Protection depends on where we are working and on how we work. Paul Francis places a lot of emphasis on his own groundingGrounding. Returning fully into the body and physical reality; the bedrock of safe practice, and how every journey ends. More about this, and trusting our Power AnimalPower Animal. The Oversoul of a wild species, met as a single Lower-World being and bonded with in a deep, committed, usually lifelong soul-bond of unconditional love. The practitioner’s first and foremost Guide: Panther, not “my panther”. Read the full answer keeps us safe. The transformation practicesTransformation practices. The family of journey-practices in which the self is deliberately taken apart, reduced to something formless, and reformed: burials, burnings, dismemberments, sky burials, dissolvings, cocoonings, poisonings, shapeshifting. A mini death-and-rebirth: cleansing, loosening of identity, and preparation for the greatest transformation of all. Read the full answer are cleansing and healing, an ongoing ‘energy hygiene’.
Where does protection matter? #
We live in the middle-worldMiddle-world. Ordinary physical reality together with its energetic layers: the realm of individuality, separation and mixed intentions, and the only realm where harm is possible. “If there is a hell, then it is the middle-world.” Read the full answer, so safety and protection are issues whether we journey or not. The Lower-WorldLower-World. The realm of Mother Earth: pure, unspoilt, wild nature, with no technology and no agriculture. Home of the Peoples and of our own Soul, and completely safe: feeling threatened in a journey is a reliable sign of not having reached it. Read the full answer and Upper-WorldUpper-World. The realm of Father Sky and of Spirit: spacious, rarefied and clear, layered in tiers, offering not escape but perspective. Not better than the Lower-World: we ascend rooted, and bring the gifts back down. Read the full answer are different: they are completely safe places. As our work develops into middle-world journeying, safety becomes an issue.1
Our Power Animal belongs with us in every journey. There are no exceptions. The relationship is an apprenticeship: we ask for healing, pay attention to what our Power Animal does, and learn. We cultivate the habit of checking its behaviour and reactions, rather than making ourselves the leader of the journey. The more time we spend together, the more we get to know it and bond with it.
The wider distinction between the realms is covered in What is the middle-world? Here the question is how to work with care, including when doing Lower-World healing for somebody else.
How does my Power Animal help protect me? #
Our Power Animal, if we pay close attention to it, has our back. It is there to protect us and keep us safe as much as it can. In journeys it will not let us come to harm if we pay attention to it and trust it. Ignoring or overriding it in the middle-world can lead to harm to ourselves, or to inadvertently harming others despite our good intentions.2
Both the attention and the trust belong in that teaching. Power Animal limits us to what we are competent to do, and can haul us out of a dangerous middle-world journey. If we pay attention and trust our Power Animal, it will only let us work within our competence. If something is outside that competence, it will advise us against doing it. If we encounter something really dangerous in middle-world journeying, it can even haul us out of the journey altogether.
This is a relationship we develop by working together. Regularly asking our Power Animal to heal us also deepens trust, love and respect. By paying attention to how it heals, we begin to learn its methods.
What precautions apply when learning to heal someone else? #
Healing someone else requires their express, conscious consent: their actual, physical permission, rather than consent sought from a higher self. For the Lower-World healing practice in The Shamanic Journey, begin with people you feel comfortable working with. Trust gut feelings rather than ignoring or dismissing them. Work in a place and environment where you feel safe and comfortable.3
Whilst new to this work, do not try and work with big issues such as major mental health issues, sexual abuse or violence. Start with easier work. It is easiest to work when we do not have a strong emotional attachment to the outcome. If another person’s issue strongly affects us personally, there is much more likelihood of failing to hollow out properly, of our own material getting in the way of the GuidesGuides. The Lower-World and Upper-World beings a practitioner works with and learns from, of whom the Power Animal is the first and foremost. True Guides are ethical to their core; the shaman’s power comes from the depth of these bonds, not from the shaman. More about this, or of distorting what we see.
We also need to be in the right place mentally and emotionally: reasonably grounded and calm, able to put our own material aside. This is a journey for someone else. Most important of all, always ask the Guides before doing work on another person. If they say no, do not do it.
Do I need to smudge or put up a protection circle every time? #
With those precautions in place, and because the practice is a safe Lower-World journey, there is no particular need for additional protection. Smudging, clearing the room or using an energy-cleansing spray beforehand does no harm, but none of them is necessary for this practice.4
Paul checks whether the space feels as though it needs clearing, and only clears it if needed. He uses cleansing sprays and protection circles when needed rather than routinely. He brings attention inward to breath and body, relaxes and centres himself, makes sure he feels grounded, and senses his Guides’ presence.5
Other people’s preparations may be more elaborate. The purpose of a pre-journey ritual is to help shift awareness from ordinary consciousness towards shamanic consciousness. See What part do ritual and ceremony play in Therapeutic Shamanism? and What are cleansing and purification?
What if I feel odd after a healing journey? #
If we have taken the basic precautions and, above all, really trusted and listened to our Guides during the journey, there should be no need for specific cleansing afterwards. Asking the Guides to check us over briefly is good practice. A cleansing spray, smudging or another cleansing ritual does no harm.6
If we do feel odd after journeying for someone else, there is no need to wind ourselves up about it. We can do another short journey for ourselves, asking the Guides to cleanse us and, most importantly, ground us. A shower, or a bath with some salt added, can also help, consciously washing off and releasing whatever we need to let go of.
What does ongoing energy hygiene involve? #
The transformation practices are cleansing and healing. In these Lower-World journeys we are taken apart and reformed; in that process, what is unhealthy or unhelpful is dismantled, and we are remade in a healthier form. They are one of the bedrocks of shamanic healing, to be done regularly as part of ongoing healing and energy hygiene.7
They also help us loosen attachment to our habitual middle-world form and identity. This ability to let go allows shapeshifting and deeper journeying. The details vary between people and their Guides. A burial journeyBurial journey. A transformation practice of the Earth element: being buried in the Lower-World for grounding, and for the death-and-rebirth all the transformation practices share. More about this, for example, may be quite simple and minimalist, or an elaborate ceremony.
