The Promise of the Shaman

Not my work, but made of the work that calls me the strongest.

Worth the time to read, if you just take the time for it. And I needed it so. I read it over and over, inside my head, then out loud, and the words felt delicious so I had to record them.

I’ve been in a horrible slump lately. Each day is okay and each holds its own loveliness, I even scored a new job that I’m excited about. I just can’t feel much right now. And I’m tired of it, I can’t write well or motivate myself much other than rearranging furniture and cleaning.

It’s the August in Texas slump and I’m over it. I need to go sleep under a tree somewhere cool and isolated. For a few years.

THE PROMISE OF THE SHAMAN:

If you come to me as a victim, I will not support you.
But I’ll have the courage to walk with you through your pain.
I’ll put you in the fire, undress you, and make you sit on the ground.
And I will wash you with herbs, and cleanse you, and vomit out the wrath and the darkness that is in you.

I will drink your body with good herbs, and lay you upon the grass, facing the sky.
Then I will smash your crown to shreds old memories that make you repeat the same behavior over and over again.
I will blow on your forehead to frighten the thoughts that obscure your vision.

I’ll open your throat to release the knot that doesn’t allow you to express yourself.
I will blow on your heart to frighten fear, so that it may go away and not be able to find you.
I will shatter your solar plexus to extinguish the fire of hell that you carry inside and that you finally know peace.

I’ll blow on your belly with fire to burn the attachments and the love that wasn’t there.
I will blow on the lovers who have left you, on the children who have never come.

I will blow on your heart to warm you up, rekindle your desire to feel, create and start over.

I will blow hard on your vagina or penis to clean the sexual door of your soul.

I will take away the waste you have amassed trying to love those who did not want to beloved.

I will use the broom, sponge and rag and I will safely clean up all the bitterness that is in you.
I will blow into your hands to destroy the bonds that keep you from creating.
I will disintegrate your feet into dust and erase the memories of your steps, so you can never go back to those bad places.

I’m gonna turn your body around so your face can kiss the earth.

I will blow on your spine, from root to neck, to increase your strength and help you walk straight.

And I’ll let you rest.

After this you shall weep, and then you shall sleep,

And you will have beautiful dreams full of meaning,

And when you wake up, I’ll be waiting for you.

I’ll smile at you and you’ll smile back at me

I will offer you food that you will eat with pleasure, savoring life, and I will thank you.
Because what I offer you today was offered to me before, when the darkness lived within me.

And after being healed, I felt the darkness disappear and I cried.

Then we will walk together and I will show you my garden and my plants, and I will bring you back to the fire.

And they shall speak together with one voice with the blessing of the Earth.

And we will cry out the desires of your heart to the forest.

And the fire will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.

And the mountains will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.

And the rivers will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.

And the wind will listen and whisper the echo, and we will create hope together.

And then we will bow down before the fire, and invoke all the visible and invisible guardians.

And you will thank them.

And you’ll thank yourself.

And you’ll thank yourself.

And you’ll thank yourself.

• ISC.: Author unknown-

-Eduardo Muscara, international-