Shamanism Made Easy: Awaken and Develop the Shamanic Force Within - Christa Mackinnon 2018

How to integrate your journeys
Psycho-spiritual work between the worlds
Awakening The Shamanic Force Within

Journeys work on an energetic level and also partly on a cognitive one. It is vital to integrate their outcome and follow the advice you’ve been given during them. Sometimes, as in Stephen’s example, no more work is needed, but most of the time it is advised. This doesn’t mean intellectualizing the journey or interpreting it, but bridging the energetic reality and the material one.

How can you do this? Besides writing your journeys down in a journal, embodiment is a vital and powerful way to integrate your journeys. You can use movement and dance, crafting and ceremonial means (see next chapter). Here I will briefly use the journeys described above to show you how integration is done via dancing and crafting.

Integration through dance

Embodying the outcome of a journey through dance is a pleasant and profound way to encrypt on a cellular level. Dances that correspond to the outcomes of the journeys just described could be constructed in the following ways:

A dance with ’a retrieved part’

Holding the intent of ’welcoming and integrating this child part’, I would put on some music, close my eyes and imagine being with the child. I would see her, feel her and, as this was a part which needed a lot of security and reassurance, I would hold her close and might talk to her as we danced. I would let the dance unfold, allowing images, feelings, sensations and movements to develop in their own way, whilst holding the intent of integrating this part into my being and into my life.

Anne’s dance to ’let go of control’

Releasing something often produces rather strong movements. Dancing through any reluctance to let go (of control in this case or whatever it might be) and through any emotions that might surface, you can hold the intent of ’letting it go with love’. You can imagine it floating away, burning in a fire, being taken away by a stream, being buried in the earth or taken away by spirit allies. But, most importantly, let the body do the releasing by allowing the physical movements to unfold in their own way.

A dance of gratitude and healing

This can be any dance as long as the intent of ’gratitude’ is being held. Express gratitude for the healing received and imagine carrying it into the future to reinforce it on a cellular level.

A dance of ’expressing my rainbow self’

I chose a chakra dance to work with the rainbow colours, visualizing that each chakra was shining brightly. It is interesting that when you focus on the chakras you can find out which ones dance themselves easily and where you feel blockages. I danced through images, sensations, memories and more that came to the surface, holding the intent of allowing myself to ’shine in all my colours’.

Integration through objects or paintings

For each journey outcome you can craft an object or draw a picture that holds the energy of the outcome. So, for the journeys described above, we would have four objects:

· an object representing the child part of the first journey

· an object representing ’letting go of control’ for the second journey

· an object representing ’healing and gratitude’ for the third journey

· an object or drawing representing my ’rainbow-coloured wholeness’

Releasing

Objects that hold the energy of something you need to let go or release need to be burned ceremonially or buried, or, if you live near a stream or the sea, to be taken away by water. Again, do this with intent and spirit. I will describe ceremonial work in the next chapter. Keeping the object, no matter how beautiful it is, is counterproductive, as the intent is to release something.

Manifestation

Objects that hold the energy of bringing something back into your life and objects that express gratitude should be placed on your altar and you should request that spirit help you to manifest this in your life. Treat the object in a respectful and sacred way, like all the other objects on your altar. You can also create a manifesting ceremony with the object, which I will describe to you in the next chapter.