Nothing should be forced or done just to follow some tradition. But I like to do these things. The reason I do the directions after the calling is because I want to make sure my companions were invited to do it with me. OK, then I do a purification ritual. I smudge with california white sage, although I've also tried dakota and new mexico varieties which have a more bitter scent that might be good for certain powers, who knows. Stuff for me to explore and learn. Only when I am practicing alone do I smudge myself. Otherwise it is better to have people smudge each other. For this, I use a smudge stick fanned with a big feather that a bird dropped for me last spring. I'm not going to admit what species the bird was nor any connection to the silly federal law against picking up dropped feathers by certain birds or anything. Anyway, it isn't the fan that matters so much as the smoke, so use whatever. Then I like to sprinkle something in a circle around me to signify the closing of the circle (I use tobacco for that, mainly because I'm a smoker so it has personal meaning). Obviously, the above doesn't work for when I want to journey on the bus with drumming in headphones, nor does it guarantee a deeper experience. Perhaps it is just my way of communicating how serious I am to the powers in hopes they will take me seriously. That is mainly why I wouldn't force something if I didn't feel serious about it. They will know! OK, now that the preliminaries are out of the way, this is how I do my journey: 1st, get comfortable. For me, this means I am wearing comfortable clothing, in a warm place, lying on my back or reclining in a chair. 2nd, no light. Blow out the candle, put on a blindfold, etc. Now, drumming. This continues for 20 or 30 minutes or so, maybe longer. If you are able to drum for yourself it is as long as you need it to be. If you have an assistent you can signal them with a rattle the tempo and some other signal when you are finished. In group sessions or recorded drumming, there is some signal that tells you when it is time to finish up and find your way back. In our local circle, we use 4 sequences of rapid drumming, then fast drumming for a time to allow everyone to make their way back. In the recording that I mentioned earlier, the drumming pauses, then resumes at a slower pace then finishes with some bell sounds. What to do during the drumming? At 1st, I don't do anything, just listen and wait. I am waiting to feel some effect of the drums. What the feeling is I can't describe, but after a little while I feel "ready" and then begin to communicate with the spirit world. Here is how it works. I imagine a fantasy. I build it. That is me speaking my intention to the spirits. This creates a symbolic message. I move through the fantasy. So what?! Same thing I used to do in math class! But here's where it gets interesting. Things happen to my fantasy that I didn't will. Things don't happen that I want to will. Now it's not a fantasy, but an experience. So, here is where I start. My experience with smoking salvia divinorum was sliding backwards kinda inside out into myself. I relive that when I journey by drumming. I can't explain it really, so I'll mention some other things. Some people think of a hole or opening into the earth and imagine themselves going to it. Some people follow roots of a tree into the ground. The common thing seems to be a descent of some sort. Now... where does this lead you? Do you see anything? Is the journey verbal or visual? Or is it some other senses? Different people experience it differently. For the 1st journeys, you might want to just go down a little way then come back. Give that some thought, then try again and go farther, maybe the same session maybe another session. Now consider seeking a guide. So descend to the starting place/chamber/whatever. Then look for a way to a place full of stuff: things, beings, etc. Harner says skip past any reptillian or insectoid entities and watch for other kinds, but my guide is a spidery one so maybe he is wrong or maybe someday I'll learn he was right the hard way! You may see multiple creatures. If you see the same one make an appearance 4 times from different angles/aspect/whatever, then ask it if it wishes to be your guide. If it does, maybe it will give you its name too, and maybe you will know if it is a he or a she. If not, keep going and watching. Maybe it will happen this session, maybe another. Eventually it does, so then become acquainted. Once you have a guide, you may find it waiting for you each time you journey in the future. Now, you can ask the guide to take you places, to help you find what you seek. To protect you while doing this by letting you know when a spirit is being tricky or something. At that point, the two of you should be able to take further journeys to find and gather additional companions. Some find the axis mundi to be helpful. This can manifest in journeying as a tree with roots to the lowerworld and branches to the upperworld, or a river with tributaries and delta, or a mountain above a cave. Post journey stuff: I like to take some quiet time to contemplate what I experienced. After the final journey of a session, light the candle, thank the spirits, open the circle, and spend some time outside just chillin'. May you find what you seek.

Guarding spirit by my side Keep me safe on swing and slide Always find me when I hide Guarding spirit hear me pray Watch me when I sleep and play Stay with me both night and day