Shamanism and my power animal
I’m going to share some intensely personal stories from my spiritual journey in the hopes that some people might be interested. Today is September 18, 2019 and my story took place sometime back in 1990 or 1991. While the experience is deeply embedded in my memory I didn’t realize the true significance of it until tonight while rereading the classic book “Way of the Shaman” by Michael Harner.
In this fascinating book he talks about some of the true stages of Shamanism and one of those stages is the collection of a power animal which is the true source of the shaman’s power. My spiritual path is Organic Gnosticism and while it has much in common with shamanism I had never considered the path of the shaman as my path until tonight.
Back then I had the extremely vivid dream of going down some earthen stairs deep into the earth. There was something about my grandfather and his grave that I don’t quite remember but there was a connection. In this dream vision I came to an underground sea and there was a horrible monster swimming in the sea. This monster was all teeth and very frightening. But I was fishing for it and there was an astral cord or cable that connected me to it and I began to reel it in as if I was fishing. It struggled mightily, but I finally managed to bring it ashore with its jaws snapping at me.
Then a most amazing transformation took place and the frightening monster became an alligator. This was a yellow alligator with a stubby tail and I began to think of it as my alligator puppy! I held it on a leash and it’s task was to protect me from all dangers. It was ferocious, but not to me. It was dangerous, but not to me. And over the following years when I felt that I was in danger I called upon my alligator puppy to protect me and it did!
Many years later my alligator puppy became more human and finally became so integrated that it is now a complete part of me and no longer separate. But for many years I could see and sense my alligator puppy beside me and guarding over me. It was reptilian and a part of myself that I was once afraid of…
Tonight in reading this book I suddenly realized that my alligator puppy was my power animal for all these years and that I had once taken the shaman’s journey to acquire it!
