My Soul, Your Soul, Our Soul

I’ve been paying a lot of attention to my soul lately, and not just through shamanic journey’s. With a pin sticking out of my toe (see post ‘chainsaw wisdom‘ if you don’t know what I’m talking about), poison oak, and a cold, its easy for my spirit to feel a bit…crumpled. Health is a sign of the souls empowerment in shamanism. When we are ‘power-filled’ we radiate health.
Yet there are crossings we make in life, journeys through the terrain of growth that seem to require risks that may compromise our empowerment for a time. We cross the canyons of wounds we’ve accrued throughout our lives, we walk into our own darkness, or the darkness of our culture. These journeys call upon the warrior within, demanding we fight for life or just give up. If we survive we’ve increased our ability to receive and retain spirit. Suffering is often the means by which we gain wisdom. Wisdom is often the means by which we increase the size of our gas tank – along with the help of the spirits.
Physical pain has been a teacher for me since I was a kid and had joint/muscle problems. I can remember having leg cramps that just wouldn’t go away, night after night, week after week. Laying alone in the dark I’d journey into the pain, find the shadow and the light of it. I found if I focused on the light, the shadow would drift away and I would drift off to sleep. I learned then that much of my pain was fear, and that suffering could be caused when energy got blocked.
The lesson lately has been that just by spending time with my spirit, sitting and becoming aware of its stuck places, I can create healing. Listen, breathe, pay attention. It is the power of spirits that heal us in shamanism. Its so important to remember to pay attention to my own spirit. Take ownership – if there is such a thing. Its the first tool in shamanism, our own spirits. It is the means by which we can reach out to the universe.
One of the first things we’re taught by the FSS is the soul dance. A simple exercise, its an opportunity to let your own soul come out and express itself. This is a good starting point for any endeavor, getting touch with your own spirit. After that you are a citizen of the universe.
Of course it doesn’t end there, for we are never as separate as we believe ourselves to be. Healing, real healing, seems to require communion of some kind. When the sprits come to us they may merge into us, sharing their spirit and the power of the universe intimately with us. To heal your soul, my soul must become one with our soul.
“The spirits are opportunistic,” Michael Harner said to me once. If they can find a way to work with us, to help us, they will. I create opportunities for the spirits to help me by listening, paying attention and caring for my own spirit. I’m finding that communion works best when I show up.