guides Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Wind Spirits

Judging from the faces appearing in the clouds as torrential rains approached us earlier tonight, I’d say we’re being visited by some distinctly opinionated wind spirits.

I can’t, and am not going to, venture to guess what messages these wind beings may be bringing us, but I do think it would be wise to heed them if we can. It’s possible they’re bringing each of us our own distinct message.

A Storm “Blowing” In – Photo: L. Weikel

For instance, you may look at the photos accompanying this post and think, “Of course I recognize the West Wind swooping down to clear away my fearful thoughts.” Meanwhile your neighbor may look at that very same photo and sense, “I need to have faith. I see and know that benevolence is looking down on me. I may be buffeted now, but this will pass.”

And then there’s the odd rectangular clouds that also preceded the wild and woolly torrential rains that hit us about ten minutes after I took these photos.

I have a couple of gut-level senses of what that cloud formation might be saying. But I’ll leave you each to your own interpretations.

Photo: L. Weikel

Working With the Winds

I think I can safely say that I am a middle-of-the-road person when it comes to oracles and interpreting signs and omens. What I mean by that is that I don’t make it a habit to rely solely on other people to interpret the messages that cross my path or come directly to me. But neither do I eschew the guidance or wisdom tools available to us that are designed to help us interpret our encounters with the numinous.

That’s one of the reasons I like to quote the books provided by authors of certain oracles or tarot decks. Some interpretations feel especially ‘tuned in’ to either the cards themselves – or – perhaps it’s just that they have similar sensibilities as I and so tune into the messages and articulate them in ways that feel natural to me.

Whatever it is, I like to approach discernment of messages in a balanced manner. I trust both my own intuition as well as the interpretations of others, provided they resonate with both my head and my heart.

Winds of Spirit

One unique and distinctive aid to helping us interpret the messages of the Winds in particular is a book written by a very dear friend of mine, Renee Baribeau. Her book is Winds of Spirit, Ancient Wisdom Tools for Navigating Relationships, Health, and the Divining*. This book is a valuable and unique addition to the field of augury and interpretation, and provides a wonderful compendium of Wind Beings that have been known to cultures across the world for eons.

I make no secret of my approach to the world, which is that there is sentience in everything. The Winds of the world have waited a long time for people to wake up to the fact that they are capable of being in relationship with us. This book provides us with ideas on how to enter into conversations with the Winds. Those chit chats could change your life.

* Affiliate link

(T-521)

Tested to Trust

I find myself tested this evening. Tested to trust that it is time to share with all of you a topic that’s popped into my head at least a couple of times recently and asked to be shared.

Funny thing is, it begs to be shared, yet I worry that, by sharing it, I will dilute its power and effectiveness. Quite the conundrum, I suppose.

Starting With a Blank Slate

I’ve discussed in other posts how I’ve gradually embraced the practice of actively eschewing ‘knowing too much’ about my clients before having a session with them. Remarkably, to my mind, I’ve found that the less I know intellectually about a person before a session, the more ‘blank’ my slate is with respect to them – hence, I can sit in Sacred Space with a person and allow their story to unfold without any preconceptions.

My sense, as I’ve allowed this practice to deepen in the 15 or so years that I’ve been engaging in shamanic work on behalf of other people (i.e., not just for myself), is that this is a rare experience for a client indeed.

No preconceptions. No chart or notes to review. No test results. No referral slip.

Just us. Just us and the cocoon of energy and palpable comfort and support that comes with the arrival of invisible allies, ancestors, guardians, and guides.

Usually, upon listening to the interweaving of my client’s life experiences, I detect the thread that’s appeared in one way or another, in and out of their life at various times, and which now either needs to be removed altogether or at the very least transmuted.

I can attest to the joy and astonishment I feel each and every time I see the light dancing in my client’s eyes at the conclusion of a session. I never take for granted that the ‘magic’ will happen with this client. (Any client.) Because in truth, I have no control over what happens in a session. Oh yeah, I control the outward stuff: I’m the one who opens Sacred Space, who establishes a sense of safety and confidentiality with my client. I set the tone by explaining that they can ‘start anywhere’ in the process of telling me about themselves – and reassure (or is it terrify?) them that we will ‘go everywhere.’

And I can use the skills I’ve developed and cultivated – probably all my life (and in many others, I suspect) – to hone in on that thread that holds the recurring pattern that now yearns to be addressed and is the reason my client was urged to set up an appointment with me in the first place.

When the Magic Really Happens

But really and truly? The magic happens when they stop talking and I go into another mode altogether. I stop talking, too – at least, as Lisa.

It’s not that I can’t hear myself speaking (when and if I do, which is never the same from one session to the next) when I begin the actual shamanic aspect of the session. I can. But it feels like it is coming from somewhere else.

And I’ve learned that I need to write down as much as I can – whether it be what I am speaking out loud or, more often, what I am being shown or told just outside or on the edge of this reality – because very similar to having a powerful dream that you think you will never forget, the sights, the sounds, the stories that I’ve experienced rapidly disperse like a wisp of smoke at session’s end.

Tested to Trust – a Leap of Faith

Each and every time I ‘move my client to the floor’ (which means we conclude our conversation on the comfortable chairs and couches in my office and my client joins me on the floor, face-to-face, initially, to work with the stones in my mesa) it is a leap of faith. It is placing my trust in Spirit to guide me on how best to work together with my client’s soul to effect the shift or healing in their life that is for their highest good.

Wow, once again, I started out intending to write about one thing, and something else obviously wanted to be expressed. Indeed – that’s sort of what I intended to write about to begin with!

Wait, what?

(T-1074)