Shaman-speak

Twenty years ago, I was involved with The Four Winds Society, an organization that leads workshops in shamanism and sponsors tours to Peru and the Amazon, and also the American Southwest to Chaco Canyon and Canyon de Chelly. I wrote a couple of magazine articles and went on a four-day vision quest with a group to the canyons. It was a somewhat grueling trip, hiking all day and doing ceremonies late into the night. (Trish had decided that she would follow her quest in the comfort of home, and when she heard about the details she figured she’d made the right decision.)

Yet, living under such strenuous conditions, holding fire ceremonies and climbing rocks late at night for meditations puts one in a frame of mind where…things happen. I clearly recall a meditation in Canyon de Chelly on a chilly night in which I saw three Indians wearing bandanas and walking along a perilous trail along the side of a cliff.

Suddenly, the third one turned, stared right at me, then propelled himself across the canyon right at me. That’s when I snapped out of the meditation. Later, when I spoke about what happened as we were seated in the big tent, Alberto, our shamanic guide, shook his head. “That Indian was giving you a gift, an initiation into power, but you backed off.“ Hm, just like Indiana Jones, searching, but then backing away when he gets close to non-physical power.

A couple of years later, Alberto brought several Qero Indian shamans to South Florida for workshops and despacho ceremonies. Trish and I went to one in West Palm Beach at a Unity church. It was quite a scene with an audience of more than a hundred watching colorfully garbed Queros – the survivors of the Incas – sitting in a circle on stage preparing for the despacho ceremony and chewing coca leaves next to a 12-foot tall decorated Christmas tree. Then, one after another, audience members approached the lead shaman, who conducted transmissions of energy. Trish recalls feeling an energetic surge from the despacho. In the aftermath, I wrote Prophecy Rock, which I’ve always felt was somehow enhanced from that ceremony.

Over the years, I’ve included some shamanic meditations in the course I teach, but in the last month I’ve intensified my personal shamanic work meditating early in the morning for up to an hour and a half. Mostly, I use recordings made by shamanic practitioner Sandra Ingram.

This morning, I took a half-hour journey to the underworld, a place close to nature, an abode of nature spirits, a place to contact a power animal or guiding spirit, a place to seek healing. However, this time nothing happened. No visions, no voices, nothing that related to the healing quest I’ve pursuing related to a condition I’ve been dealing with since February.

After the meditation, I went into the kitchen and opened a newspaper. I turned a few pages and came upon an article about a Qero shaman who is holding workshops and despachos in South Florida over the coming days. I went to the web site of the sponsoring group and found out that Don Flores would be in Palm Beach County Saturday and Sunday. Later that morning we signed up for the despacho Saturday night and I made an appointment for a one-hour healing with Don Flores on Sunday.

So a meditation that seemed lacking abruptly transitioned into a synchronistic discovery in the morning newspaper. I mean, how often are there articles on shamanism in the daily paper? Almost never. Then, more specifically, I discovered a Qero shaman was coming here, as if in response to my meditations.

We’ll see where this leads and no doubt will report back.