REFLECTION SHAMANIC WALK 2.08.15 AT MT TIBROGARGEN
The theme for the walk was “I belong…”
As we sat, fifteen of us, in circle, and began our sacred greeting, Kookaburra arrived to welcome us, sitting just above the circle. Known for having the medicine of healing and family connection Kookaburra also reminds us of the importance of laughter and having fun. As each person shared, it seemed we all knew well what it was to belong, and to feel like we didn’t belong. This had been a theme that had been strong leading up to the walk, in my client’s, my students, and my own life.
Soon, after a delightful joining in song with instruments, after we left to walk the mountain, stopping first by the permission tree at the entry to seek connection with the inner worlds of nature. The group now walked in pairs as the staff drew us to stop at the first portal. I have noticed that about 85% of the time, the same portals open up each time I take people on a walk, and I was slightly surprised to be drawn to a different portal this time. However the theme was new, the old theme being one of “I trust”, and it made sense that there would be new portals on the journey of “I belong…”
Portal 1:
A tall, young, strong, white eucalypt reaching to the sky, standing out amongst hundred of small, black, burnt trunks. On close inspection there were black charcoal handprints on the trunk, and at its base two little butterflies were etched into the trunk.
The message:
Walk strongly and be prepared to stretch yourself to reach your dreams, brave enough to make your own individual mark as you go. It is time to transform any limiting beliefs that attempt to inhibit you or hold you back. It is time to take your rightful place here on the earth and to shine your truth, forge your own path.
Portal 2:
A blackened, young tree on the path, drawn also to another larger tree in the south-east that Sam described as having ‘bullet holes’, where resin poured out at the tree’s base, like blood streaming from a wound. The tree had a straight trunk at first, but then curved toward a completely different direction. The tree by the path showed nothing much, except for several sharp cuts carved at its trunks. The message:
You may be wounded early in your life, or perhaps carry wounds from you ancestors, but you don’t have to carry the wounds from the path into the future, you can choose to ‘let go’ and forge a new path, and carve your own way.
Portal 3.
A mountain in the south like a women’s breast, and trees fallen all around the side of the pathway.
The message:
We may fall down along the way, but can be sure we will always be nurtured by the earth, always have enough to survive, and the support will come from other worlds, as well as ‘family’, the people who we choose to walk with. Nature is there as well for us all, to guide, love and heal us, and to provide a place for us to come to, and feel we belong.
Portal 4.
A tall straight blackened tree, the brother-partner to the first, and it stood back a little from the path, the opposite way of the first tree we saw. A group of young men walked past, one with the ‘arse out of his pants’ who also wore a t-shirt covered in beautiful birds.
The message:
We don’t always have to be in the foreground waving our flag and leading the way. It just as appropriate to step back and take time to rest, reflect and restore.
Portal 5:
Fallen rocks with scattered wild flowers, including a wild purple orchid, a great gift as it apparently only flowers for a day. As we stood there a little boy walked past with a t-shirt that said ‘Harry is three to go to a good home’. The number three first revealed itself here but while I was aware of it, its meaning took a little while to be fully understood.
The message:
The contrasts of life, and the importance of understanding that we do go through rough times, but to search for the beauty. When we feel we have the arse out of pants so to speak, not to despair, there will be help, opportunities to renew, beauty to be found! Again, nature calling us strongly to find healing and transformation, a place to belong and call home.
Portal 6:
A beautiful large grey tree with a trunk that spilled openly onto the path, filled with green moss, like a perfect landscape to find magic and fairies. There was much beauty here in nature, and a great sense of comfort. A place to belong, and the little boy with his t-shirt speaking of three and home walked past again, his parents lovingly guiding him along his path. An old, wise man stopped by with a yogi t-shirt on to share his personal story of growing up in this place, and how he was drawn back to the mountain.
The message:
At this point, we began to put it together the importance of the number three and how many of our conversations and communications involved three components – to ourselves, to the other, and the wise voice that came from somewhere else. The ‘third’ voice may also be the wounded part of self, the more vulnerable self, and that was ok.
Portal 7:
A dark hidden part of the forest with butterflies surprising them on their path:
The Message:
Search for the hidden depths of life, go deeply, past the woundedness, look for the light beneath the dark, be brave and true and move on, forging your own way, transforming you own life.
Portal 8:
The final stop took brought it all together, speaking of the shadow self and its seductions, acknowledging and allowing our vulnerability. I felt compelled to walk to the tree, like a magnet was pulling me, and place my hand on it. Lifting my hand I saw it was blackened it took me back to the mark on the first tree:
The message:
Though we may walk tall and make our own mark, it is not always easy to feel like we belong, we will be accompanied by the shadow parts of self from the wounds of the path, and our unconscious will always reveal new opportunities to grow and expand. The three levels of Self, conscious, unconscious, and High-conscious, when balanced and understood, can take us home to ourselves. And this is a good place. In this place of awareness, as we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and explore the unconscious which then becomes high-conscious awareness, we know we belong.
From this point, as we continued around the mountain, singing, giving thanks, and sharing out gifts, the people who had been moving past and in front of us in streams, began to stop. They had all at this point taken the same pathway up the mountain – moving in the same direction and turning back at times. However, we began to meet people who had taken a different path, moving around the mountain in an anti-clockwise, sun-wise, masculine direction now.
The Final Message:
When we finally unite the conscious, unconscious, and high-conscious parts of self, when we stop focusing only on our own needs, when we start to share and give freely of our blessings without fear, our dreams will come toward us. We will be met and unified in the belonging through deeper connection, grace, love, and gratitude.
The theme for the walk was “I belong…”
As we sat, fifteen of us, in circle, and began our sacred greeting, Kookaburra arrived to welcome us, sitting just above the circle. Known for having the medicine of healing and family connection Kookaburra also reminds us of the importance of laughter and having fun. As each person shared, it seemed we all knew well what it was to belong, and to feel like we didn’t belong. This had been a theme that had been strong leading up to the walk, in my client’s, my students, and my own life.
Soon, after a delightful joining in song with instruments, after we left to walk the mountain, stopping first by the permission tree at the entry to seek connection with the inner worlds of nature. The group now walked in pairs as the staff drew us to stop at the first portal. I have noticed that about 85% of the time, the same portals open up each time I take people on a walk, and I was slightly surprised to be drawn to a different portal this time. However the theme was new, the old theme being one of “I trust”, and it made sense that there would be new portals on the journey of “I belong…”
Portal 1:
A tall, young, strong, white eucalypt reaching to the sky, standing out amongst hundred of small, black, burnt trunks. On close inspection there were black charcoal handprints on the trunk, and at its base two little butterflies were etched into the trunk.
The message:
Walk strongly and be prepared to stretch yourself to reach your dreams, brave enough to make your own individual mark as you go. It is time to transform any limiting beliefs that attempt to inhibit you or hold you back. It is time to take your rightful place here on the earth and to shine your truth, forge your own path.
Portal 2:
A blackened, young tree on the path, drawn also to another larger tree in the south-east that Sam described as having ‘bullet holes’, where resin poured out at the tree’s base, like blood streaming from a wound. The tree had a straight trunk at first, but then curved toward a completely different direction. The tree by the path showed nothing much, except for several sharp cuts carved at its trunks. The message:
You may be wounded early in your life, or perhaps carry wounds from you ancestors, but you don’t have to carry the wounds from the path into the future, you can choose to ‘let go’ and forge a new path, and carve your own way.
Portal 3.
A mountain in the south like a women’s breast, and trees fallen all around the side of the pathway.
The message:
We may fall down along the way, but can be sure we will always be nurtured by the earth, always have enough to survive, and the support will come from other worlds, as well as ‘family’, the people who we choose to walk with. Nature is there as well for us all, to guide, love and heal us, and to provide a place for us to come to, and feel we belong.
Portal 4.
A tall straight blackened tree, the brother-partner to the first, and it stood back a little from the path, the opposite way of the first tree we saw. A group of young men walked past, one with the ‘arse out of his pants’ who also wore a t-shirt covered in beautiful birds.
The message:
We don’t always have to be in the foreground waving our flag and leading the way. It just as appropriate to step back and take time to rest, reflect and restore.
Portal 5:
Fallen rocks with scattered wild flowers, including a wild purple orchid, a great gift as it apparently only flowers for a day. As we stood there a little boy walked past with a t-shirt that said ‘Harry is three to go to a good home’. The number three first revealed itself here but while I was aware of it, its meaning took a little while to be fully understood.
The message:
The contrasts of life, and the importance of understanding that we do go through rough times, but to search for the beauty. When we feel we have the arse out of pants so to speak, not to despair, there will be help, opportunities to renew, beauty to be found! Again, nature calling us strongly to find healing and transformation, a place to belong and call home.
Portal 6:
A beautiful large grey tree with a trunk that spilled openly onto the path, filled with green moss, like a perfect landscape to find magic and fairies. There was much beauty here in nature, and a great sense of comfort. A place to belong, and the little boy with his t-shirt speaking of three and home walked past again, his parents lovingly guiding him along his path. An old, wise man stopped by with a yogi t-shirt on to share his personal story of growing up in this place, and how he was drawn back to the mountain.
The message:
At this point, we began to put it together the importance of the number three and how many of our conversations and communications involved three components – to ourselves, to the other, and the wise voice that came from somewhere else. The ‘third’ voice may also be the wounded part of self, the more vulnerable self, and that was ok.
Portal 7:
A dark hidden part of the forest with butterflies surprising them on their path:
The Message:
Search for the hidden depths of life, go deeply, past the woundedness, look for the light beneath the dark, be brave and true and move on, forging your own way, transforming you own life.
Portal 8:
The final stop took brought it all together, speaking of the shadow self and its seductions, acknowledging and allowing our vulnerability. I felt compelled to walk to the tree, like a magnet was pulling me, and place my hand on it. Lifting my hand I saw it was blackened it took me back to the mark on the first tree:
The message:
Though we may walk tall and make our own mark, it is not always easy to feel like we belong, we will be accompanied by the shadow parts of self from the wounds of the path, and our unconscious will always reveal new opportunities to grow and expand. The three levels of Self, conscious, unconscious, and High-conscious, when balanced and understood, can take us home to ourselves. And this is a good place. In this place of awareness, as we allow ourselves to be vulnerable and explore the unconscious which then becomes high-conscious awareness, we know we belong.
From this point, as we continued around the mountain, singing, giving thanks, and sharing out gifts, the people who had been moving past and in front of us in streams, began to stop. They had all at this point taken the same pathway up the mountain – moving in the same direction and turning back at times. However, we began to meet people who had taken a different path, moving around the mountain in an anti-clockwise, sun-wise, masculine direction now.
The Final Message:
When we finally unite the conscious, unconscious, and high-conscious parts of self, when we stop focusing only on our own needs, when we start to share and give freely of our blessings without fear, our dreams will come toward us. We will be met and unified in the belonging through deeper connection, grace, love, and gratitude.
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