My Basic Understanding Of Shamanism And Journeying

 Shamanism is tens of thousands of years old, and there are versions of it all over the world. All known versions share a "shamanic cosmology," or structure of the universe.

1. Everything in the universe has "spirit," and is therefore alive in a certain sense. Some spirits are far more complex than others, but even rocks have a basic "spiritual intelligence." I'n my own science-based understanding, I relate this to a quantum physics concept; There is a certain background intelligence to the entire universe. The universe must store information on how a rock is a rock, for instance, and on which quantum particles / waveforms are a part of that specific rock. So I equate "spirit" with "quantum intelligence" of the universe. Are you following me so far? The quantum stuff is my own layer and theory.

So in shamanism, there are the spirits of rivers, the spirits of mountains, the spirits of planets, and even the archetypal spirit of what a specific type of animal is.

There is the spirit of Crow, or the spirit of Deer. These represent the concept of the animal itself, rather than any specific example of those species. Still, each crow and each deer also has its own individual, unique spirit. Yes, they are part of the multiverse, which is another layer.

In shamanism all over the world, there is the waking, ordinary reality that we live in day-by-day. However, there is also a non-ordinary, spiritual reality that can be entered and journeyed through in a trance state - in my mind, a form of self-hypnotic meditation. The non-ordinary reality has three worlds.

In my mind, the human brain is a quantum computer, and while the "higher" brain functions give us consciousness and individual identities, the subconscious is another matter. The subconscious is shared through the archetypal spirit of a human, and is in fact a part of the quantum background intelligence of the multiverse. This is a powerful fact that has other implications, but it's not the time yet to dive into that. 

The first of the three worlds in shamanic cosmology is the lower or underworld. This is the spiritual home of our ancestors and where they reside. It is bastardized by the Abrahamic religions as "Hell," or "Hades" in Greek mythology, but it's nothing like the place of torture that those fabrications present to discourage their followers from understanding shamanic concepts.

The lower world would be where a shaman would go to speak to the spirits of the ancestors for guidance, comfort, and wisdom in shamanic trance, if that was the purpose of the journey. The lower world would typically be entered by going into a cave, or a hole in the roots of a great tree in the spirit realm by the shaman while in trance.

Like the tree Yggdrasil in Norse tradition. In Norse mythology, it holds the three worlds in its roots, trunk and branches, binding them together into one reality.

Yggdrasil with animal spirits among its branches.

The second world is the middle world. This is the non-ordinary spirit analog of the ordinary world we walk every day, and of the Cosmos as far as our telescopes can see. So walking about in a trance journey would allow you to "step into the matrix," so to speak, and to have conversations with elemental beings like the spirits of rivers, trees, mountains, or the Sun or Moon, or even Gaia herself. The middle world would be where I was in the journey where I spoke with Sol and with Sister Moon, and with Charlie, my raven guide. (See https://cherrystaff.blogspot.com/2021/12/drum-journey-12-04-2021-third-eye-being.html )

Then there is the "upper world," which is the abode of advanced beings like the spirits of Christ, Buddha, Odin, Zeus, angels, and more.

That would be accessed by some means of climbing into the sky or flying into the sky in a trance journey. Say, by climbing up Yggdrasil, or being carried into the sky by your spirit guide, which might or might not be a raven. It could be any spirit that chooses to take on the role of being your guide. Or guides, plural. Most people start with one spirit guide, and eventually develop relationships with several.

There can also be spiritual entities that are not benevolent towards humans. You can recognize these by the presence of dripping fangs. Consider it your spirit's way of recognizing an entity that you should stay away from and not interact with. Simply leave such a spirit's presence. They can't harm you if you don't engage with them.

When first entering shamanic trance to undertake a journey, you should visualize a path over a small creek or passing by a deep well, and leading to a place in nature where you feel at peace, safe, and calm. If you have a spot like that which you know in ordinary reality, all the better. You can visualize that as your starting place for shamanic journeys. As you pass the creek or well along the path to your starting place, throw a bag with all your daily troubles and worries in the bag into the creek or well. Let the waters of spirit carry those away, so that you can focus on the intention for your journey peacefully.

Once you arrive at your starting point, look for the spirits that you find there. If they don't have dripping fangs, ask if they are there to be one of your spirit guides. One of them or more will answer you, but usually it's just one at first. Ask them about themselves, thank them for their guidance, and ask them to show you the way to where you need to journey to for this particular intention, and to introduce you to the spirits you need to speak with on your journey. It could be an animal spirit, an ancestor, or an ascended master, or even a mythological god.

Now as to getting into a trance state, there are multiple ways. Some of them involve plant-based psychedelic drugs. I do not prefer such methods. Many methods of entering trance are through monotonously-repetitive sounds. Rattles, whistles, singing bowls, and perhaps the most well-known in our Western world, hoop drums - often called shaman drums. I use drumming for my journeys. You want a steady 105-120 beats per minute.

My Drum

Thrum, my Spirit Horse. Click on picture to go to a post with video of Thrum being played.

My drum isn't a natural hand-made drum, but it's uniquely my own. I personalized it and named it Thrum. It's not super large, but it has a very powerful sound. I found it of all places in the back room of a Guitar Center in Oakbrook, Illinois, atop a pile of unsold instruments, marked down to $26.00 - I instantly brought it home, and crafted the drum beater you see pictured myself. I also added the Autumn leaves with a coat of clear polyurethane to preserve them, and string handles on the back to suspend it and let it resonate more freely are made from old shoe strings our cat Taboo used to love playing with when she was alive.

What's important here isn't the materials, as so many would insist on, but the personal relationship with the drum. Remember, in shamanism, everything is alive with its own spirit. So it's the case with the drum. In many shamanic traditions, a shaman's drum is called his or her "spirit horse." They ride the drumbeats like hoof beats into the spirit world or non-ordinary reality. This, to me, is a much healthier way to trance than drugs would be.

Now, when drumming to experience a shamanic journey, it's possible to want to spend too much time in the spirit world, or even get lost there. So you set for yourself an intention to drum a "call back" at the appropriate time, to remind you to return to your starting point, and come out of the trance. The "call back" might be an intermittent staccato drumbeat, or some other drumming that is very different from the steady, droning drumbeats that uphold the journey trance. Check YouTube for shamanic drumming with call-back to find something like that.

Definitely, it's easier to journey if someone else is doing the drumming for you. It's a bit more effort to drum and journey at the same time - much like trying to sing and play a musical instrument at the same time. It takes practice.

So you can see why I consider shamanic journeying as a form of guided meditation, but it's also much, much more. It's deep and ancient.

Yes, quite a lot here, and if done responsibly, with compassion and goodwill, shamanic journeying can be very therapeutic.

The Pearl of Sorrow was inspired by a shamanic journey I had back in 2014 where one of Odin's ravens tore the pearl from my chest and flew away with it to Asgard. It wasn't painful, it was a blessing. It helped me start healing from a tragic loss I experienced as a teenager when someone I cared for very much was lost to schizophrenia at a young age, and others had died. It took the edge off the grief. So in the spirit world, having something torn and rent from your body can be a painless blessing instead of a maiming torture as it would be in ordinary reality.

It was about my Aunt Felicia, and my grandparents. Yes. Aunt Felicia was a wonderful person, only 11 months older than me. We were very close when I was 15. She and my grandmother moved back to Michigan before I turned 16, and by the time she was 18, she had developed full-blown schizophrenia and was institutionalized. I never saw her again. I'm still in touch with her daughter. I didn't even find out where Aunt Felicia was until I was in my late 30's. My grandmother refused to tell me. Aunt Felicia passed away at 49 years old from breast cancer while in a mental institution. I spoke with her spirit once in a journey, or a part of her spirit. Diseases like that, or traumas can fracture the soul or spirit in shamanic tradition. I spoke to the part of her spirit that was the young lady I knew who was my teenage confidant, and told her it was now OK to come home. She didn't say anything, just gave me a small smile and hug. Two or three weeks later in ordinary reality, she passed away. The Pearl of Sorrow was a few years after that.

Hard, heartbreaking, but also comforting at a very deep level. 

So as you can see, this is almost like structured astral travel, and has been used for thousands of years for psychic healing, or relating to weather elementals, or the spirits of plants and game animals when hunting. In our modern world, the psychic healing would be probably the most common use for journeying.

If you decide to pull up YouTube drumming and give it a try, remember the notes of caution I gave you, but otherwise it can be quite wonderful. I've found that several short journey attempts of ten to 15 minutes are best. That way if you fall into a light sleep in the early attempts, you're more likely to have a successful journey in the later attempts.

Using an audio source that you control is probably best. YouTube would be calling you back at the wrong times - with ads. Lol

I think this post on the Cherry Staff might be a good one to close out our conversation tonight: https://cherrystaff.blogspot.com/2012/09/finding-my-drum-my-guide-and-first.html 

Have a wonderful journey!

Dan

The Pearl Of Sorrow...

 

The Pearl Of Sorrow...

The Pearl Of Sorrow...

…is a wound that never fully heals, 

 For even if Odin's Raven were to tear it from your beating heart like a bug and fly away with it, 

There is still the empty gap in your breast that fills in with the scar tissue of a love gone missing from your life. 

 The Universe is filled with galaxies of love and light fleeing a void. 

 Dark energy, indeed. 

 AquarianM 

 By: Daniel A. Stafford 

 (C) 01/12/2014

----------------

The Pearl of Sorrow was inspired by a shamanic journey I had back in 2014 where one of Odin's ravens tore the pearl from my chest and flew away with it to Asgard. It wasn't painful, it was a blessing. It helped me start healing from a tragic loss I experienced as a teenager when someone I cared for very much was lost to schizophrenia at a young age, and others had died. It took the edge off the grief.

Finally Feeling The Christmas Spirit...

 

St. Nick's Yule

Saint Nicholas was grateful,

For the stars circled Polaris at the top of the world,

The greatest clock show on Earth,

Where the spirits of all our ancestors lie in the lower world,

The spirits of everything on Earth live in the middle world,

And the spirit of Magic and Wonder guides the upper world.

A drum was his spirit reindeer,

He flew on the powerful beats of its taut hoof,

All over the spirits of this world,

On Solstice Night,

Yule,

The night of the year that the world is reborn,

When the clock-tick drumming leads to the love and peace of Spring,

And the Sun begins its slow treading back to the North.

Every year,

This is a gift,

Every moment precious.

Dance with Old Saint Nick,

Around the tree of the world,

Let your spirit be light,

Somewhere tucked in the soft boughs of the Great Tree.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford

(C) 12-07-2025

Climbing A Local Mountain To Drum...

Somewhere in Temecula Valley, there's an amazing trail to an incredible Sunset lookout point. Mother Earth is a wonder.

Went up here with a friend this afternoon. His spot. I did a little drumming up here after this video, and we picked a little bit of fresh sage (After giving Mother Earth some coffee, paprika, and Italian herbs. Things she can eat.) Enjoy the above 44 second short.

I also said prayers to bless the people in this valley, to bless the ancestors who walked the lands before us, and the first people who lived here for thousands of years. I was praying for peace, healing, prosperity, blessings, and for the health of the lands under our feet, the rivers and the lakes that sustain us, and all life in this valley.

For my friend, I explained the most basic aspects of shamanic cosmology, and that the drum was supposed to help us enter the spirit world.

It was a beautiful evening, just long enough.

Thank you for reading.

Dan

Anymore...

 

A Friend From The North...

It's not the wings that get you,

Mostly,

But the fierce intelligence,

Traveling the globe through the most spiritual places,

Seeing what would be quantum noise to us,

Places we are not,

Anymore.

In the undermind,

I call a friend,

Flight of the mind's eye,

Synchronized beats,

Playing three-D with empty space and time,

Where you are not,

That's mine,

Only because you don't listen,

Anymore...

The small tightness of detail,

The "anywhereness" of infinite scenes,

Elaborate wood carving of fantastica,

Too busy to practice pareidolia in mahogany,

You don't invest in purposeful months,

Anymore...

The quiet places,

Where you see what those places might be,

Inside your own head,

Outside of time,

The Universe between your ears,

You don't spend hours in,

Anymore...

Your time is carved into eighths of an inch,

Spit at you like machine gun fire,

Each tiny quanta painted in someone else's dream palette,

Not your own design,

Not,

Anymore...

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford

(C) 03/22/2025

03-15-2025 Drum Journey

Amber incense cones from India.

Cardboard model of the Great Pyramid at Giza

I asked my guide Charlie (big raven, very wise) to help me talk with the Great Pyramid at Giza today.

It was interesting. The Pyramid was a very old spirit. It thought of me as an infant.

The Pyramid was talking to and through the black hole Sagittarius A at the center of the Milky Way. 

Apparently, there are ancient Pyramids on planets all over the galaxy that are communication and energy channels. 

The Pyramid had little to say to me. I'm too young and uninteresting to it.

My guide Charlie told me that the Sphinx is an interesting character, but we didn't get to talk to it today. 

I spoke with my Sicilian grandmother a bit. We were in our old kitchen from when I was a child. She told me that a time was coming where we would have to learn to grow things like the spices she used to grow outside our kitchen window.

She also said Mom was doing better, but that she'd had a really rough exit.

Nono has apparently moved on to his next incarnation.

Aunt Felicia popped in briefly, just to say hello.

I have to admit, I have a tough time focusing on the journey while I'm drumming.  I feel distracted, somehow. It's easier for me to journey if someone else is doing the drumming.

Rune Casting: 03-15-2025: Past = Mannaz, inverted. Present = Sowilo. Future = Kenaz. Obstacle = Othila sideways.

Past: Mannaz inverted - Mankind, the Self, Friends, Enemies, The Social Order. (I see this as society not being on the same page I'm on, not seeing the same big picture as I do.)

Present: Sowilo - The Sun, Success, Goals Realized, Honor. (I see this as some successes I've had at work and in my personal life)

Future: Kenaz - Torch, Vision, Revelation, Creativity, Technical Ability. (I see this as both learning new skills at work, and as getting better at my chosen spiritual path - which is uniquely my own.)

Obstacle: Othala, sideways - Heirlooms, Heritage, Land of Birth. (I see this as the utter chaos the USA is being subjected to. It's like the country I grew up in is being dismantled, torched, axed, and sledgehammered. It will need rebuilding.)

03-15-2025 Runecasting - DS

Dan

Compassion is the greatest sign of Humanity.

Drum Journey 12-04-2021: Third Eye Being Opened And Other Revelations

Drum Journey 12-04-2021: Third Eye Being Opened And Other Revelations:

I began the journey with an incense & sage cleansing of the space, and a request to the spirits to guide my journey and drumming, and to help me journey and drum at the same time.

Believe it or not, being able to drum while you journey is a skill akin to singing while playing an instrument. The instrument has to be second nature.

In this case I was able to, with a few hiccups, but in the end successfully.

In the journey I met my spirit guide who is a raven walking around our block. This is probably because I walk around our block most evenings several times for exercise. There is another place I am thinking to use as a beginning point, but I need to spend a little more time there in ordinary reality first.

I have been calling my guide "Kutcha" after the traditional crow or raven spirit trickster of the Siberian tradition, who is a lot like Coyote in native American traditions as I understand it.

Today my guide told me that his name is not Kutcha. I told him that I would be pleased to call him by whatever name he chose, and to please let me know what that was. He laughed and said I should already know this.

I have had several visions of making friends with a crow named Charlie, who I would hang around with and talk to a bit. I had thought they were just simple day dreams, but apparently not. My guide is  Charlie - but he told me his other name is Messenger, like the Greek Roman god Hermes / Mercury. (Or more precisely like the role they fulfill)

Charlie was distinctly clear that he was NOT Huginn or Muninn, whose other names are Thought and Memory/Mind.

Charlie asked me where I wanted to go today, and I replied that I wanted to go where he thought I needed to go. The whole point to this journey (and the ones I will be taking over the next year or two) are to learn from the spirits, not to tell them what I want. I had also asked at the beginning ceremony to be taught how to be of service to humanity. I meant it.

I told Charlie that it didn't have to be in water. In the past I had a journey where I walked on the bottom of one of the Great Lakes, but Charlie wouldn't go into the water. He told me that he didn't like to go in the water, he is of the Air and Earth.

Today, Charlie told me it was different, and that the waters we would be near were not a problem for him. 

Charlie then grew to an enormous size, and carried me in his talons through the air. We flew over a vast sea, and in the far distance there were stars and galaxies and nebulae. We landed on a dome-shaped island, and I knew immediately that it was Turtle Island, otherwise known as Gaia, Mother Earth, or Pacha Mama. 

Charlie returned to normal size, and I asked Mother Earth where we were going. She said we were going to talk to Father Sun, whose name is Sol. 

I asked at that point why the Earth looked flat in my journey. Wasn't it actually a globe in ordinary reality? Pacha Mama said that yes, the Earth is a globe in the reality of matter that we walk around on in ordinary consciousness, but that for our purposes here in non-ordinary reality, the flat Earth model is an easier representation for going into space, because we could just go off the edge and be flying in space.

As a side note, I understood why she would say this. I know instinctively that a person's totem of their spirit guide must have a bit of a "cartoonish" look to it. If it is too photo-realistic, it just represents any creature of that particular nature in ordinary reality, such as a hawk or deer or rabbit. If it is a little ambiguous, with softened edges or a little bit of glow to it, it can represent the idea of the animal, which is what most of our spirits are. They are not AN animal, they appear to us as the archetypal idea of that animal so that our human spirits can interact with them in non-ordinary reality. This softness, or fuzziness of form allows the totem of a spirit animal to have a little magic to it. 

It's similar to Schrodinger's Cat, in that it is in an indeterminate state. Our spirit animals are really the embodied probabilistic quantum fields of an entity who exists in non-ordinary reality, which underlies the structure of ordinary reality.

For this reason, the flat-Earth representation I saw in my journey was best for the journey, but it was not a reflection of what is true in ordinary reality, which is a globe. It was a representation of what exists in ordinary reality. There is a difference.

With this, Charlie and I flew off the edge of the flat-world ocean on the back of Turtle Island, and we glided through space so that I could have a conversation with Sol.

In my vision, the Sun definitely had a masculine energy that was older than time. He was paternalistic, in a good and kind way. His face was like the old drawings of the Sun you would seen in children's books from the 1800's or early 1900's, and smiling gently.

Sol told me that he was sorry and sad for what he must do. I understood instantly that he would be heating up the Earth, and that many would die because of it. I asked if he had any choice in the matter, or if there was any way he could delay it. Sol replied that "The laws of this universe are what they are, and even I must live within them." Sol made it clear that this was not his choice, and that we humans were choosing this. He then begged me to talk to humanity and try to get them to change their minds.

I replied that I would, that I have been, and that I would continue to do so. I also explained that it was a minority of humanity that was choosing this, and that most of us didn't want this path, but it's a situation that would take a very large majority of us to change. 

I also told Sol that I held no blame for him, and that I personally forgave him for what must happen if we continue down this road as a species.

It was not really satisfying for either of us, but this was where we parted. I thanked him for spending the time to talk to me, and for sharing his wisdom.

At this point, Turtle Island flew away the other direction with Charlie and I on her back. Have I mentioned yet that the flat-world ocean she was swimming in the middle of when Charlie and landed on her was the Cosmos? The ocean of stars, the froth of the great lighted clouds of gas and dust that lie between the lights? Again, a representation rather than a reflection.

We flew past Sister Moon, who is the local embodiment of Cosmos. I asked if I were to speak to her, but was told by Gaia that now wasn't the time. Sister Moon winked at me and whispered "We'll talk later." I smiled and nodded.

Turtle Island flew toward the constellation Aquarius, and there we met my Muse. I didn't get her name, and I am certain she is the "Family Muse," who also worked with William Stafford. (If he is any relation to me, it's very distant, but I feel related to his poetry, or what I have read of it. It resonates with me deeply)

Our Muse was asking me why I had made so little time for art and poetry of late. I tried to explain to her about the demands of work and family, but she lives outside of human time, and I'm not sure she understood. I did promise to do better, and that I would spend much more time with her once I am able to retire. She also was adamant that I "get the poetry out of the machine." This is NOT generic in this case. She is not talking about doing poetry on computers in general, but rather about recovering a large library of web poetry that is from multiple poets, and that I have a copy of on one of my computers. I'm only one of two people alive who is able to access this library, and I need to recover it and get it back online before it becomes impossible. It's a huge project. I told her that i would work on that as well.

At this point, Pacha Mama began flying us back to the Flat World, which is kind of what I am going to start calling ordinary reality I think. 

While we were on the way, I asked Charlie and Mother Earth about aliens and UFO's. They both laughed at me and said in unison "You already know the answer to that. It's other races and species, from other planets and other dimensions, and your human governments. It's all of the above. You've seen your own government working with time travel before (Another story for another time), so why would this surprise you?"

I have to tell you, two spirits speaking in n unison is NOT like two humans speaking in unison. It's like one voice in your head.

At this point, we landed back in the flat ocean of the Cosmos that is at the edge of or world, and Charlie carried me back to land. He asked me if there was anywhere I would like to go. I told him that I would like to see Yddgrasil, the World Tree. Charlie landed us by its roots. He also told me NOT to go up the tree just yet.

We walked around the base of the tree, where its roots meet the ground, which is the sky of the lower world. It is enormous, but it only took Charlie and I a few moments because we were in non-ordinary reality, where distance is a mater of thought and intention. 

We came around to the other side of the tree, and I could see the scars on its trunk where Odin had been nailed to the tree for nine days before he was given the runes by the Norns.

Just a little bit from the base of the tree was the well of the Norns. I looked at the well, but didn't look in. One of the Norns appeared, and I am not sure which one she was. The three Norns are the Past, the Present, and the Future. Together they weave the threads that make up the Universe into the fate of all beings. I have seen those threads in a vision before. They are pure energy, the brightest white light you can imaging, and I am not sure how the Norns can touch them without their fingers being burned off.

The Norn didn't say anything, she just dipped her fingers in the waters of the well. Like a Catholic Priest does to his flock on Ash Wednesday, she marked my forehead with the water of the Well of Fate, but the mark was not a cross. It was a five-pointed upright star in a circle, with a dot just outside the circle at each point of the star. The design soaked into my forehead right where my Third Eye should be.

At this point Charlie tore a Pearl from my chest, but instead of flying away with it like Muninn did the time he tore the Pearl of Sorrow from my breast, Charlie spat the Pearl at my forehead so hard that it sank in, right at the center of the star the Norn had made.

Charlie told me that this was the Pear of Wisdom, and that moving the Pearl to its correct position would begin to open my Third Eye. He also said that this was a process, and that it would take some time.

With that, Charlie brought me back to Turtle Island for a bit, and told me to practice my drumming for a little longer right now.

After I drummed for a little bit, Charlie and Turtle Island told me to do the call back, and she raced across the water to the shore so fast that it shot up roster tails and left a huge wake.

I returned to ordinary reality and did a ceremony of thanks to all the spirits who had helped with this journey.

Dan

The Journey...

The Journey... 

Lay your journal by your side,

Let us take a walk outside.

Down a twilit path of earth and stone,

Know you do not walk alone.

Through a field as you stride,

A guide appears pacing at your side.

An old bridge crossing creek,

Throw your troubles in before you seek.

Water burbling down below,

Away your worries now do flow.

Blessings,

Blessings,

Say you now,

Free of fear you are guided how.

Into the dappled light of wooded trail,

Your heart is light as you travail.

A hill with mighty tree atop,

Below a cave into which you drop.

Creep,

Creep,

Caverns deep.

Soon you walk ancient stony halls,

Mysterious carved symbols on its walls.

Opens up a world below,

Filled with all whom you once did know.

As with ancestors you converse,

Secrets once covered now reverse.

....

Across this land you now pace,

No hurry nor worry 'tis no race.

To the other side you now go,

Climbing up from the world below.

Out into open you now walk,

A glowing world where everything can talk.

To trees and stones you can relate,

Creatures and even waters tell it straight.

Take your time and hear them well,

For awhile we here will dwell.

--------

Soon enough you become a raven,

Hawk, or dove,

Into the air which whispers you fly above.

High straight North there is no cold,

You remember each secret you were told.

Far above the ice and snow,

To what seems a great mountain you now go.

As you near you see,

It is no mountain,

But the greatest Tree.

Atop the pinnacle perched your eyes look up,

Your wings again hands which you cup.

The world spins 'round a mighty star,

Auroras light the night both near and far.

Milky way and stars wind slowly around and around,

You hear their voices without a single sound.

Now a Spirit you soar above,

To hear the Universe's song of eternal love.

To the Moon or Mars you might go,

Even to the center's great Black hole.

-------

Back to Earth you become a bird,

Remember deeply every word.

Flying South or East or West,

You return to home and human to now rest.

Waking,

Waking,

To your town,

You pick up your journal and write it down.

Finally,

Finally,

Lay down down your pen,

Give thanks to each whose wisdom you now ken.

AquarianM

By: Daniel A. Stafford

© 10/03/2020

https://archive.org/download/the-journey../The_Journey...mp3

Audio & poem free to use with accreditation. - Dan Stafford.

Finding My Drum, My Guide, And First Journeys...

Pics are now added.

This post is going to be rather long - there were a lot of firsts packed into the past three days.

Let's start with how it came about: My wife got a flyer from a friend about a local shaman/shamanka being at a spiritual gathering place nearby for this past weekend when we went to a singing bowl meditation there on Labor Day.

I had a vision while meditating to the singing bowls. (There were five, three crystal and two Tibetan metal.) In the vision, I was a raven in flight. I could feel the beat of my wings pushing the air, see the ground beneath me far below, feel the flow of air over my body.

I decided to go to the shamanic journeying workshop.  A few days before we were to have the ceremonies, we were sent a list of things to bring. One of them was a drum. I suddenly realized that I had no drum. To a shaman, the drum is a living companion - your spirit horse, the vehicle that carries you into the Otherworlds. (For some forms of shamanism, it is a boat or canoe.) In any case, the rhythm of your drum facilitates the trance that allows you to journey.

I was looking online at music stores to find a drum that would have a similar sound to what I was finding on Youtube. Nothing at any of the music stores' web sites was close. There were many international percussion instruments that were beautiful, but none had the proper singing drone.

I tried my hand at crafting a drum from available items. A clean, empty paint can - produces a beautiful ringing, almost howling beat. Not right. The closest I was able to manage was a plain five-gallon Home Depot bucket. It has a deep, booming beat that was similar, but not quite there. I was going to go with the bucket. I made my own drum beater out of a 2.5" pine dowel rod about 18" long, stained Sonoma red, with a brown electrical tape grip, and designs burned into it with a magnifying glass and sunlight. The drum beater worked great, but it was getting dented on the hard plastic ridges at the edge of the bucket.

During my search of the night before online, I saw an instrument called claves - two wooden sticks - hardwood - that are beaten or rubbed together to make various sounds. I was thinking to use one a a drum beater with the bucket. It turns out they were a little too small. But there, in the percussion room at Guitar Center, was a pile of un-loved instruments marked for clearance. One of them was exactly the type of drum I needed. I picked it up, and on the first strike of my fingers, it sang. Clearly, the drum wanted me as much as I wanted it. I bought it for $26.00 to a strange look from the sales associate, and the comment "You're going with that?"

I named my drum "Thrum". Click on picture to view full-size. I spent the past three days using clear polyurethane to seal the leaf appliques onto the rim.

I tried the drum out with my new home-made drum beater, and it was powerful. This drum has a beautiful, strong, deep voice! The drum has a rim of dark, dark hardwood, and a synthetic fiber skin. I had some beautiful stickers of Autumn leaves, so I put them around the rim. I am currently in the process of coating the band with clear gloss polyurethane to protect its leaves.



Yesterday was our journey circle. There were eleven of us, seven women and four men.The shaman leading us is named Paula Rosenfeld.  She follows a mainly Ojibwe tradition. Paula had rattles and a few drums for those who didn't have their own.

We were holding the ceremonies and journeys at the home of Frank and Kristin, who have a beautiful home bordered by a marsh on one side, and a park on the other. Their side yard is large and mostly surrounded by trees. The weather was perfect, about 77 degrees and sunny.

Paula set out a cloth altar on the ground at circle's center - what South American traditions might call a mesa - and set upon it sacred objects. I had brought gifts for the spirits; a bottle of brandy, a fine cigar; red silk ribbons, and a opalescent marble. These were placed also upon the altar.

We started off going around the circle stating our names, a little about ourselves, and our intention for the day's journeys. Paula smudged the grounds and participants with sage burning in a turtle shell, and a large feather. After the smudging, Frank brought out his peace pipe. The real thing - with pipestone quarried by hand in Minnesota. We didn't pass the pipe. Frank filled it with tobacco, and sent prayers to all four directions and the spirits of the six directions - Hummingbird in the East, Coyote in the South, Bear in the West, and Bison in the North, Eagle in the Upperworld, and Mother Earth in the Lowerworld. We then drummed the beat of the six directions to call their spirits to aid us in our journeys. (Each spirit has its own beat.) I was drumming Eagle's beat, a rapid, continuous beat upon the drum's "sweet spot".

After this, we tightened the circle, and holding hands, did a Vedic breathing meditation to open the chakras. After the meditation, we kept our eyes closed while Paula set about calling our guides. At this part, I was moved by spirit to do the Eagle's beat on my drum, but very, very softly, so that it was barely audible. Paula later told me that she loved it; she had thought it was spirit drumming. Perhaps it was spirit moving my fingers - I am no expert drummer, I have no idea how I knew to do such  a soft, unobtrusive and yet centering beat.

At this time, we set out to make our first journey. I did mine siting in a lawn chair, others were on yoga mats or chairs, mostly the mats. I used a green bandana to cover my eyes, and Paula drummed us into journey. Yolanda - lovely gentle spirit - played her beautiful crystal bowls the first two minutes. We were set to go only ten minutes, with a change in the drumbeat reminding us to return to the waking world.

In the first journey, Paula instructed us to start from a place we knew, one where we felt connected to nature. I knew it must be a beach, for I feel closest to Earth Mother when at the merger between sand and surf. It took me awhile to settle on a specific beach, but in the end I chose the shore of Lake Michigan just into the Indiana Dunes. It was a calm day, the water was like blue glass. I went into the water swimming. I was looking for a guide to appear. Suddenly there was a log floating in the water next to me. A bird alighted upon it. At first I thought it was a seagull, but no, it was a raven. I asked the raven if he could take me to Upperworld, and he said "Sure. Hold onto the log." I grabbed the log with both hands, and suddenly the raven was flying through the air with it held in his talons. I was like a trapeze artist flying through the air. The raven turned to me, and said "Next time, forest. I don't like this water stuff." Then the drum changed.

After this first journey, we sat in the closer circle and related our journeys to each other. It was decided then to move indoors to the basement because of ants, bright sunshine, and traffic noise.

After we settled into the basement, we went on our second journey. (I was right next to Yolanda's bowls for the second and third journeys. This was of immense help on these journeys.)

On my second journey, we were to inquire of our guides as to wht we were resistant about, faith, and something else I've since forgotten. I began this journey riding my bicycle along the prairie path, which is wooded with dappled sunlight. The raven appeared flying alongside me. (Riding my bicycle feels like flying to me.) I asked the raven to instruct me about resistance. He had me park my bicycle, and wade into a creek knee deep upstream. I could feel the current strongly against my shins. "That is resistance." said the raven. After that, the journey went subconscious, and I remembered nothing until the drumbeat changed to call us back.

We again went around the circle relating our journeys to each other. I am purposely not reciting what others told me of their journeys here; it is not my right to share without their consent.

The third and final journey of the day was to whichever world the guide wished to take us. I had no more than cranked the pedals of my bike three times than the power of Yolanda's crystal bowls singing had me in the Upperworld with the raven. I was seeing patterns of light and color, and patterns of gold and red ceramic and cloth, like ever-changing mandalas. I was taken briefly to a great hallway paneled with ancient wood, as long as the eye could see and more. There were many branches on either side. On each side were people sitting in fine chairs all lined along the hall .I knew these were my ancestors, and that this was just a brief introduction. Then we were back in Upperworld.

We went to a cave or room, I don't know which. My aunt Felicia was there. She is only 11 months older than I am, and we were very close as teenagers. I last saw her when I was fifteen. I am now fifty. She was diagnosed with full-blown schizophrenia when she was nineteen and institutionalized. She still is. She had a daughter the year before she was diagnosed, and her daughter is a wonderful young woman that I think very highly of. I told aunt Felicia that we all loved her, and missed her, and how proud she should be of her daughter and grandchildren. She listened, while she was there in her room, doing the things a young aunt Felicia would do, brushing her hair, singing softly, gazing out the window. I told her that if she wanted to come back, we would welcome her.

I turned to the raven and asked if he could heal her. His response was "Yes, but you're going to owe me a couple for this one." "Ok." I said. Then the raven said to me that I should open the brandy and leave it and the cigar in the crook of a tree outside, as he and the other spirits were going to need a party after dealing with all of us humans all day.

Just then there was a brass and yellow wood jar that I was told to open. Just as I took the lid off and vapors began to emerge, the drums changed.

There was a young tree outside where I had left a gift of cloth for the spirits, a bright red new bandana. I put the brandy and cigar there, opening the bottle and cutting the cigar.

There were many very heavy and deep stories after this journey. Several were moved to tears. I nearly was as I related speaking to my aunt. After this, we all went outside, and we gave a drum bath to the four journeyers most deeply-impacted, clearing their chakras with the spirit energy of the drums.

After this we packed up and said our goodbyes, thanking everyone for their roles in making it such a successful day.

I stopped on the way home and go the clear gloss polyurethane and a brush to seal the leaves on my drum, and started it as soon as I got home. I still have a few layers to do.

Today, I did my own cigar ceremony, thanking the spirits of the directions for their help before lunch. After lunch, I went to the mall to find dangles for the four holes in my drum. I wasn't sure what to get, but I knew I would find the right things when they were ready to come to me.

As I was walking into the mall, a raven literally flew by over my head.

I found two things, a raven key chain that I'll modify later for the drum, and a glass raven plate, about 10" square. I saw it and knew that it was to become the center of my altar. (Which I will going forward call a mesa.) I wasn't expecting to find this, or even looking to begin a mesa. It just happened. I know it is a gift from my guide.

Glass mesa. I've since added red silk ribbons and an opalescent marble. Click on the picture to view full-size.

Finally, in closing, I will tell you that I do not yet know the name of my drum. It will come to me. In fact, I think it just did as I was writing this. I will call him Thrum. I already knew the name of the raven, however. He is Kutcha, the raven spirit of the Koryak shamans of Siberia and Northern Russia. Perhaps he came to me to help me connect to the Russians in my mother's biological ancestry.

I am deeply grateful for everything that happened this weekend, and for everyone, including spirits, that made it all possible.

Blessings be to All,

Dan