A Powerful Circle Of Animal Allies. In shamanism it is believed that if we journey through life without the assistance of a power animal or spirit guide we will continually feel lost, be unsure of ourselves, our purpose and the unique gifts that we have to offer the world. We will most likely remain incomplete, fractured and wounded for many years.
Just like in Phillip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' and James Cameron's 'Avatar' where the lead characters all have power animals that assist them in their daily tasks and life passage, we too have such companions, in spirit form, available to us once we learn how to tap into their connection and qualities. If you are unsure of whether you have a power animal or not assisting you, they will most likely make themselves known to you through your passions and dreams. Alternatively in modern day living they can be seen in logos and advertising. If for instance there is an animal that you have been particularly drawn to in your life and have pictures of them plastered all over your walls then this could quite possibly be an indication of your power animal. Otherwise there may be an animal that regularly appears in wildlife programs or when you are out and about walking the land. It seemingly magically appears just when you are turning on the TV or passing its den. This animal is most likely trying to gain your attention for a particular reason and it too could hint at being an animal spirit guide for yourself. If we wish to seek clarification as to whether this animal is our power animal or not we can always take part in a shamanic drum journey, where to the beat of the drum we can voyage through our third eye into the world beneath the surface of the Earth. Here we can see what animal spirits want to greet us within the darkness as we take a subconscious passage into the dream state. Once we start to understand the unique essence of our power animal we can begin to appreciate our skills and attributes that are mirrored through it. Also, as we start to establish a resonance with this work and build a relationship with our initial companion other animals too can start to appear with particular tasks for our existence. Eventually we will be able to build a whole circle of allies to assist us in our quest for wholeness. Where these animals sit within our circle can determine the special message that they wish to bring to us and why they are here to help us at this time. Once we understand about the circle and the medicine wheel itself all begins to become clear. For me I have four main spirit animal allies in my circle, black panther of the West, grey wolf of the North, red stag of the East and orange tiger of the South, or this is how I refer to them in any case. I have a lot of other animal spirit guides too that come along at timely intervals with their own particular mission for me. The wildlife programs and films that I have watched over the years that have most resonated with me have been the likes of Big Cat Diary and Born Free. I have had a fascination with the larger feline animals of the world, especially when deemed to be at large within the UK too, including one that happened to be spotted just yards away from my second parental home some years ago. It was therefore no great surprise to me that when I searched for my initial power animal, a big cat in the form of a black panther presented itself to me within a drum journey. I know her to be my true power animal because she brings with her a healing ability which enables me to use my all seeing eyes to peer beyond the veil and look deep into things and people for the benefit of their own healing, coaching and guiding. She has a very sleek, sensual and feminine quality to her and has been journeying with me for most of my life, largely unnoticed. I have spent a great part of that time under her influence being steered by lunar energy and feminine creative qualities. In my shamanic training however another animal came to assist me in order to bring more equilibrium to my being. The red stag introduced himself to me in no uncertain terms to be the representative of my lesser known masculinity. He was delivered to me in a vivid dream on the first vision quest I took part in. It felt like a life changing experience and for a time he gave me a new medicine name to work with in Running Deer. He helped me journey towards a more balanced perspective on life counteracting the feminine. Another animal that sits in my circle is the tiger which most easily connects me with my passions and emotions. A signature species of the planet the tiger makes me aware of the deep love affair that I have with the Earth itself and all the inhabitants thereof. As a truly beautiful creature she makes me aware of not only her plight in the world but that of all species still alive with her habitat loss and threat of existence at the hands of man. The tiger brings to me a purpose and a passion to all of my work. Finally the wolf of the North sits proudly at the top of my circle and shows me the way, being the pathfinder that he is, his qualities include his strong heart, faithfulness and being of service to the clan that he is most closely aligned with. He, I believe, is sniffing out a new tribe or soul family for me to be a part of. Together they are an awesome foursome who are all helping me to become a more whole and complete individual able to lead his own life more assured of his own qualities, to which I am eternally grateful. In finding your own power animals you too can begin to bring a greater sense of wholeness to your being. Let me know if I can be of any assistance to you in helping you to find your own animal spirit guides by way of a drum journey or any other healing, coaching or guiding session I can take you through for that matter also. If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below.
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The Swallowtail Butterfly I don't know when exactly it was that I first became aware of the true nature of butterflies, possibly when chasing them around the garden at home with my little yellow net, when I was barely able to walk, let alone run, at the age of two. When I felt free. When I was trying to catch the cabbage white, its lime green and black caterpillar having eaten up all of next door's greens. The adult butterfly having emerged from its chrysalis used to flock to our garden resting itself on our dahlia heads or rose bushes in our flower packed beds.
I used to get into all sorts of trouble rushing about trying to catch these dull looking, elusive creatures, a plain white butterfly with the odd black spot on the tips of its wings. I would take swipe after swipe with my ready made trap as I pursued them across open grassland and vegetable patch, doing more damage to the poor flowers and growing harvest than the butterflies themselves had ever done in my attempts to avenge the atrocities their former selves had administered to the plants over the fence. My parents were far from pleased with my antics. One day, having pulled the wings off my umpteenth leaf and petal pest, suddenly something happened to change all that. A wonderful swallowtail butterfly fluttered over the top of the hedge from below our house and danced magically for a few moments throughout the shrubbery bringing with it a new felt warmth into the garden as if it carried with it the sunlight itself. Its brightly coloured coat of yellow, cyan, magenta and black held me in awe of its own unique identity, shining well beyond mine. I would not wish to capture such a creature but just watch it, let it pitch and glide and wonder at it blissfully, as it made its passage through my life and be thankful for the time it had graced me with its presence. In later life I was to learn that this was indeed a rare sight and this experience was well and truly special. Swallowtails are scarce, hardly ever being seen in South West England more commonly being witnessed on the European mainland, although inevitably in decline with habitat loss. Had this one got lost? I wondered. Were they more common at the time? It's hard to believe these days that I actually saw it. Maybe I dreamt it? It certainly left a lasting impression on me. Perhaps it had brought a subliminal message from spirit that I wouldn't truly know the meaning of until experiencing another synchronistic moment like it some 30 years later. This is what I have come to believe in any case. I realized instantly from seeing it, that it was high time I put my net down, no longer to be used as a weapon of mass destruction against my fellow creature. I would celebrate the winged one for all it was, even the cabbage white, who in hindsight I thought had done its level best to emerge from its own destructive past into a much higher being. Who was I to condemn it for that? No, that would be a lesson for me in later life, a teaching about my own ability to transform, one in which I now hope to help others with too, including yourself, in learning what it takes to become a butterfly or a true ally of nature. If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below. My Medicine Shield Back in August 2018 I came to the end of my Three Year Shamanic Training, the culmination of which saw me produce this Medicine Shield, designed to truly depict who I am, even though at the time I didn't wholly realise what this meant. However there were enough clues in the imagery and my final Vision Quest to suggest what it could be hinting at. As I have journeyed in the weeks and months since, the shield has given me much greater clarity, proving to be a great teacher in its own right.
Whereas in the past I have run companies in graphic design, branding and personal development and always chosen logos that in some way shape or form related to nature, there was always something missing, most likely because I wasn't really sure of my own unique identity behind the brand, my own true self. However, this shield truly represents me and my recent journey, it holds all of my medicine power. I know it and love it deeply because it has come from a truly intimate place within my soul, each element being spelt out to me within nature as an essential part of who I am. I shall now carry this image with me, quite literally, for the rest of my life. This I believe is the strength of shamanic training and working with spirit in this way. It gives you this essence of who you are, this understanding, this knowledge, by giving you riddles along the way for you to solve in divine right timing. I had been drawn to include flowers in the motif, for what reason I did not really know but they had been very much a part of every ceremony I had done in nature. I knew this was seemingly a very feminine thing that I had to depict within any would be warrior shield but I just knew they had to be in there somewhere, intuitively, instinctively, they wished to have their presence known. There were the Foxgloves that had stood as guardians in the darkness of a Devon forest, protecting me on one scary, lone vigil night, as I was being introduced to my first power animal, the black panther, representative of all my feminine qualities that had dominated my life to that point. Then again that same flower had stood tall in the full glare of sunlight in a Druid Welsh valley where I received a dream as vivid as you could imagine of my second power animal, the red stag, who started to bring forth my masculine side, so sadly missing from my previous existence. The two animals together would give me the balance that I so desperately needed. Here in the shield too was the Thistle whose seeds had blown continuously through the 'Shedding Of The Skin' ceremony that I had completed within the first 12 months of my training where I left my past behind me to witness my full power blowing on the wind spreading its potency as far as the eye could see. Then there was the Wild Rose itself, which I was still yet to discover its true meaning until only this past week. For this summer solstice I was guided to create my latest flower essence, the Wild Rose. One of the things that I had been given from my last deep immersion in nature in the final days of my training was the fact that I could in time start to work with flowers and flower essences in particular, little realising then how much I was going to love this voyage of discovery once dipping my toe in the water. Signing up to the Chalice Well Flower Essence Practitioner Course back in March is seemingly the best thing that I have ever done. I believe the flowers have heightened my connection to nature and spirit, they have been continually calling me to make essences from them, to understand spirit better through them, so as to frame all of my other work and build a brand to help my fellow 'Allies Of Nature'. Creating my own essences of Blackthorn, Bluebell, Red Campion, Foxglove and now Wild Rose a story has begun to be told of how they all link together and the beauty held within each one of them in their individual qualities. The Wild Rose speaking most highly of a return to source, it being the original rose where all roses have arguably come from, getting back to the real essence of what it is to be who you truly are. Then to live from that place, with a strong heart, seizing the moment, seizing the day, carpé diem, in how you live your life for the rest of your existence. This is what the shield most represents to me I feel that solstice moment of the full sun in the background, being at its height, its zenith, with the masculine stag in the middle ground with all its power and might, and the flowers in the foreground representing the warrior, guardian, protector, with the strong heart. From here comes the pure joy of the swallow, dancing in the sky, and ultimately the swallowtail butterfly itself behind it all, unseen, who helps form the brand of 'Allies Of Nature'. So there we are, that is me, in all my glory. As this shield becomes more ingrained within my psyche and I devote more of my time to be able to work in my element, sure of who I am now. I hope this will begin to reap rewards not only for myself, but for all the people that I am lucky enough to come into contact with to assist in their own personal development and for the rest of the planet also. If you care to comment on this blog with regards to any issues or feelings it brings up for you please feel free to do so below. |
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