‘ENVIRONMENTAL’ AWARENESS AND THE LUNAR CYCLES

The Shaman is an integral aspect of the environment, and vice versa.  Once the Energy Field Awareness is opened and activated in the Shaman, the world around him becomes an extension of his sensory awareness.  Certain parts or aspects of the world are affected by the Shaman’s activities, for example.

The phases of the moon as it goes through its cycles carry with them a variety of energies which affect the earth in various ways.  Everyone is familiar with the high and low tides, for instance.  Changes in the weather occur in close harmony with the lunar cycles, but in a way which is rarely observed by weather forecasters.  The moon has moods.  Before and after the exact astronomical times of the Full and New Moons, the mood of the moon affects weather, crops, emotions, and all sorts of subtle phenomena.  During the Shaman’s years of training the Energy Field Awareness, to perceive and translate these moods, the Shaman’s body becomes very sensitive.  These moods of the moon carry with them the powers of the world of spirit. 

Sometimes in the Shaman’s work, it is his job to make changes in the world of spirit.  Ritual and ceremony are tools for making these changes.  By attuning to the moods of the lunar cycles, the Shaman learns that it is very convenient to use these cycles as means for organizing the energies of the Medicine Environment, to assure that they will follow a prescribed course.  So the Shaman ties his ceremony to the energies of the lunar cycles.

As I began to re-gather my energies after the departure of my Initiating Allies, or spirit guides, I realized that I needed to begin to practice the art of Ceremony.  There are changes I need to make in my life path, which involve organizing certain spiritual forces which have always been beyond my reach or powers.

Nearly a year ago, I began to participate in monthly Despacho Ceremonies hosted over the Internet by Karen Chrappa, a Shamanic Practitioner in Long Island, NY.  She learned her art from the noted teacher Alberto Villoldo, who teaches the practices of the Q’ero Indians of the Andes.  After a few months, I had observed major changes, and felt the power of participating in these ceremonies.  At a certain point, I was forced to drop out of this series, due to the overwhelming energies of the others she had gathered into the work.  But I had learned some of the basic principles.

So a couple of months ago, I began my own Despacho Ceremonies, and have been very pleased with the results.  This is a very powerful way to organize the energies of the spirit world and integrate them into one’s own life path.  I am still learning about the ways in which the power of these ceremonies affect me and the world around me.

Today is September 22, first day of autumn.  The New Moon was on the 15^th.  I had begun preparations for my Despacho just after the previous Full Moon (the Blue Moon at the end of August).  My intent was to complete the removal of my Allies from my life path, and to heal my soul from the destruction of the Initiation.  As the fifteenth approached, the energies of the Dark Moon had me drained and listless.  I knew I could not complete the ritual exactly at New Moon.  Fortunately, I had done a few ceremonies by that time, and realized that there is no need to be ‘exact’ in these matters.

So I let the energies of the moon carry me.  I did what I could during the very delicate times of the New Moon, and was aiming for three days later, the time of the first crescent.  Little by little, things began to come together, and the ceremony completed itself with ease on that day, just before evening.

The smoke from my small fire was extremely dense and choking at first, but eventually the flames cleared things up and the Despacho was burned perfectly.  I completed the clean-up, and as I went back inside the apartment, my gaze was taken to the window, where I could see perfectly through the branches of the trees, the bright crescent as it first appeared.  A fine omen!

But what was to be the effect of the ceremony?  If it worked, how would the departing spirits react?  They had torn my life to shreds, and I was not looking forward to retribution.

The next day, my email was hacked.  Someone sent a bogus advertisement to all my contacts.  I feared for the worst.  Computer problems are not at all what I needed.  But all went well, eventually.  My spirits are expert at screwing with my computer!

Today, the energies were clogged and blocked.  There were little nasties all through the environment.  But eventually things cleared up. 

This is a time of major changes in the environment, all over the planet.  Here in the Northwest, we are getting our share of the wildfires which have been occurring throughout the Western states.  For days now, the air has been thick with smoke.  This has had the effect of keeping me in a state of relative inactivity, and my mood has been erratic.  As the moon moved from New toward the First Quarter, my energies should have picked up, but they didn’t.  I felt in my energy body that I was suffering the changes of the effects brought on by the Despacho. 

At various moments, I would have a flash of clarity, or a moment of understanding.  My energy body was picking up on the changes inside me, and inside the world of spirit.  I could feel myself regaining a degree in internal integrity akin to how I felt about myself decades ago, when I was a ‘normal’ energy entity.  But there were times of incredible power that came from me, in ways that hadn’t happened before.  I felt I was at last gaining my energy identity as a Shaman.  I no longer felt compromised within by the energy signatures of my Spirit Allies, who had incarnated inside my body so many years ago.  The Medicine in my yard seemed to be responding now to my own energies, in ways they hadn’t before.

I am preparing a new Despacho for the Full Moon, in which I hope to gather even more of my energies into the new physical awareness that I can feel inside me.