Squandered Shaman: An epic contemplation.

[shadowknows69]

"The priest is the socially initiated, ceremonially inducted member of a recognized religious organization, where he holds a certain rank and functions as the tenant of an office that was held by others before him, while the shaman is one who, as a consequence of a personal psychological crisis, has gained a certain power of his own."
-Joseph Campbell, 1969


Great Spirit have I failed you?
The sight you granted
Seeds of power planted
Dying now in the roots
Vision graying
And storms coming fast

Released from shackles long ago
Dogmatic slavery to a pinhole view
The universe larger than the lies they threw.
This I knew while even in chains
Guided by something unseen
Shown the deeper, greater truths
Through both rapture and pain

When was the point of my becoming?
When did the transformation begin?

Was it my brush with the watery depth?
The swim that almost brought me death?
Did Osiris take me that day and renew me?
Or did Poseidon bear me up?
Deciding his realm wasn’t for me to see
Aquarian I am, so maybe, I just bear my water well.

Was it the times you filled me with power?
When I thought it came from the Christ.
Yet still told I wasn’t connected
That the divine was without, not within
That we may borrow but never own
Our right to have the mysteries known
Arbiters chosen to teach us
But expecting us not to learn

Was it when you gave me The Trance?
For which my “church” would have condemned me to Hell
Curious séances attempted
Meditations transporting my soul
My body would shake and dance
And visions would be known
Sometimes not by me alone

Perhaps it was when I saw the face.
Ancient and alien but not inhuman
In fact a familiar sight from my explorations
About the ones that lived before us in this place
A painted visage, worn by sun and wind
An inch before me, not imposing, but I fled
Had to run from the séance to the outside air
To center myself by touching wood
A mighty tree in the yard, and the fear slipped away
How I knew this would work, I still cannot say.

Or was it even further in my past?
The days of my dreams of disconnect
Sleeping mind knowing what my body did not
That this inconvenient vessel can be cast off
And essence becomes reality
My soul would depart and it could fly
But never too far from home
Until my waking life tugged at the silver thread
Tying me to the limits of what human eyes can see.

Actually from quite early on
I’ve tried to ignore
What my eyes told me was going on
Or might be someday
Blessed or cursed with different sight
Seeing the now and the unseen all at once
Shadows walking on lighted earth
And in dark corners of bedrooms

Whenever the moment, whatever the cause
The “Hero’s Journey” had begun
An exploring knight without quest or King
But a path had been set
However foggy ahead
Jesus wasn’t enough for me anymore
Only a piece of the bigger puzzle
So I set forth to seek greater mysteries however intense
In order for my inner self to finally make sense.

Most of my journeys are not without compare
But seldom believed by many who haven’t been there
By methods natural, synthetic and internal I sought
Expansion of the mind, connection with the divine
But, the end doesn’t justify the means all the time
And paths become broken
Or diverted
As, I fear, has mine.

As I look back, my calling was clear
But have I led my tribe?
To walk with their Mother beside them
Instead of leaving her behind?
I could have told more the stories of the trees
That use to tell their tales to me.
The land I used to embrace
Hours of meditation in my Mother’s arms
Now feels like outer space.
Everything is out of place.

Consumed now by concrete and greed
Humanity has planted bitter seed
Reaping crop after crop of sorrow
Losing every last vestige of being “One”
Separating itself from the true “God” within
Putting it in little boxes and poorly translated tomes
The lines between the plotlines are the real truth
Not the cast members or the script of the day

Great Spirit show me the way back to your service
Let this Shaman squander himself no more
Let all of us who have these understandings find our voice
Loud and bold, proclaiming resoundingly
This must cease!
The rape of the womb that bore you is abomination
Our Mother will suffer us no longer children of Earth
Unless we come back to the truth
That we are not apart from our God, our world and ourselves
But we clearly have the power to make ourselves such

Show me the way to make the blind see the unseen
The invisible, the shadow and the dark so that they may know
How horrifying is the absence of light.
And how easy it is to ignore
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil
And yet responsible for all
For it’s not the universe to blame for any of our woe
Only that which we made
When we decided to rule our planet instead of preserve it
Will it truly take a culling before we learn?
Not a herd of peaceful cattle simply awaiting our fate
But panicked lemmings rushing toward it?

If chance would have an awakening
A spark once again in the human spirit
To be one with the energy we all share
And work once again to find the divine
That lies so very close
If not this life than the next
Let me be a guide
And redeem this squandered Shaman
In his Great Spirit’s eyes.
-S

[shadowknows69]

1. Yeah, I know it's weird. Any questions?

[conscious evolution]

2. We

are the ones who are not waiting anymore.

[Hestia]

3. Weird? Ah shadowknows69, it is profoundly beautiful and truthy. Your voice is speaking for all of us

[annabanana]

4. Compelling and hypnotic my friend.

Evocative of magnificent images.

[Raksha]

5. K & R - amazing poem!!! Definitely a keeper

Great Spirit show me the way back to your service
Let this Shaman squander himself no more
Let all of us who have these understandings find our voice
Loud and bold, proclaiming resoundingly
This must cease!

So mote it be.

[Occam Bandage]

6. Did they nerf shammy epic gear again? nt

[shadowknows69]

8. Thanks for playing

And giving me an excuse to kick.

[Occam Bandage]

10. Always happy to help. I gave you a rec, too.

[wuvuj]

7. They say to find....

...like minded people and to get prepared for what's to come.

Or...you can try standing in front of a train?

Or ask ol' Jesus what happened when he tried.... :shrug:

You can go up the hill or into the valley...or thru the desert....and find knowledge or enlightenment...but maybe the hard part might be finding a way to do anything useful with it...especially involving other people?

[GliderGuider]

9. Truly spoken, my friend. You are not alone.

All over the world people are waking up as cries of distress disturb our consumerist slumber. Everything is crying out: the people -- the poor, oppressed, dispossessed, and marginalized -- the vanishing species of animals and plants, the raped rivers and defiled earth, the oceans, the air, the planet itself. As people awake in their tens and hundreds of millions they are looking around for leaders. Some understand instinctively that the needed leadership will not be forthcoming from those to whom we have relinquished our personal power -- from the politicians, the priests, the industrialists and academics, the economists and engineers. Instead, the leadership we need will come from the same places it has lived for tens of thousands of years -- from the shamans, the bodhisattvas, the elders who have not forgotten, from people who have been outraged by the truth but nourish their outrage with compassion, from people in our own midst who have heard the cries and woken up to accept the Call.

You have been telling people it is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people this is THE HOUR.

There are many things to consider:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.

It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community. Be good to each other.
And do not look outside of yourself for a leader.

This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart and will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its own destination.

The Elders say:
We must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river,
keep our hearts open and our heads above water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate.

At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, least of all ourselves.
For the moment we do, our spiritual growth and journey comes to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves.
Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary.
All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.

For WE are the ONES we've been waiting for.

We hear the call.

[Ho Tai]

11. Thank you.

What an excellent poem. Thank you.

How the HELL can you know me that well? 45-year-old stalled psychonaut, toke a little, never seem quite to get to meditation proper, forgetting Big Mind in favour of SMALL.

But at least I'm ALWAYS ISO LSD. There's a rumour that our Owners made the molecule extinct, but still I ask. I feel I might change the world in a heartbeat. Not egotism -- Mind At Large.