shaman-rama ding dong

Music: Madonna: Hard Candy (2008)

My resolution for the new year has been to do things that I would otherwise not ordinarily do. This decision includes many things, some of which should remain secret, as well as responding positively to invitations I normally would turn down. The first thing I did this year that is "not me" was poetry: at the urging of friends who are or who regularly write poetry, I did a poetry workshop for the semester. It was a lot of fun, but I readily acknowledge I did not discover my inner muse. I discovered I like complexity and that my poetry is "intense"---not quite the level of Vogon, so at least my poetic self is somewhat humane.

Quite spontaneously, an acquaintance invited me to join a shamanistic journey work circle. I remembered my resolution and said, "I'd LOVE to!" I will not go into the details of everything I learned today, just the gist: I’m learning "core shamanism," which is sort of a no-frills, no drugs version that is solely about the "journey." Today's five hour session was about the "lower world," one of three in this cosmology. The lower world is mostly occupied by non-human animals and is pure and harmonious. So is the upper world, except it is usually peopled by spiritual guides and is "ethereal." The "middle world," where you and I mostly subsist, is where the shit is, as well as some good stuff unavailable in the upper and lower worlds (so, yeah, it ain't Platonic). In core shamanism, you travel below and above and, if very experienced, can muck around a bit in the middle-spiritual world. In today's session we descended to the lower world.

I must admit I was pegged immediately as a "non-believer" and chided a bit for that, but for the most part I kept an open mind and I think when I left today folks were "cool" with me. I must also admit my "spirituality" is pretty hippy-dippy-pantheism-agonistic-if-god-exists-its-beyond-my-capacity-to-deal . . . uh, I'm a Mason. But today's experience was different for every one in the room, and that's "reality"---an experience with frames. We actually got into a little constructivism talk today, which I appreciated. Since my therapist likes to pull out a little guided meditation every now and again, the "journeying" wasn't foreign at all.

So what did I learn today? Well, no surprise here: I learned that my "power animal," the spirit assigned to me at birth to guide me through my life's journey, is a goat. I met him in a rather mundane place (a farm) and after he pooped and said, "here's your medicine" he looked me in the eye, seemed to grin, and then said, "you need to eat more."

"Uh, I think I've been eating a bit too much lately," I says.

"Stop cooking for other people."