Practitioner writes:  "I have done five power animal retrievals now, and only 1 person was satisfied and happy with the animals I brought back. The others were hoping for others. 

Last night I brought back Rock, which seemed unusual but their spirits matched (my client's) in their warmth and compassion, and they (there were several rocks that were returned) were bringing him solidness and groundedness. He tends to be very scattered.

Although he loves crystals and knows the names and energies of countless stones, coming back with a simple grey rock was a disappointment to him. It was actually a family of rocks - father, mother and child, and very beautiful. I can see the relationship but he could not. 

So...is it common for people to be disappointed in power animal retrievals? Am I doing something wrong? 

I offer you this letter from a practitioner because it is a situation that it not that unusual. It helps when our clients have some kind of awareness of the nature of power and the animals connected with it before we actually start working with them to retrieve such power. In a natural shamanic society, people would come in knowing such things. They don't typically come in with this awareness today.

It appears that the client of this practitioner has sparkles in his eyes and is attracted to that sort of thing, and so he is missing the beauty and profundity in what may seem to (to him) to be mundane. Moreover, people do not always have the ability to take what they need... after all, if they did, this would be an extraordinary world, would it not?! One where shamans might be out of a job.

People often have ideas that they need, or even deserve, a connection with something that is not serving their best interests at the moment. It is harder to face what may be more difficult to accept, but what is directly appropriate. Even if an Ant was received by one of our ancestors, or was retrieved for someone today who truly understood the nature of power, this would be received with huge gratitude... how many times their weight can an Ant shoulder?!

Anything that comes back to a person in a power retrieval, returns only if it is needed. Much of the contemporary world so little understands the shamanic paradigm that our necessary education of our clients over such things as power is absolutely critical. This way, they can take over and do the work that shamanism is all about, which is the incorporating and developing of the power that is retrieved.

On the other hand and in all cases, it is entirely up to the client to accept, or not accept, that which is returned. No matter how much a practitioner can see the need, their client may not be ready to grow or heal, and such things cannot be pushed. 

Practitioner:  "I've been working on journeying... I'm having a bit of trouble with my visualization...I was wondering is our visualization coming from a different source? I can definitely get into a trance like or meditative state with music or animal sounds, but visualizing a light or place, is difficult...

...I'm getting a lot of pressure and a headache in the region of what's known as the "Third Eye". I don't know what I'm doing wrong or if I'm just a journeying "dud" or something of that nature... Is this basically a work in progress or am I expecting too much too soon?... I'd really appreciate some insight or feedback... even if its just to say " Suck it up and deal!". <big grin>

The pressure this practitioner was feeling, if and only if it is not related to anything physical going on with their body (that a physician ought to know about), seems like a consequence of trying too hard at something. And, since it is imagination we are referring to here, we know that imagination is not something that can be forced, but rather something that we first allow and then encourage. There is no pressure in visioning. It is just letting our natural imagining happen.

And I am specifically using the words 'imagination' and 'imagining' very purposefully here, because I want to remove any question as to the absolute legitimacy of that imagining part of our mental ability. In fact, it is precisely because we can imagine, that we have the capability to do shamanic work in the first place!

When starting to learn shamanic practices, people often ask me, 'But what if I am only imagining?', as if imagination had a bad flavor to it and that shamanic perception had to somehow be entirely separate from one's personal history, sense of self, etc., as if it was something completely outside of ourselves. 

Such an idea is partly due to the natural inclination of people to look at shamanic work as something mysterious or even spooky, but I think it is also because of some intentional misinformation to be publicly maintained by some who try to puff themselves up as an unusually powerful or mysteriously capable shaman

It is actually precisely because the history, experiences and life of the shaman are there, that the figures of spirit help and the rest of the visions during a shamanic state of consciousness can take shape. When it comes to shamanic perception, the shaman is in a very real sense, both the painter's canvas and the paints that are applied. The shaman knows how to release his or her self-direction enough so that the 'painting' is done less by him or herself, and more by that which is comes from an exquisite and unusually connected relationship with the ordinary and non ordinary realms.

My steadfast recommendation to anyone experiencing any difficulty at all in journeying, is first, trust in oneself, and begin to journey by imagining... and imagine wildly! In fact, don't try to do anything different from how one has ever fantasized or daydreamed in the past. Instead, I always encourage that new journeyers just let themselves 'go with it', to go with the sound of the drum or rattle as it encourages their brain naturally into its peak imaging and creative capability, for it will do just this as this guides the brain into a low alpha, theta brainwave state.

If we have trouble journeying, or encounter (as we eventually will), a student who has such concerns, by all means release everyone of any pre-expectations, and just do what we do naturally, for we all imagine. We simply head into imagination completely, as if all of shamanism was nothing but imagination!

Wow... saying this, I can easily spot consternation rising in the occasional shaman who likes to puff him or herself up as someone special! However, to give oneself such a huge permission as this when learning how to journey is to toss out the false expectancy that shamanic work must somehow not use our native, human abilities. These abilities are the canvas and paints of any shaman throughout history and prehistory, and to claim differently is to perpetuate a falsehood. Our role as a shamanic practitioner is to learn to let these visioning parts of ourselves be used so that they can produce forms beyond our personal interests even as we navigate ourselves through them.

The shaman as a person is just as much a part of shamanic perception as is anything that he or she is able to tap into. It is precisely because the shaman has the ability to produce mental images that the practice of shamanism can happen at all.

It is often said that the shaman 'crosses the bridge' between the worlds to get information or facilitate a healing, yet this is only partly true. Actually, the shaman becomes the bridge itself.