Tuesday, March 29, 2005

The Shamanic Journey

Hello again. Firstly, thanks for all the kind comments, you’ve been so welcoming - it’s good to know that someone is out there and I’m not just talking to myself.

Now back to the shamanism...

It’s difficult to decide when my shamanic phase started - after all I do not look the part. I have neatly trimmed hair, a tendency to wear suits rather than cheesecloth and what I like to think is a healthy scepticism for anything spiritual. However a couple of years ago I found myself lying on a treatment bed in a Bavarian Schloss while an intelligent and very courteous middle-aged gentleman felt my head for ‘moving plates’. He said that lack of movement in my skull indicated I had a blockage elsewhere in my body, but I have not yet found out where it is. He mentioned that his technique had an American Indian influence which I guess stoked the first small flame of interest.

Another contributing factor, the main one, is 'the book'. I had been searching for a voice to tell the story I was writing set in South America and by reading around came across an Indian who had been cast out of this tribe for apparently causing the death (by witchcraft) of one of the chief’s relatives. I think most writers can relate to outcasts. Sometimes I think I am one.

Then I learnt from a TV programme that the same images recur in shamanic trances, no matter how they have been initiated - drugs, days of sleep deprivation, self-hallucination, drumming - and that these same motifs have been drawn on cave walls by homo sapiens tens of thousands of years ago: grids, animal helpers, geometric shapes. I think that is when I became hooked and wanted to find out more. Up until now my Indian had just been a bit odd, now he was going to be a fully initiated shaman.

So I did a little research, googled ‘practical shamanism’, was surprised to discover that there are some UK practitioners and signed up for the weekend course.

It was excellent. Henry Shukman in a recent article in the Guardian (http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,,1434889,00.html) recommends a drug-induced shamanic journey to relieve writers block, but I found that drumming surprisingly had the same effect without the nausea. I told Jeff before I went that if my ‘animal helper’ (an animal guide to the spirit world) turned out to be a meerkat I was legging it, but mine turned out to be a fairly quiet and inoffensive tortoise. I didn’t see shapes but I did see myself dismembered by angels, my organs removed and cleaned and then replaced and afterwards I felt so unaccountably happy I am calling it my ecstatic experience.

Clare.

5 Comments:

At 2:28 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I dunno. Grids, geometric shapes, and animals are things everyone can draw.

-tnh

 
At 4:05 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

sounds like you're curiosity lies not so much in the "religious" (taking into account your healthy skepticism) but in the mysterious and historical (and history is nothing if not mysterious). the lost and unkowable if you prefer. i can dig that.

it seems only natural for a skeptic to find hope of discovering something interesting or unexpectedly profound in a "past its prime" or underdog spiritual system. the prevelant systems are often laughable in their contradictions and thus focus of our skepticism. but the questions which these systems seek to (and too often claim to) answer are themselves of the greatest value and unquenchable. so shamainsm? sure. why not? it's simply another of the endless human inventions seeking to order the chaos.

don't we always suspect those who came before us knew something we've forgotten? (don't we in fact fondly hope they did considering the state of each individual's modern age?) doesn't mystery and still hover over everything, permeate everything, no matter how fervantly current belief systems claim a strangle hold on truth? if we can't look to unlikely sources for inspiration and clues then where can we look? inwardly, of course, but boy does that get lonely after a few decades.

the great thing about your search is self evident... you are still searching. and realistically that's all you can hope for. it's no minor feat. so many accept something as truth and in doing so have no need to search any further. in my mind, though th ejoke is on everyone, the punchline lies on them.

keep the findings coming clare.

 
At 11:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

tnh: see what you mean, and I hadn't thought of that...but... on the other hand, people who have had near death experiences report seeing the same images too. I like the weirdness of it all.

jmorrison:yes, I still search. I think I know something and then something else comes along and I find I don't know much at all. That sudden wave of inexplicable happiness I had, for instance, I wasn't expecting that, don't know where it came from. It's so out of character - I'm generally a real old misery.

 
At 10:54 PM, Blogger chenlili said...

2016-4-25 xiaobao
jordan shoes
nike roshe flyknit
mont blanc
louis vuitton
hollister outlet
air max 90
michael kors
burberry outlet
oakley sunglasses
ray ban sunglasses
nike sb
juicy couture
michael kors purses
louis vuitton outlet
adidas superstar
cheap jordan shoes
nike sb shoes
louis vuitton handbags
jordan 8s
coach outlet
marc jacobs
polo ralph lauren outlet
michael kors outlet
cartier watches
coach factory outlet
coach outlet
nfl jerseys wholesale
coach outlet store online
supra shoes
michael kors handbags
coach outlet online
pandora jewelry
coach outlet store online
coach outlet online
kate spade
jordan 3
ray ban outlet
celine handbags
fitflops
replica watches for sale

 
At 8:10 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

zhengjx20160713
toms outlet
christian louboutin shoes
michael kors outlet online
louis vuitton outlet
louis vuitton outlet
louis vuitton purses
nike outlet
nike roshe run
coach factory outlet online
michael kors outlet
asics shoes for men
ralph lauren outlet
nike store uk
nike store
gucci outlet
cheap basketball shoes
kd 7 shoes
polo ralph lauren
jordan shoes
montblanc pen
jordan retro 4
louis vuitton handbags
timberland boots
discount jordans
air jordan shoes
ralph lauren outlet
replica rolex watches
adidas outlet store
kobe 10
adidas superstar trainers
ladies cartier watches
cheap jordans
oakley sunglasses wholesale
giuseppe zanotti outlet
michael kors handbags
cheap ray ban sunglasses
vans outlet
michael kors outlet
polo shirts
coach outlet clearance

 

Post a Comment

<< Home