A Journey to an Ice Cavern in the Shamanic Below, Part One...
...to seek a feminist shamanic perspective on "A Digression into the Misogyny Behind the Gender Identity Issue"
Having shared with you my personal, physical-world take on the gender identity issue, in my last post, “A Digression into the Misogyny Behind the Gender Identity Issue,” I then undertook a journey into shamanic reality to seek answers to the following questions:
1. What is the hidden cause of contemporary patriarchal/misogynistic insanity?
2. What, if anything, can individual women do to help turn the situation around?
As is always the case when I undertake such journeys, the guidance I received was not at all what I expected. I'll share the journey with you below, in the present tense, so that you can come along with me, using your imagination to visualize what I'll be describing to you.
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As I prepare for the journey, earth light rises in swirling spirals of frosty snow outside my home, charging the air with its sparkling energy, dissolving the veil that normally separates the physical world from the shamanic world. Crystallized snow and a white world awaits me beyond that veil, at the level of shamanic reality in the forest outside, confirming my intent to journey into the shamanic North to seek answers to my questions.
I leave the physical body in my transparent dream body form, and walk into the white, crystalline atmosphere outside, making my way to the medicine wheel in the forest to the north of my home. I enter it, and begin making offerings of sacred herbs at each directional stone. As I approach the North stone, I hear dog-like panting in the forest beyond it, where a wild blizzard now rages. Gradually, an entire pack of wolves materializes out of the blinding storm.
Black dream Wolf is there, accompanied by his entire pack. I notice that he's limping a little, and make a note of it, as it may pertain to the content of the journey I'm about to undertake.
For most shamanic journeys, the large, turtle-shaped stone at the center of this medicine wheel transforms itself into the great Sea Turtle who holds the entirety of shamanic reality in place at its Center. More often than not, it is She who carries one on her generous back into and back from shamanic reality. But now, as I stand facing north, an opening gradually materializes in the blizzard that rages there, revealing the entrance to an icy tunnel. I know I will have to enter that tunnel if I'm to receive answers to the questions I seek answers to.
I'm a little anxious, I admit, because this tunnel disappears down into the depths of the Lower World of the North, the hidden Below, into which one must venture to deal with illnesses of all kinds. I stand before the opening, hesitating, because I'm not sure I'll be able to get back should I slide down that glassy opening.
Then a large female wolf I have come to know on previous journeys into the shamanic North, and think of as "The Grey," appears beside me, somehow mysteriously becoming part of me, or vice versa. "If you want answers to your questions, enter this tunnel you must," she says.
"I will personally carry you. The pads on the bottoms of my feet are specially equipped for dealing with this sort of icy situation. We won't slip and slide."
Now she grows large enough for me to climb up onto her back, which I do. Before I have time to reconsider the wisdom of having done so, she runs headlong into the descending tunnel of ice, the rest of the pack following. Ever downward she trots, until at last we emerge into a large ice cave, unutterably beautiful, its walls shimmering pale blue and turquoise, as though lit by mysterious lights within the larger mass from which it has been carved.
I dismount, thank her for safely transporting me here, and look about. As with many such caves in shamanic reality, there is a bench encircling it, except for the narrow opening through which we've entered. I ask her what this place is, as I've never encountered it before in shamanic reality.
She says, "You know that both physical and mental illnesses often have their origins here in the Below, and so must be dealt with here. You're painfully aware that there is insanity at work in the world above, and you've reacted to this frightening state of dysfunction with anger, because you're also very much aware that women are bearing the brunt of its impact on society. We will offer you guidance for navigating these times as a woman, but first you must become aware of the root cause of the dysfunction."
Now the wolves position themselves in front of the ice bench that encircles the cave, gradually transforming themselves into indigenous people from the earth's arctic regions, who are all dressed in Wolf regalia. I'm directed to sit with them. As I take my place in this circle, the cave darkens, and then trembles slightly, as though an earthquake was starting, and I hear flowing, rushing water. I notice that the ice floor in the center of the cavern is slowly melting, and that dark water and large ice floes are rising within the cave. I begin to panic, thinking we're all going to drown.
The Grey says, "Breathe! This is the flood you must learn to stop. People think that the melting of the arctic ice is a physical issue, and on one level it is, and you're seeing its impact in all sorts of very dangerous weather phenomena. But that's only what's happening on the physical level. The melting of the ice is being caused by the actions of people who live upon the earth's surface, and have become infected with the archetypal disease of patriarchy, and the effects of those actions are reaching disastrous levels, as you know. But underlying all human behavior on the surface of this planet are great unseen archetypal energies that function at levels not accessible to most."
As she speaks, in the center of the melting cavern floor there appears a cross with arms of equal length. It's smoldering, small flames dancing around it here and there as it floats within the depths of the melting ice. As I stare at this strange, fiery cross with apprehension, its shape begins to morph, one of its horizontal arms detaches. It then slowly begins to rotate, and then to wobble, tumbling this way and that, creating a kind of unbalanced, lopsided nightmare with its movements, as flames dance around it in the depths of the water.
Now an ancient male archetype, one that I've never encountered before, slowly emerges from within the sphere. It appears in the shape that archetypes underlying human behavior most often appear to me...a universal kind of glyph suggesting the human form. They appear in many colors, yet each also possesses particular attributes that are its alone. This archetype presents as black, charred looking, yet with orbs of fiery light flashing here and there within and around its form.
I freeze, immediately thinking of the horror associated with the fiery cross of the KKK.
Suddenly The Grey nudges me. "Stop!” she says, "Stop! This is not what you might at first think it is. This square cross represented many things to many cultures prior to the arrival of Christianity, things that are still honored within many ancient indigenous cultures...the balanced relationship between the natural and the spirit worlds, and between the archetypal Masculine and Feminine. For some, it also symbolized alignment with the four directions, and even with the four winds. In other words, the square cross symbolizes the balance that must be maintained between apparent opposites, in order for Earth and the life She supports to thrive and survive.
"This tortured masculine archetype is not, in and of itself, the cause of the melting of the poles. This archetype is wounded, and has responded to its wounding by becoming unbalanced.
"What humans living on the surface of the earth have lost sight of, even many of those who are aware that patriarchy is responsible for all of humanity's ills, crimes, and dangers, is that yes, they are caused by patriarchal males, whose death dealing behaviors are supported by the institutions and cultures they themselves have created. To the great dismay of the archetypal world, these unbalanced behaviors are even supported by certain kinds of women who have fallen prey to the seductive power of the imbalance you're now witnessing.
"But we must ask a deeper question, which is this: 'What is it that has harmed this Masculine archetype, so that it now appears to you in its current tortured and misshapen form?'
"The answer lies buried within the unfortunate turn of events that at one point in its evolution caused one of the Masculine archetype to seek to live in denial of the realities of life on this violent planet; in denial of the implications inherent in becoming conscious that this home of ours, which seems and feels so flat and stable, is in fact a floating, rotating, somehow living orb that's suspended within an unimaginable vastness so inscrutable that the human mind cannot comprehend it.
"The damage to the Masculine archetype began when it first sought to escape these realities, which it could neither understand nor control. It turned from participation in the ancient Wisdom ways of the Feminine, which accepted them, and so functioned in harmony with such mysteries. The Masculine's flight into denial of those mysteries is what has damaged it, and caused it to attempt to control everything on earth. It obsessively persists in vain efforts to maintain its denial in the face of the awful realities of life on this planet, which are, in fact, horrific. Thus began the frantic attempt of the archetypal Masculine to assert its own supremacy and control over things which are so beyond its control that it's actually laughable. Unable to control things beyond its control, it began to control others, and particularly women, whose ancient ways were based upon acceptance of the very realities from which it shrank in fear—the harsh realities of being an embodied soul on this very violent and very beautiful planet.
"This out-of-balance, wobbly, tumbling fiery cross you've been shown is an image describing the result of the archetypal Masculine's attempt, many thousands of years ago, to escape conscious awareness of the realities of life on earth, and so live in harmony with them. Everything that is now occurring on the surface of the planet is the result of this vain attempt to escape reality."
At this point, The Grey fades away, and Black Wolf approaches me. Now he places his paws on my shoulders and looks directly into my eyes. Then he embraces me, for I am in a state of shock, wondering how I can possibly take on this level of healing.
"As for your next question,” he says, "regarding what individual women can do to help turn the situation around, you'll be surprised at what we're going to suggest. But seeking that information must be done in a separate journey, for you have reached the limits of what you can handle right now. Let us return you to your world now. Take some time there to fully integrate what we've told you so far, and return to us when you feel strong and ready."
Unable to speak, I nod agreement, and once more climb up onto The Grey's back, this time clinging to her for comfort as she ascends the icy tunnel that will deliver us into my own world, the rest of the pack trotting along behind us. At length, she bursts through the opening between worlds into the medicine wheel, but doesn't stop there. Instead, she trots through the spiraling snow right up to my front door. I tumble down from her back and turn to thank her, but before I can speak, she once more rises on her haunches, places her front paws on my shoulders and stares into my eyes. I'm shivering, whether from fear or the bitter cold, I'm not sure.
"Rest, my child," she says. "Return to us when you've become comfortable with the teaching contained in what we've shown you. There is much more to learn, which we ask you to share with others, for you have agreed to fully enter and participate in activating and supporting The Time of the Warrioress, which has already begun."
With that, she and the entire pack turn and disappear into the storm. I enter the house, return to my physical body, hoping that I will be able to handle whatever comes next.
To be continued...
In the meantime, learn more about feminist shamanic activism here: http://thestandingbear.com/time-of-the-warrioress/