Our next task was to journey, with a partner, to the Upper or Lower World. Each pair would ask an agreed question on behalf of one of them, then both return to compare notes, and then journey again to ask a question on behalf of the other. As I was having trouble travelling, I asked the question - Am I up to shamanic work?

These are the notes M made as soon as she returned:

"Went to Upper World assisted by Eagle. Then was physically climbing a tree full of serpents. Got to a level and called for [white] Wolf dog to assist me. He came to my side and we sat for a while with the elders round a fire. Then Wolf led me to a cave. There was a huge rock in its face. A huge immovable rock. However Ian passed through it as if transported [relaxed into it]. There in a very dark and damp earth cave sat an old woman speaking in tongues and spitting, and she vomited out a sickness. Then left cave with wolf and went to a huge tree, a whispering tree would speak to Ian. Important. Then dropped down a level and Wolf was running to snowy mountain - fell through an icy hole and met a huge white polar bear. He was aggressive, but asking to be mimicked he rolled over [on his back] and was gentle and playful. Then more running to a flowering vine-like tree with white flowers. Shake tree. Then Wolf was exhausted and rested by river, asleep. Huge thirst so drank from the river. Became the river, was the water moving very fast, then out and Ian came out of water and shook my hand. Back to wood and the elders. Thanked them."

This was an extraordinary journey. I could see some of the messages from my talking stone come to life. After climbing the tree of serpents and meeting the elders, we come to the immovable rock blocking the cave. I think of the stone that my mother tried to move. I think of the immovable rock blocking the cave in which Jesus is buried for 3 days. And I think of the rock, which would take 22 men to move, that Cyclops ('cycle') used to keep Odysseus and his men in the cave. [22 is a cycle number, as in the 22 letters of the first (world-creating) alphabet - possibly from the magic formula for a circle (22/7).] Moving the stone is the start and end of a cycle.

But my rock is not rolled away. I go through it like a spirit, which means either death or soul-journeying. This is an answer to my question.

When I asked the immovable stone in the divination exercise how to unblock, it replied - explode and bring an old way to life (in yourself). The same answer is here. The cave can be an entrance to the Underworld, which agrees with the stone-Cave's message 'die'. To get unblocked, I must go in - not out. So I must die, in one sense or the other, and enter the cave of the Crone-goddess. She, or her oracular priestess, is replying in tongues to my question. Her meaning seems clear from her actions: purify yourself and be cleansed of this obstructing sickness.

This is something like the 'explode' message from Volcano. It is a cleansing of blocked energy gone bad. The tree crawling with serpents may be a symbol of it, although the serpent is also a symbol of wisdom and healing. It is the archetypal Tree of Knowledge, except there seems an excess of serpents. If so, it is what the old woman in the cave spits and vomits out, which feels like a strong and appropriate symbol.

After this cleansing we return to a tree. This time it talks to me in whispers. M has written 'important', but I'm not sure why and maybe she wasn't. The rustling of the wind in the oak trees spoke to the Druids. Zeus spoke through rustling trees at the ancient Greek oracle in Dodona. It is a very old way of divination, and my stone Fossil wanted the return of an ancient way. This seems relevant to my question - Am I up to shamanic work? - and may be why it felt 'important'.

Wolf is running very fast to complete this packed journey in the short time we have available. I am most grateful to him. He runs to Snowy Mountain, which said in my stone - Ski down from these cold heights into the world. Wolf falls through a hole to meet a huge Polar Bear. First the immovable rock was 'huge', then the whispering tree, and now the polar bear. It can mean 'pay attention', or 'this is a big issue', or 'this is the Other World'. Polar Bear gives me a direct message on how to move from the cold heights into the warmer world. He comes down from his intimidating height to roll gently and playfully on the ground. Mimic me, he says. This is a powerful message too.

(continued)

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