Initiation after completing the Shamanic Apprenticeship required my thinking about what my service was and who I would be serving by my practice. What gifts did I bring that I could contribute to community. I thought about a lot of things leading up to my initiation, but kept coming back to land. It was in Cornwall back in 2010 that I had felt myself drawn to stone and to the vibrations of the land. Once I sat down and really thought about it, everything was drawing me to working with the land in quite specific ways. Connecting, finding serpent energy lines, and cleansing / purifying the lines and energy centres so they were healthy. Working with the spiritual guardians of the land and my own spirit allies.
I decided to make a weekly commitment to a particular place by a nearby river. There was a modern stone circle set up on one side of the river, with painted stones to commemorate the native inhabitants of this land. A mix of Aboriginal and European as it was next to a garden commemorating other groups from different places in Europe.
My first session I called on Mother and she gave me a possum skin cloak to put on to protect me (I didn’t ask from what). She said she would always be with me when I wore it, regardless of where I was, and agreed to act as intermediary between me and the local spirits of place. With me was Bob, of course, and my spirit twin: an ally I had found when working with trance into land-based vision quests, and who was tied to my ancestry or bloodline.
The circle was made up of five stones, which appeared to me to represent water, spirit, fire, air and Earth. In the centre was a young tree to one side of a circle of stones. The ritual was very simple – I brought offerings of cake (from a vegan bakery) and water, which I placed in the centre ring of stones after tracing my way around honouring the elements and guardians. And then I sat so I could be in closer contact with the earth, and opened myself to the vibrations of place. I could feel beneath a powerful energy serpent, not quite aligned with the circle. Already awake and being tended by someone, unlike other areas where the energy slept. To my eyes, the serpent was orange-red colour, which meant that it needed healing/cleansing work. But I didn’t want to act without being in contact with the guardian of the place.
Mother introduced me to an Elder, an Aboriginal male spirit, who guarded the place and who was quite wary of me. I asked if the offering was accepting, and he said it wasn’t. That I should bring bread and water.
That first time was quite awkward as I had not yet found my routine or developed a working relationship with the Elder, who I began to call Grandfather at his request (when I asked what I could call him by). There was a lot of translating going on between my allies and Grandfather to find a way that this could work. The serpent healing did not happen the first time because things were too confusing in my head and it didn’t feel like the right time. But Bob was angry with me and told me off for not doing my duty and healing the serpent when I had noticed it had needed healing. The next time was better.
Green and Grey 