The Accidental Shaman: Journeys with Plant Teachers and Other Spirit Allies - Howard G. Charing 2017
Playing With Multidimensional Reality Consciousness
Energy Medicine: Exploring the Human Energy Field
Back in the 1970s I found the science fiction/fantasy series by Roger Zelazny inspirational. The novels revolved around the “one true realm,” called Amber. It’s a complex, intriguing, and exciting adventure story written over the course of eight or so books. Anyway, deep beneath Amber lies the “Pattern.” Walking the Pattern allows the characters in effect to “create” or “shift” into alternate multidimensional reality by manipulating “shadow” stuff. This was achieved either by creating or transforming the reality of a character, bit by bit, element by element, a leaf here, a rock there, a path in another location, and so on until the place that the character wanted to go was reached, or created (this aspect was intriguingly ambiguous). The desired destination was held firmly in the character’s imagination. There were also the “Trump” cards, in which various locations and characters were pictured, and when one of the protagonists in the novel wanted to contact another person, he or she would take out the respective Trump card and focus until the image became animated and the receiving person was aware of the contact. Then, either a dialogue would start or, in some cases, the receiver would physically “bring in” the character to whatever place or reality the receiver had located, a kind of a shortcut.
In my youthful way I found this whole concept stimulating and exciting, so I started to play with this. While I was walking, I began to imagine reality shifting bit by bit, and subjectively my perception shifted too. In this state of consciousness, walking along a street with parked cars, it appeared that I was stationary and the parked cars were moving. It’s similar to the phenomenon of sitting in a train at a station and then an adjacent train moves; there is that uncanny feeling that your train is moving even though it is motionless. Yes, it is an illusion on the one hand, but on the other hand it is a way to see the world in another way.
I also made and painted my own set of Trump cards and started to experiment and play with the concept. During these moments of consciously exercising my imagination, my mind felt as if it was being stretched and expanded, and my dreams were more colorful and vivid. I began to experiment with postcards, particularly postcards of exotic foreign lands. Working with photographs of real places held a power an order of magnitude higher than the fantasized pictures. I concentrated on the image on the card, and when I was able to hold the image in my mind, I was able to “step” into the scene, with surprising results. It really felt as if I was there; I could feel the heat of the sun, smell the flowers and the sea, hear sounds—even though I had no physical body. I stopped doing these experiments in long-distance seeing because of major life changes. This was years before my accident in the elevator, a kind of foreshadowing of remote viewing technology.
Pablo Amaringo often emphasized the importance of perceiving the world in different ways. During our work together on the book he said:
The spirits teach that in order to cultivate our mind, we need to develop our perception; that is, to see things from a different perspective. If we look at an object from another viewpoint we gain a broader understanding. We can look at something both upside down and the right way up. You must read words differently; this enables both sides of your mind to work. For example, let’s read this note here: [He is referring to my working papers on the table.] It says, “Inventory of Paintings.” But looking at it the other way around it says, “Paintings of Inventory,” which has another meaning. One then has another perspective. This is how you should read, both ways.2
EXERCISE
Developing Expanded Perception
1. Select a postcard of places that interest you, either geographically or historically, such as ancient temple ruins, the pyramids, or a picturesque bay. The suggested length for an initial journey is ten minutes. Later, after you’re comfortable with journeying, extend the length to twenty or thirty minutes.
2. Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed or distracted, and turn off the phone. Breathe in a relaxed and rhythmic pattern for a few minutes, and then, when you have a sense of being ready, study the image on the postcard. After a minute, close your eyes and see if you can hold the picture in your imagination. If not, resume studying the picture, and repeat the process until you feel that you can hold the image.
3. With your eyes closed and still holding the image in your mind, allow the picture to become three-dimensional. In other words, experience this as depth within the picture. As this happens you may feel a perceptible “click” or an energetic surge within your mind. Don’t be alarmed if this occurs; this is an encouraging signal that your awareness is expanding.
4. When a perception of depth occurs, move into the picture. If you feel that you are making this up, it doesn’t matter; continue to enter the scene, and tell yourself that you are there. Once a sense of being there is in place, start to navigate through the scene. Look behind the facade of buildings; see what is there. Do not negate or diminish any impressions or senses that you may have. Keep moving slowly, looking around. What can you hear? What can you smell? What feelings are being generated by this experience? Are there any unexpected scenes or occurrences that you feel you have not made up; for instance, do you have a sense of surprise at what is happening?
5. Whenever you are ready to conclude the exploration, turn around and retrace your steps until you are back at the place you started from. Become aware of your physical body, and gently release the image and scene from your mind. Take a few minutes to become fully aware of your physical body and surroundings. Jot some notes in your journal about this experience. Include your feelings and all sensory information.
6. When you have completed your journey, take a drink of tea, water, or juice, and reflect on the experience. Do you feel energized? Does your mind seem clearer? Do you feel sleepy and dreamy? If you answer the last question with “yes,” take a moment for a short nap because this will help to integrate the experience.
The natural question to ask at this stage is: Was this all a fantasy or day-dream, or was this authentic? The answer is that you don’t know; the only way to validate the experience is to somehow get verification. Ways to gain validation include working with a postcard of a destination that you have not been to, yet are planning to visit, and looking for a scene from your journey once you get there, or you could ask a friend who has been to the destination to verify any part of your experience. You may be very surprised at the feedback.
One of the implicit and explicit threads woven through this and the previous chapters is an exploration of the human energy field, which is in itself an expression or manifestation of a greater universal field. The crux is how awareness of these fields can empower our individual and collective experience. In the following chapter we continue this exploration as we take a look at this universal field of energy and experientially discover ways we can utilize this “energy medicine” for the benefit of ourselves and others.