Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
There seems to be a connection between staying in contact with your guardian animal power and staying in contact with your emotions. A kind of shamanic CBT, only nature replaces words, positive spaces of nature replacing the negative and toxic day-to-day.
Yes! This is a valuable insight!
I traditionally think of my Body as my Guru, my teacher. It tells me when my stomach seizes up with stress, or when I’m exhausted from a long conversation. The better I listen, the more it tells me – like what kind of food to eat, or maybe I shouldn’t walk down that street just now.
So now I have to think – the Power Animal, too. Owl tells me to listen and watch for secrets, intuition. Dog reminds me that Love is the bestest thing and loyalty is oh so important. Hawk swoops in when I need to listen, pay attention. Wolf is there when I’m afraid, but want to help the community. Lynx – well, that’s private.
So it’s about ways to connect with – emotions, drives – heck, let’s look at the whole Medicine Wheel: ideas, passions, feelings, and practical considerations.
Wow, thanks for touching on this.
Thanks for explaining Helper, Medicine, Power Animal, and Guardian. They seem to have differing levels of power, but in my own journeys, I didn’t come to them like going up a ladder, with one level of power leading to the next. My first experience was a visual – a human helper and teacher. And then came others, such as Bright. Is that typical?
I’ve done a blog post based on what you tickled out from me here.
I don’t think of it as hierarchical, any more than your brother is more than your mother, or your companion animal is greater than your Power animal. They are all relationships to be approached respectfully, gratefully, and individually. They may have different roles or approach you in different ways. But not hierarchical, even though your life partner is more intimate than your brother, or your Power Animal is closer than your Helper.
I feel sometimes like that kid exploring the mountains without a teacher or guide as I’m doing these journeys. But at least I have some idea of what’s going on now.
Every journey is new each time you take them. You might develop landmarks. One person said that when she hears crickets, it means something special to her. Another says a certain smell repels her or draws her forward. Or perhaps certain characters are more frequent than others, like Bright, or the Guardian.
We’re all travellers, and the exciting part about being a traveller is the journey. Hopefully, you will revisit places you’ve been before – but you will also go places which are new to you.
As you travel, you develop more control and skill. You are able to focus on where you go, or who you want to meet. Even a skilled traveller might find himself in a strange situation and have to quickly adapt to what he finds. It is the nature of travelling.
Chapter 5 – Tending the Datura and the Second Portion
There is more in this chapter about the first, second and third portion of datura.
It has to do with relationship – the first portion is what Don Juan gave Casteneda.
“The second portion is used for seeing. With it, a man can soar through the air to see what is going on at any place he chooses.”
The third portion will be when Casteneda ritually prepares his own root that has been tended and cared for in the ceremonial way.
Note that we do this with our “Middle World Business!” Remote viewing is not limited to the power of a Plant Ally.
Don Juan talks about his initial approach to Datura, which was very similar to my own – he grabbed it, like a kid grabs candy, and it nearly killed him. He tried it again and again, until he had to abandon the path. He says that his approach to Datura meant he could never pursue it as an ally. In his method of introducing Casteneda to the weed as a potential Ally, he is introducing them formally, through ritual and ceremony.
“Therefore you must keep in mind that a path is only a path; if you feel you should not follow it, you must not stay with it under any conditions. To have such clarity you must lead a disciplined life…but your decision to keep on the path or leave it must be free of fear or ambition. I warn you. Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself, and yourself alone, one question. This question is one that only a very old man asks…I will tell you what it is:
“‘Does this path have a heart? All paths are the same: they lead nowhere…Does this path have a heart?’
“If it does, the path is good, if it doesn’t it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere, but one has a heart, the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey; as long as you follow it, you are one with it. The other will make you curse your life. One makes you strong, the other weakens you.”
This “Path with Heart” is the core of the book – it is the section which gets quoted and referred to by other teachers.
So Don Juan and Casteneda go to Don Juan’s Datura patch, and Don Juan asks to be alone with his plants. When they return, they prepare it, root, and seeds, and weevils who eat the plant. Don Juan told Casteneda not to eat while the prepared the formula. They spent the night grinding the root, the seeds, and then the weevils, and making a tea/tincture out of all of these in combination. They leached the water from the root extract, until all that was left was a spoonful yellow paste.
Then, after about 24 hours making this, Don Juan pulls two lizards out of a bag. (vegetarians, warning, trigger alert!). One had its eyes sewed shut, the other had its mouth sewn shut. The blind one was placed in Castaneda’s right hand, and the other in the left. Don Juan told Castaneda that he had to control the lizards. Castaneda was nauseated by this, and Don Juan told him to rub the lizard’s heads on his temples.
The lizards had to come from the area of the plants, and they would see the answer to a question. The one with the eyes would see, but could not tell, the other lizard would tell the secret. And it was vital that their “owner” be friends with them (though that is hard to imagine with the sewing shut of their vital senses!), and that the lizards could only be caught by their friend. He must apologise to them for hurting them, and sew them with agave fibre and a “choya” (cholla) thorn.
You smear the paste on the backs of the lizards and rub them on the temples, and they will show and tell you the Truth. Do this ceremony in the presence of your Datura plant.
He did so, and was sent at twilight to the “crack between the worlds,” where he gained information about the question, he saw an image of the question he was trying to solve, and it unfolded in a narrative that he could understand.
When he came back to ordinary reality, ate, and slept, Don Juan questioned him.
Castaneda thought that what he saw and thought were his own thoughts, but Don Juan corrected him, and told him that the lizard with no mouth had showed him, and the lizard with no eyes had told him. Those were not his thoughts, the lizard was telling him the truth.
Honestly, I think I like the way we do “Middle World Business” better. It is less about sorcery, and more about heart and caring.
Chapter 4 – More about Allies, and a visit with Mescalito
One of the differences between a Power Plant Medicine and an Ally, is that the Power Plant Medicine can be protective. The Ally can give power but cannot protect, but the Power Plant Medicine (like Mescalito) protects and teaches. Apparently what Mescalito teaches, as a Power Plant Medicine, is how to live properly.
I’ve heard this about Ayahuasca, which seems to be more feminine than Mescalito. That developing a relationship with Ayahuasca, practitioners begin to drop the bad habits. This happens instinctively, in a natural way. It just becomes undesirable to continue to abuse alcohol, or you become more deeply aware of your walk upon the earth, and wish to do so more simply, or more gently.
To be protected and receive the teachings, in relationship with the plant, you carry the plant with you at all times.
The chapter goes on, Don Juan takes Casteneda on a journey to gather Mescalito. They fast, and go out into the desert. They ignore Mescalito on the journey out. When they arrive at a cave, they take the peyote buttons, and meet Mescalito. Casteneda actually sees Mescalito as a person, and talks with him this time.
The last time, Mescalito played with Casteneda in the form of a dog (which deeply intrigued Don Juan). This time, he took the form of a man, and talked to him. Mescalito asked Casteneda, “What do you want?” and admonished him to “Look!” and observe the world around him.
Casteneda went back to Don Juan, and after discussing the journey, they packed up to return. This time, they would gather all of the Mescalito that was on their path. Casteneda’s role was to hold the bag. It was very important that the bag never touch the earth – because the peyote wanted to return to the earth, and if it did, then neither Don Juan, nor Casteneda, could ever use the peyote again.
This emphasizes again to me, that in relationship to Plant Medicine, it only takes one insult, one misadventure, one bad experience, for an Ally to become an Enemy, or a Power to become impotent.
As they traveled back home, the bag became heavier and heavier – not because of the weight of the peyote buttons, but because of the urgency that the buttons wished to return to earth. At one point, the bag became lighter, and Casteneda remarked to Don Juan that this had happened. Don Juan said, “It is because we are no longer in Mescalito’s home.”
The took Mescalito (peyote buttons) home to be dried and prepared for Casteneda’s relationship with Mescalito.
Don Juan admonishes him that he must life a truthful life in order to be accepted by Mescalito. A truthful life, he says, is a “life lived with deliberateness, a good, strong life.”
Then, according to various creation myths, the animals became physically differentiated into the forms in which they are found today. Accordingly, the myths explain, it is no longer possible for humans and animals to converse together, or for animals to have human form.”
But it is interesting to note, in early cave paintings and early Human art, that the merging of animal and human is not so distinct.
Egyptian art, for example, frequently blends and animal head (intelligence) on the body of a human.
Before we had taxonomy and compendiums of species – we wondered and dreamed, and in these places the lines between human and animal were blurred.
At the Drumming, I like to describe animals as our Past Selves, what we have evolved from, the traits we can incorporate into our Humanity to make us more Human, the Powers we can Remember to enhance our growth and learning.
Harner speaks of becoming One with the Power Animal. I call this a Gift – the Gift of Transformation or Shapeshifting. Not all communications with the Medicine or Power Animal involve transforming into that animal. We have a lot to learn from walking with the Animal, side-by-side, of gazing into his/her eyes, of listening to his/her song, of dialog – asking questions, and listening, and of exchange of gifts, the formula of: “What do you have for me? What can I give you?”
Other Gifts include Prescience, Far Seeing, Sensitivity to Another Human (often called Healing), Time and Space Travel, The Ability to Choose where you are going, or what form you are travelling in.
For example, you might borrow the wings of an Eagle, without becoming that Eagle. Or you might ride upon the Eagle’s back – and the Eagle may not be your Power Animal, but a Helper to guide you on your way.
I do love the Tlinglit Bear song, and it is true that many Native societies created dances to learn from the animals, and to become those animals during the dance. Probably the highest form of this is in Kung Fu, where the Crane, Tiger, and Snake are manifested in fighting styles and forms.
It’s not carved in stone how you interact with your Helpers, Medicine, Power animals. Transformation is not a prerequisite – though – it is more likely to happen when you have a deep affinity for that animal.
Helpers, Powers and Guardians
Coda writes:
In order to acquire a guardian spirit (usually a power animal) is to go on a spirit quest. This is done in a remote place in the wilderness. Interestingly, many – if not all of us – have had guardian spirits, as it’s thought that in order to achieve adulthood, we’d have to have them. So simply having a spirit helper does not make one a shaman.
The difference lies in how the guardian helper is used while in an altered state. According to Harner, “The shaman frequently sees and consults with his guardian spirit, travels with it on the shamanic journey, has it help him, and uses it to help others to recover from illness and injury.”
It is rare that we have the ability to make a Vision Quest in today’s society.
It is valuable to spend time in the wilderness, alone, fasting. Listening to nature. I remember doing this in my 20’s to consecrate a set of Runes. I listened to the coyotes running, and I was afraid. Looking back now I think about how easy it would have been for me to be savaged by coyotes – I had no fire. It was just me and the forest. I could hear their path below me, I’m sure they could smell me.
But I had no teacher, no community to pray for me. When a young person goes on a vision quest, the community prays for them, that the Vision will come and the young person will return with their New Name and a sense of Identity. I recently saw a program in Arizona/New Mexico which was months long, in preparation for a 7-day Vision Quest – and the community would pray for you while you called for a Vision. This is often the Vision where your Guardian reveals him/herself to you.
So – it seems there are several “classes” of Beings who are around us assisting us at all times. I call them Helper, Medicine, Power Animal, and Guardian.
- Helper
– is any Being, Animal, Stone, Plant who aids you in your Journey in Non-Ordinary Reality and Ordinary Reality. I include “Allies” in this (see Carlos Casteneda Thread where I’m exploring relationships to Allies).
- Medicine
– after you have worked with a Helper for a time, you develop a relationship with them. They may have a special place on your medicine wheel (for example, my Frog comes to me from Sky/Above, is a gift from G-d to me), or a certain role they serve in your life (Wolf helps me teach). Medicine is a deeper relationship than Helper.
- Power
– This is unique to you. Your Power animal is always there for you, waits for you at the boundaries of Non-Ordinary Reality, and accompanies you on the Journey, supporting and guiding you on the Non-Ordinary path. The challenge with Power Animals is feeling them in Ordinary reality. They are there – they empower you to deal with the mundane world – but it is a different level to perceive their support in the Ordinary Realm. This came up in the drum circle last Friday.
The Power Animal may be what Michael Harner is calling the “Guardian Helper.” But it also relates to what Don Juan speaks about Mescalito as being a Power instead of an Ally. It is a deeper relationship, a twinning of souls, that an Ally cannot provide. So it can relate to Plant Medicine, as well.
- Guardian
– Popular New Age lore says we all have Guardian Angels. Michael Harner alludes to this – that we would not have survived to adulthood without Guardians. I have, over the years, seen a Guardian on occasion. My Guardians look human, albeit eccentric. I speak to them often, even though they are frequently invisible. More often, I feel them as invisible presences, and speak to them to help me solve the problems of my life, or help me to understand better, or to bring me the lessons I need to grow.
It is the “Power Animal” or the “Guardian Helper” that I believe comes in a proper Vision Quest. I believe there are other Helpers along the way – I believe that the Universe itself supports us when we seek to better ourselves, and that when we are on a path to do so – synchronicities and events will aid us on that path.
I also learned a new technique recently from a Wise Man in California: when you are entering a new situation, or want to solve a problem which involves others:
Ask your Guides to speak to their Guides to find the best solution for all. I have found this to be highly fruitful, and now practice this on a regular basis. I include it in my prayers and meditation, and also ask on the fly as situations arise.
Aho! (you will hear me saying this on occasion, it is Lakota for “It is Good,” or “I agree,” or even “your prayers are my prayers” and is occasionally translated into “Amen.”)
and
Mitakuye Oyasin (All my relations)
So I think of the Urban Shaman or the Post-industrial Shaman and the different jungles and wildernesses that must be traveled and explored, less trees and more concrete.
Less drum circles and more poetry and writings in blogs and Tweets that connect us in many ways, such as this website. 🙂
I’m I getting too far off subject here? Lol, I’ll try to reign it in.
Hmmm. There is some truth to be found in the concrete and steel world.
But I would hazard that the Truth which will transcend and connect you to others will be found in the natural world, even if only in your Inner Experience.
The Elders are emphasising that we need to connect to the Earth in order to survive the coming disasters, and I have a feeling that urban skills are not going to be much use when we are hungry and fighting for resources.
In fact, it is the “fighting for resources,” which is driving the cities – and is driving the destruction of the planet.
I’m going to take a moment here to talk about what I call “Wizardly skills.”
Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger
Anyone who has come into contact with “the occult,” will be aware that there are magicians. Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, Kabbalists and Wizards. These people learn to control Powers to gain Benefit. They might learn how to bind an angel or a demon to learn its secrets.
Most Wizardly practice, in my experience, involves Power Over, or the desire to Control the elements – and is part of the Sickness we have unleashed upon the planet.
We need, instead, to cultivate Power With.
So the Urban Shaman who works with Spells of the City might gain Power and Knowledge – but is this Wisdom? For me, all Wisdom, the best Tome we have, is the Earth itself, and our Bodies. The Order of the Universe is laid out before us, showing us cycles and seasons, matter and energy, particle and wave, species and habitats, and Health.
I would hazard that most Urban practice – that is – pursuing Spiritual Secrets using the City as a tool – is Power Over work.
I noticed that your Journeys became more – comforting – as soon as the natural elements crept in. As soon as you experienced birds, trees, Frogs. The secrets of nature are as alive in the City as they are in what remains of the Wilderness.
Our nature, our health, is a key to understanding our place in the world and our relationship to it.
I’m not sure that the City – densification, specialisation, consumerism, greed – is the symbol to pursue for that health.
I’m not saying that health isn’t possible in the City – obviously it is. But I reckon that it lies in the pursuit of nature, of balance in spite of the City, not because of it.
- Chapter 3 – Plant Medicine Allies and The Man of Knowledge
In Chapter 3, Don Juan delves more deeply into the plant medicine of Allies.
He speaks of the difference between an Ally and a Power. An Ally is a tool, an assistant, and a Power is something Greater.
Since learning about this in the long ago, I have looked at plants, animals, substances in relation to their affinity (ally) or enmity to me. For example, I may love the taste of licorice candy, but it is not my ally – true licorice root gives my heart palpitations. Conversely, I have a deep affinity for lemon balm, which I love to drink in tea. I see it as a friend and an ally.
In this chapter, we learn that it is vital how one is introduced to the plant ally. The moment a relationship turns sour, that plant is no longer your friend. This is why Don Juan is careful about how he introduces Casteneda to Mescalito and to Datura, which he calls the “Devil’s Weed.”
I remember trying Datura in the 80’s, seeking a vision. I acquired some of the cleaned plant leaf, and smoked it, as I had heard that ingestion was dangerous. It was awful and nightmarish! Therefore, since Datura and I have had a bad relationship, Datura will never be an ally of mine.
It is remotely possible that if I had paid attention to Don Juan, and followed the sorcery of the plant, I might have gained Datura as an ally. The ceremony which he follows for this plant is complex, involving digging a root and carving it into a little man. Taking the little man, wrapping him in cloth and keeping him and “feeding” him (energy? smoke?) and getting to know him. There was a ceremony with the seeds, the root, the leaf. The intent was to take the root.
The ceremony around this plant took months for Casteneda before he was able to try it, and there were levels of trying it. The first root was the shallowest level, and he could try that right away. It wasn’t pleasant, but it wasn’t the nightmare I experienced, either.
The third root was the deepest experience and bonded the man and the plant for life. Casteneda is not ready for this level in this chapter – it was a preparation that would take at least a year, and growing his own plant. This involved the little man carving, and the ceremonies around it. Honestly, I paid less attention to this, as I will never be able to pursue Datura as an ally.
What it does drive home, however, is that plant medicine is not to be trifled with. When I was younger I tried all manner of things, in freedom and innocence – and not with very much respect. I was lucky, very few of these experiments turned out badly. Now I have learned that respecting the plant as if it were your Mother or Father, or Brother or Sister, is key to developing a relationship with the plant. And Plant Medicine is not something you “take” like a consumer – it is a relationship you develop over time.
Take tobacco, one of the holiest plants in Native American Medicine. How many people develop a harmful relationship to this plant? If this is done without respect, or in addiction, the plant will harm you. How many of us, before smoking our first tobacco, approached the plant, and made an offering or a prayer – to ensure that this would be a good relationship? How many of us continued a prayerful relationship to the tobacco plant?
In the last part of the chapter, Don Juan hints at what it takes to become a Man of Knowledge. Don Juan tells us that not any man can be a man of knowledge, that in order to do so he must challenge and defeat his four natural enemies. Each enemy helps with the enemy before, but then must be overcome in order to grow past it.
The first step to becoming a man of knowledge is to learn and grow, seeking clarity, purpose and intent. This will lead him to the first enemy: fear. “Terrible, treacherous and difficult to overcome. It remains concealed at every turn of the way…and if the man, terrified in its presence, runs away, his enemy will have put an end to his quest.”
The man who runs away will not learn any more, but may become a bully or a harmless frightened man. Fear will have killed his craving for knowledge.
To defeat fear, he needs to stand, to not run away. He must defy fear, and in spite of it he must take the next step in learning, and the next, and the next. It is not that the fear goes away, but that it does not change your action or behaviour. Then, as he stands in the face of fear, the man becomes stronger, and learning becomes easier. Clarity is achieved.
The next natural enemy is then clarity. In clarity, the man becomes arrogant. After all, he has dispelled fear and lived beyond it. But this clarity also blinds. “It forces the man never to doubt himself. It gives him the assurance he can do anything he pleases, for he sees clearly into everything, because he is clear, and he stops at nothing because he is clear. But all that is a mistake; it is like something incomplete. If a man yields to this make-believe power, he is giving in to the second enemy, and will fumble with his learning. He will rush about when he should be patient, or will be patient when he should rush…he will be incapable of learning anything more.”
The man who succumbs to the second enemy will become an arrogant warrior or a clown. The clarity which he has earned to this point will never change to darkness or fear again, but his learning will stop there.
To defeat clarity, “He must do what he did with fear; he must defy his clarity and use it only to see, and wait patiently and measure carefully before taking new steps; he must think, above all, that his clarity is almost a mistake…a moment will come when he will understand that his clarity was only a point before his eyes…the power he has been pursuing for so long is finally his. His ally is at his command.” He overcomes clarity with power.
And then he must defeat the third enemy: Power! “Power is the strongest of all enemies. And naturally the easiest thing to do is to give in; after all, the man is truly invincible. He commands, he (takes) risks, and ends in making rules, because he is a master. A man at this stage hardly notices his third enemy closing in on him. And suddenly, without knowing, he will certainly have lost the battle. His enemy will have turned him into a cruel, capricious man.”
“A man who is defeated by power dies without really knowing how to handle it. Power is only a burden upon his fate. Such a man has no command over himself and cannot tell when or how to use his power.”
To defeat the third enemy of Power, he must deliberately defy it. “He must come to realize the power he has seemingly conquered is in reality never his. He must keep himself in line at all times, handling carefully and faithfully all he has learned. If he can see that clarity and power, without his control over himself, are worse than mistakes, he will reach a point where everything is in check. He will know when and how to use his power, and he will have defeated his third enemy.”
When a man has defeated these 3 enemies, there is still the fourth enemy and that is the enemy of Old Age. “If the man sloughs off his tiredness and lives his fate through, he can then be called a man of knowledge, if only for the brief moment when he succeeds in fighting off his last, invincible enemy. That moment of clarity, power and knowledge is enough.”
It is interesting to me personally as I look through my life – I have forged through fear, and become judgemental (clarity). I have been humbled through that clarity, and became cruel (power). I have released that power, and I am now up against the old age, and seeking knowledge against that enemy is a formidable task indeed.
Would you consider a writer / poet to qualify, as they are able to link Inner experiences to the consensual world.
Art is truth.
It can be music, poetry, writing, dance, community, ceremony, yoga.
Anywhere that synchronicity can make the connection between dream and manifestation.
Sometimes, you will get a command in the Lower or Upper World to make a thing. It might be a weaving, or a carving, a drawing, or a piece of music. It might be a poem or a song, a dance, a meal, or a body stretch. It may be making your grandmother’s recipe, and offering it to a tree. The requests of the Lower or Upper World are not always comprehensible – but often a creation is called for, a making, a doing. This too, connects the Lower or Upper world to the ordinary world.
Chapter 2 – Mescalito plays with Casteneda, and becomes apprenticed to Don Juan
After Casteneda found his sitio, Don Juan decided that it was acceptable to introduce him to Mescalito. He refers to the plant as a male person, and says that he doesn’t like everyone.
As a result, so that they can remain friends, someone else must give Casteneda his first Mescalito buttons. Don Juan explains that if he gave Casteneda the buttons, and Mescalito did not like them, then they would no longer be able to remain friends.
So they drive to a neighboring house with 3 Indian men, where 7 buttons are given. He chews and eats them and describes his Journey. He was confused by light and language, it was intriguing the way his focus changed. Don Juan brought him a pan of water to drink, and he was fascinated with the liquid. A dog came and drank from his pan – he knocked the pan away, not wanting to share his water with the dog.
But then the dog drank the water, and he could see into the dog, see the liquid infuse him with power. He got on his hands and knees and drank the water with the dog, and was infused with the same power. The rest of his Journey was him playing with the dog, rolling, biting, chasing, infused with the light power that they gained from drinking the water.
When he came to, Don Juan asked the Indians to tell him how he behaved. The outward expression of his journey was shocking – he had become an animal, running with the dog, peeing on everything, howling, growling and barking like a dog (and scared the actual dog). Casteneda is embarrassed and wants nothing to do with learning about Mescalito anymore
But Don Juan insisted that the dog was Mescalito and that he had never seen Him play with someone like this. As a result, he decides that Casteneda is the One Chosen to receive Don Juan’s knowledge.
He formally instructs him that going to Knowledge is like going to War – that your eyes must be open, and you must walk with fear and respect.
He starts to inform him about allies, which are tools to help him learn. These are plants – but not the Teacher plants like Mescalito. In my language, I would call them Helper plants.
I think that this book is going to focus a lot on Plant Medicine, which is not exactly my focus. It is deeply entwined with shamanism, but I am not comfortable opening people up to different allies.
I’m also open to the possibility that there can be gentle allies, such as mint tea. I’m currently working with a South American tea of the Holly family, called Guayusa, which contains great antioxidant healing properties. It is only mildly psychoactive (contains caffeine), but is gentler than coffee or tea.
It may be, too, that certain foods are allies. (and, if Chapter 1 holds true, there may be certain foods which are enemies, as well)
In my understanding (I’ve never gotten past the first book) the later books of Casteneda are less plant focused, and more philosophical teaching tools. But in order for them to make sense, I want to understand this first one for context, especially in the light of what I have learned in the 30 years since first reading.
Also – the introduction is a justification to his fellow academic anthropologists – as if to say, “I did the field work, this is as well documented as possible!”
Chapter 1 – Finding Your Place
This chapter has stuck in my memory for 30 years!
Casteneda asks Don Juan if he can learn about Peyote. Don Juan asks why. Casteneda says, “To learn.” Casteneda confesses that he wasn’t as interested in the peyote as he was the wide and deep knowledge of plant medicine that Don Juan obviously had.
Don Juan said, “If you were Indian, I would say yes, but you are white so I don’t know.” He said that only certain Indians were attracted to mescalito, and insisted that Casteneda used this name, as it is the name the plant prefers.
“So how can I learn?” Casteneda asks. And Don Juan gives him a puzzle. He says that Casteneda looks uncomfortable where he is sitting. Sure enough, Casteneda had a sore back from sitting on the floor and a lot of tension in his body.
So the puzzle was to find the one place on the porch which gives him energy instead of draining it. “Find your place of power.”
Casteneda rolls around on the floor for hours, frustrated that he cannot feel the difference between one place and the next. He tries different positions, sitting, lying face up or down – and gets no results. After hours, Don Juan checks on him and offers the hint to “use your eyes” to assist your feelings.
Casteneda then has flashes of insight. One spot on the porch is distinctly purple, and another spot is more green in color. He is attracted to the green spot but finds he cannot go to the purple spot. In exhaustion (this has taken the whole night, and dawn is coming soon with no sleep), he lies on the green spot and falls asleep.
Don Juan says, “Good, you have restored your balance.”
Casteneda is confused. “I just fell asleep, that’s all!” So Don Juan tells him to go over to the other spot, the purple one. Casteneda is stricken with hair raising fear, and cannot do it.
Don Juan informs him that the good spot is called sitio and the bad spot is the enemy, and that every sitio has an associated enemy. Being able to find the sitio is the key to well being, and the enemy is life draining. But they always come together, like yin and yang.
As the Wikipedia article above explained, Casteneda spent a lot of his work in pursuit and cultivation of that green light.
It is unclear to me whether the sitio is different for individuals, or if there is one sitio in each place – and if the room is crowded, do we play “King of the Hill” to possess the sitio? Or is there a sitio for me in this room, and a different one for you?
I have meditated on this chapter for over 30 years. I try to feel the places of benefit when I am in a room, but am not always successful. I do know that there are places I find draining and try to avoid them, and in our modern society – these places are myriad! I find the malls and shopping centers to be excessively draining, for example.
When I moved to Australia, I found one sitio on my back porch, and stayed in that spot for most of my first 10 years here. I have struggled to find another place in my house which is as uplifting as that spot.
Where are the places in your life where you feel uplifted, and where do you feel drained?
In the introduction to the book, we hear Casteneda trying to wrap his head around things which nobody can believe.
He tries to retain his “anthropololgical integrity” by taking notes, but the teachings from Don Juan are non-linear, expansive, experiential. I could hear the hushed tones in his writing, as though to say, “You’re not going to beleive this, but – ”
His conclusion in the introduction is that, in spite of how it may appear, Don Juan’s teachings were methodical, guiding the student through a series of experiences which built upon the prior experienced. That taken as a whole, this is a consistent system of teaching, which makes no sense to an outsider, and only makes sense within the context of the experiences of the system. This system is designed to develop the student to the point where s/he can conceptualise, internalise and integrate these experiential teachings.
Shamanism is nothing if not experiential.
Coda writes:
So simply having a spirit helper does not make one a shaman.
There are at least two schools of thinking on this.
One is that only the shaman of the tribe takes the training, does the apprenticeship, and is trained in the tradition of “Medicine Person” of their ancestors. This exclusive definition is that the Medicine Person is the Healer of the tribe, and dedicates their life to helping others.
The other is that we are so cut off from our tribal roots, that the practice of shamanism is available to all of us to reach our highest potential and goal. In this way, any who choose to partake of the Journeys are partaking of, and participating in shamanism.
“Am I a Shaman?” – my own prerequisites are as follows:
1. Have you been to the Lower World and received support from Helpers, Nedicine Animals, Power Animals?
2. Have you acquired solutions or created an effect in the Middle World?
3. Have you been before the Beings of the Upper World and drunk of their wisdom and transformation?
4. Are you able to link your Inner experiences with your Ordinary, consensual world ones?By my definition, if you have experienced the first 3, you are a shaman. The fourth one is a life’s work which, if you choose to pursue, will deepen and teach you the Path of the Shaman.
In my own healing journey, I have learned that as I heal myself, I become a greater asset to my tribe and community. As I learn to heal myself, I gain wisdom that will help others. It seems selfish and counterintuitive that we can help humanity by healing ourselves – but where else do we begin?
Coda writes:
Note that it’s usually the shaman who takes the drug and not the patient. If that were the case with western doctors, western medicine would be a whole lot different! Another difference is the fact that shamanism is very experiential, whereas western doctors get their information from medical schools and the pharmaceutical industry and don’t seem to be able to think for themselves.
Aho! If the doctors suffered under their own medicine, they would not be so keen to inflict it upon others!
The shaman takes everything into himself, and “cleanses” it for the patient and the tribes use. An example of this is the use of Soma, the Amanita Muscaria mushroom. In Northern European, Egyptian, Siberian, and possibly even Vedic traditions, the shaman takes the mushroom (listed as a poison on most continents, albeit a mild one). In his/her body, the mushroom is purified, his/her urine is collected and distributed to the tribe for a long winter’s night communal journey. The urine retains the entheogenic nature of the mushroom, but all of the toxins are removed. The poison is transformed by the shaman into celebration.
I could go deeper into the folklore of this plant medicine, whole books have been written about this. Some say that the story of Christ is an allegory of the life cycle and enlightenment of this mushroom. I have also heard it described as the “burning bush” through which G-d communicated to Moses, or the manna which kept the tribes of Israel alive during their decades in the desert. Others say it is the reason that Santa’s Reindeer fly (they have an affinity for the mushroom), and the reason Santa wears red and white. You will note the prominence of this shamanic plant medicine in faery and folk art.
I believe that this prevalence in culture and art is a remnant, or symbol of its prior use as a shamanic plant.
You can learn more about the lore of this plant medicine, here: Ambrosia Society – Herb of Immortality or at Wikipedia – Amanita Muscaria (there is a lot of material available on this topic!)
That said, plant medicine is a vital part of healing in shamanic practice. The shaman recommends diet, fasting, and often bitter plant brews to purify and cleanse the body. But be assured the shaman will not give you anything s/he hasn’t tested on him or herself first! (unlike Western medicine)
I recognise that not everybody can enjoy Progressive Rock Music!
So here is something for everyone.
It is a journey from Alpha to Theta, through gentle, beautiful music.
Breathe with the music, feel your body relax, and at some point, the music will swell and offer you a gateway into theta consciousness (needed for Journey).
It is not long enough to offer a Journey, but I like the way this music gently guides you through relaxation and into Theta.
