Drum Journey: Underworld Forest
Walking through a Cedar old growth forest. I see a shy flash of gray that I think is a Caribou.
There is a waterfall and I walk through it. On the other side of the curtain of water I see a Grizzly. I know they are my first Dog; Seacow.
I'm about to go up to her, when I hear our guide mention a ring of Cedar trees. It sounds important, so I run back out of the waterfall and clamber up the hillside. A few yards ahead I see the ring of Cedars. When I walk into the middle, an energy swirls around me, lifting my hair as if I'm underwater. I go down, down into the earth.
And I end up back on the other side of the waterfall. I laugh and shake my head. Seacow is still there in her Grizzly Bear form, waiting patiently. I go forward and embrace her tightly. She nuzzles me with her big snout and then motions for me to hop aboard. I clamber onto her back and she takes me down the tunnel for what feels like a few minutes.
I ask her if she has any lessons for me. She sniffs outward and takes me to a hole in the ground above. The sunshine makes a spotlight. Seacow walks under it and then stands on her hind legs. I climb up onto her shoulders and through the hole in the ground. Once above ground, I turn back to the hole and get down on my knees, putting my hands out to help pull her up. But she only stands there.
"Okay, see you later."
I walk through the forest for awhile and eventually come upon another waterfall and pool, this one a bit smaller. I walk into the pool and an Alligator surfaces about a foot from me. They turn around and wave their tail at me, asking me to grab ahold. As I take their thick, strong tail in both hands, they take off like a shot, plunging underneath the water. My eyelids are pressing against me, my hair back all the way, swirling. There is some light, but all I can see is the dark form of my reptilian guide, surges of water and bubbles.
When we surface, we're at yet another pond with yet another waterfall. I thank them for the ride and look around, dripping and catching my breath. To my left there seems to be a sort of glitch. The forest is shorting out, and beyond it is a desert with red sand. I'm curious, but as I climb out of the pool I forget about it.
From the air I produce a a shank of meat and offer it to Alligator, who snaps it up. Then I ask if they have any lessons.
Something tells me to look up. So I do and see the sun streaming, muted, through the extremely tall tree tops. I see something descending, something large and shadowed. I shield my eyes and squint. As the form approaches it becomes apparent that they are a bird, then a bird of prey, then an Eagle, and at last, as they are only a couple of feet above me, a Golden Eagle. They take my head in their talons and start flapping, taking me up through the trees. Not the most comfortable way to get a lift.
"Ow. Ow! Ow."
When we finally get above the tree tops I say "whoa." The view of the vast, forested landscape was amazing. Suddenly I understand the lesson. "Oh, higher perspective." The second I say this out loud, Eagle drops me.
"Ahhhhh!"
My fall is slowed by one tree branch after another and I sound like Homer Simpson falling down Springfield Gorge. A fall front-first onto a large branch manages to stops me. I give a big sigh of relief an hang there for a minute, with my arms and legs dangling over each side of the branch.
The next time I look at myself, I have the legs and paws of a Jaguar. "Whoa!" And as soon as I realize this I feel powerful and energetic. I start jumping from branch to branch through what seems like miles of forest. I'm having the time of my life. Eventually, I use my skilled leaps to take me lower and lower until I'm on the grass underneath the trees again.
Then I slow down, taking powerful strides and enjoying the scenery. I realize that I haven't yet said my prayers for my people (meaning closest my family, friends and teachers). So I stop and close my eyes, sending out my loving intention for their guidance and protection as well as my own.
When I open my eyes, I'm in my human form again.
I ask of the forest, "What next?"
A huge Boa Constrictor slithers into view. My eyes go wide, but I'm not afraid, despite that they are as big around as I am and their head is probably three times the size of mine. They come straight at me, slow and steady. At first I think they might constrict me, but they only coil in a circular shape around my feet, with their head near their tail. I produce an offering, a hunk of meat.
They snap it up and then slither forward a bit. Boa raises up, they're enormous face in mine. Taking a deep breath, I ask if they have any lessons for me.
Their tongue flickers out, smelling my nose for a minute. Then they lean forward, giving me an awkward sort of Snake hug. The area of their body just below the neck smushes up against my face, muscular but still soft and their scales are cool. "Aww," I say, wrapping my arms around them.
We stand there for a minute before they back off and then wrap their tail end around my body. Boa raises me up, pull their tail back and then let me fly, catapulting me over the tree tops.
I sail over a grand lake and land with a great splash. Once more catching my breath, a different Alligator appears. This one is what I like to refer to as Spirit Sized, meaning prehistorically large. Their great eye looked at me for a moment and I asked if she had any lessons. She lowered herself slightly into the water, inviting me to climb aboard.
I climbed their mighty scales as if I were gripping rocks on a cliff and hauled myself up to their neck. I sat there, and she began to swim. She swayed lowly at first, but gained momentum as she went. Things felt stable at my perch and I looked happily around at the mountains with their snowy peaks.
When Alligator stopped, it seemed an aribtrary place in the middle of the water. She opened her mighty jaws and I knew she wanted me there for some reason. So I scaled her scales once more and climbed sideways along her massive mouth.
I stopped when I spotted a blackened tooth. I stared at it for a moment, wondering what I ought to do. I knelt down and gave a tug on it, but she flinched, her jaw coming down a little. My eyes went wide and I instantly let go, putting my hands up even though the gesture was not within her sight. "Okay, don't pull it."
I stared at the tooth again and then thought I could try healing it. This time I put my hands around the tooth, and calling upon every fictional thing I've ever seen where one of the characters has healing powers, I tried to channel energy through my hands and into the tooth. They started to shake a bit. I didn't see anything come out of my hands, but I noticed that the tooth was starting to whiten at the top, so I kept going. Before long, the tooth healed all the way down to the gum line.
Then the call back starts. I once more climb up to her neck and she gives me a ride back. When we get to shore I toss her a meaty offering of thanks and then run back to the other, smaller Alligator. They give me a ride back the way I came and the water flies off of me as I run back to Seacow.
She is waiting patiently underground. I lower myself back through the hole and she stands up on her hind legs to assist me. Seacow carries me back to the waterfall entrance. I thank her and hug her, telling her I love her before rushing out through the water.
Dripping once more, I suddenly realize that I didn't offer her anything. So I rush back through the waterfall and ask if she would like anything. Seacow just stares at me with love in her eyes.
"Just love?"
Again she gives me an affirmative smile/sniff.
"Okay, I love you."
***
There is no doubt in my mind that the lesson of the first Alligator and Golden Eagle was, as I said on the journey, about getting higher perspective.
The ensuing part, where I fell and then became a Jaguar tells me that I reclaim my power every time I am able to look at my life from a higher perspective. It is a reminder, really. I've known for awhile now that if I fixate on details and the mundane I become anxious and frazzled. For the best state of mind and productivity, I need to balance between the forest and the trees.
As for my encounter with Boa Constrictor, they drew my attention to my nose. Could be a warning to take better care of my sinuses, lest I fall victim to the annual sinus infection.
Noses are also tools of discrimination, perhaps I was being prodded to assess what does not "smell right" in my life.
The general presence of a constricting Snake suggests the need to examine life to determine if something is holding me back.
I'm not yet sure of what to make of my dental work on the Spirit Sized Alligator. Although it does remind me of when I was younger. When I would feel terrible, I used to wish I could cut it out of me. (And later tried to drown it in alcohol.) But short of getting a lobotomy or taking a magnet to the part of the brain responsible for empathy, that was not an option. Instead, I had to take the long road and learn ways to heal myself, to properly deal with my emotions.
Perhaps this encounter was a reminder that there are no short cuts to proper healing.