Month: November 2024

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The Road of Trials

road of trials

This week we rejoin Coyote on the Road of Trials. When last we saw him, he was in the process of escaping the cave and his time in the ashes…

Glad to find that he was not dead, Coyote looked up to see what had become of the dancers. The cavern was empty. All that remained of the fire were the dying embers. The tribe of two-leggeds was gone, and with them the haunting music. Not knowing what to do next, he decided to leave the cave, but as he turned to go back the way he came, he saw that the path behind him was blocked. The opening was no longer there!

In a panic, he ran around the chamber looking for a way out. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light of the embers, he spied an opening on the other side of the embers, and he made his way towards it.

The passage was narrow, and he had to crawl to make his way down. It seemed to go on forever. Just when he was at the point of thinking that coming into the narrow tunnel had been a mistake, he saw a faint glow at the other end of the passage. Steeling himself for what might lie ahead, he continued to crawl towards the light. It grew brighter and brighter, until he found himself outside of the cave, standing in a valley.

There in front of him was White Buffalo Woman. Her right hand held the torch of magical fire. She greeted him once again, and they both sat down on the snow-covered ground while she kindled a fire with her torch. The fire was bright. The snow reflected the light of the flames, giving the landscape a beautiful yet ghostly appearance. Coyote watched the light of the fire twinkling and reflecting off the new-fallen snow. As the fires blazed, she began to teach him about the road of trials ahead.

The Road of Trials: Ashes Time

“He who angers you conquers you.”

-Elizabeth Kenny

The Road of Trials begins with what the poet Robert Bly calls “Time in the Ashes,” or “Ashes Time.” Spending time in the ashes leads one to realize that sometimes things get worse before they get better. As the spiritual seeker’s old identity is stripped away in the Belly of the Whale, there is nothing yet with which to replace it. To a spiritual seeker, this katabasis may feel like the end of the world. Sometimes it manifests as a sense that one’s entire life has been meaningless up until this point. Author Richard Bach, in his bestseller Jonathan Livingston Seagull, describes this feeling best:

“I gave my life to become the person I am right now. Was it worth it?”

This knowledge leads to the feeling that one’s life is out of control. Feeling out of control can lead to anger, especially regarding our relationships with other people. When we feel out of control we most often take it out on the people we care the most about. This is often the first step on the Road of Trials.

We often forget, however, that if someone has the ability to anger you, then that person just controlled you. If you allow others to “make” you feel angry, you have relinquished control over your own emotional well-being. Similarly, anger is often the result of failed attempts to control others. By analyzing our beliefs about control, we learn to manage our moods so that control is no longer an issue on the Road of Trials.

Once there was a sculptor who was famous for his carvings of animals. Of all the animals he carved, his elephants were the most lifelike and inspiring. One day an art student came to him and asked him the secret to creating such beautiful elephants.

“The answer,” he said, “Is simple. You just get a block of marble and chip away anything that doesn’t look like an elephant.”

When difficulties arise in our relationships, it’s usually because we’ve set out to carve an elephant, but we suddenly find ourselves carving a bear or a donkey or some other animal instead. When this happens, we’ve gotten caught up in the details of living, and we have lost sight of our original goal, the elephant. The way to get back to carving the elephant is to realize that we cannot control others. We also cannot control what life throws at us. What we can control is what we believe about what life throws at us. That ability to change our beliefs to get the results we want is the secret to escaping the cave.

Share Your Thoughts on the Road of Trials!

Have you walked your own road of trials? What was the experience like? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Journey to the Otherworld: Awakening

journey to the otherworld

The journey to the Otherworld in the Way of the Coyote is a quest for knowledge and wisdom within your unconscious mind. On your journey to the Otherworld, first, find a place where you will be undisturbed for the duration of your journey. The journey itself may be as long or as short as you like. If you’re participating in an Ecospirituality group, your instructor may have a specified time for the journey. If doing it on your own, you may do it for whatever length of time seems appropriate.

Such a journey is best undertaken outdoors. I’ve had some powerful visions while camping alone in the woods, for example. But you may also engage in spirit journeys from the privacy of your bedroom if you’re not able to be in a natural space. If you have to be indoors to do this, it may help to have recordings of nature sounds to play during the meditation. You may also bring in some plants and place them in the area where you plan to engage in the meditation.

It may also help to make the journey more authentic to what our ancestors may have practiced if you are able to create some sort of representation of the womb of the Earth Mother. This could be a tent, or a blanket over your head, or even a sweat lodge if one is available. A word of caution first: Don’t attempt to build a sweat lodge of your own without instruction from an expert! People have died in improperly constructed sweat lodges!

Journey to the Otherworld Meditation

When you’ve selected your space and determined the length of time for your journey, follow the steps below.

  • Begin by grounding and centering. Do not go any further until you are fully relaxed and clear of purpose, with a firm and fixed intention.
  • When you are grounded and centered, meditate on what parts of you are “dying” and what parts of you are being “reborn.” What of your old life do you wish to leave behind? What areas of your new life as a shaman do you wish to grow in? What does this symbolic rebirth mean to you?
  • To access the Otherworld, you must first cross the waters. Water symbolizes the mind, and the depths of the sea represent the vast depths of the unconscious mind. When crossing the waters, I find it helpful to visualize myself in a boat upon a calm sea. Gradually the boat moves into a fog that becomes thicker and thicker. I then will the mists to part, granting me access to the Otherworld that lies within my unconscious mind.
  • The way to enter the Otherworld is to begin by knowing you are already there. Picture every life consciousness in the Universe as a silver thread. See the silver threads stretching out to infinity, forming a web of infinite probability. This Silver Web represents all possibilities in all worlds and all universes. Consider the purpose of your journey here, and ask your own Supernatural Aid to guide you to the proper thread to find the answers you seek. Take the thread that stands out to you and follow it until it leads you to the purpose of your journey.
  • When you have arrived at the knowledge you seek, follow the silver thread back to your body. As you return, allow yourself to gradually become aware of re-entering your body. As your body comes back to you, breathe deeply and slowly become aware of your surroundings. When you are ready, open your eyes, remembering the knowledge you have gained.

After you have completed your own death and rebirth rite and meditation answer these reflection questions:

rebirth journey to the otherworld
  • What were you dying to or leaving behind of your old life when taking this rebirthing journey to the Otherworld?
  • What was being born in you in your new ecospiritual life when taking this rebirthing journey to the Otherworld?
  • Assuming you conducted this rebirthing rite in an outdoor space, what elements of nature assisted you in completing the journey to the Otherworld? Were there any signs or omens in the natural space in which you conducted your meditation? Examples of such “omens” might include animals behaving in ways that attracted your attention, or any other sights, sounds, aromas, textures, or unusual experiences that seemed to call to you?
  • Did you use any sort of music while undertaking this journey? If so, what did the music add to the meditation? If not, what did the absence of music add to the meditation?
  • In what ways are you a new person now that you have been reborn to your new ecospiritual life?

Now that you have completed your time in the ashes, you are able to be reborn with new spiritual eyes. You are no longer seeing the world through your old assumptions and perceptions. You’ve learned a new way of seeing and a new way of being in the world.

This newfound vision will help you as you continue on the Road of Trials that leads you to your new, ecospiritual self.

Share Your Thoughts on the Journey to the Otherworld!

What was this experience like for you? Let us know in the comments below!

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Conquering Fear: Death and Rebirth

death and rebirth

Death and rebirth are necessary parts of new beginnings. Before you can be reborn as a new person, you have to die to old ways of being. Throughout the world at various times and in various cultures, there have been shamanic traditions. One of the tasks of the shaman is to commune with the dead. Another is to journey to the Otherworld (or the Underworld) and to bring back knowledge. Most, if not all, shamanic traditions have some sort of initiation rite in which the candidate “dies” to his former life and is reborn to the life of the shaman.

These death and rebirth rites usually took place in some sort of representation of the womb of the Earth Mother. The Hopi tribe used kivas for this purpose. In ancient Europe, there were many earthmounds. One of the largest of these is Brú na Bóinne in Newgrange, Ireland.

Some Celtic tribes engaged in a ritual called “bull sleep,” in which the shaman ingested psychoactive substances and wrapped himself in the hide of a bull while seeking visions. Many Native American tribes used sweat lodges for such a purpose.

No matter the form the rites took, they were symbolic of the rebirth of the shaman into his new role. Such a rebirth followed a phase of preparation and purification, then a period of sensory deprivation involving an earth mound, tent, leather hide, sweat lodge, or other representation of the womb, and finally a re-birth into a new life.

There is usually a feast prior to the rite. The candidates do not eat at the feast, nor will they eat for the entire period of their initiation, although they may ingest plants or herbs to enhance their visions. This practice of fasting is common among many shamanic traditions.

death and rebirth sweatlodge

Amid the dancing and the drumming, the candidates are admitted to the central chamber of the mound. There are no torches or other light sources, so the candidates await the journey in total darkness. The journey into the darkness of the mound symbolizes death and burial. This is consistent with the technique of sensory deprivation used by many cultures throughout the world.

When used in this manner, the senses are deprived of stimulation to achieve a state receptive to visions and dreams. Lacking any outside stimuli, the mind turns inward. When turned inward in this manner, freed of distractions, the mind makes contact with the collective unconscious shared by all. It is a time when the candidate may call upon his or her Supernatural Aid for guidance.

Many shamanic practices use three days and three nights for such initiations.

So the petitioner finds himself (or herself…there is also a large history of female shamans) in the center of a burial mound, in total darkness, calling upon her Supernatural Aid to guide her to the Otherworld. The petitioner may spend up to three days and three nights communing with the spirits of the Sacred Ancestors present with her there in the womb of the Earth Goddess.

On the third day, at dawn, the candidate emerges into the sunlight, marking the first time in three days that she has seen any light whatsoever. This also marks the first time she has seen the Sun with her new, shamanic eyes. She leaves the chamber, sometimes crawling through a narrow earthen passage like an infant struggling to be born, so that she may share the sacred wisdom of the vision with the rest of the tribe.

This rebirthing exercise will allow you to experience your katabasis in the Belly of the Whale by engaging in your own ritual death and rebirth. The idea of sensory deprivation, or of stimulating certain senses while repressing others, is a useful technique when engaging in vision quests of this nature. Music is one of the tools used most often for this purpose.

Anything from rhythmic drumming to flutes to symphonies may be used when seeking visions. To employ this method, lie comfortably, preferably in darkness, while allowing the music to take you. Allow the notes and the rhythms to create landscapes in your mind. If you are doing this workbook as part of an Ecospirituality group, your instructor may hold a drum circle or other rite for such a purpose. If doing these death and rebirth exercises on your own, you may select or play your own music.

Prior to your own rebirthing rite, you may experiment with isolating and stimulating merely one sense at a time. For example, try shamanic meditation while sitting in a dark room with incense burning, or gaze at a single lit candle, or lie in a warm bath. Another influence on shamanic journeying is the position of your body. Try this: Sit cross-legged on the floor or the ground with your hands resting on your knees.

Notice what the energy in your hands feels like. Now try the same thing with your hands palm up in your lap. Finally, place your hands, palms together, in front of your heart. Do you sense any difference in energy in these various positions? Likewise, the position of your body during vision seeking can determine the quality and flavor of your vision. Experiment until you find a position suitable for your needs.

Do these practices make it easier for you to engage in your own death and rebirth experiences?

Share Your Thoughts on Death and Rebirth!

What does “death and rebirth” mean to you? What things are you ‘dying’ to that you may be reborn as an ecospiritual shaman?

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Katabasis

katabasis


Katabasis is Greek for “to go down” or “to descend.” To be in the Belly of the Whale is to engage in your own personal katabasis. It is a realization that the way you have lived your life up to this moment is not in accordance with your own true nature. If this were not so, you wouldn’t have taken up the Way of the Coyote in the first place.

Katabasis means asking yourself, “If nothing changed from this day forward, could I live the rest of my life this way?” If the answer to that question is, “no,” then obviously something must change. In katabasis, change happens when the fear of staying the same forever becomes greater than the fear of changing forever by taking the journey into the unknown.

Katabasis: Time in the Ashes

“The word ‘ashes’ contains in it a dark feeling for death; ashes when put on the face whiten it as death does…some men around thirty-five or forty will begin to experience ashes privately, without ritual, even without old men. They begin to notice how many of their dreams have turned to ashes.”

–Robert Bly, Iron John: A Book about Men

The way to escape the Belly of the Whale is by completing the process of katabasis.

Katabasis is Greek for “to go down” or “to descend.” To be in the Belly of the Whale is to engage in your own personal katabasis. It is what the poet Robert Bly referred to as “spending time in the ashes.” When our old ways of being in the world burn down around us, we cannot go on anymore the way things were. We must start over by finding a new path. The way to escape the Belly of the Whale is by reversing this process of katabasis. To explore one possible way of doing this, complete the exercises on this worksheet.

What is your own personal katabasis? What past thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds have led you to descend into the ashes? What sameness can you not allow to continue for the rest of your life?

As of this very moment, what is your own true nature?

As you spend ashes time in the Belly of the Whale, what are you casting aside about the way your life has been in the past?

What new thoughts, words, deeds, and feelings would you need to embrace in order to live more fully according to your own true nature in the future?

What about your current reality needs to change in order to live according to your own true nature?

Use the definitions below to formulate your answers to the questions that follow:

  • Assumptions – Guesses we make, often without supporting evidence, about the way the world works
  • Perceptions – The “filter” through which we view the world, based on our assumptions about how the world works
  • Intentions – What we are trying to accomplish with our lives
  • Motivations – What we hope to be rewarded with if we accomplish our intentions

What assumptions about the way the world works would you have to change in order to re-create your present reality so you may live according to your own true nature?

What perceptions about the way the world works would you have to change in order to re-create your present reality so you may live according to your own true nature?

What intentions would you have to change in order to re-create your present reality so you may live according to your own true nature?

What motivations would you have to change in order to re-create your present reality so you may live according to your own true nature?

Use the information from the previous questions to make a list of all the thoughts, feelings, actions, and beliefs you would like to leave behind in the ashes as you prepare to leave the Belly of the Whale. This list should consist of things you never hope to return to; the things you cannot allow to continue. The list represents the old self that you are “dying” to in preparation of being reborn in your new ecospiritual True Self.

Now that you have completed your list, go to an outdoor space, preferably during the evening, and build a small fire if possible, being sure to follow all fire safety precautions as you do so. Once you have built your fire, take the list you created above. Hold the list in your hands and make an announcement to the Universe that you are dying to your old way of being and that the old you is being symbolically cremated. Now throw this list on the fire. As it burns your old self is melting away into the ashes, in preparation for the birth of the new you.

If you are doing this as part of an ecospirituality group or program, your coach may go around the fire and have each participant say something meaningful about their list before throwing it on the fire. At the end of the ceremony, you may finalize the death of the old self by burying the ashes in the earth.

Share Your Thoughts on Katabasis!

Have you had your own katabasis experience? What was it like? How did you resolve it? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Rebirth

Rebirth

Rebirth means leaving behind old ways of being and becoming a new person. Before we can set out on the road to rebirth, we must first commit to the journey. The problem with crossing the first threshold is that it is stepping into the unknown. The unknown is unfamiliar. We don’t know the rules. We don’t know what’s expected. We don’t know how to act. We don’t know the dangers. We don’t know what to assume about the way the world works now.

To learn new ways of being, we must first cast off our assumptions about the way things worked before. Our assumptions create our perceptions, and our perceptions create our reality. If we’re journeying to new realities, our old perceptions and assumptions must be discarded before rebirth. This can be an especially difficult task since many of our assumptions and perceptions are involved in our sense of identity.

If we cast them off, we might lose who we are. But to become someone new, we must lose who we were before. We must die to our old ways of being. We must be willing to bury old ways of doing. We must cast off old assumptions and perceptions so that we may gain a new reality.

Jonah spent three days in the Belly of the Whale after his Refusal of the Call and before his rebirth. This was Jonah’s casting off of his former identity so that he could step into his new role as a spiritual leader. This time in the whale’s belly is a time of reflection and of challenging preconceived notions before initiation into a wider world. It is the preparation for the death of the old so that the new may be born.

Rebirth: Empty Your Cup

“Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”

-Carl Jung

“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”

-Gloria Steinem

rebirth teacup

There is a Zen koan about a student who came to a Zen Master for training. The student wanted to impress the master with his knowledge, so he talked non-stop for several minutes about the previous masters he had studied with and all the knowledge he had accumulated. As the student talked, the Master offered him a cup of tea.

The Master, still listening intently, placed the cup before the student and began to fill it. When the cup was filled, the Master continued pouring until the tea ran out of the cup, onto the table, and into the student’s lap. The student yelled for the Master to stop pouring the tea, “Can’t you see that the cup is full? There’s no room for any more tea!”

“Yes,” the Master replied, “Once the cup is full, it cannot be filled any further. You come to me to learn, but I cannot teach you. Your cup is already full. You must first go and empty your cup. When you have done this, then I can fill it again.”

In Phase One of the Hero’s Journey, the Departure, we learned what it means to seek a new spiritual path by leaving the familiar behind. In Phase Two, the Initiation, we will learn what it means to die to the old ways of being and to seek rebirth as a spiritual seeker in the Way of the Coyote. Like the student with the full cup, a seeker on the Way of the Coyote must first empty her cup of all other teachings.

This means forgetting old ways of being. It means casting aside any assumptions or perceptions about what may lie ahead on the path. To die to the old ways of being means to erase the past, letting go of any preconceived notions about the way the world worked in the past. It means starting over in every sense of the word.

There are three components of this rebirth: Assumptions, Intentions, and Motivations (think of the word AIM to help you to remember these three components). Before you can be reborn to the Way of the Coyote, you must address all three of these components in the following ways:

  • Assumptions – What assumptions were you living by before answering the Call of the Coyote? How are these assumptions different from the assumptions you would need to live by to answer the call? What assumptions might you have made about your old life that led to problems? What new assumptions, if any, would you need to make to be reborn? To follow the Way of the Coyote?
  • Intentions – What was your intention in living the way you did prior to answering the Call of the Coyote? What were you trying to accomplish? What were your goals then, and how will your goals be different when you answer the Call of the Coyote? What is your intention in seeking the Way of the Coyote? What do you hope to accomplish?
  • Motivations – What were your motivations for living the way you did before answering the Call of the Coyote? What were the rewards for your old way of living? Were those rewards spiritual or material? What will be the rewards (motivations) for answering the Call of the Coyote? Will these motivations be spiritual or material? Are you prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to follow the Call of the Coyote? If so, what will the rewards be? If not, what’s standing in your way?

When you can answer all of these questions honestly you will be ready to leave the cave. You will have found a new truth to live by, and this new truth shall be your road map on the Way of the Coyote.

Share Your Thoughts on Rebirth!

Have you crossed the first threshold? Share your thoughts in the comments below!