Tag: Shamanism

Shamanic Energy Healing (including Extraction)

Leave a comment

Shamanic energy healing is a form of energy healing in which a practitioner works with their spirit helpers and traditional shamanic tools such as a drum and rattle to heal ailments which have a basis in a client’s energy body.

The notion that we have not only a physical body but an energy body and that they are both expressions of energy is common across indigenous and Eastern cultures. It was lost in the West due to the hegemony of our rational scientific worldview yet is now coming to be accepted in modern science. Einstein states E=mc² – energy and matter are basically the same thing.

There are many models of the energy body which share a common core. Firstly, energy runs in channels through the energy body (in India these are referred to as nadis and in China as meridians). Secondly, there a number of energy centres within the body with the main ones located along the spine. From the Indian yogic system is derived the modern seven chakra ‘wheel’ model you may be familiar with (root, sacral, solar plexus, heart, throat, brow, crown). As it is the best known this is the one most practitioners use. Thirdly, the body is surrounded and interpenetrated by an energetic field known as the aura.

A shamanic energy healing session typically begins with a scan of the client’s energy field and chakras to assess the overall flow and to locate any problems. Blocked or congealed energies are moved and / or transformed. Energetic imbalances are corrected. This might be done by the use of the hands or bodily movements (on an energetic level not touching the client), with a drum or rattle, the voice, or with a natural object such as a feather. 

In some cases an extraction is required. Extraction involves removing intrusions. An intrusion is negative energy that does not belong to a client and intrudes into their energy field, often when they are feeling low. Intrusions can appear as objects such as arrows or stones or can take the form of beings, most commonly as insects or serpents. They are extracted from the energy field into an object such as a stone, crystal or feather then returned to the elements in some way (for example I put my crystals in salt water to neutralise the negative energy and hang my feathers on a tree). Because the extraction leaves a gap it is usually necessary to bring positive energy in. This can be resonant energy from the client’s energy field or might be brought from elsewhere by the practitioner or the spirit helpers. It might take the form of light, a colour, or an object such as a crystal.

The practitioner may also be guided to work with one or more of the chakras. Each chakra relates to a different system within the body. For example, the heart chakra to the circulatory system and the sacral to the reproductive system. The chakras can reveal what is happening in the related system. 

I’ve found that it’s possible to journey, with or without the client, into a chakra in order to gain a vision of the ailment within the body or to trace its origin in history or ancestry or on a symbolic level within one of the Otherworlds. Healing work can be done within a chakra. Cleansing and energising the chakra once the work has been done also has a positive effect. The session might be finished with healing drumming or a rattle cleansing.

The energy system can be shaken up by the process and symptoms can get a little worse before they get better, but this only something to worry about if the aggravation is excessive or lasts for more than a few days.

*

In preparation for energy work with clients I spent a good couple of years beforehand getting to know and working with my own energy body. This was through yogic techniques such as meditation and breathwork focusing on the pancha kosha ‘five envelopes’ energy body and seven chakra model. I chose the yogic system because my personal spiritual path, Brythonic polytheism, shares its roots with yoga with both being Indo-European traditions. On advice of my mentor I also did journeywork with my chakras, exploring the inner landscapes and how they relate to my physical body and building a map of personal associations including their guardian spirit animals.

I offered the sessions in person, online, and, for the first time, provided a distance healing option. This consisted of an online interview followed by a remote healing session with an audio recording and an email summary. 

I worked with eight clients in total. Most clients came to me with more than one problem. The most common were musculoskeletal. I also dealt with digestive ailments, eye and throat problems, womens’ issues and cancer.

I’ve learnt a good deal from these shamanic energy healing sessions. Each client and each ailment has led to a deeper knowledge of physical anatomy and how it is linked to the energy body and to energetic disturbances.

On several occasions I was prompted to mime the work I was doing on an energetic level on the physical level without touching the client (ie. stirring, swaying, massaging) and this felt very natural and intuitive. Having done some physical work and put in physical effort made me feel as if I’d worked more towards the effect and brought about more of an energetic shift.

Another point of learning was that I was guided to merge not only with my own spirit helpers but those of clients. This was most often with power animals but on a couple of occasions it was with angels (with whom I wouldn’t usually work in my day-to-day practice). This gave me a strong sense of their power and energy and how it might augment a healing. On a couple of occasions I had the opportunity to work with others who have relationships with Gwyn ap Nudd (my patron God) and working with His guidance and channelling His energy was a powerful experience for both myself and the clients.

I had the opportunity to work with one client who was far more clairsentient than clairvoyant (which is my main channel). I really had to listen to my body and in combination with what the client was feeling in order to build a rapport and tune in to what spirit was saying to both of us. It helped me develop my own clairsentience and ability to work with someone through this channel.

In most instances, I found that an ailment could be healed by pure energy work but, in others, that it was necessary to address the root cause, which in a couple of cases was power loss or soul loss, necessitating power or soul retrieval. In another couple of cases ailments were ancestral and communications with ancestors and addressing ancestral patterns and trauma was needed. My existing training stood me in good stead for bringing in other techniques.

An important point to note is that the shamanic energy healing was quite often a supplement to existing treatment from doctors and physiotherapists. It was encouraging that my findings and healings resonated with advice from the traditional medical professions and that they sat well side by side. 

I found that whether I did sessions in person, online, or remotely did not affect the efficacy of the healing or the emotional intensity. I wondered whether the remote healings would feel more distant, but as soon as I with the client in spirit, it felt no different to being with a client in person. 

Over the course of the sessions I have grown in confidence and feel that I now have the ability to work with my guides on any problem a client presents with recourse to my mentor and / or the medical professions where needed. I’m looking forward to exploring shamanic energy healing further in the future.

I am now offering shamanic energy healing at a student rate of £30 a session contact lornasmithers81@gmail.com

The Edge of the Dark

2 Comments

A memoir in the form of a novella based around my childhood, teens, and twenties. It records a confrontation with the darkness within the land, our culture and in my own psyche and a failed initiation into adulthood and shamanism. Finally, how my patron God, Gwyn ap Nudd, saved me from myself.

Free digital copy HERE. If you enjoy it please share the link to this post.

Black Poplars at the Source

Leave a comment

Beside the source of the brook in Greencroft Valley stand two black poplars. There aren’t any known British myths about black poplars but, in Greek myth, they are associated with Hades (the Underworld) and death. 

In Homer’s Odyssey, poplars, described in different translations as ‘tall’ and ‘dusky’, so likely black, with willow, form Persephone’s Grove. Springs, throughout world myth, are seen as entrances to the Underworld.

In another story from ancient Greece, Phaethon, son of the sun God, Helios, drives his father’s chariot too close to the sun. His blazing end brings deep grief to his sisters, who are transformed into black poplar trees. The amber sap is said to be their tears. Thus its associations with death and sorrow. 

In more recent folklore the red male catkins are referred to as ‘Devil’s Fingers.’

This leads me to believe that there might have once been parallel British myths about black poplar, connecting it with springs at the entrance to Annwn and with the groves of Annwn’s Queen. Perhaps there was once a story in which the red male catkins were the bloody fingers of Annwn’s King?

I will admit that I’m not sure if these trees are true black poplars (Populus nigra) or hybrids because black poplars are rare. Plus, I’m not referring to the true source of Fish House Brook but to the outflow pipe that the culverted brook emerges from. The original source would have lain further south, somewhere on Penwortham Moss, which has been drained and replaced by housing. The brook is culverted under the gardens on the other side of my street, Bank Parade, also giving its name to Burnside Way. I feel this relates to my founding of the Sanctuary of Vindos / Gwyn ap Nudd, a King of Annwn, very near to the ‘black poplars’ at the ‘source’.

In a shamanic journey I visited the poplars for advice on descending to the ancestors in preparation for some ancestral healing work. I was shown the left tree represented my mother line and the right my father line. I slid down the roots of the left into a cavern where a group of spirits were drinking from cups from the same source. I was told that on the new and full moons I must consecrate a cup of water and make an offering:

“To the Gods,
spirits and ancestors –
we all drink from the same source.”

I felt this related to keeping the source clean – something I have been trying to do as a volunteer in Greencroft Valley with the Friends group I set up (now part of Guardians of Nature).

Who Am I After Sister Patience?

9 Comments

Letting go of my identity as Sister Patience has been somewhat of a relief. In many ways I felt like I was living a double life. I had to keep my birth name, Lorna Smithers, for financial purposes and appointments such as the doctor and dentist. Although my mum accepted my name change, my dad refused to (although he has recently started referring to me as ‘her’ rather than ‘Lorna’ to escape my admonishments). Other family members ignored my request. Whilst I felt comfortable telling my friends and personal trainer at the gym, I never found the right moment to tell my doctor, dentist, physio, hairdresser or former colleagues at the supermarket where I worked and still shop. It was a nightmare managing two email addresses (when you’re autistic and every single message has to be replied to, removed from the inbox and filed correctly before you can relax, one is more than enough!).

I also felt like I was trying to live up to an ideal I couldn’t match. No amount of positive affirmations or metta ‘loving kindness’ or tonglen ‘giving and receiving’ practice made me as patient and kind as I wanted to be. I’d think I was improving then have another blow up with my dad and be doubly angry with myself because it demonstrated he was right – that I’m not Sister Patience.

Yet without Sister Patience who am I? Settling back into the skin of Lorna Smithers has felt rawer and truer but hasn’t been a wholly comfortable experience. I’ve once again had to confront my past – something that from the perspective of modern society looks like a series of failures (failed philosopher, failed poet, failed author, failed nun…) but from an alternative one might look an authentic spiritual journey well lived. 

And, of course, the definition of ‘failure’ is subjective. I might have failed to be an author in terms of making a living from it but I’ve still had books and articles published and received small payments along the way whether they are from book sales, Patreon support, or free subscriptions to magazines. So I can still claim to be an author. I’m also succeeding with my shamanic practitioner training and shamanic guidance and healing sessions along with running circles so can also claim to be a shamanic guide.

In my last couple of posts I’ve mentioned that I recently received the gnosis that I’m more of a hermit than a nun. I feel that’s true in my soul but it doesn’t match my outer reality yet – I still live with my parents and do not make enough money to cover my food and board let alone to live self-sufficiently. One of my readers, Caer, recently signposted me to a book called Consider the Ravens and therein it noted that any true hermit wouldn’t advertise themselves as such. There’s a dichotomy between being an author and shamanic guide who has to market themselves online and a hermit. There’s also a restless feeling I have unfinished business in the world. So, whilst hermithood is an inner reality and dream for the future, it isn’t something I can identify with wholly at present.

Author, shamanic guide, would-be-hermit, are the roles I now identify with, along with my devotion to my patron God, Gwyn ap Nudd, which has been ongoing throughout these upheavals (thinking about it, damn Him, He’s the one who has caused all of them!).

Being Sister Patience has made me a little stronger, a little kinder, a little more patient, likely in preparation for further challenges and tumult along the way…

Soul Retrieval and Soul Loss

Leave a comment

Soul retrieval is a central practice within core shamanism. It was (re)introduced to the West by Michael Harner in the 1970s following his study and practice with indigenous shamans around the world. 

From a shamanic perspective, one of the main causes of illness is soul loss. This occurs in moments of trauma wherein the pain is so great a part of the soul departs from the body in order to preserve the intregrity of the whole. Soul loss can occur as a result of major trauma such as accidents, near-death experiences, war-time experiences, abuse and neglect. It can also be brought about by ongoing traumas such as bullying and being trapped in a controlling relationship. What constitutes trauma for one person might be different for the next. We can also, consciously or unconsciously, send soul parts away in order to fit in with family, friends, or the demands of society. These are often child parts, sensitive parts, or wild parts that do not cohere with social norms.

Within a shamanic context the soul parts can depart to various places. They can remain stuck at the site of the trauma here in the Middle World or take flight to a favourite place where they feel safe. They can also go to the Upper World or the Lower World. It is common to find they are looked after by guides or ancestors or protected by guardians.

The technique for bringing these missing soul parts back is called soul retrieval. It is possible for spontaneous soul retrieval to happen – for soul parts to come back on their own – and for a person to be able to find or call back their own soul parts. However, most often, because a person has sent their soul parts away and they no longer trust them or believe being with them is safe, it takes the skill of a shamanic practitioner to bring them back.

In a soul retrieval the practitioner journeys into the spirit realm with their guides to find the lost soul part. Negotiations with the protectors and with the soul part itself are usually needed to persuade it to come back. Soul parts will rarely return if the client is in the same conditions as when they left – for example trapped in abusive relationship or in an intolerable job. The soul parts frequently ask that the client make life changes to accomodate them (if they have not already done so) and might also ask that they make room for their needs – such as time for play or for spirituality or creativity. They might also ask for ritual acts such as the client eat their favourite food on a particular day, wear their favourite clothes, or do a favourite activity. Once the negotiations have been completed the soul parts sometimes need healing. After this, the practitioner returns and blows the soul part into the client’s body (usually a chakra) then rattles around to seal them in. The journey is then discussed with the client and they are advised on integration.

The main symptom of soul loss is feeling like you are not all here or a part of you is missing. Other symptoms include lost or fragmented memories and recurring dreams. Often, talking therapies fail to work because they are not addressing the parts that are missing. This fits with what, today, we call PTSD. In fact, the concepts of soul retrieval and soul loss fit very well with contemporary findings in neuroscience which demonstrates that trauma causes certain parts of our brain to go offline (causing parts of ourselves to disappear). Also, with psychotherapy, particularly Internal Family Systems, wherein protector parts are negotiated with and exiled parts integrated back into the whole. Following soul retrieval it is common for a person to feel more grounded and whole, for memories to return, and recurring dreams to ease.

Like most people I’ve experienced a fair amount of trauma. I’m autistic and was bullied throughout school and have also been bullied in the workplace. As a result I was often disassociated and retreated into fantasy to escape. I also depended on alcohol to self-medicate my anxiety for most of my life. Having a soul retrieval with my mentor and retrieving a soul part from one of my past lives have helped me to be happier and more present in the world. 

My patron God, Gwyn ap Nudd, gathers the souls of the dead in the Brythonic tradition. He played a role in my soul retrieval, guiding my mentor to one of my lost soul parts and bringing it back to me. This experience was very emotional. Afterwards I realised that gathering lost soul parts was also His role. From thereon I knew soul retrieval was to be an important part of my work.

For my training towards becoming a shamanic practitioner I completed ten case studies. Soul retrieval proved popular because so many people relate to the concept of soul loss and recognise they are suffering from it. Finding and returning lost soul parts has been challenging but beautiful and inspiriting work and a fulfilment of service to both my clients and my God.

At first I was anxious about doing this healing for a couple of reasons. Firstly, there was the fear that I’d be completely useless at it and unable to find the soul parts. This was assuaged a little when one of my crow guides joked that I’d find it easier finding the soul parts than the people they belonged to. 

Secondly, I was nervous about interacting with other people on such a deep level as an autistic person with social anxiety who has little experience of interpersonal relationships. Would I be able to show adequate care and kindness towards my clients and the lost and wounded parts of their souls? To make the shift from being an anxious and defensive person who has survived in a neurotypical world by masking to being more open-hearted I had to put a lot of trust in Gwyn and my guides and the people I was working with. Following my prayers I was able to drop down from the chatter in my head to working on a more intuitive and heart-centred level. This enabled me to interact with clients empathetically face-to-face and during the journeys. Not only that, on many occasions, I shared their emotions – both joy and sorrow, and even ended up hugging a couple of people afterwards (I never hug!).

During the healings I recovered soul parts from various places. Some remained at the site of trauma in the Middle World often within urban landscapes. Others had chosen to remain in or had fled to familiar places Middle World such as family homes, woodlands and beaches. A couple had escaped to fairytale landscapes in the Upper World. Some had gone to or were stuck in the Lower World – being submerged in underwater places or trapped in underground tunnels were common themes. Some of the soul parts had otherworldly guardians. Others had been looked after by ancestors, animal spirits, or favourite pets who had passed over.

The soul parts varied in age and appearance. Many were child parts. I was surprised to find a foetal part. I’d come across very young and baby parts but had been unaware that parts could leave whilst in the womb. I was equally surprised by the appearance of an elderly part. I hadn’t realised we contained or could lose parts older than our current age but this made sense within the context of the soul containing all our possibilities within it. Whilst most appeared as human some at first appeared as objects or essences.

In order to return, some of the soul parts simply wanted loving and nurturing. Others asked the clients to make room for emotions such as fear and joy. In some instances specific rituals were given which helped with the integration.

I didn’t have any problems journeying and so far have not returned without any soul parts. Contrarily, after discussing the healings with my mentor, in a couple of cases I feel I might have been overtrying, pushing too hard to find the soul parts, rather than letting the journeys unfold at a slower pace and allowing for distractions that might provide other revelations about a client’s problems.

Another thing I noticed was my reactions to the feedback (provided a month later). I was really attached to my clients providing positive comments and assuring me that all the classical effects of a soul retrieval had been felt. In a couple of instances life stresses had got in the way or clients had felt less certain about whether the soul parts had returned making me feel I’d failed.

When I spoke to my mentor about this she reminded me that spirit does not follow the Western model of cause and effect. Shamanic healing isn’t linear. When we’re working with spirit / energy / the web of life, if we change or unpick something in one place it will alter something elsewhere in space and time but it might not be the thing we expect. Also, it is common for clients to have ups and downs and for the healing work to bring up issues that need to arise and to be integrated and processed. These issues of having certain expectations and being attached to results are something I need to work with.

Overall I felt the soul retrievals were a success. On all occasions my clients had powerful and moving experiences and experieced the return of soul parts. In my feedbacks it was repeated that they felt safe and comfortable working with me, that they were listened to, that I was calm and… patient. I still have alot to learn but my foundational training in soul retrieval is complete and I’m looking forward to further developing my skills with this practice.

I am now offering soul retrieval at a student rate of £30 for a 2 hour session (1/2 hour online interview and 1 1/2 hour healing online or in-person for local people).

The Spirit of the Sanctuary

Leave a comment

As I prepare to step up to beginning working with clients in shamanic energy healings the Spirit of the Sanctuary appeared to me in meditation and said She wanted to act as a guide and revealed Herself to me a form that She wants to make public for the first time. She appears here as a dark-haired woman with a halo of red roses and a black serpent wrapped around her lower half (both are symbols of the sanctuary).

Free Shamanic Energy Healing

Leave a comment

As I progress with my shamanic practitioner training I am now offering free shamanic energy healing to volunteer clients for case studies.

Shamanic Energy Healing

From a shamanic perspective pain and illness are caused by blocked and congealed energy and by intrusions of negative energy into our energy bodies. In a shamanic healing session stuck energies are moved and transformed and any energies that don’t belong to us are safely extracted. This work differs from other forms of energy healing in that the practitioner works in a shamanic trance state under the guidance of spirit guides and helpers and uses traditional shamanic tools such as a drum and rattle.

You will need to be available for a 30 minute online interview and a 1 hour 30 min healing session (in-person if local or online) potentially followed by further sessions if needed.

If you are interested please email at: sisterpatience22@gmail.com

Fascia – the Missing Link

Leave a comment

“You haven’t pulled anything,” said my physio, “it’s just a myofascial knot that needs trigger-pointing out.” 

“Oh, well that’s a relief,” I said. 

That was the first time. I’d thought I’d pulled a muscle in my quad when I was straining with my foot on a spade trying to remove a huge juncus effusus rushfrom Little Woolden Moss on the Manchester Mosslands. 

He said the same thing when I went to him thinking I’d strained my neck overdoing a shoulder press at the gym. It turned out it was transferred pain from a knot in my shoulder and once he had done his work I could move my neck pain-free.

Since then I’ve got a lot better at recognising myofascial knots and at least partially releasing them myself by applying pressure and by foam rolling. 

But what are they? How and why do they form? My research into fascia provided the missing link between my intutions about how stress and trauma are stored in the physical body and how this relates to the energy body.

‘Myo’ refers to muscle. We all know what muscles are. But less people know about fascia. We certainly weren’t taught about it in biology lessons at school. Skeleton – yes. Muscles – yes. Organs – yes. But the importance of the connective tissue that holds them together received barely a mention. In fact, surgeons used to cut it out and throw it away thinking it was useless! Fascia was also ignored by anatomists as it swiftly dries up after death and can only be studied in a living person during operations or a very fresh corpse.

Research on fascia began in the 1970s and it’s only over the past decade or so the findings have come into the mainstream and it has become a buzz-word.

Fascia is made of collagen, elastin and a gel-like ground substance composed of hylauronic acid. It includes the superficial fascia beneath our skin, the deep fascia around and interpenetrating our muscles, and the visceral fascia around our organs. As such it forms a single living web, interweaving the inner parts of our body together.

Fascia provides a support structure for our body and allows for the smooth gliding of muscles, tendons and ligaments. It is also, in the words of Dr Robert Schleip, ‘our richest sensory organ’. It is filled with nerve endings – encapsulated nerve endings for proprioception (telling us where our body is) and free nerve endings for introception (transmitting information about how we feel). According to Schleip 40% of the nerves of our sympathetic nervous system are in the fascia, which explains why it can become so tight and tense. Our fascia is alive and has its own innate intelligence.

Myofascial knots are contracted areas in bands of muscle / fascia (remember they are interwoven) caused by overuse, injury and stress. They form irritable nodes where toxins build up and pain from them is often referred elsewhere. I didn’t get how pain could refer until I found out fascia is one continuous organ.

Trauma can be stored in the fascia if, after a traumatic event, there is no release. This can be for large traumas like accidents and severe injuries or smaller traumas like mine where I’ve felt a sudden pull and thought, “Oh shit.” The holding of trauma is often accompanied by holding the breath. Stress from work and relationships can also accumulate and be held in the fascia.

Finding this out helped to explain a number of my problems. I have runner’s knee in my left knee and deep gluteal syndrome in my left buttock. These two related problems come from having spent twenty years running on and off (with the off being due to these issues) without doing any strengthening. Since starting strength training at the gym they are greatly improved but have not gone away and I’ve realised that is because I’m still holding and moving my body in a certain way and this is due to trauma still held in my fascia.

Also, I’m prone to stiffness and knots in my neck and shoulders along with tightness in my jaw and squinty and achy eyes. These result from, like most Westerners, having spent most of my childhood and adult life hunched over a desk, squinting at words, under pressure to pass exams and meet deadlines. 

Even though I’m now only a victim of my own deadlines I find it difficult to destress and to spend time away from my computer as the programming of society that I should be here, working, is so strong within me. And I’ve managed to eliminate social use, using my computer only for research and writing. I’m aware others spend many more hours on their laptops or phones.

All these pressures have accumulated in my fascia over the years and congealed into a structure I am concerned might take just as long to release!

As well as working with myofascial knots on the level of the physical body it is possible to work with them on the level of the energy body as well. Dr. Daniel Fenster provides evidence that over 90% of myofascial knots can be mapped onto accupuncture points and this is why accupuncture works so well. Accupuncture needles go deeper than the skin but not into muscle – into the fascia. This is where the meridians or nadis, river-like channels carrying chi or prana ‘vital life energy’ run. In yoga the energy body is called the prana-maya kosha ‘breath-filled sheath’ – it is associated with breath.

Whereas physiotherapists simply remove the knots some practitioners, such as Schleip, work with clients in a more holistic way that involves the use of breath and sound to release trauma that is held in the body. This makes complete sense because, if holding the breath played a role in the contraction causing the knots, then breathing out helps to undo them. 

For much of my life I’ve existed in a constant sympathetic state in which I’ve been breathing in shallow into my chest exacerbarting panic and anxiety. For the past couple of years, since discovering yoga and polyvagal theory, I have been working to shift from a sympathetic to a parasympathetic state by slowing and deepening my breathing and extending my exhales. Trying to relax and breathe deeply in the gym, where I get overexcited if I’m doing well or tense up if I’m anxious about injury, is proving to be one of my biggest challenges.

As a shamanic practioner-in-training I am learning to feel and see blocked and congealed energies and to move them through vision, feel and breath. This new knowledge about how fascia relates to the energy body is something I intend to incorporate into my practice when healing myself and others.

One of the things I am learning from experience is that it’s no use doing energy work if I’m not also making changes in physical reality too. There’s no point removing congealed energy from the knot in my shoulder if I’m going to sit bent over my computer clicking on my mouse for several hours a day. Lifestyle changes to restructure my fascia for longevity.

SOURCES

Fenster, Daniel. Free Your Fascia: Relieve Pain, Boost Your Energy, Ease Anxiety and Depression, Lower Blood Pressure, and Melt Years Off Your Body with Fascia Therapy (Hay House, 2020)
Kusheva, Tatyana, ’Fascia – The Mysterious World Under Your Skin’ on Youtube, (Tatyana Kusheva, 2021)
Schelip, Robert, ‘The Bodywide Fascial Network’ on Youtube, (Inner Sense, 2021)

By Your Anger and Your Arrow – On Invoking Rudra and Gwyn

Leave a comment

In a recent article I mentioned my discovery that yoga and tantra originate from Shaivism, ‘the Path of evoking Shiva’, ‘a system of mysticism rooted in indigenous shamanism’ which existed before the beginning of the Vedic period (1).

This got me really excited as it provided evidence that yoga has shamanic origins and that Shiva, ‘Lord of Yoga,’ was the God of this pre-vedic system. As a Brythonic polytheist and shamanic guide I associate my patron God, Gwyn ap Nudd, a King of Annwn (the Otherworld) with shamanic practices and have come to know Him as a ‘Master of Meditation’.

These similarities led me to looking for the earliest textual references to Shiva. I found out that He was earlier known by the name Rudra – ‘Roarer’ or ‘Howler’. By this name He shares many similarities with Gwyn as a God of hunting, wind and storms, and healing. Rudra is the leader of the Maruts or Rudras – storm Deities who are His sons. Gwyn and His ‘family’ are associated with ‘the province of the wind’ (2). Gwyn is a leader of the Wild Hunt, which is a similar phenomenon.

The oldest hymns to Rudra appear in the Rig Veda (1500BCE). In her introduction Wendy Doniger describes Him as follows: ‘Rudra is a liminal figure… invoked with Vedic hymns but not invited to partake in the regular Vedic sacrifice; as the embodiment of wildness and unpredictable danger, he is addressed more with the hope of keeping him at bay than with the wish to bring him near… Though only three entire hymns in the Rig Veda are addressed to Rudra, the rich ambivalence of his character is the basis of an important line of Indian theology that culminates in the Hindu god Śiva. Rudra is fierce and destructive like a terrible beast, like a wild storm; the sage begs him to turn his malevolence elsewhere. Yet Rudra is not merely demonic, for he is the healer and cooler as well as the bringer of disease and destructive fever’ (3).

I found this description striking and it reminded me very much of Gwyn, who shares an outsider status as a wild God who is revered and feared. Gwyn and the spirits of Annwn, like the Irish andedion ‘ungods’, also exist outside the ‘pantheons’ of culture Gods – the Children of Don  and the Tuatha De Dannan (4). This is suggestive of their origins in an earlier wilder shamanic culture.

Gwyn shares with Rudra a ‘rich ambivalence’. As the leader of the spirits of Annwn He contains their aryal ‘fury’ and demonic nature yet, at the same time, He is the Deity who holds it back to prevent the destruction of the world (5). These spirits share many similarities with the Maruts, or Rudras, the sons of Rudra. Rudra is also said to have power over the Asuras, ‘demons’.

Like Rudra, Gwyn is viewed as being able to bring disease and destruction and, contrastingly, is seen as a healer. In the fourteenth century He was invoked to heal the effects of the Evil Eye as recorded in The Speculum Christiani: ‘Some stupid people also stupidly go to the door holding fire and iron in the hands when someone has inflicted illness, and call to the King of the Benevolent Ones and his Queen, who are evil spirits, saying, “Gwyn ap Nudd who are in the forests for the love of your mate allow us to return home” (6).

It is very interesting to see Gwyn referred to as the King of the Benevolent Ones. This, like the term Tylwyth Teg, ‘Fair Family,’ is a euphemism for His spirits similar to how the Greek furies are referred to as the Eumenides, ‘Kindly Ones’. Likewise, Rudra is implored for His ‘kindness’. Gwyn’s name, which means ‘white, blessed, holy,’ might be seen as a similar appellation.

In ‘Rudra, Father of the Maruts’, Rudra is called upon to send ‘kindess’ and ‘healing medicine’, to drive away ‘hatred’, ‘anguish’ and ‘disease’ and to ward off ‘attacks and injury’. He is petitioned as ‘the best healer’ and as a protector who takes the form of a ‘tawny and amazing bull’ carrying ‘arrows and bow’ (7). In this apparel He bears striking similarities with Gwyn, who appears as a warrior-huntsman and ‘bull of battle’ in The Black Book of Carmarthen (8).

In ‘Have Mercy on us Rudra’ He is again petitioned to show ‘kindness’, to offer ‘protection, shelter, refuge’ and to hold back His destructive power. ‘Do not kill our father or our mother, nor harm the bodies dear to us.’ ‘Keep far away from us your cow-killing and man-killing power, O ruler of heroes’ (9). Here, like Gwyn, whose horse tramples armies like felled reeds to the ground (10) He brings death. ‘Ruler of heroes’ resembles Gwyn’s epithet ‘Lord of Hosts.’

Intriguingly we find the lines: ‘We call down for help the dreaded Rudra… the sage who flies.’ (11) This might refer to Rudra’s mastery of shamanic soul-flight. 

In the Yajur Veda we find a hymn to Rudra called ‘Shri Rudram’ which is divided into two parts. In the Namakam, Rudra is invoked by a number of names to stay His bow and arrow and destructive tendencies and to bring happiness and peace. ‘Oh! Rudra Deva! My salutations to your anger and your arrows. My salutations to your bow and to your pair of hands. Oh! Destroyer! By that arrow of yours, that bow of yours and that quiver of yours which have become the most peaceful make us happy’ (12).

Here Rudra and the Rudras are intimately associated with forests and trees. We find lines where They share similarities with the spirits of Annwn or fairies who, in The Life of St Collen, wear garments of red and blue and offer a delicious banquet (13). ‘Those Rudras who exist in trees as their overlords, yellow-hued, like tender grass, crimson and blue-necked… lords of ghosts and spirits… those Rudras who are protectors of the pathways, the givers of food’ (14).

The Chamakan is a series of petitions to Rudra for health and good fortune. ‘Let the life forces and vital airs of Prana, Apana and Vyana function properly in me.’ ‘Let me have well functioning sense organs with clear eye sight and clear hearing.’ ‘May I be granted happiness in this world and the other world’ (15).

These early hymns show how Rudra was invoked in the vedic times and hint at His function in an earlier wilder shamanic culture. At their heart lies Rudra’s ambivalent nature – His fierceness and His kindness – qualities He shares with Gwyn. Thus, they offer clues to how Gwyn (by His earlier name Vindos) might have been praised and called upon by the Brythonic people around 1500BCE and might serve as inspiration for new hymns from modern devotees.

REFERENCES

  1. Swami Nischalananda, Insight into Reality, (Kindle Edition, 2019), p387
  2. Dafydd ap Gwilym, Poems, (Gomer Press, 1982), p131
  3. Wendy Doniger (transl), The Rig Veda (Penguin Classics, Kindle Edition), p219 – p222
  4. Similar wild outsider Gods are found in other Indo-European cultures such as Dionysus to the Olympian Gods in the Greek tradition and the Vanir to the Aesir in the Norse tradition.
  5. ‘Gwyn ap Nudd… God has put the spirit of the demons of Annwfn in Him, lest the world be destroyed.’Sioned Davies, The Mabinogion, (Oxford University Press, 2007),p199
  6. Angelika H. Rudiger, ‘Gwyn ap Nudd: Transfigurations of a character on the way from medieval literature to Neo-pagan beliefs’, Gramayre: The Journal of the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Winter 2012, Issue 2 
  7. Wendy Doniger (transl), The Rig Veda (Penguin Classics, Kindle Edition), p222 – 223
  8. https://awenydd.weebly.com/the-conversation-between-gwyn-ap-nudd-and-gwyddno-garanhir.html
  9. Wendy Doniger (transl), The Rig Veda (Penguin Classics, Kindle Edition), p224 – 225
  10. https://awenydd.weebly.com/the-conversation-between-gwyn-ap-nudd-and-gwyddno-garanhir.html
  11. Wendy Doniger (transl), The Rig Veda (Penguin Classics, Kindle Edition), p224 – 225
  12. https://www.sathyasai.org/sites/default/files/pages/eternal-companion/vol-4/issue-3/rudram-namakam-chamakam.pdf p1-2
  13. https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/collen.html
  14. Ibid. p23

Power Animals and Power Animal Retrieval

Leave a comment

The term ‘power animal’ was introduced to the West by Michael Harner as one of the central concepts within core shamanism. It is borrowed from the native North American peoples and is interchangeable with ‘guardian spirit’.

A power animal helps us to connect with the natural world and the spirit world. According to Harner its presence provides us with energy and good health, whereas when we lack a guardian spirit, we are no longer power-filled and this leaves us open to the intrusive energies that cause illness.

Harner notes ‘the individual characters represent entire species or larger classes of animals… the entire genus or species… a person usually possesses not just the power of a bear, or of an eagle, but the power of Bear or of Eagle.’

Power animals or guardians spirits can be found across cultures. It’s a concept I relate to deeply because I connect so strongly with Horse. When I was little I used to run round the playground playing horses (until I got it bullied out of me). I managed to persuade my parents to let me go horseriding and spent all my time outside school helping out at a local riding school in exchange for free rides and later in life worked with horses.

When I was eighteen I got a tattoo of a white winged unicorn on my back and, later, when I discovered shamanism, she appeared as my guardian spirit. It didn’t take me long to work out that my power animal was Horse.

Since our ‘meeting’ (I believe she’s always been there) she has brought an abundance of joy and energy into my life whether out walking or at the gym or when she carries me between the world in my shamanic journeywork.

I’ve had relationships with other power animals and have a regular ‘team’. It’s common to have one or more power animals who stay for life and others who appear to guide us through certain life lessons then depart once they are done. For example, a one-legged raven guided me on my explorations of the Old North then disappeared and I haven’t seen him since.

Different power animals bring different powers and qualities into our lives. We can call on their power and shapeshift into them – a practice seen in the Brythonic culture wherein warriors invoked their energy as bulls of battle, wolves of war and ravening ravens when they fought on the battlefield and in the Anglo-Saxon and Norse cultures where we find the Berserkers ‘Bear Shirts.’

Such relationships are reciprocal with the human benefiting from the animal’s power and the animal benefiting from being able to express its power in the world.

The absence of a power animal results in power loss, which can cause ill health. The shamanic healing for this is a power animal retrieval. This is a practice that Harner borrowed from the native North American peoples. Herein a shamanic practitioner journeys to the Lower World to bring back a power animal for the client. Harner tells us, ‘the secret to recognizing the power animal is a simple one: it will appear to you at least four times in different aspects or at different angles.’ For example, one might see Stag at a distance, shapeshift into Stag, see Stag on a cave wall, then ride on Stag. Once the identity of the power animal is established, the practitioner gathers the power animal into their arms and returns to blow them into the body of the client (Harner notes the Jívaro blow the animal into the chest and then into the fontanelle but I have been guided to blow them into one of the chakras) and then rattles around the client to seal them in.

I first learnt power animal retrieval at The Shaman’s Pathway workshop with the Sacred Trust and have progressed towards using it to heal clients in my one-to-one shamanic training. Including the person I worked with in the introductory workshop I have so far completed six power animal retrievals. I have found these healings to be a source of power and wonder for both the client and myself as I have helped (re)unite them with their guardian spirits.

I have used the traditional way of journeying for a client then reporting back and other methods taught to me by my mentor which provide more scope for agency and participation for the client. These are speaking out loud as I journey so the client is more immersed, taking them with me on the journey so they can look around and interact, and holding space for them to journey.

Each journey was unique and ranged from one client being courted by every animal in the forest to another to whom only one animal appeared. In some instances the client’s power animal turned out to be the one who had consistently shown itself as the most powerful presence in their lives, whereas others were less frequent guides or a complete surprise.

I was astounded by the immense power and intelligence of other people’s guardians. Each was unique and it was a privilege to meet and interact in such a close way and to play a role in helping clients to establish and deepen their relationships with them. When I was sealing agreements between the client and their animal I felt a sense of being a bridge between the worlds and, somewhat laughably, like a celebrant, as they made their ‘vows’.

This work was a step up from the guidance journeys as there was more responsibility in finding a power animal who would bring energy and health to the client and might be a friend and source of guidance and wisdom for life. I feel I met the demands, ensuring that I was fully present for each person, listening to their needs, and paying full attention during the journeys.

One of the things I was slightly uncertain about was Harner’s method of recognising the power animal from four angles. In an introductory workshop to core shamanism I got an animal who showed themselves in four different ways (Panther) but who didn’t turn out to be my power animal (Horse). 

I was also unsure about this method of recognition because there is no evidence that it was ever used in British or other Western European traditions. However, I went with it for the journeys and found when doing  power animal retrievals for clients it was integral for identifying the power animal from all the other animals and could think of no better method.

The greatest challenges I faced were self-doubt and the desire of my ego to get things ‘right’ by providing a journey that matched those of shamanic authors. Being aware of these tendencies I made sure I trusted and stayed with what was shown by my guides, the spirit world, and the spirits we met.

The effects of the healings for the clients have varied from experiencing more power and joy in their lives and new or deeper connections with their power animals, to ailments easing and being able to come of some medications. It has been a beautiful and edifying experience for clients, their guardians and myself.

I’m very happy to announce that I have now completed my power animal retrieval training and am offering this healing at a student rate of £30 HERE.