“I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in.” -George Washington Carver
The Andean Medicine Wheel, also known as the Inca Medicine Wheel, is a spiritual and perceptual framework originating from the Q'ero shamans of Peru. It is used for self-reflection, healing, and spiritual growth. The wheel is structured around the four directions (East, South, West, and North), each associated with specific archetypal energies and teachings.
In the North direction, we learn the ways of the Seer. The Seer walks softly on the earth and dreams the world into being. When we operate from the Seer, we increase our abilities to see the invisible world of energy and spirit that is behind all manifest forms. We increase our abilities to see with the heart, from the soul’s perspective. From this perception, the things that happen to use are not just literal, objective events nor are they just emotions, thoughts and stories we create around them. The events of our lives are symbolic of the soul’s journey. From this perspective, we begin to read the signs of our lives as messages from the soul. We begin to see the mythic, the archetypal, the symbolic meaning playing out in our lives. We recognize that all of life is symbolic, and we step into living the “symbolic life.”
The archetype we work with in the North is the Hummingbird. Hummingbird has three qualities (1) stillness in flight, (2) courage to do what seems impossible, and (3) the ability to drink from the sweetest nectars of the soul. At the level of Hummingbird, we go beyond words and stop identifying with our thoughts. In the work of the North, we take every belief about the nature of reality and throw it into the fire. Then we are free to reinvent ourselves and the world. We go beyond thinking about how to solve problems and enter into the stillness of our own souls where we craft a vision of what we want our world to be.
Hummingbird represents the courage required to embark on an epic journey. Every year hummingbirds fly thousands of miles over the open sea, traveling from Brazil to Canada. At first glance, the hummingbird would not seem suited for this flight over the ocean. Yet it responds to an ancestral call to embark on this epic flight. It responds to the call each year in the same way the salmon return upstream to the site where they were spawned. When we embark upon an epic journey, it is important to connect to the energy of the Hummingbird. This is not only an inspiring metaphor for a journey, but it is an energetic connection with this nature principle. Once touched by the energies of this archetype, we are propelled on our own epic journey that eventually leads us back to our source, where our spirit was spawned. From that place, we can drink deeply from the nectar of our soul. The North helps us embark on our journeys despite tremendous odds. When there isn’t enough time, money, or know-how for what we are attempting, hummingbird provides the courage and guidance necessary for success.
At the level of Hummingbird, we transcend the personal, or the ego’s interpretation. Here we begin to see the event from the soul’s perspective. This is the transpersonal, where archetypal stories play out in the soul. Here we discover the stories of the soul that need healing as well as the longings of the soul that call for manifestation.
This level of perception is associated with the neocortex that is responsible for our ability to reason, visualize, and create. This is the level of the symbolic. We hear and see the “hidden” messages. At this level I might “see” that a broken ankle is a warning that I’m going down the wrong path or I’m not paying attention to something that I need to pay attention to. We might understand that the sudden desire to get a new pair of shoes is about the soul needing a new container. We might understand our stomach problems as something in life we’re having a hard time digesting. I might see that my “feeling disconnected from my wife” is about me being disconnected from my own soul or my own emotions.
At this level we sense that we’re all on a journey of growth and healing and purpose and the external world mirrors something going on inside of us. When we have difficulties, whether they are with a partner, a profession, or something else, and ignore the situation from the outside and look at it from within with a kind of relative exclusion of the outer situation, the exclusion is comparable to the alchemical process. This forces the situation into the vessel for the purpose of introversion, where it may be understood as a drama playing out inside us. At this level we have moved into the mythic. We see the myth that is playing out inside of us. We see what is happening as our soul’s story. The players are irrelevant. The universe has provided them as a mirror. The work of the North helps us find and dream the life that the soul longs to live.
While on a hike, Scott came upon a snake attempting to devour a fish.
Scott particularly noticed how the snake blended into the rocks, making a beautiful design. He also observed how the snake was struggling to swallow such a large fish. While the fish’s tail was partially inside the snake’s mouth, Scott couldn’t imagine how the small snake would be able to actually devour such a large fish. Because of Scott’s fascination with this scene, I wondered if it might have some meaning for him or mirror some similar dynamic within him. I suggested Scott activate his shamanic sight and explore this scene through the eyes of the Seer.
In this process, I have the client select several images from a scene. Scott chose the “design the snake made with the rocks,” “the large fish,” and the “struggling snake.” I then have the client focus on each one of the images selected and, while holding that image in their mind, inhale and breathe into that image and then exhale and imagine they are blowing the energy of each image into a stone. The client then steps out of their shoes, symbolic of stepping out of their current consciousness and any beliefs or assumptions they may hold about the image.
Next, I ask the client what they would like to know from each image. Scott said that, from the design, he wanted to know why he noticed it. From the fish, he wanted to know why it didn’t swim away. From the snake, he wanted to know why it tried to take on something so big. While the client is holding the stone for each image, I have them imagine that they are stepping into the energy field of that image, becoming that image. I then pose the question to each image and invite the image to speak. Through this process, the message that Scott received from the design the snake made with the rocks was “let your artistic design shine.” From the image of the large fish, he received the message, “You are not helpless.” And from the struggling snake, Scott got the message, “Doesn’t everybody want to take on something bigger?” As Scott accessed the Seer within that can see hidden and symbolic meanings, he started to put these messages together. He felt that the larger message from this event that he “inadvertently” came upon was “You are not helpless. Take on something bigger than you feel you are capable of and let the artist in you shine.”
As Scott continued to reflect on this event and the message he received from it, he became aware that he was, in fact, having difficulty “digesting something in his life.” Scott admitted that he was wondering whether shamanism really worked. In some ways, he was having a hard time “taking in” the teachings of the class he was attending on shamanism. He was particularly struggling with the concept of radical acceptance, the practice of accepting things just as they are, without judgment. Scott felt that if we just accept everything, some things will not change for the better. As he and I untangled this concept of radical acceptance, which is more about accepting a reality without judgment, Scott realized that suspending judgment about something didn’t mean that he couldn’t act to correct an injustice or make something better. It simply meant that he wasn’t acting from a “triggered place,” from some old story or wound. He could accept things as they were without projecting his own “stuff” into them, and then, he could respond in a way that was best for the situation.
As Scott continued to work with the idea of non-judgment, he became aware that many of his thoughts were judgmental. This caused him to feel bad about himself for having such thoughts. He began to wonder and even worry about his past thoughts and actions and how they may have affected people negatively.
Scott was attending a class on shamanism where we were working with the practice of non-judgment. In this work, we download into our Luminous Energy Fields new blueprints and energetic information. We might say that Scott’s journey into shamanism was bringing his own judgments to his attention to perhaps encouraging him to step into the practice of non-judgment. When we download new energetic information, life often brings us situations that offer us the opportunity to shift our consciousness and respond in new ways.
Perhaps Scott’s journey into shamanism was exposing him to concepts and challenges that seemed too big for him to digest or “take in.” Had Nature responded to Scott’s conflict by showing him the snake struggling to eat a fish? Was the snake’s message, “Doesn’t everybody want to take on something bigger?” an invitation to Scott to grow and evolve?
The Seer knows that Spirit speaks to us through the ordinary occurrences of a day. In fact, signs are everywhere. Spirit is always speaking to us if we are listening. When we address our most heartfelt questions and our deepest struggles, it is like something in the great web of life that connects us all hears our plea and comes to answer. When we remember and acknowledge our connection to Nature, we realize, like George Washington Carver, that we have access to “an unlimited broadcasting station through which God speaks to us every hour.”*
*Excerpt from The Power of Shamanism and Energy Medicine: Personal Stories of Healing and Transformation now available on Amazon.
Very profound and thought provoking article. I especially enjoyed the bit about noticing what draws your attention. Thank you for sharing.