Sky Signs: Taurus New Moon Conjunction

Well, perhaps it wasn't quite a new moon last night (Sunday, April 26th), but the moon was certainly at a minimal sliver of silver... Around sunset in the west, the conjunction of Mercury, Moon and the Pleiades stood out to the naked eye!

Today, I meditated on this astronomical event more deeply so as to understand it's possible significance(s)...

Of course, the Pleiades is the snake's rattle constellation for the Maya, the portal to their star ancestors. It's importance is magnified at the Summer Equinox when it's apogee overhead marks the half-year point before the mid-winter opening of the Xibalba Be "dark road" portal to the heart of the galaxy (the land of the ancestors).

The moon confers knowledge of cycles, of transformation, of the Dreamtime and of feminine creative energies. Watching over us at night, the Moon initiates us into the knowledge of the hidden rites, of the great secret of being beyond ego self.

Mercury is the messenger, bringing communication to and from the Gods. In many medicine wheel traditions, the messenger of the Spirit realm is the fleet-winged, nearly invisible Hummingbird.

Thus, this is certainly a moment of high connectivity between us on earth and our ancestors. A time of "Thinning of the Veil". To honor this event, I created the image:


It is based upon the celestial locations recorded photographically last night during the conjunction. The Pleiades is above the moon, here shown in it's rattlesnake form. Below the moon and sightly to the left can be seen the small glowing dot of Mercury. This point marks the focus of the interaction between the hummer and it's flower. The plant is a Datura metel cultivar named "Double Purple" which I grew last year, my favorite Datura flower. (Datura, of course, is known as "Devil's Weed", or in Spanish - la Yerba Del Diablo - but it is known to the Chumash people of California, the Mohave, Yuma, Cahuilla, Zuni and others as toloache from the Aztec toloatizn, "to incline the head". It is used to induce sleep, dreams and divinatory visions.)

Upcoming Wesak Full Moon

This morning as I was driving past the local reservoir, I could see the almost mirror-still water through the pine trees. Breaking the calm with just a hint of a breeze, I saw a pattern of interfering ripples creating a sort of expanding checker board effect across the surface. Immediately my inner eye filled with Shri Yantra - the visualization of the sound of creation, the sound of universal breathing in and out: A-U-M (OM).


I continued along the winding road under the tall trees with their reaching branches just beginning to leaf out. Spring. I could palpably feel surging life energy, reaching up from the earth to the sky, tree sap rising from roots to limb, sunlight blessing newly unfurling leaves. Another breath in the cycle. OM.


Today is the Taurus new moon. In two weeks will be the full Buddha Moon of the Wesak festival (in the U.S. held at Mt. Shasta, the sacred heart of the western world; in TIbet held in the Wesak Valley at the foot of Mt. Kailash, the sacred heart of the eastern world.) Wesak is the time of gathering for masters and initiates, teachers and students, a time for celebration and for sharing of creative, compassionate energy. It is said that the Buddha appears to all, dispensing energetic blessings of renewal and well-being. To honor this lunar cycle, I created the following piece:

Healing Emanation

Grandmother Earth Machu Picchu

In his book "Island of the Sun: Mastering the Inca Medicine Wheel", Alberto Villoldo recounts his trance/dream experience of the great Grandmother Apu of Machu Picchu. In this meeting, she taught him how to project his consciousness to merge with that of the condor, to fly high into the sky on the winds of this sacred bird.

Read more of this article posted at ShamanDreaming.org.

"Supernatural" by Graham Hancock

Celestial Banner

Just finished Graham Hancock's "Supernatural" exploring what happened 35,000 years ago that made Homo sapien sapien all of a sudden start creating symbolic representations (art) on the inside of cave walls? More than that, why such strange images that can best be viewed as representing a shaman's journey?

Well, everything gets much funkier as Hancock compare's ancient cave art with modern "archaic" plant medicine practices from Siberia and the Amazon. Then throws in fairy lore and alien abduction. It sounds like a fringe mix of subjects, off-putting at best, but his deeper point becomes an study in how the structural aspects of these disparate experiences partake of a common matrix once the "skin" (surface symbology) is minimized thru a conceptual "x-ray" analysis. Ultimately, the book's conclusions about consciousness and alternative realities are something else quite unexpected!

One conclusion follows that of Jeremy Narby (The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge) ->our DNA consists of approximately 3% coding for genes and 97% which codes for ??? When mathematical analysis is performed on this so-called "junk", it shows statistical distribution characteristics identical to human languages in terms of the "code set" distribution. It has all the characteristics of a constructed semantic system. So it appears as if our DNA is an extended message. To whom? "Us" of the technological present able to decode DNA stands with our machines? Or any human, any where, anytime, in altered states - such as shamans or those who have taken plant medicines? These messages are from whom?

The proposition independently reached by Crick and Watson (co-discoverers of DNA) is that there was never enough time between the cooling of Earth's surface and the appearance of fully functional single celled organisms for the complex system of DNA/RNA replication to have evolved from random mutations and molecular collisions in the "primal soup". On top of that, the DNA system appears almost unchanged throughout all of the phyla of life. Evolution may change physical form, but an organisms genetic mechanism (the DNA/RNA system) has not evolved or changed. The only conclusion that can explain this is that life was introduced to the earth some 4 billion years ago from an outside source. (This is the theory of Panspermia.)

If life on Earth was an alien creation, then it is not a difficult step to envision that the semantic messages in DNA are part of an alien technology to store and transmit information, perhaps forming the basis of instinct, morphic fields, mythic stories, archaic knowledge, and flashes of insight. A technology that can create holographic (trance and dream) experiences. Perhaps teaching us to become human (directed evolution)? Teaching us to enfold ourselves into a symbolic awareness of the world.

Or...

The alternate conclusion (which Hancock leans more strongly towards) is based upon accepting the notion of alternate realities as real. We live in a quantum hyperverse and all it takes is to "retune" the brain (chemically or by ritual) to reach ("read") nearby alternate dimensions - the realm of the spirits, ancestors, plant teachers, fairies, aliens and so forth.

So in this case, the DMT machine elves of McKenna, the power animals and shape-shifting transmutations of shamans, the alien abduction encounters of the modern era, and the fairies of old are all culturally-inflected "skins" placed by consciousness on the extended range of (electromagnetic?) frequencies perceived during trance, trip, dream and death(?)... We are perceiving all of these beings residing normally in alternate dimensions in this multiverse.

The Buddhist vision of endless worlds with innumerable sentient beings is seemingly in agreement on this.

Upcoming Art Show

My piece "Durga Altar" is in the inaugural exhibition of Blue Door Gallery in lovely downtown Yonkers. Opens Sat. 3/28/09 2-5pm.

Note: show is now over. Sorry you missed it!

Newest Ecstatic Body Posture Image

The newest trance image based upon a new moon session last month has just been posted below as an update to the 02.13.09 post. Enjoy! The next posture session in New York area is 2 days (due to holiday) after the upcoming New Moon on Tuesday 05.26.09 - feel free to contact me for further information.

Digital Art of Larry Carlson

Not too much to say here, but wacky psychedelia via flash animation. Check out this one:

Buddha Illusion

On the nature of perception, illusion and hyper-dimensionality: DMT Art

Roger Essig - "DMT Entity"

Alex Grey - "Light Weaver"

"Most folks experience an overwhelming sense of being in contact with one or more entities while under the influence of DMT - entities which are 'natural', unavoidable real, but startlingly alien. Perhaps not friendly or malicious, seemingly insightful & knowledgeable yet beyond emotion. This aspect of the experience is what takes it beyond simple mental pattern projection upon 'quantum perceptual noise'... It's the utter strangeness, the self-contained self-defining self-evolving properties of the experience that makes the entities accepted as 'real'."

- partial (updated) comment that I posted today on "Singing to the Plants" blog in response to Steve Beyer's posting "Thoughts on DMT Art." Check out the samples of great visionary art and read Steve's full article.

Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva

This is an amazing live dance routine by a troupe of Chinese dancers. (Personally, I'd mute the audio as it's not my type of music, but the visuals are astounding!) This is really a powerful visualization experience of compassionate female energy!

Lineage Portraits added to ShamanDreaming.org

Dalai Lama

I've uploaded a series of lineage portraits (some new pieces, some older work), including the Dalai Lama, Terence McKenna, Ram Dass and John Lilly. Also, myself engaged in deity visualizations. Enjoy!

Ecstatic Body Postures - 2009

This posting will be updated monthly to present posture journeys based upon this year's new moon cycles. For more information about Ecstatic Body Postures, read my previous postings (below) and visit the Cuyamungue Institute. If you are in the New York metropolitan area, contact me and I will ask Marianne Carroll, our local group leader, to contact you with details about the next (monthly) circle.

Mayan Whistle Pose

02.24.09 - Pisces New Moon. Mayan Whistle Pose - This is a "living myth" posture - related to the Hero Twins of the Mayan creation story, The Popol Vuh. For this posture, I created a wide golden necklace matching that found on the original sculptural figure. The ceremonial collar is covered in hermetic hieroglyphs, with specific translations as indicated (see collar detail below).

The trance image is a composite of a number of trance experience as reported by the participants: at the bottom right of image is the rattle with "incense" (spirit smoke) coming off of it, producing the vision space of the ancestors (upper panel). We see a circle of 3 ancestors joined together in a ceremonial circle, each of them in the journey pose, and each wearing the golden collar covered in mystic hieroglyphs. Behind them / emerging from their circle is a pillar of fire and water. Within this portal / vortex can be sensed images of attending spirit animals - protectors and guides. We can see a pair of guardian wolves at the top of the image emerging from the smoke, further down in the mid-section, a pair of totem ravens. Thru the fire and smoke rises the (kundalini energy) snake of transformation. Finally, in the bottom left appears a white cave bear appears to ensure the ceremony results in healing for all.

Mayan Ceremonial Trance Collar

Feathered Serpent Pose

01.26.09 - Aquarius New Moon. This is a time of rapid portal openings and energy shifts: a solar eclipse falls on this new moon, followed 2 weeks later by a lunar eclipse on the full moon gateway. Meanwhile, Venus (in the evening) and Saturn (in the pre-dawn) play in the vicinity of the moon over the coming month... The posture figure is The Feathered Serpent, circa 6000BC-2500BC, found in areas as diverse as Bosnia, Siberia, Peru and India. The pose is classified as a Spirit Journey / Initiation pose.

Here is part of my journey notes:

I am in a desert landscape under a central tree - acacia. In the darkness around me I sense, then clearly see, a large number of animal totem spirits circling and dancing... As it becomes daylight, the spirit animals auras become indistinct, almost imperceptible. Yet I can sense them still dancing and cavorting around me in the landscape. The shadows cast by the tree leaves catch my eye - I see refractions of a full eclipse - a myriad of solar "beads" which glint and shine in synchronicity with the sun and moon conjunction in the sky above.

A hummingbird flies up to my ear and whispers "Let go, let it fall away. This is the time of transformation, of falling away, of stripping away the illusion - to reveal something new and unexpected under the old skin. A new world, a new world tree. Let the old tree come crashing down... let the old skin fall away. Do not fear. Help others around you through their fear of what seems chaotic, out-of-control."

The solar shadow play mentioned above is a real physical effect that I've had the pleasure to witness several times in "waking reality" - it occurs because the tree crown's leaf crossings randomly create a thousand "pin hole" camera-like apertures which transmit silhouettes of the solar eclipse, projecting a myriad of sharp, glittering eclipse images onto the ground below in the tree's shadow. The effect is strongest near totality.

Alien Dreamtime live and in color!

I recently came across a blog by Steve Beyer, Singing to the Plants which has a great overview of one of Terrence McKenna's "masterpieces" - the Alien Dreamtime rant, rave, concert.

To quote:

"In many ways, Terence McKenna was a performance artist. With his distinctive voice and self-deprecating humor, he could make even his goofiest ideas sound compelling. One of his great performances took place on February 26 and 27, 1993, at the Transmission Theater, San Francisco, in a multimedia techno-rave event called Alien Dreamtime, which combined McKenna's improvised meditations with the neo-psychedelic visuals of Rose X, and ambient techno improvisations by Space Time Continuum and didgeriduista Stephen Kent."

Near the bottom of the posting is an embedded Google video player which links to a 60 minute recording of the Alien Dreamtime event complete with trippy graphics, great didgeridu and strange tales by the bard. Go check it out!

Shaman's Dream Newsletter

As a new activity this year, I will be writing and sending out a newsletter with my spiritual and shamanic musings, meditations, visualizations and so forth. My goal is to be informative and to share understandings - not to try to convince you of my truths, not because I know something that you do not. Rather, I will be sharing with you so that you too may remember / construct your own stories, your own visions and dreams. Your own truths to live by. Like a Zen teacher, I can only point in a general direction and hope, by this action, to assist you in remembering to open your own inner eye of wisdom and heart of compassion. As each person changes, the world is transformed from illusion to a Pure Land. May each of us be guided and blessed.

January 2009 Newsletter (pdf)
February 2009 Newsletter (pdf)
March 2009 Newsletter (pdf)
April 2009 Newsletter (pdf)
May 2009 Newsletter (pdf)

Note: the pdfs are each saved as one long page (no screen page breaks). When loaded into your pdf viewer, zoom in to normal text size, then scroll as needed.

This newsletter is being sent out with the gracious support of Lindsey Sass-Aurand, a local clairvoyant healer. She has offered me the use of her Hearts of Light Healing Center email list. Click below to sign-up for my monthly newsletter and her other mailings.

Sign up for Email Newsletters

Maitreya - the Future Buddha

According to Buddhist teachings, at some point in the near future, another great Buddha will return to Earth to ensure the transition from a realm of delusion and Bardo to a Pure Realm of Bliss. This future Buddha's name is Maitreya.

In a meditation early this summer I was given a message that the time for major world change would soon arrive. That there would be a sign in the (south)west this fall or early winter which would unmistakably signal the start of the transition period. As I posted yesterday, this sign is obvious to all who take a few moments to look to the moon (in the southwest) at sunset - the conjunction.

Last night I took a photo in which one can clearly see the triangular conjunction with the moon to the top left, to the top right is Jupiter and at the bottom center lies Venus. From this I created a simple thangka of Maitreya as a dharma protector. May the energies of love and compassion guide you and protect you through chaotic times. May wisdom be your light.

Sign of the Times

Tonight, December 1st, look to the southwest sky right after sunset. Beaming brightly through the twilight you will see a tight three-way conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon forming an equilateral triangle. This conjunction will continue to be visible for several days after the first of the month, but the planets and moon will move further and further apart, forming a highly skewed triangle.

The Maya believe that the planets and stars provide gateways to alternate dimensions. A conjunction of heavenly bodies is thus a major focus of energies affecting our consciousness. In the case of the current conjunction appearing low in the southwestern skies, the energies are of opening and transformation, returning to the original roots of creation. Perhaps signaling that the opening of the dark path or "Royal Road of the Ancestors" - xibalba be - to the 2012 transformation has in fact begun!

Who are the players in this conjunction?


Venus is both the Morning Star and the Evening Star. Venus serves as a gateway to the Underworld, its rising and setting are times of dangerous, intensely powerful energies. (For the Maya, Venus is not feminine love but rather masculine action, such as required for warfare or the hunt.)

Jupiter is the Old God, the ruler of solar planets and of royal lineages. He is sometimes referred to as Lord One Death and associated with jaguar spirit. Jupiter is thus the fundamental masculine energy of creation. Related closely to Old God are the figures of Hurakan, "Heart of Heaven" - another creator deity (whose aspects include wind, storm, fire) and Itzamna - the Lord of the Fire, Lord of the Underworld (whose aspect includes the Milky Way).

The Moon is often referred to as Lady White Quetzal or First Mother (with aspects of water, the Underworld, feminine energy). Related closely to the Moon is the goddess of fertility, health and the healing arts, Ix Chel, seen to be a young maiden. However, just as the Moon has a light and a dark side, Ix Chel, the maiden, has another side: Chac Chel, the old crone, whose aspects include death, darkness and the Milky Way (home of the ancestors), as well as being a root Earth Goddess.

What this brings into play, then, is the re-mixing of the root energies of masculine and feminine into a new moment of conception. Blessed by the Ancestors, this conjunction announces a new cycle of creation and transformation.

Terence McKenna on the Mystery of Nature

What is the Archaic Revolution? What is the role of the shaman in the struggle to save the world? Listen up here! (Note: this mp3 clip came from The Psychedelic Salon podcast #159. It is a Creative Commons mix by Waking Sleep using Nine Inch Nail's Ghost album release.)

Yantra of Vajrayogini

One of the most powerful female deity forms is that of Vajrayogini - the Thunderbolt Dakini - whose fierce energy both protects one's dharma practices but also thrusts the practitioner through the inherently dense and difficult to traverse barriers of ego and delusion. She embodies the core feminine energy of necessary creation/destruction in its most evocative form. Here Vajrayogini is shown within a three dimensional Merkaba; she is the master of all forces of creation and duality. She holds a Vajra dagger in one hand (by which to cut through ego illusion) and drinks a skull cup overflowing with cosmic blood (the elixir of enlightenment) from the other hand.

Lady One Death

Lady One Death presented herself to me several months ago during deep meditation. She is a root Mayan goddess, the Mother of All Being (First Mother, the Moon) and is an esoteric form of Ix Chel (the Healer). She serves to actualize and stabilize the energies of the creator god, Itzamna- Giver of Life, Lord of Fire. Her name derives from the codex naming hieroglyph "One Skull" - shown above.

Lady One Death embodies the dark root energy of creation and creativity, a place where death and life are one, the realm of ultimate potential and necessary dissolution. As such, she embodies similar energies to that of Kali and Durga.

Meditations on Lady One Death

Part of my practice to better integrate the Lady's energies has been to work on various thangka images and portraits. Below, I have posted a selection of these meditation images.

Altar of Lady One Death

Totem of Lady One Death

Lady One Death Invocation

Yantra of Lady One Death

The gem seen in these images reveals some of her underlying attributes (symbols within the opal stone): we see an eagle flying, diving, ready to capture it's prey. At the bottom slithers a rattle snake. Between the two floats the rattle itself - a symbol of shamanic journey (rattle), of the Milky Way, as well the time of upcoming galactic Solstice Alignment. The star field behind is that of the Pleiades, home of the Mayan Star Ancestors.

Durga Altar

As part of the Lady One Death series, I created this image of her embodiment in the form of Durga. Here Durga serves as a fierce protector of the Land of the Ancestors at the gates of Xibalba Be (The Dark Road).

Shaman Dreaming Web Site

My new shamanic meditation and visualization website is now live! Please check it out at www.shamandreaming.org.

8.8.8

Lion's Gate

The Helical Rising of Sirius occurs around the end of July or early August. (This year, nominally, the date was August 2.)  The ancient Egyptians set the date for Sirius' heliacal rising as the first day of their new year and the time of the inundation of the River Nile.  Thus this was a time of life-giving fertility and promise, a time of creative destruction and renewal watched over by Sekhmet and Isis. They called Sirius "The Second Sun" because it is the brightest star seen in the night sky. Sirius is one of the 4 (or 5?) root star civilizations which created (seeded DNA of) mankind on Earth. (For interesting contemplation, try Googling "Dogon" & "Sirius"! Also, Google "panspermia".)

This year, the 8.8.8 Lion's Gate opens during a very powerful dimensional gateway for ascension energy attunements:  the Leo New Moon (August 2) falls on a total solar eclipse, with the coming full moon (August 16th) falling on a lunar eclipse.

8.8.8 Sekhmet and the Lion's Gate

Mother Sekhmet - Goddess of Healing & Justice

Sekhmet is also paradoxically the Goddess of the sunset, destruction, death, and wisdom. The cycle of life and death was created when the Goddess Sekhmet-Bast divided into two sisters, Sekhmet and Bast. For shamanic journeyers, Sekhmet is the Guardian of the Gates; no one may cross her on their path to wisdom and the Home of the Ancestors without offering proper respect. She has also been called the Great Dark One, the all powerful feminine aspect of creative chaos and destruction. Thus she shares these aspects with Durga and Kali (Durga's destructive form.)

Temple of Sekhmet

Ecstatic Body Postures

I had this book on my shelf for years, one that looked interesting, but which I had long since forgotten, gathering dust unread. Then one day a few months ago, while cleaning up the bookcase, I uncovered this book once again: entitled "Ecstatic Body Postures" by Belinda Gore (Bear & Co, Publishing.) It purports to be "an alternate reality workbook."

As I leafed through it, I recalled that the premise of the book is that art and artifacts of cultures around the world include figures (figurines) which show a man or woman or totem animal in specific body positions, arms held this way or that, seated, standing, lying down - and so forth. These body postures are gateways to alternate realities, i.e.;  shamanic tools. Anthropologist Felicitas Goodman discovered quite unexpectedly that people who assume these postures while in a light trance (induced by rattle) report strikingly similar experiences. The results of her research show that certain body gestures, positions and movements, with proper intention and context, trigger altered states of consciousness.

Belinda Gore wrote "Ecstatic Body Postures" to cover a diverse set of re-discovered postures as evaluated and tested by Goodman, Gore and others at the Cuyamungue Institute in Sante Fe, N.M. (http://www.cuyamungueinstitute.com.)

 

A second book on the topic covering still further postures recognized and evaluated since the original text is also available: "Ecstatic Trance; New Ritual Body Postures" by Felicitas D. Goodman and Nana Nauwald (Binkey Kok Publications) - available in the U.S. through the Institute.

That same week after uncovering the book in a pile of neglected tomes and feeling a great interest in the topic, I received an email notice that an Ecstatic Body Posture workgroup had been formed in my area, meeting each new moon to partake in a selected posture. The facilitator of this group is Marianne Carroll, who is being certified at the Institute after extensive training and hands-on group jouneying experience.

Maya Empowerment Posture

This is the first posture that I undertook at the monthly workshop, a posture which has been found in artifacts from as diverse places as Mayan, Minoan and Persian cultural areas. It is considered to be a "healing" posture. Afterwards, I decided to transforming the basic posture/pose diagram based upon trance experiences of the assembled participants. The result is this image (above) informed with the energy of Hunab Ku - the one giver of measure and motion - Lord of our Milky Way galaxy and destination of xibalba be (The Royal Road of the Ancestors.)

(In the following postings based upon a New Moon workshop, I have freely quoted background information from the two trance posture books mentioned above.)

Ritual Posture: Mayan Oracle

Mayan Oracle

9.29.08 - Libra New Moon. On the left we see the oracle holding up her hand (which holds an obsidian crystal mirror used for divination). Above her hand are two Mayan hieroglyphs - the upper one for "smoking mirror" (the obsidian gazing device, also denoting human consciousness) and the lower one for "oracle speaking" (or a divination).

To the right center we see the path of the seeker into the forest/jungle... To the far right is a multidimensional projection (hologram?) of the Temple of Inscriptions at Palenque. In front of this appears a symbolic constellation consisting of several Native American petroglyphs - a pair of shaman protectors, an ancestor/ancient one (in the center, egg-like), and a turtle below (recall that the Americas were referred to as Turtle Nation.) The ancestor and shamen are riding on the back of the great turtle - also a symbol of the fecundity and power of Mother Earth.

Ritual Posture: Poppy Woman

Poppy Woman

9.22.08 - Equinox - The figure of Poppy Woman was found in Crete, created by the Minoan civilization circa 1350b.c. She wears a headdress of poppy seedpods, known as "the plant of happiness". Poppy is a source for intoxicants (opium) as well as healing medicine. It is a symbol of fertility, slumber and reincarnation. For the Greeks, poppy is the flower of Demeter, Goddess of agriculture and fertility. This posture, with arms upraised like antennae tuning into the spirit realm, has been found carved on ancient temples throughout the Mediterranean region.

Research indicates that the posture often results in experiences of healing and transformation, as well as death and rebirth (such as by sowing and reaping). In our own group, some common themes included lightning, walking a path between darkness & light, spinning, connection to Mother Earth. Several participants reported sinking into the earth's core (or into the underworld), thence emerging again re-invigorated and full of radiant, healthy energy.

Here is an excerpt from my journey: I am face-to-face with the bear spirit who wraps his arms around me and proceeds to use his claws along my backbone to cut open and totally flay my skin - which he gently hangs up to dry on the cave wall like a coat. I am then instructed to roll around on the cave floor, coating myself with mud. Next I am wrapped in corn leaves like a Tamale. After some time has past, I feel as if I am sprouting and growing into the sunlight. I am a stalk of corn ripe for harvest...

Ritual Posture: Singing Shaman

Singing Shaman Pose

8.02.08 Leo New Moon - Figures carved in the Singing Shaman posture have been found in places as varied as Melanesia and New Guinea to Alaska and Central America. The oldest known figure is from Cyclades Island, in Greece, about 5000 years old. This is a posture in which a sound is intentionally made during trance, affecting people both emotionally and physically, and it is often felt to be intensely healing and heart opening. (The sound vocalization is an short "a" as in "father", repeated on the extended out-breath for the duration of the trance session.) The sound produces a dynamic vortex or channel connecting dimensions.

In my trance, I first noticed vibrant phosphene snakes inter-twining in the sky across the horizon, forming a woven diamond matrix, the fabric of spacetime. Above, high at the apex of the sky, a burning log wheel complete with 4 Navaho Sky Gods riding on each of its four spokes slowly rotated. Under the bright moonlight I found myself transformed into a tall cactus with white fragrant flowers. All around me, animal and ancestor spirits moved about, many joining in the ritual song.

Other workshop participants reported seeing spiraling DNA and similar all-over woven patterns. Many participants spoke of being "at one" and feeling as if there were a multitude of animal spirits and ancestors joining in the trance sounding. Some heard the sounds to become like animal cries, angel's voices or chants and spoken words. Most reported a clearing or opening of their heart chakras.

Ritual Posture: Sub-Saharan Soothsayer

The Nupe Mallam Posture

7.02.08 Cancer New Moon - The Nupe Mallam pose is a "divination" pose of the Nupe tribe. It is purported to provide a wide, all-encompassing perspective on a current issue or problem.

My own trance journey begins with witnessing the Mallam repeatedly tossing and reading a set of painted and marked augury bones. Only the Mallam is not African, but rather a lone Lama hermit in a stone hut somewhere in the hills of Tibet. Behind him on the altar is a crystal skull. He finally gives me a reading in a few short phrases indicating that September will be an important time of change, then tells me to give butter lamp offerings to the skull... The journey ends with a vision of a wide blue lake with a flock of white egrets taking flight over the waters, their reflections shimmering. The positions of the birds echo the 9 major stars of the Pleiades. Thus, I am told this is to be a meditation symbol to use for attunement to the Pleiadian Star Ancestors.

Ritual Postures: Sekhmet

5.05.08 New Moon - Sekhmet is the Lion Goddess, sister or wife of Ptah. She holds the key to sexual energy, especially Kundalini. She is a master of initiation: birth, death, re-birth. Cycles of materializing and de-materializing the world of forms. She is the Dark Goddess of Destruction and the Light Goddess of Creation.

In my journey I see myself as a lily growing in a field. Seasons go by, I sprout, grow, bloom, drop seed and die. Over and over... I become aware that I am looking into a bowl of water - ripples - reflecting the garden outside my window. Around me in the room are dried herbs, flowers and so forth. It is my workshop. Blue Tara is on my altar - The Jewel Tree of Healing.

Ritual Posture: Ecuadorian Spirit Journey

South American Lower World Posture

4.04.08 New Moon - This posture's spirit journey can be visualized as beginning with a descent through a hole, cold damp cave or a stairway to the Lower World of animal spirits. It may be used to locate one's power animal, totem animal, or spirit helper. Reports of healing such as soul retrieval may also spontaneously occur during this posture.

In my journey, a white Snow Leopard leads me through an "A" shaped Inca stone gateway along a winding path to a hidden valley with steep slopes and terraces planted with flowers. In this valley there is a spacious workshop, my herbarium, which I explore in detail. Elsewhere, in the distance, a large crowd is gathering under a prayer flag pole to celebrate Solstice.

Many other participants in this body posture workshop relate stories of animal guides, meeting power animals and removal of energy blocks.

Ritual Posture: The Lady of Cholula

The Lady of Cholula

3.07.08 New Moon. Mars opposite Pluto. Divination posture - The Lady of Cholula is a wise old Grandmother who can give sage counsel to your intended question. (Cholula was an important religious center in the Pueblo province of central Mexico, established by the Toltecs, to later become an Aztec center devoted to Quetzalcoatl.)

In my journey, a old woman waits for me by a hearth. She offers me a small cob pipe to smoke and a small glass of Agave (homemade Tequila). She asks me to call her "Grandmother." She says that I need to learn to relax more, enjoy more. Sit, smoke, drink and tell stories with friends. Enjoy life. She takes me into her backyard garden, refulgent with flowers, birds and butterflies. She says that she plants the seeds, waters the garden, does some weeding. But ultimately, no matter what your desire or intent, the plant will grow in its own way, according to its own internal essence. Let the plant be and simply enjoy its self-expression. Likewise it is with people, especially those you nurture and teach. She then tells me to spend time with the Ancestors and to be certain to return often to sit and visit with her.

Other workshop participants have journey visions of a giant web being spun, the Web of Life, the Web of Causality. Spirit guides such as a black bear transform into the Great Dipper. Around a ceremonial fire, figures trance dance. Magical transformation is everywhere.

Ritual Posture: Bird Man

Bird Person of Veracruz

For Divination and Spirit Journeys.

Shaman's Journey Series

Its all here, folks - vision quests, sacred medicines (ayahuasca, mushroom, peyote, soma), spiritual guides, power animals, flower allies, "xibalba be" (The Royal Road, The Dark Road to the Underworld and the Ancestors), star gates and star ancestors...

Guardian of the Gate

Spirit Circle

Spirit Fire

Spirit Path

Royal Road / Dark Road

Shaman's Gate

Tutiwarai

Spirit Mountain

Spirit Tree

Offerings and Medicines

Offerings

Salvia Divinorum