I continue feeding my mind with tales of the amazon and shamanism in general. Yet another concept that keeps popping up is that of journeys to the lower & upper world and meeting with plant spirits and power animals.

Disregarding for now the question of whether these are "real" (separate, independent) entities or not (but feel free to talk about that if you have something interesting to add), what do you say about starting a thread describing such encounters ?

Have you met PS/PAs in your travels ?
Can you summon them at will ?
How have they been useful in your life ?

Do they usually identify themselves, like names for instance ?


I'm interested to see what comes out of this inquiry

yes
sort of
yes.

Mind elaborating, jamie ?

I've read elsewhere that some people consider it best not to discuss these things with others.. if this is your stance could you make it clear & elaborate on why you think it's better that way ?

main ones are an owl, and what seems to be an eagle..

Other random or infrequent ones are things like a fish and even a strange asian man who is master of moving through some kind of dreamlands..he can call up different songs that allow him to walk off into other worlds and tried to teach me how to do this..wish I could revisit that trip..ayahuasca can do many weird things.

I am vague because this does not, and should not mean much of anything to another person. It is a personal experience for me and that fact that this goes on is just another thing that you have to accept when doing this kind of stuff,whatever the reality of it may be. I was never really big on the whole animal spirit thing until I started to see this same owl fly up and stare into my face over and over right before I would be absorbed into the medicine.

I experience them in that I see them and empathize with them during my psycedelic experiences..... The animal I commonly see is an Owl, funny coincedence.

I also see jauguars alot..

I feel the idea that humans can have animal characteristics has alot to do with this..

I personally believe our power animals are chosen by higher entities.
The way these entities choose our power animals for us is by deciding what animals we remind them of the most characteristically speaking.

jamie is right when he says it's hard to describe becuse it's a personalized experience.

SgtWOW said:




also...




So your saying power animals are the same or similar to Demons/ predatorial beings etc...
According to you whenever I see a vision of an animal it's trying to conquer my soul?


I'm afraid this view seems terribly mis-guided and under-informed.

I have a brown bear that has walked with me as long as I can remember in my dreams and reveries. He has always been there to give me strength and protection when I need it, and I suspect he will be with me till I die.

Other animals come and go for various reasons and with various messages and lessons, both in the physical and non-physical realms. It's really interesting to take the animist approach and try to decipher what the world is trying to impart to us. I feel like a lot of people tend to overlook the messages our plant and animal brethren carry to us everyday. I feel deeply that taking this approach to life is what they mean when they say to "walk in beauty".

There are a couple books I highly recommend by fellow named Ted Andrews called "Animal Speak" and "Nature Speak" that are really great resources if you are into this kind of thing.

Interestingly enough, most of this doesn't come through in my psychedelic experiences. I have experienced the jungle on ayahuasca and had the stereotypical encounters with snakes and jaguars and monkeys and parrots. I have felt the warm embrace of mama aya and the wisdom and power of grandfather cactus, but I've never had the kind of personally meaningful encounters I do in my dreams and meditations with the power animals. I assume it's something that just needs to be developed. I always feel like I'm kinda just along for the ride with the psychedelics, but I know the masters of these allies can navigate these spaces with full control and use the medicine to invoke these encounters and do this kind of work. Learning this level of control is one of the big reasons I feel compelled to make the trek to work with these maestro's of the medicine.

Thanks for starting this discussion, I'm excited to hear more peoples experiences with these things.

Foxes seem to be connected to me. I see them more than any other obscure animal.

I think it has more to do with the intrinsic characteristics of the actual animal. For instance, call upon the courage or 'heart' of a lion. The cunning of a fox, the empathy of a dolphin?, etc.

My opinion is that the power animals that 'belong' to you are dictated by genetics. For instance, James Taylor has a 'bird of prey' look to him, and holds much the same revery people have for eagles. People share 'shades' of characteristics that are more prominent in their animal allies.

I am personally much more interested in plant spirits. "Plant spirit shamanism" is an excellent book on the subject. I've healed multiple diseases with my plant allies, which are typically local plants.

Traditionally, shamanism doesnt work without spirit allies, since they are considered to be the actual healers, and the shaman simply acts as a mediary between the spirit helper and the diseased person.

Offerings I found are also an integral part of the spirit ally connection. Making personal sacrifices, for me, typically makes whatever plight I have more effectively eliminated.

Great thread, deffinately worth looking into things like this!

Edit: As far as psychedelic experiences go, I've never really seen a 'power animal' except for a snake and flesh eating microbes haha. I think the ayahuasqueros view the many different color patterns to be spirits. There are some that are friendly and make you comfortable, and there are others that are not so nice. Interesting to think about though

Sweet guitar btw nex. Dean Koa? Got one myself

I once had a dream when I was a small child that was so real, I didn't realize it was a dream until after I woke up a second time. It was very fleeting, but I dreamed that I opened my eyes slightly while still laying in bed, and a tiger was in my room staring at me. I felt extremely warm, comfortable, and protected. I went back to sleep thinking it was real. His/her name was never revealed, and I haven't seen it since, but it felt to real to just ignore.

As far as plant spirits, they are essential to my psychonautical journies. Sometimes I am just along for the ride and to enjoy the experience, but when I'm getting down to some serious introspective buisness, I always ask for protection and guidance from the spirits of the plants I'm using.

[quote=sgtWow]




I agree with you, however I believe if a person cultivates his/her perceptual abilities to the maximum then it becomes impossible to be decieved by masquerading dark entities...

I will have a look at the link, thanks and take care.

I never had any encounters with plant or animal spirits until Peru. My first aya ceremony I was engulfed in anacondas but then never saw them again the rest of my time there. I was told this was a good omen of things to come and it sure seemd to be having such a life changing experience there.

After my first month there the shamans had me bathing in water made up of colendrulem (sp?) and after 1 week the spirit of that plant came to me in a very powerful experience. I was first taught how to communicate telepathically back and forth and then how to tell the difference between the spirits voices and my own as well as other chatter which i assume were other spirits just there for whatever reason.

On another ceremony I met and walked with the spirit of Cappi in a special experience which I wrote about somewhere in the aya forum. Funny thing was it was a male figure not female like I normally read and heard about. Both experiences were very powerful and left me a bit confused as to what I believe is real.

You must understand my time there was quite moving and changed the way I see everything in life. Id like to write about these changes soon but have not had the proper free time to do so being so busy preparing for my permanent relocation to Cuzco in just a few weeks.

In short I entered the small village a believer in such things as plant spirits but after the things I saw, and things I learned I left Peru confused and leaning towards non belief.

There were many hours of integration and contemplation that brought me to this point and Id like to spell it out someday because its interesting. Its not everyday a man goes to the jungle a believer and leaves an atheist not because no contact was made but because so many contacts were made in ceremony.

I seen this thread a while back, but couldn't post in it. Now that i have full membership i would like to share.


For a while my Changa sessions were getting a little stranger than usual, felt like I was just tumbling through hyperspace more lost than usual. Everything was dark and webby,
So, I had a plan to go in with the intention of maybe finding a guide to help me.
I bought a white candle earlier in the day, before I started smoking I lit it with the same intention of finding a guide or helper.
During the session, at first it was the usual dark and webby like visuals. I peaked my eyes open to look at the candle and try to focus on my intention.
I closed my eyes but the light of the candle stayed behind my eye lids and grew brighter and brighter. The light formed into a large Hummingbird made of bright light. The dark webby visuals disappeared, as this thing hovered in front of me.
I felt my spine straighten my head tilted upwards and a rush warmth and tingle shot up my spine. The Hummingbird was saying, not in words but in emotions or telepathically that it wanted to be my helper. That it could help me live more in the present moment, to find joy in the little things in life to be at peace with myself and to learn to love life.
Being in this things presence was amazing.
I could feel it slipping away, like we were both on currents going in opposite directions.
Before it left, My mouth opened and out came this weird sound involuntarily.
Kind of like an “Ooh, Ooh, Ooh, Ooh, Ooh”. It let me know that anytime I needed the things that it can offer all I had to do was use this call and it would come.

I had dreams of hummingbirds for the next two nights. I also felt a great peace and had a lot of energy. It definitely had an effect on me. For example, the next day I felt very child like, I spent a couple hours in a bubble bath, blowing bubbles into the air, just amazed at them, and giggling to myself. Which is something I probably normally wouldn’t do.

Since I keep dreaming of them and couldn’t stop thinking of them I decided to do some research and see if they meant anything. I was surprised at what I found,

“When we assume hummingbird consciousness, our life becomes a wonderland of sensuous delights. We live for beauty, delighting in flowers, aromas, fine mist, and delicate tastes.
When it becomes our totem, the hummingbird teaches us to laugh and enjoy the creation, to appreciate the magic of being alive, and the truth of beauty.
Hummingbirds awaken us to the beauty of the present moment. As they dance the four quarters of embodied existence, they bring us medicine to solve the riddle of duality. They also awaken us to the medicinal properties of plants.”
From here

Theres more if interested. here and hereand here





I would never of thought that a Hummingbird would come to me. If I had to pick an animal it would have been something like a Raven, An Owl, Panther, or a Wolf,
Ya know, something tough and Cool? Ha ha..

But after doing some research on it, the hummingbird actually fits my personality very well. And I like the things it symbolizes.

Thanks for reading!

First experience with DMT @ https://www.dmt-nexus.me...spx?g=posts&m=287795 and a blue dragon in November of last year got me wondering if it really was the Year of the Dragon (and I had a funny feeling)... It makes sense that 2012 actually is.

The blue dragon I researched; it may signify freedom and independence and a the sign of the coming spring. They are they are the symbol of the East. All powerful yet totally unpredictable. The Dragons are the free spirits of the Chinese Zodiac. 2012 is the Chinese year of the Water Dragon or Black(Dark Blue) Water Dragon. The Dragon is the only mythological animal of the 12 animals that represent the Chinese calendar.

FURTHER RESEARCH WAS INTERESTING TO ME:

Etymologically, "derkeîn = "to see", and originally likely meant "that which sees", or "that which flashes or gleams" (perhaps referring to reflective scales). This is the origin of the word "dragon". (See also Hesiod's Theogony, 322.) ..."water-snake", which probably comes from the verb δρακεῖν (drakeîn) "to see clearly".

Dragons of the East:
Like these other Asian dragons, most Japanese ones are water deities associated with rainfall and bodies of water, and are typically depicted as large, wingless, serpentine creatures with clawed feet. Gould writes "the Japanese dragon is "invariably figured as possessing three claws". The Japanese dragon also represents the meaning of freedom and being fearless.

DMT is also said to be a water spirit...

I did not know (consciously at least) that it was to be the year of the Water Dragon; or that Dragon might also mean 'that which flashes or gleams" when I met the shining thing. Just today, spurred by this thread, I found out that my lucky element happens to be Water according to Chinesefortunecalendar.com .

I for one would like to see more about this! When you find the time do share with us.

You're moving to Peru? That's amazing! I hope to find some time next year to go have that experience with the native shamans

Ive been taking a lot of time as of late to ponder the things I experienced. I can not deny what my own eye saw these incredible healers do.

Yesterday at the Museum of Natural History in NYC I spent much time in the South America room remembering my time in Peru and looking at the full size replicated scene of a medicine man healing a sick person using ayahuasca and shamanic practices.

Although I personally do not believe at all as they do that magic darts casted by evil spirits or brujos are the cause of sickness and death I must say it certainly seems that "removing" these psychic objects does give relief to the sick and at times cures to disease. Ive seen it with my own eye's.

What makes my head hurt is why? Why does this seem to work?

When I was in my second month in the village I wanted to drink alone in my room but was advised against this. The reason stated is that it was dangerous. Dangerous because of the brujos in the area would travel through the spirit world looking for un protected souls which I would be if i drank ayahausca alone and not in ceremony. I had a hard time fully believing this.