A Journey with Otter to Remove a Psychic Intrusion
Otter Medicine: More Powerful Than You May Think
Were you to research Otter medicine online or in any number of books on the subject of animal medicines, you would be told that Otter is playful and sensuous in its movements, that it is often described as the “ultimate feminine medicine,” that Otter is friendly, and never jealous, among many other delightful qualities. However, as with all animal spirit medicines, there is much more to Otter medicine than one can discover in books. Shamans learn an animal spirit’s deep medicine ways not by reading books about them, but by working directly with that animal spirit in healing efforts in shamanic reality.
While most of the journey I'm going to share with you takes place in the shamanic West, I'm sharing it with you as an East story, to demonstrate for you one of the many surprising ways in which Otter, known at superficial levels as a playful, feminine medicine, demonstrated her deep medicine ways as she assisted me in completing the removal of a psychic intrusion.
Psychic intrusions are caused by the psychological intent of an abusive assault of any kind directed at one person by another. Psychic intrusions are projections of the psychic intent abusers direct towards their victims, and may remain lodged withing the victim's consciousness long after the abuse has ended. Creating psychic intrusions in another person is a profound violation of that person’s boundaries. Such assaults may take the form of a variety of attempts to gain power and control over another person, whether by means of verbal, emotional, or physical abuse, or even by malicious gossip, in which each word or action or blow contains the psychological intent of the abuser to harm his victim. Psychic intrusions appear to me as wounds in a person's dream body, into which the psychic energy of the "intruder's" intent has lodged. A trained feminist shaman is capable of removing psychic intrusions by means of a process of shamanically withdrawing and disposing of them, and are carried out with the landscape of the shamanic West.
In feminist shamanic practice, Otter is found in the East landscape of the Medicine Wheel Mandala, so one would expect to encounter it there, which of course, one can do. However, in this case, Otter heard my call from the shamanic West for assistance from animal spirits who could help with removal of a particular psychic intrusion from a client's psyche. Much to my surprise, she undertook a journey of her own, from the shamanic East to the shamanic West, to offer her assistance, demonstrating once more the enormous power that is hidden just beneath the surface of the shamanic East's beauty.
Also of note here is that the energies of opposite directions on the medicine wheel mandala are complementary to one another, and sometimes a healing requires the cooperative efforts of energies and animal spirits from what appear to be shamanic opposites.
In the journey I'll share with you below, I've traveled into the shamanic West to perform removal of a psychic intrusion in a client who became very unwell, physically and emotionally, after taking a weekend workshop with a well known popular shaman, during which he was "initiated" into that shaman's "lineage." Shamanic investigation revealed that this "initiation" was in fact a particularly malevolent psychic intrusion designed to maintain the shaman's influence over my client's psyche. In the case of my client, it didn't work, because he was unconsciously resistant to such control, and the resulting psychic conflict caused his physical and emotional symptoms.
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A Journey with Otter to Remove a Psychic Intrusion
I have journeyed into the shamanic West where I encounter my client’s dream body, which appears to me as a transparent version of his physical body. I take his hand and we walk northeast through the vast desert to a particular cavern dedicated to removal of psychic intrusions.
I prepare for the removal of the intrusion by calling upon animal spirit helpers who are adept in this kind of healing to appear and assist me, and wait to discover which West animal spirit will appear. Then I become aware that, to my great surprise, Otter is making its way towards us from the shamanic East, bringing images of spring flowers with her. I watch as she swims through the golden waters of the East Sea, through the deep Green Sea of the shamanic Center, and into the iridescent Black Sea of the shamanic West.
At last Otter climbs out of the sea and makes her way to the cavern in which I'm doing the healing. I’m surprised that it's Otter who has responded to my call for assistance, but welcome her soothing presence as she enters the cavern, pink and red tulips floating in her wake. She joins me at the rear of the cavern, in front of its westerly wall, where petroglyphs and shamanic symbols painted on it are visible in the light of the fire that burns at the cavern’s center. In the flickering shadows, it looks like Otter is duplicating herself, appearing simultaneously in both solid and more transparent forms.
I have smoked the cavern so thoroughly that we are now hidden within a protective “fog” of sage and cedar. The energy of the healing in progress is palpable, causing the fragrant smoke to pulse and shimmer as I work.
Removal of the intrusion has created an "opening," an empty space in his psyche where the intrusion had been lodged, and it must be closed so that no further debilitating energies can take up residence there. I close the psychic wound by cauterizing it with fire medicine, which my shamanic initiation qualified me to use for healing purposes. Now the wound must be bandaged in some way. As I'm reaching for the sage and cedar I've brought with me, Otter approaches and teaches me how to use her medicine to create a powerful psychic bandage of otter fur over the wound, which will prevent any further intrusions while the wound heals. She gently touches the cauterized wound as I watch in amazement while otter fur magically appears wherever she touches the wound. Soon there is a beautiful, glossy protective layer of Otter fur over the entire wound, and the client, who is still very weak, breathes a sigh of relief. The healing is complete and the client's recovery can begin.
Now the client, Otter and I walk back through the charged atmosphere of the desert landscape of the shamanic West, to the place where Sea Turtle awaits us, ready to transport the client and I back to physical reality, and emergence from the altered reality of the shamanic realm in which the healing took place. I climb up onto Sea Turtle's back, the client behind me, firmly holding on to me. We swim back towards the Center of the Medicine Wheel Mandala; to the place from which one enters and returns from shamanic journeys, Otter, gliding beside us as we go. When we reach the Center, I thank Sea Turtle for her help, and return to physical reality with the client, while Otter, after graciously accepting my gift of a small, golden orb, swims away towards the golden light of the East, which shimmers in the distance beyond the emerald sea of the Center.
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NOTE: Last week I was unable to post until Sunday, and as a result, you may have missed the opportunity to read a very important post about the shamanic east, Moon Dancer and The Embrace of Owl.