Excerpt from my forthcoming book, "Call of the Coyote," due out in early Spring 2014: I was once traveling to a workshop on shamanism. This particular seminar was being held in a hidden-away corner of the Southern Appalachians. This was before the days of GPS, and I was having difficulty finding my way, so I stopped at a little country store to ask for directions. When I told the clerk where I was going, he replied, “You can’t get there from here. You have to go someplace else and start over.” Of course he was being facetious, but his answer was a great metaphor for the journey into the world of shamanism. If you plan to journey to the ‘Otherworld’ that is the realm of the shaman, you can’t get there from here. This is one of the reasons for the death and rebirth experience so common to shamanistic paths throughout the world. The shaman must ‘die’ to his old way of living and be reborn into the life of the shaman. Sometimes the rites required to complete this task may seem odd or downright silly to modern eyes. Celtic shamans were required to stand on one foot like a crane, with one eye covered, while seeking visions or pronouncing prophecies. Some Native Americans stood for days with pebbles between their toes to keep them awake while seeking visions. Some shamans painted their naked bodies, lay down in boats at sea, ate special foods, or engaged in drumming, singing, chanting and a variety of other behaviors all designed to put the shaman’s consciousness in touch with the other world. Some of the rites, rituals and tools of shamanism will feel weird at first. That’s okay. If they didn’t feel strange, you’d already be doing them. Given time you will become accustomed to them as part of your spiritual practice. If you cannot get past the unfamiliarity with drumming and chanting, or wearing a feathered cloak, or performing rites, then you “can’t get there from here.” In such a case, you are not ready to enter the Belly of the Whale, and you are still in the Refusal of the Call. The way out of this Refusal of the Call is to trust the process. Trust your own instinct, and trust your own Supernatural Aid. Meditate on what your inner voice may be trying to tell you. Why is it so difficult to let go of this world? What do you hope to learn about yourself in the Otherworld? When you have these answers, you will be ready.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 16:30:19 +0000
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