My Journey into Shamanism - Talking Trees and Animals!

I recently had some unusual experiences with nature, trees, animals, and am aware now that I've learned some Shamanism. I don't know why it happened, but it is definitely part of my journey in life, and so, I wanted to share some of the things I've learned.

To explain a bit more about what shamanism is, Terrence McKenna, in his book, Food of the Gods states that:

"Shamanism is the practice of the Upper Paleolithic tradition of healing, divination, and theatrical performance based on natural magic developed ten to fifty thousand years ago."

For me, this journey began one sunny day, whilst I was cycling in a nearby park, and involved receiving wisdom from nature and animals, in the form of intuitive thoughts, and later, visualisations of animals, which I have come to know as Power Animals. After I came home, I wrote down my experiences, and was amazed at the clear connections between all the different events. My previous illusions of “coincidence” were shattered forever, and I felt a new chapter in my life begin!

On those days, I learned some wisdom from observing and listening to the spirit of a tree, and from a rabbit's behaviour, I learned about fear. I also learned that the personal details of my journey are “not to be told”, presumably because we all have to take life’s journeys on our own. However, I feel I am free to share some of the wisdom I learned about on my journeys and interactions with various animals and nature, as this may help others to learn about the world of shamanism.

I am merely a beginner and a traveller in the vehicle of life (and perhaps shamanism), but to share is a very important thing to me. Wisdom is one such thing that I will share freely, as it is not mine to possess, but universal knowledge for all to learn from.

Some simple things I learned:

Firstly, I can now see more clearly, that all of nature speaks to us, and when we can connect with our own spirit, we can hear trees, animals, birds, and even rocks giving us messages, when we just stop and listen for long enough. Each part of nature, can give us a different message, depending on the type of animal/plant, and its spirit.

For example, the tree and the rock both taught me some wisdom; the magpie, about our ability to create our own reality; from the rabbit I learned about fear, and from the dog, about companionship.

Our intuition is the key to hearing these messages, and can be developed, so that we can differentiate what is coming in, from what is coming from us, from our unconscious, or from our logical/rational left brain. The spirit message, for me, mostly came as a thought in the form of words, a very clear, natural, intuitive thought, with a strong positive message. We can look back at the messages and gifts nature has given us, and understand the connectedness. I believe it can and will, change us forever. It has certainly changed me forever!

One of the important things I learned is that even if we feel unsure, the spirit can still guide us, if we take those first steps through our fears or uncertainties. There is also the matter of the unknown fear within us that we need to bring into the light, in order to be more enlightened beings. Nature can assist us in this process, if we allow our natural intuition to guide us there.

I now feel strongly, that everything we are drawn to in life has meaning, far beyond mere coincidence. I see this clearly, for the first time in my life. I saw that meaning and connectedness everywhere, and more so after it happened when looking back reflectively and intuitively, whilst writing up my notes. Nearly everything I did and learned on those days has had significance for me, both at the time, and in the days to come. In essence, I was drawn to certain animals, trees and plants, and given messages from each of them.

Exploring nature is something I do a lot when I have the time, but up until now in my life, I'd never really heard messages from nature. Now, all of a sudden, the messages are coming all at once. It was quite a magical experience and I just wanted to share some of it with all of you.

These are some illustrations and notes on the wisdoms to be learned from nature:

The Rabbit
The rabbit teaches about dealing with fear, relying on hearing/feeling, presuming that everything is a danger and runs from it. It is about the unknown fear inside us.

The Rock
The rocks are the bones of the planet, and thus hold the history of the planet. A rock is hard and inflexible - sometimes, in life, we must be solid and unwavering in our actions

The Dog
The dog, is all about companionship, love, protection and the emotional healing of humans.

The Magpie
Is a carrion bird. They are part of a family of animals that are recyclers. This tells us that in life, nothing is bad, everything has a use, and it is all connected. The magpie is all about communication understanding spirit messages, and good luck.

http://www.seepurpose.com/