We all are aware that emotional states
can effect health. Stress is acknowledged to cause backaches and
ulcers. Shamans believe that your emotion takes the form of energy and
can be stored throughout the body and eventually lead to illness. So
you store your stress or anger in your stomach, or you get angry and send your
anger out at someone. We can see this if can remember a time when
someone's anger or sadness seemed to have an effect on a room: "her anger hit
me like a blow" "you could cut the tension with a knife."
The energy that can be stored in the body does
not have to be from anger but could be from other reasons as well. In the
shamanic mind there is no distinction made based on where the energy came from.
The shaman sees that the energy does not belong there and removes it.
Other types of misplaced energy could be the
energy left behind from an injury. Someone sprains his/her ankle and an
energetic injury may remain which could perpetuate weakness in that
location. Organ transplants is sometimes an instance where shamanic extraction is
needed. Shamanically everything has a soul, so the heart transplanted
from another may still contain energy from the organ donor. This energy
may or may not be compatible with the heart transplant recipient. If its
not,
the shaman would remove the 'displaced' energy that is adding to the body's
rejection of the heart so that the rejection will be less severe.
As you can see in the organ donor example,
misplaced
energy is not good or bad, it simply does not belong there. Because it does
not belong there it causes illness or weakness in the body.
The Extraction: Finding and Removing the
Misplaced Energy
The shaman will first enter a shamanic state of
consciousness to diagnose and find where misplaced energy might be in the
body. This change in consciousness allows the shaman to see in a
different way, to see what is going on energetically. The shaman will perceive
the energy in some way that will indicate to her or to him that it needs to be
removed. It may appear to shaman as black sludge, or as an attacking
snake, have a smell, or be felt as heaviness. The way each shaman perceives that there is misplaced energy
varies, but there is always a signal of some kind which says 'this does not
belong here.'
Once the shaman has located the misplaced
energy, he or she will then merge fully with their guardian
spirits or power animals. This increases the shaman's power and allows
them to remove the energy. It also protects the shaman from taking the
energy into her or his own body during the shamanic extraction. This
increase of power allows the shaman to pull the energy out, as if he or she
has a stronger magnet to pull with. If the shaman increases the power of his or her magnet
sufficiently to overcome the displaced energy's hold on the body, it can be
removed.
Depending on the shamanic practitioner and the
nature of the displaced energy this can be a very quiet process, or some
practitioners and especially in native societies the extraction can be quite a
show. The shamanic practitioner merged with a power animal may
move similarly as his or her power animal, or may make the sounds of her or
his animal. For instance if the animal is a snake the practitioner may
hiss while removing the energy block. If you are interested in having an
extraction you can discuss this with your shamanic practitioner, and they can
perform the extraction in a way that you feel comfortable with.
In addition, sound instruments may be used,
such as a rattle or a
drum, to increase the power or the energy of the "magnet." The shamanic
practitioner may sing to maintain her or his shamanic state, or to increase
her/his power during the process.
The shamanic practitioner will dispose of the
removed energy in various ways. She may transmute (transform) the
energy into a more positive life enhancing energy. He may place it in
water and have the water neutralize it.
Once the extraction is performed the shamanic
practitioner will fill the void that is created by the vacated energy in the
person's body. The practitioner may replace it with healing energy, perform a power
animal retrieval, or perform a soul retrieval. The shaman will not leave
a void for other energy to fill.
Protecting Yourself
If you want to be proactive in avoiding
misplaced energy in your body there are various thing you can to. To
protect yourself from outside energy you can imagine yourself surrounded by
protection. One commonly used method is to envision yourself surrounded by
a blue translucent egg that allows only positive energy in and allows energy
back out. This can surround you as you go about your daily life.
If the environment is severe, or someone is combative you may wish imagine a
brick wall for that time.
When you are feeling negative emotions it is
important not to ignore them so that they will be stored in your body.
They need to be expressed and allowed to leave your body. You do not
want to send them to others either, so you can request that as you express
your emotions they are transformed into more neutral or healing energy by the
universe or your guardian spirits.
There are stones or other objects which are
considered to absorb negative energy. If this appeals to you:
Heavy leaden stones are thought to absorb energy, such as granite, galena,
hematite. There are stones which transform and lighten energy such as selenite, calcite, and quartz. A dark purple amethyst may make a good
protective stone. Moldavite will transform the negative into positive,
and has been known to get physically warm while doing so (this stone can be
expensive however.) You can have the stone in your pocket, wear it as a
pendant, or place it on the desk where you work. People who engage in
this practice will clean their stones with water, or place them in a sunny
window to clean up any
energy that might get stored in the stones. (Selenite does not need
cleaning.) If you feel your stones need
a more radical cleaning they can be buried outside to be healed by the earth.
Stores that sell these items are often listed under "Rock Shops" in the yellow
pages.
If you would like to remove some of your own
intrusions, visualization can be helpful. As you drink water imagine it
filling your body and transforming misplaced energy. Or you can go swimming and imagine
this. Lay out in the sun and imagine it melting away your intrusions and
filling you with glowing healing energy. Just be sure to imagine
something replacing that which is removed.
Healing Extraction Song
This is an example of an extraction healing
song which is sung in the morning to the sun, each line is repeated 4 times
before going to the next as shown here:
Morning Sun, Morning Sun, Come my way, Come my
way
Morning Sun, Morning Sun, Come my way, Come my way
Morning Sun, Morning Sun, Come my way, Come my way
Morning Sun, Morning Sun, Come my way, Come my way
Come my way, Come my way, Take my pain, Take my pain
Come my way, Come my way, Take my pain, Take my pain
Come my way, Come my way, Take my pain, Take my pain
Come my way, Come my way, Take my pain, Take my pain
Take my pain, Take my pain, down below, down below
Take my pain, Take my pain, down below, down below
Take my pain, Take my pain, down below, down below
Take my pain, Take my pain, down below, down below
Down below, Down below - healing waters down below
Down below, Down below - healing waters down below
Down below, Down below - healing waters down below
Down below, Down below - healing waters down below...
