A Shamans Journey
Soundings:
the Shaman's Journey
How can we use the creative, projective, and energetic
quality of words and sounds to aid a shamanistic journey?
We are trying to extend and explore the edges of consciousness for its own
sake, as a part of being human; to see if we can acquire knowledge, skills, and
insights to help in dealing with our own personal problems and those of the
human community at large. "Ordinary" consciousness may be too narrow
and limited to solve problems, personal and human -- shamanism implies a
willingness to go further afield, to explore and extend the mind in an
unconventional way.
For those interested in shamanistic practice, this means to experience
modern variations on some of the most ancient and widespread of human psychophysical
practices, dating back (on the evidence of artifacts) at least 35,000 years.
Practices whose aim is to deepen knowledge of existence, penetrate some of the
mystery of life, and bring help to others. This is what shamanistic practice
has traditionally been about in almost every society in which it is found. But
can a practice so ancient and developed in early human societies very different
than our own be useful, and if so how? This may be a question best approached
experientially, as we do here.
Here is one shamanistic practice:
It presupposes little in the way of belief, although a plethora of beliefs,
ideas, and perspectives are associated with shamanistic practices. This
practice, like a kind of meditation, should not offend anyone's beliefs -- from
I make rattles, and teach rattle making, which influences my work. But you
can easily modify this exercise to fit your own practice -- use a drum instead
of a rattle, or nothing at all.
Rattles have several advantages for shamanistic journeying, but the central
one that concerns us here is the ability to keep rattling during a journey --
drumming is considerably harder to maintain. If you have a drummer to accompany
you, the way many shamans do in primal cultures, or if you have group support,
a drum is perhaps better. Ideally you can rattle with the drummer, and then at
the appropriate point lie down and stop rattling while the drumming continues.
Most of us don't have a drummer to work with, so many people use tapes.
While rattles work better with this exercise than a drum, it is most
important to be doing something kinetic with your body, drumming or rattling,
at least at the beginning of the exercise -- even if you use a tape of drumming
to accompany you.
I suspect that for this particular exercise it is better not to use tapes; I
never use them here, though I do use tapes occasionally with other practices.
One reason is that variations in rhythm naturally occur within the exercise.
You don't want to be tied to a rhythm on a tape. The use of the voice makes the
variations in rhythm larger than in other practices. If you do use a drum keep
the drumming soft, you do not want the powerful ringing sound that works so
well with groups. Keep tapes of drumming low as well.
I spend hours working on the sound of rattles, and have my own approach and
theories. If you watched people making rattles in one of my workshops you'd
find them spending as much time listening to the rattles they are making as
working on their design and decoration. But you don't necessarily need an
elaborate rattle -- a friend of mine put some stones in aspirin jar and shook
that; it worked fine for her. Only after a couple of years did she switch to a
rattle she had made.
The small, black, egg-shaped rattles filled with shot widely used in
children's musical performances can be bought for a few dollars, and have a
good, clean sound. Some rattles sound terribly dead -- you lose more energy
than you get from them. It's better to use something cheap, but lively --
although too lively can also be a problem. Click sticks work well, so does a
sistrum for most practices. I don't use them with this particular exercise.
Begin by sitting as close to a relaxed meditation posture as you
can. Sitting back on your legs or legs and a small pillow, knees forward, may
be the best posture -- an old injury prevents me from using this posture very
much. Otherwise sit in a comfortable meditation posture, your back reasonably,
comfortably, straight. Unlike Zen or other meditative practices you don't have
to sit still, and you probably won't sit still. Shift your position if you need
to. Don't try to sit in such an extreme posture that you are uncomfortable --
there may be reasons to do so with certain forms of meditation, but not with
shamanistic journeying. Most people have the easiest time with journeying by
lying down on their back; if you do use a tape it's probably easiest to shift
to that position at some point.
Use any "helper applications" that work for you -- fasting,
incense, reduced light, darkness, sitting facing the sun, a candle, whatever --
or use nothing, if you prefer. Dance or shake out your body before beginning if
you like. Do Tai Chi, yoga or other exercises. If you do Tai Chi, try doing the
last round breaking up or improvising on the movements. No drugs or
psychoactive chemicals are needed; you've already got the psychoactive
chemicals you need -- your brain is filled with them. You are
psychoactive chemicals is one way of looking at it.
There are extended discussions about which direction to face and what to
wear and so forth. For what it's worth, my advice is this: If it's an issue
about which you are debating unprofitably, drop that concern and go on to
something else. If you don't have a "feeling," a fairly clear and
strong intuition that you should sit facing in a particular direction, leave
the issue aside and work on area you do have a feeling for. The same is true of
something someone else seems terribly convinced of, but can't explain in such a
way that you can share the conviction.
This is why
We're highly differentiated individuals in the Jungian sense, not members of
a shared tribal society or tradition-- our practice will, in all likelihood,
become highly individualized, and not generic or "core." Such
knowledge has to come from the practice itself or from the "right
theory," if one is sure what the right theory is!
Kabir has a good portion of the truth, at least when it comes to a practice
like shamanistic journeying, when he says:
"What
Kabir talks about is only what he has lived through.
If you have not lived through something, it's not true."
trans.
In any case, you do need to lower your visual input in some way. You can --
but don't need to -- close your eyes or tie a handkerchief over them, but you
do need to at least half close your eyes or unfocus a bit when you begin.
Vision tends to fix reality, you are intending to un-fix it. Imagine that you
are shifting from a "specific point" in time and space to a kind of
floating point.
Don't overprepare the session. Something is likely to be wrong -- kids
outside will make noise, it will be too hot or too cold, or your nose will
itch. What I've found works best is to either try to ignore the problem or work
with it, but if it becomes a serious distraction, then give in to it and go on.
Scratch your nose, check the clock if you're worried about the time -- then get
back to chanting. Often people set up too elaborate rituals for this work. If
you find you are spending more and more time getting ready, but the practice
has less energy -- simplify.
Begin to rattle or drum. It can sometimes take a few minutes for the rhythm
to be established -- sometimes as long as ten minutes. At some point when it
feels appropriate, begin chanting. In this practice, we are using
"speaking in tongues" as a process. You can use copied sounds, bits
and pieces -- Native American, Indian, Middle Eastern -- whatever comes. Borrow
and use whatever you need. Be motley! Chant words, sounds, "nonsense"
-- whatever. You are exploring sounds and words, pushing them and moving them
-- and listening. You are looking for words or patterns of sound that
have some depth, energy, or power, even if you can't understand why they have
it. The process may even become funny for a moment, or silly. You can come to
dead ends, just be aware that a pattern has dead-ended and move on.
No one can tell you exactly how to do all this. It's an active, creative
process. You are not following somebody else's pattern. You are creating your
own pattern. For this particular practice, avoid a structured chant. It will
take you to a particular "place" or nexus. And besides, you'll have
simply chanted something someone has taught you or told you to chant. How will
you know the reason for doing it? Eventually, you must find your own ground (on
your own) to do shamanistic journeying, because you are entering an area where
shared, discussed experience is not strong, and doesn't define reality.
What you are after is an active and creative process coming from or through
you. Don't chant a phrase unless (however derivatively) it's come to you
personally. We're trying to use "speaking in tongues" effects to
encourage a journey. We don't have to have a theory of "speaking in
tongues" for the purpose of this exercise. We don't claim to be speaking a
genuine, unknown language.
When you begin chanting, it may seem awkward at first. You'll probably get
in a pattern of inhibiting the sound's movement in particular directions, of
shifting directions by will. It will not seem organic or unified. This
something that you just have to work with.
When you have used the rattling to synchronize kinetic movement and sound,
and you have put something out into the space around you with your rattle -- or
called something in, however it seems to you -- this will help.
We tend to think of space as three material dimensions, but for the purpose
of these exercises, music changes the structure of space; smell can change it,
mood even. Music can change a cell into a garden, a prison into a continent to
wander. Try to think of space as not physical place and placement, but a
multidimensional modality. This will help the chanting process. Your rattling
and chanting is gently alternating the psycho-physical space you are in. And
you have your "helping applications" to assist you. Fasting
intensifies the sensitivity of the senses and concentration, for example.
Put as much into your chanting as you can. You can think about some slight
you've received at another time, a new true love, etc. during the rest of your
day. The old Zen image is to mediate as if you were going to get gold as your
reward. How hard would you try then is the question they ask. You won't be able
to force attachments out of your consciousness here, any more than in any other
activity. Try to chant as fully as you can or you are wasting that portion of
your time and effort. On the other hand don't worry about results. See what
happens.
You are not trying to achieve anything -- at least not at first -- try to
explore without a fixed goal. If you're not planning to tell anyone about your
experiences for entertainment, there will be no need to re-imagine them as more
dramatic than they are. It's best to share such journeys only in a
"democratic" situation to avoid the temptations of competition for
exciting descriptions and over-interpretation. What will happen? Expectation
clutters and interferes with the process. (even though it seems we're telling
everything these days) You are looking for the chant to "take on a life of
it's own," just as a character in a book may seem to exist beyond the
pages, beyond the story you are reading, so that you can clearly imagine them
doing something which the author hasn't described.
At some point you may feel caught up in a kind of current, like a river.
There's much talk about what happens -- imagery and so forth -- but this is the
clearest signal in almost all journeys. The song is beginning to sing the
singer, the book beginning to write itself, the bike no longer needs peddling,
the glider is free of the lifting craft. That's when you know. It's not
exciting visual imagery in itself.
The chant will take on a life or energy (and forms) of its own. New sounds
or tones in pronouncing words will appear. Again, it's this push -- you're in the
stream or feel yourself "flying" -- that is most characteristic of
shamanistic practice. Just as with other shamanistic exercises, you needn't
worry about awkwardness. The chanting will then take unexpected turns -- words,
sounds will occur. Enjoy, but listen carefully.
At some point you may begin to think, intend meanings. Begin to mean things,
or ask things, or dialogue or explore words widely. For example, try names (but
continue to chant.) This separation of meaning and intention -- and the words
or sounds being chanted -- can be valuable in freeing the imagination and
opening the self to imaginal experience. The unexpected can occur.
You may find yourself in a different location, and find that it's not you
chanting --or not just you chanting. Sometimes this other chanter
(helper, friend) will have a "familiar" (in the ancient Greek sense),
or form-energy icon ( power animal) or.... It's then that you can attain an
extension of consciousness, or the senses, or a change in consciousness. Don't
try to make this meditation overlong. Don't worry about resistances, it just
means you have a strong ego or grounding. Schizophrenics might have an easier
time, but becoming schizophrenic is not shamanism. It is similar in some ways,
but you don't have to become schizophrenic, or crazy, or more
"wounded" than you already are to do shamanistic work, despite what
you've heard, said or seen implied. Also consider that in trying to acquire
"power" out of pride, you are going to put yourself, sooner or later,
into a very worried, unhappy state. You may end up in a paranoid
"universe" that's not much fun to inhabit-- to put it mildly.
Go to silence at some point; continue drumming or rattling or listening to
the drumming tape until it seems appropriate for practical or internal reasons
to stop. It's possible that you may have to use other shamanistic techniques to
fully end a session, although I think not. This mildest and gentlest of
exercises -- no drugs, no drawing of energy from the darker side of life.
This exercise, when done regularly, will vary with your state of mind like
everything else, but it will also deepen and become more complete.
It can be done alone or with a group. When done with a group, it needs to
modified intelligently according to the situation.
As a practical matter, this exercise unlikely to survive in the presence of
strongly negative individuals, raging skepticism, or perhaps even the hostility
of even a single participant. Try to limit group exercises to the sympathetic
or open-minded. They don't have to believe anything in particular, or even that
the practice will necessarily work, but they shouldn't be hostile to it.
Don't use this exercise to entertain anyone. On the other hand, remember
that to reasonably sane non-participants, a bunch of people chanting
"nonsense" in a room can seem pretty strange...to say the least.
Expect that reaction -- it is reasonable -- and be discreet.
The exercise is not going to work for everyone on a given day. Ask those
individuals for whom it's not working to concentrate on rattling or drumming,
to put as much energy in to the circle as they can for the others to journey
with. Indeed, if the exercise does not work for you, at one time or another,
and you are alone, simply imagine that someone is trying this mode of
journeying, and drum and rattle to help them.
Stephen Williamson
