Animal Guardians
Here is an exercise to help you
get in touch with one or more of your unknown past or present guardian
spirits. You probably had at least one in the past, or otherwise you would
not have survived childhood's hazards and illnesses.
You have to remember that a single
guardian spirit can appear either as an animal or human in form, but you
will more than likely feel or see the animal aspect of your guardian spirit.
Do this exercise in a quiet, half-darkened
room. Make sure you have moved the furniture that might interfere with
your movements. It will help if you have 2 good rattles. Do not hesitate,
however, to try this exercise without waiting to acquire rattles. There
are two parts to this excercise: (1) the starting dance, and (2) dancing
your animal. In both dances you steadily and loudly shake a rattle in each
hand, and your dancing should be in time with the rattles. While you dance,
keep your eyes half closed. This allows you to cut down on light, and at
the same time, allows you to know where you are in the room.
A. THE STARTING DANCE
1. Standing straight, facing the
east and shake one rattle very rapidly and strongly four times. This signal
means that you are starting, ending, or making an important transition
in your work. (A total time of about 20 seconds.)
2. Still facing east, start shaking
one rattle at a steady rate of about 150 times a minute, standing in place.
Do this for abour about 30 seconds to each of the four directions (rotating
either clockwise or counter-clockwise, depending on what seems better for
you.) As you do this, think of your plant and animal relations in all the
four directions who are ready to help you. Now face east again and shake
the rattle above your head at the same rate for 30 seconds. Next, shake
the rattle toward the ground in the same way. While shaking above, think
of the sun, the moon, the stars, the entire universe. Toward the ground,
think about Earth Mother. (A total time of about 3 minutes.)
3. Still facing east, take both
rattles in your hands and start shaking them at the same rate as you did
in Step 2, simultaneously dancing as if were jogging in place to the tempo
of the rattles. In this starting dance, you are giving proof of your sincerity
to the power animals, wherever they may be, by making a sacrifice of your
own energy to them in the form of dance.
This dancing is a way of praying,
and of evoking the sympathy of the guardian animal spirits.
(A total time of 5 minutes.)
4. Stop dancing, and repeat Step
1. This signals you are about to make a significant change to dancing your
animal.
B. DANCING YOUR ANIMAL
5. Start shaking your rattles loudly
and slowly about 60 times a minute, moving your feet in the same tempo.
Move slowly and in a free form around the room, trying to pick up the feeling
of having some kind of mammal, bird, fish, reptile, or combination of these.
Once you pick up the sense of some such animal, concentrate on it, and
slowly move your body as if you are that animal. You are now touching what
Michael Harner calls the shamanic
state of consciousness (SSC). Feel the emotions of that animal, and don't
hesitate to make cries or noises of it, if you feel the desire. By keeping
your eyes half closed you may also see the non-ordinary environment in
which the animal is moving, and perhaps even see the animal as well. Being
and seeing the animal commonly happen simultaneously in the SSC. (The time
for this tends to average about 5 minutes.)
6. Without hesitating, shift into
a faster rate of rattle shaking and movement, about 100 shakes per minute.
Continue everything else as in Step 5. (The time for this usually is about
4 minutes.)
7. Without stopping, increase your
rattle shaking to about 180 times per minute, continuing your dance as
before, but at a still faster rate. (The time for this is about 4 minutes.)
8. Stop dancing, and mentally welcome
the animal to stay in your body. As you do this, shake the rattles rapidly
four times, drawing them toward your chest. This is a sign that you are
inviting the animal into you. (Time about 10 seconds.)
9. Repeat Step 1. This is the signal
that the work is ended.
For a more powerful transition into
the SSC when doing the above exercise, a drum should be used in addition
to the rattles. For this, you will need someone to act as your assistant
to beat the drum exactly in tempo with your shaking of the rattles. Your
assistant should stand at the side of the room and not attempt to participate
dancing without the rattles, thereby freeing your consciousness more from
ordinary reality.
You Are Vistitor # 
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