One White Horse Standing

In This Issue:

 

Find out more about our workshops, retreats and resources on our website.

One White Horse Standing Newsletter

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2008

In this issue, we talk about the point of shamanic power in relation to Shamanic Place versus Chronological time. In addition, we discuss some rituals that might be useful.

2009 Workshops

In 2009, I will be doing several workshops at Bethel Horizons near Dodgeville, Wisconsin. January 8-11 we will be doing a four day Crystal Layouts workshop where we are doing hands-on practice all four days. A full day will be for individuals seeking personal healing time with me.

March 5 - 8, we will be offering a Medicine Wheel integration workshop, where those that have completed three of the four workshops on the medicine wheel will be brought together to integrate all that we have learned. This should be very powerful.

October 30 - November 1, we will be doing the Dragon Workshop over Halloween, an amazing transforming workshop to ally with your internal dragons.

Contact Marie Smith at marie@hawkrdg.org for details and sign-up.

I hope you find something in this newsletter that talks to your soul. If so, please send it along to someone who might be interested.

Bountiful Blessings
Herb Stevenson
One White Horse Standing

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Shamanic Space and Time

Several years ago Jane Roberts, channeling Seth as written in the book Seth Speaks, taught that the point of power is in the present.  A comparable spatial dimension is what we call being centered within our selves.  In shamanic or spiritual dimensions it is the center of our conscious awareness where all knowing occurs and where we can cross the veil of this world to the other world.  In these (shamanic/spiritual) worlds, space and time often merge.  For example, when we journey to the other side seeking the healing answer, what I call the energetic event for our client may be associated in a specific past or present or future, even though the shamanic practitioner experiences it as the present. Therefore, we have the experience of another dimension through the journey process.  We become both the observer of the energetic event we seek healing for our client and the participant within the journey.

Often when our shamanic clients are feeling internally lost or out of sync they may be caught in a time warp, much like a Star-gate that needs one more click to open the natural flow of energy to the other side.  A deep sense of the potential once the flow is restored can frustrate as well as exhilarate.  Caught in this miniature purgatory of not being able to move from this state of "between dimensions", clients often feel "stuck", "lost", "fragmented", etc. in time.

The shamanic practitioner might consider journeying to the energetic event that could be lost or caught in a distinctive place and time.  For example, consider what if time is spatially divided in shamanic time, with the present being the center of our universe and shamanic time is divided into the remote, mediate and immediate places in the past and the future, wherein specific healing is found in each dimension.

Chono Time = Shamanic Space

Personal Past = Frozen Present---the remote, self-sealed past

Assuming that time is a place in shamanic terms, we begin to recognize that we can energetically find the place for healing the client by tracking the energized, relative timed zones of the clients.  For example, suppose the remote, self-sealed past is like an aging distant star, glowing more from within than from the outer edges.  Frozen in a time which creates a place to locate it, energetically, it loses some of its explosive power because time as we experience it has moved on--the further from the present and our center, the point of power, the weaker the exterior energy.  We might call this place the zone of the obsolete, lingering, withering, deteriorating, where unfinished business, often a form of terrorized energy, is frozen like dry ice.  For example, a trauma, whether it be the loss of a friend or family member, a fatal or debilitating accident, or some form of abuse, might be frozen in the remote, self-sealed past because it happened in childhood and/or because we have removed or banished it from our awareness (or consciously aware center) to some remote part of our being. The shamanic practitioner can journey to the energetic event by tracking the star like energy to find, determine readiness to return to the conscious center, release the self-sealing container, capture the energy and return the energetic piece of life force that was fragmented to the client. Some would call this a soul retrieval. However, I refer to it as returning lost fragments.

The event can be experienced as a ghost-like haunting presence prior to the journey that becomes more of a memory that fills in the definitional gaps of how the individual has become the person he or she is in the present after the journey. Therapeutic support is often needed to fully integrate the experience and returned life force. If the energetic event is returned prior to the client’s readiness to return it to the conscious center, it can result in an emotional meltdown.

Personal Past = Haunting Present---mediate, lingering past

The mediate, lingering past could be likened to a star in its full glory, where the glow is throughout the mass. We might call the mediate, lingering past, the zone of regret due to poor life choices, where we’ve missed the mark for one’s own life in terms of taking shortcuts that have harmed others or ourselves, or taking the easy way out leaving unfulfilled dreams or unrealized potential of what can be. Frozen in time more like that of being frozen in the middle of an iceberg, the individual can experience a mixture of anxiety and guilt - I can see out, but I can’t get out. The guilt is from missing the mark of our own internal truth and the anxiety is from facing the unknown of choosing according to the needs of the soul and not that of the self.  Examples are individuals that feel a deep angst that can lead to a mid-life crisis about their life choices, a sense of having been held back by family values or parental pressures instead of listening to one’s own calling, succumbing to peer pressure that leads to harm to others and a spiral down the road of self destruction. Prior to the journey, the experience is often of unsettledness, chaos, uncontrolled emotions, and anxiousness.  After the journey, the client can appear to be more whole, more present, more clear, as if an immediate maturing process has occurred. This occurs because the journey returns awareness of prior choices and decisions, the need to accept full responsibility for the those choices and decisions, and a renewed awareness that the point of power is in the present and therefore the rest of one’s life is waiting to be created with choices congruent with whom we are, here and now.

Personal Past = Choked Present---immediate, thundering past

The immediate, thundering past is like a starburst, exploding with energy as a newly formed star.  Its brilliance is overwhelming and exhilarating at the same time. It often leads to hyper-diligence as in the case of being in the midst of remorse, grief, angst, or having been betrayed. This is an overwhelming state of being that often needs to be experienced and processed in the moment.  However, it can become a repetitive, never-ending loop similar to anxiety or panic attacks.  The shamanic practitioner is less interested in capturing this energy than in releasing it to an amount of energy that the client can manage and integrate into their life. Hence the shamanic practitioner might be called to add water to cool the star-like energy or to release energy by putting in a tap that can be opened and closed as steam or energy needs to be released by the client.  A key to remember is that a new formed star-burst is a self generating energy that will exude an amazing amount of energy that needs to be released so that the person can manage their life.  It is not a quick, shamanic fix.

The Present = the point of power

The present is the immediate moment, here and now, where we have clarity without preconceived notions and the ability to set clear boundaries surrounding who we are and who we are not; capable of taking right action that leads to right result. It is manifestation from a deep knowing place.

Personal Future = Expected Present---Immediate, anxious future

The immediate, anxious future is a place of high expectation and activity, where the illusion of control tries to soothe the need for a desired outcome.  Often, we blend the present with the immediate future, test-driving some desired result or expectation.  Our desires or expectations are so high that we fail to realize that we are fearfully attempting to create a desired reality. Shamanically, the journey is to support the person to be able to create enough distance from the desires to see how the expectations are laden with fear.  Releasing the fear, calmness settles into the client much like a deep sense of knowing.  Once this release occurs, the client is able to distinguish what is real and what has been forms of Memorex - recorded fears of the past that have acted like chains to the future.

The day Jane Roberts passed away, I had an overwhelming knowing that she had died. For the prior year or two, she had been gracious enough to provide support to me via letters. Suddenly, I felt totally alone and deeply panicked. This lasted for several hours, until suddenly a divine energy of pure love filled every pore of my body and every breath of my soul and a whisper for me to remember that the point of power was in the present.  The panic melted away and deep sense of calm filled me.  20+ years later, I draw on her shamanic intervention to recalibrate my chronological clock to the shamanic present. (Some might prefer to call the present, the divine moment.....one after another forever.)

Personal Future = Hoped for Present---mediate, hopeful future

The mediate, hopeful future is the Zone of wish and hope, where we relinquish control and yet seek specific outcomes.  The mediate hopeful future is a place of desire that gets confused as manifestation.  Dreams reside in this space until tarnished from the lack of courage or the hardships of life that block any paths to continue our journey.  Often when the mediate, lingering past is freed, the client moves to this place...a place of ungrounded choices.  Shamanically, the journey work is to support the client to journey from the mediate lingering past to the hopeful future, then back to the point of power in the present.  Without the point of power, we lose sight that we have infinite choices in every moment and no immediate life force to fulfill the wish.  Another way to describe this place is that it is where dreams are manifested so that we can invoke them as a form of knowing in the present. Knowing is a state of grace, while dreaming is a state of hope.

Personal Future = Yearned Present---remote, beyond our control future

The remote, beyond our control future is the Zone of Prayer and ethical action, where we recognize a divine energy is needed as well as the true goodness of mankind to ensure an existence.  The Place of prayer and ethical action is like seeking spirit to sooth the soul. Often deeply spiritual experiences can happen here.  If we get too cozy in this land, staying out of our point of power attachments and possessions can take place.

Shamanic Space/Time

Time Space

Past

 

Remote Past

Zone of the obsolete, undigested introjects/truths no longer pertinent, and unfinished business.

Mediate Past

Zone of the regretted, poor life choices, missing the mark for one’s own life, unfulfilled potential or dreams.

Immediate Past

Zone of the remorse, grief, and angst.

Present

The immediate moment, here and now, clarity without preconceived notions.

Future

 

Immediate Future

Zone of expectation and activity, where control attempt to create desired futures.

Mediate Future

Zone of wish and hope, where we relinquish control and yet seek specific outcomes.

Remote Future

Zone of Prayer and ethical action, where we recognize a divine energy is needed as well as the true goodness of mankind to ensure an existence.

Adapted from Henri F. Ellenberger, "A Clinical Introduction to Psychiatric Phenomenology & Existential Analysis, in Existence, (2004) Ed. By Rollo May, Ernest Angel, & Henri Ellenberger, Lanham, Md., A Jason Aronson Book.

My hope is that we can begin to realize that chronological time for our clients is a shamanic place for healing.  Journeying to these different places in the past or future can recenter our clients in their point of power - the present.

Below are some examples of how rituals have been used to support individuals to return to their point of power in the present.

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Q & A:
Spirit Canoes and Coffins

Herb,

Are there any other ways of releasing/letting go/clearing out etc. etc. the patterns that hold us captive on our journey toward healing and wholeness, other then the cord cutting, the blowing into a stick and releasing to the fire or the stone blowing technique? I have done them all yet the energy still pops up, same energy with different line. Perhaps it is another layer that has been freed up to come to the surface from the last healing. If possible I prefer to take care of more, go deeper as they say. Thank You.  Going Deeper

A:
In the last few weeks, I have used two rituals to support individuals to free themselves from their frozen present--their remote past. In the first case, the individual was caught up in a personally developed mind-map that led him to the same result--losing his job-- after a brief period of time. He would focus, get the job, then slowly begin to sabotage himself until he was asked to leave. It appeared that he needed to create a new map. It was suggested that he hand carve a spirit canoe from a block of soft wood, like pine or balsam. His task was to think of all the roads in his personal mind-map that led him to the same ending. He started in January of this year and finished in August. His eight month journey led him to realize that he had never found a way to stay fully in the present, fully land in his body. I asked him to create a ritual surrounding the spirit canoe. He noted that he wanted to put several photos that reflected lingering points of his past that needed to be transformed. He added that he wanted the ritual to include all four sacred elements...earth, wind, fire and water.

We decided that we would do a Viking funeral, where he would release the spirit canoe in the local stream with an effigy of his frozen-in-the-past self and some old photos on fire. He choreographed the release from the banks of the stream, only to find that the canoe with its cargo had lost its center of gravity and flipped upside down. With some quiet reflection, he decided to place the canoe on the banks of the river so that he touched the earth, drew on the winds for the breath to feed the fire, and would let go and allow the waters to rise in the next rain and claim the remains of his spirit canoe. As we walked from the river, many old memories released reminding him of the past that he was releasing with immense clarity and a renewed hope to create the life he desired.

In another situation, the frozen and haunting present was blocking the individual from letting go of a Cain and Able relationship with his identical twin. Now in his 60's, he realized that the deep angst surrounding his relationship prevented him from moving forward to create the life that he wanted. As we chatted for some time, it appeared that a death needed to occur. I asked him to create a red cedar coffin, six to twelve inches in size. He would focus on what has served its purpose and now needs to die in his relations with his brother. The sheer suggestion caused a massive wave of energy to ripple through his body. He acknowledged that the suggestion struck a deep chord within him.

In the course of the next few months, the first layer, the haunting present will begin to be brought back into the present as the angst of memories will begin to surface as he carves the coffin. When he is finished and ready to do the funeral, we will begin to heal the frozen past. The combination of speaking the unspoken that has been frozen within him for six decades will start to thaw the frozen past and begin the journey to the present. As he digs the hole and places the coffin into the grave, it will begin the slow thawing process that needs to occur. I expect the process to take several months.

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Find out more about workshops, retreats, and resources at www.onewhitehorsestanding.com.

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Notice

This is a shamanic newsletter and is intended only for educational and informational purposes. Any person needing therapeutic support should contact a mental health professional immediately.