What is it like...
when the spirits start showing up?
The following is an email conversation I had with a student who found things happening unexpectedly!
“The first time I called in the directions I had a little bit of a difficult time knowing what to expect. It's a rather big jump from cleansing to interacting with the spirits. There wasn't much effect.”
Steve: This is quite regular, because we are unsure as to where the focus should be. This is actually very, very good, because we are not putting our focus in some anticipated direction, and thereby closing our vision to what might appear outside of our direct field of vision.
“The second day was sharply contrasting to the first. I performed the same practice and decided that I would do it again when I was done. After that I sat down on a rock and closed my eyes.
It felt as though I was being watched. I really felt as though the spirits had come that time, but the feeling was a little unnerving!”
Steve: It might also be that they were there the first time, and what is different is that this time you were more attuned to their presence!
“It's a little difficult to explain what happened but I will try. I saw something fly past me while my eyes were closed. Rather than seeing the actual being that flew by I just saw the movement. It was somewhat real because there were some small rocks that fell behind me when it flew past. That was a bit unnerving and I opened my eyes, got up, and started to walk back.
As I walked I felt as though I was surrounded by beings. I kept seeing movement without seeing what was doing the moving!”
Steve: Excellent. Now it is not always the case that spiritual activity will be directly manifested in 'ordinary reality'. What is happening is that you are slipping into the shamanic state of consciousness and your awareness is enhanced. What this also means, is that if others were with you and not in this consciousness, they may not feel or sense the same as you. They might miss it entirely. This is why the shaman throughout history has been in service to their community. They do what the others are either unprepared or unable to do, by bridging the worlds.
“The feeling was not unsettling at all. It was a feeling of being surrounded, not threatened, just more real than anticipated. When my grandmother died years ago I saw and heard an umbrella move on its own at the funeral home after the wake. I saw another object move on its own shortly after that. Those are the experiences I can best relate this event to: you know what you saw, and it isn't frightening, yet the brain has a hard time making sense of it. I guess I hadn't expected the spirits to cross into ordinary reality.”
Steve: Now the metaphysical 'leap' here is that it is not the spirits, necessarily, that are crossing over. It is you. You are the one who becomes the 'bridge', which allows you, or them, to cross over. And here, what we mean by 'crossing over' is our capability of perceiving them. Actually, many kinds of spirits are around us all the time, and this is something that the contemporary world has in many instances forgotten. The primary thing that is occurring here is that you are shifting your awareness so that you are able to perceive what is happening. This is why one of the translations of 'shaman' is 'one who sees in the dark'.
“After that we had extreme heat for a couple days, which is why it took me longer than normal to finish this unit. The heat outside gave me time to process the experience with the spirits and maybe I needed it.
Upon going back to the practice when the heat passed there were no more visual abnormalities, but I could swear the animals were singing along to my drumming. Particularly a frog that started croaking along. What really happened from then on was that the desire to be of service continued to grow as the days passed. It has really become a heart-felt practice upon calling in the directions and I would love to share the experience with others. I ask the spirits to help others through me. I think maybe seeing the spirits was what I had needed at the time. Maybe I needed the proof or to experience just how real all of this is.”
Steve: Naturally. We all go through this to some degree. Pretty soon this drops away as our paradigm of understanding what it is we are observing around us shifts. Such a felt need to check out the substance of one reality over another is just a matter of the brain trying to manage and incorporate this shift.
“I really feel ready to serve. This course has brought a real sense of peace, the likes of which I have not known for a very long time if ever before! Nothing was able bring about the lasting peace before such as the shamanic practice has. It seems as though it's been months if not years of practice and it's only the third unit. It is truly a great experience so far!”
Steve: I totally agree. Perhaps in part, the sense of peace is secondary to a sort of finding oneself in a warm, comfortable, home sort of place, as if we had been outside our home and sort of knew that, but not exactly, but were searching. Then, when we somehow find ourselves in our home, we immediately feel that 'rightness' and 'belongingness'. In the big picture, I believe it is because we are reintegrating with a more natural relationship with the Earth, which is our original home. As we approach that relationship and let go of the divisiveness that we have been culturally taught, and reapproach the Earth and all beings as our brothers, sisters and direct kin, the wind and rain, trees and creatures of all kinds, it is like 'coming home', and we feel it.