A Little Bit of Shamanism: An Introduction to Shamanic Journeying - Sandra Kynes 2019

Environmental Shamanism

For all of us, becoming indigenous to a place means living as if your children’s future mattered, to take care of the land as if our lives, both material and spiritual, depended on it.

—ROBIN WALL KIMMERER, BRAIDING SWEETGRASS

AS SHAMANIC PRACTITIONERS, WE HAVE A responsibility to care for our land in the same way we care for ourselves. In the previous section, we discussed the importance of understanding our place within the story of humankind. Just as we need to care for our descendants in our journeying practice, we have to care for the planet, so our descendants will also have a place to call home.

In her book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer asks us to shift the way we view the world. Our capitalist economy has turned the world into a resource to be mined, and all its gifts into commodities. If we can return to the ways of our ancestors and instead see the world as a gift, we can transform our relationship with it. If we understand everything as a gift, suddenly our lives are filled with abundance instead of scarcity. Kimmerer also discusses the gift economy, and the true meaning of a gift. There was a time when we understood that a gift was not a free thing, but rather the development of a relationship with responsibilities. The earth provides us with gifts, and it is our responsibility to care for her in return. For this reason, I see environmental Shamanism as an absolute necessity.

Our earth is hurting. It is undeniable that our planet is in a state of peril. Our goal as shamanic practitioners is to live in harmony with ourselves, the spirits, and with the earth. If you pursue a shamanic practice, I urge you to include healing for the planet as part of your regular practice. Our bodies are a reflection of the earth, in that we are the microcosm and the planet is the macrocosm. Earlier in this book, I mentioned the Hermetic Principles. The second principle is the Principle of Correspondence, which states that as above, so below; as within, so without. We have the capacity to create change in the world by healing ourselves; and by healing the world, we heal ourselves. It is our duty, as humans and shamanic practitioners, to actively contribute to the healing of the planet. Once you have enough practice and are ready to journey in Middle World, this is a practice I strongly encourage every shamanic practitioner to engage in regularly.

I once attended an immersive workshop at a remote retreat center in Rowe, Massachusetts, away from largely populated areas and outside of cell phone reception range. The center functioned solely as housing and gathering spaces for events centering on education and spiritual expansion. As a result, the spirits of this place were always hard at work, tending to a place that acted as a container for hundreds of people passing through and experiencing significant internal shifts. There was a significant energetic load to be managed by the helping spirits of the place. The teacher of the workshop tasked our group, during our last shamanic journey of the event, to journey to those helping spirits and ask them how we could honor them and contribute our energies to help sustain the retreat center.. We were asked by the spirits to perform a variety of honoring acts, from dancing to clapping to singing in order to give of ourselves to the place that had held us as we learned and grew.

This is a concept that can and should be employed in any and all places that need healing. Start on a smaller scale, with your own town or city for example. Since this journey will take place in Middle World, you will start by visualizing yourself in your home, and simply step out of your own front door. Keep moving and journey around your city and see what areas or neighborhoods are crying out for help. Ask your helping spirits to accompany you and show you what you can do to help. They will reveal specific tasks you can undertake. For example, I have charged quartz crystals with healing energy and then hidden them in places that needed it, such as the base of a tree growing in an ailing neighborhood. You may be asked to bring an offering of herbs, or perhaps to clap or rattle to dispel stagnant energy.

This exercise can be performed on any scale. Once you have journeyed around your city, broaden your reach. You can scan your whole state, the entire country, and even the whole planet. During one such journey, I found myself at the North Pole; it was crying out for help, asking for healing to help counter the damage done by the melting polar ice caps. When you reach a place that is asking for attention, find the helping spirits of the place and ask your own helping spirits to provide them with the help they need. The world has many problems beyond the scope and ability of any single person, but if each of us does our part, we will have a cumulative effect.

WHEN WE CALL A PLACE BY NAME IT IS

TRANSFORMED FROM WILDERNESS TO HOMELAND.

—ROBIN WALL KIMMERER, BRAIDING SWEETGRASS

EXERCISE

PRACTICING ENVIRONMENTAL SHAMANISM IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

This is an easy way to start developing a relationship with and offering healing to the neighborhood you live in. Crystals are great allies for shamanic work and can be used very effectively for environmental Shamanism. All crystals have their own energy or spirit, and we can work with them to shift the vibrations around us.

Gather a few small pieces of clear quartz crystal that you can leave as offerings. Clear quartz is great for channeling and amplifying energy. Sit for a few minutes and hold the quartz pieces in your hand. Ask your helping spirits to help you in setting the intention that these crystal pieces will be used to heal their surroundings. Hold that intent clear in your mind and focus on the crystals. If you feel called to, rattle or drum to increase the vibration as you focus your intent.

When you are ready, place them in your bag or pocket and go for a walk around your neighborhood. The intent of this walk is to find places that need a bit of energy help, and leave small crystals in these areas. Ask your helping spirits to accompany you on this walk and lend their energy as well.

As you walk through these familiar places, try to look at them with new eyes. If you have nature in your neighborhood, see if you notice ailing trees. You can bury a crystal near the tree to help it heal. If you know of places that stray animals or wildlife inhabit, find a place to leave a crystal to protect them. You can also leave crystals near intersections where accidents tend to happen or areas where homeless folks tend to gather. Our transient populations are very much in need of healing.

I once had a student who lived in a newer neighborhood built on land that used to be a forest. Once she discovered this, she realized she wanted to show her gratitude to the land and help heal it from the trauma of deforestation. She now regularly walks around her neighborhood looking for places to leave healing crystals.

At the end of your walk, restate your intent to bring healing to your neighborhood and thank your helping spirits for their support.

I recently had a conversation about Shamanism with a woman whom I was meeting for the first time. I told her of my personal goal to engage in more environmental Shamanism, especially as it pertains to Salem, Massachusetts, where I live. Salem has a dark history of violence and persecution, especially within the contexts of gender and religious freedom, and the land still bears these energetic scars. In recent decades, Salem has shifted to become a place where people gather to freely explore different spiritual paths, a powerful change from the era of the Witch Trials. The spirits who tend to Salem have had a heavy load on their shoulders. As a woman following a spiritual path very much outside what would have been acceptable during the Witch Trials, I consider it my personal responsibility to help and support our local spirits as Salem continues to heal and transform.

During our conversation, this woman and I spoke of the importance of connecting to the places we call home and assuming responsibility for their healing. As we got deeper into this discussion, she confided in me that she had been leaving offerings to the helping spirits of her own home for years. Her historic home was the site of horrible violence, and she had felt the calling to leave these offerings as a way to aid in healing the energetic wound of the place. As we talked about Shamanism, she came to realize she had been practicing environmental Shamanism all along.

As you start to work with the helping spirits of the land you call home, ask them to tell you the name of the land. This is part of developing a reciprocal relationship with the place you inhabit and acknowledging its importance. Many of us no longer live in the same places where we were born. Just as we must consider both our ancestors and our descendants in our shamanic work, so we must honor both the lands we came from and the lands we have chosen.

In my most recent trip back to my native land, I spent a lot of time in the ocean. Nothing feels as much like home to me as the oceans of my childhood. As I swam and danced in the breaking waves, humming a song of gratitude for the gift of that moment, I started to watch the trash rolling in the water. It made my heart hurt to see how much we have disrespected the earth. I made an offering to this place and its helping spirits, to gather as much trash as I could. At first, I was grabbing handfuls of wrappers. After I made the commitment to help, larger pieces of debris started flowing toward me as I stood in the water. Small wrappers gave way to trash bags, and, finally, a large, tattered duffel bag. I walked back and forth between the water and the land, dragging everything to a garbage bin, as the other beachgoers watched. None of us can clean the entire planet on our own, but if we each do our part, we will feel the collective effect. As I was leaving the beach that day, I saw a tlittle girl running to the edge of the water and back to her mother over and over. I realized she was picking trash out of the water, too. I walked up to her mother and told her how proud I was of her daughter.

IF A MAN IS CAPABLE OF LEADING A RESPONSIBLE

LIFE HIMSELF, THEN HE IS ALSO CONSCIOUS OF HIS

DUTIES TO THE COMMUNITY.

—CARL JUNG, PSYCHOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS

EXERCISE

MEETING THE SPIRITS OF A PLACE

Once you are comfortable journeying, this is a Middle World journey you can use to bring healing to a place, such as your neighborhood or even your whole city. It does not have to be a place where you live; it can be any place you are familiar with that is in need of healing.

Set aside at least 30 minutes of time and prepare for your journey. When you are ready, hold the intent in your mind to journey in Middle World to meet the spirits of the place you have chosen. Ask one of your power animals to meet you and guide you on this visit.

Once the drumming starts, see yourself in your home or another safe place in Middle World. This will be the starting point for your journey. You will not be traveling downward or upward this time, but instead moving around Middle World. If your power animal did not meet you there, ask it to join you and protect you.

With your power animal, travel to the place you want to heal. Whether it is your own neighborhood or a faraway place, once you arrive, you’ll want to explore your surroundings. The goal is to find the helping spirit or spirits of the place. When you do find them, ask how you can contribute to their work. They will usually give you a specific task to perform after your journey. When you receive the information, thank them for their work and guidance and return to your starting point. Before returning to your body, thank your power animal for accompanying you.

You may find their request was rather odd, but know that it is the energy exchange they need from you. In one such journey, I was asked to clap for the trees. While I am sure I seemed a bit eccentric walking around clapping at plants, this was a way to give of my own energy to help heal the land. Clapping works in similar ways to a rattle, shifting the energetic vibrations in an area. Sometimes they will ask for offerings rather than actions. Whatever they ask of you, the important part is the willingness to be an agent for healing.