Latest Shamanic Weekend: Vibrations, Venus and Voice--or, What I Liked

Last weekend I attended the 5th in a series of 7 shamanic workshops through a local teacher. These weekends seem to be growing in intensity, and it's difficult at times to communicate what I've experienced. Wish I could just do a Vulcan mind-meld! So I'll split this into 2 posts: here, what I liked, and later, what I found challenging or just plain cuckoo.

Express Yourself
Since we're following the chakra system, this workshop focused on the throat chakra, which allegedly influences not just our breathing and voice but also our self-expression. I think my throat chakra was in good working order since I showed up wearing my kilt, eye liner and glittery nail polish! Hey, if you can't get bizarre during a shamanic weekend, when the hell can you? So we discussed the importance of speaking with integrity in life as well as how free expression helps us tap into our true selves and avoid the filters that our culture imposes upon us.

Here's a good video that explains it better than I can:


Do-Re-Mi!
From there, we discussed the various ways the voice is used in singing, chanting, humming and so on, and how importance these kinds of expression are to every culture and religion. Things like Gregorian chants, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Tibetan throat chanting--things we take for granted but which by their very sound have the ability to inspire us, change us. How is this possible? Why does it work? Herein lies the power of the throat chakra--and the power of sound.

Good Vibrations
It's not just a Beach Boys song! We have all kinds of slang for how sound affects us: "good vibes," "striking the right chord," "being in tune" and so on. So just take a little shamanic jump--and welcome to the world of sound healing. It's the theory that certain sounds can affect us physically, even heal us, physically, emotionally, spiritually. I know how easy it is for a favorite pop song to put me in a good mood, so I was game.

We played with various Tibetan bells, chimes and--my favorite--the singing bowls. They produce such lovely, entrancing sounds. Just listening calms me down. But can it heal cancer? Well.... Anyway, the idea was to reconsider how sounds affect us and how beneficial they can be.

The really fun part was when we began using tuning forks. Here the idea is that each chakra corresponds to a different octave. So get a set of tuning forks and get to work! We paired up, one person lying on a massage table while the other person activated various tuning forks and then placed them by the ears. It was interesting to note the physical reactions I had to each fork and its corresponding tone. For example, the "E" fork, corresponding to the solar plexus chakra, felt very calming and stabilizing to me. Both the "A" and "B" forks, corresponding to the third eye and crown chakras, literally made me twitch and tremble, as if something inside was being shifted into place.

Here's a good brief explanation of why this is supposed to work. No endorsement but just liked the explanation. There are also special tuning forks that produce the "om" sound and forks that, when activated and place on a bony part of the body, are supposed to enhance healing. That exercise certainly was soothing. I'm sure plenty of skeptics would call this nonsense, but I wouldn't mind purchasing a set of forks and playing around with them, just to see what happens.

All Aboard for Venus!
Now it gets really crazy--and to post in detail would take forever. So here are the highlights. In past workshops, we've had shamanic journeys (you may prefer "guided meditations") to the sun and moon; this time, we visited Venus. The connection to the voice here is this: Many contemporary sound healers are interested in the esoteric concept of the Hathors, who are allegedly interdimensional beings who often communicate through tones and chanting. Tom Kenyon is the most well-known "channel," if you will.

Well, the Hathors apparently live on Venus, so we paid a visit. Yeah, this is where it got bizarre for me, and more about that in another post.

Suffice to say, my first journey was uneventful. The second was interesting, and several themes or messages kept coming up. Earlier in the day, I realized I was taking this all too literally--just like I did when I was a Christian. Big mistake. I was attracted to paganism and shamanism because of the opportunity to "play," and by that I mean bring joy back into my spiritual practice.

In my journey, I had quite a conversation with another "being" about the nature of reality, what is real and what isn't. Is love real? Is all the money in your 401K real? Is God real? Then I was directed to what turned out to be Chinese shadow puppet theater. Now, I 've never seen one of these in real life, but it showed up on Venus!

Here's a nice video; I enjoy the old-fashioned elegance.

So what does his have to do with anything? Play! Those images in the puppet theater aren't real, but they pull us in, teach us lessons and inspire us. Just like going to the movies today or when watching television. And the woo-woo part? When we were all done, the very first person who shared about their journey said she had received the very same message! What are the chances?

Ceremony in Sound
The last major highlight was our final "blessing ceremony." Each workshop has ended with one, but this one was particularly moving. We were seated in a semicircle, facing the two facilitators. We were to close our eyes and hum a particular tone while soothing music played in the background. At random, an assistant would bring us forward. In the meantime, assistants would come by and use tuning forks to tone a "perfect fifth" by our ears. They also moved around the room ringing chimes. As each of us went forward, we hugged the facilitators and hummed "ah" together. Just all these sounds blending together was entrancing and enchanting.

The facilitators also gave each of us a blue aquamarine stone to represent the throat chakra, and then spoke a special word to us. Mine were: "wise" and "this is real."

I forgot to mention that seated nearby were 5 other participants. They happened to have either the astrological sign of Pisces or--oh, darn, I forget! Anyway, there's apparently 2 zodiac signs that are allegedly clairaudient, meaning they can hear sounds or words from other sources. Woo-woo! So if any one of these 5 had a special word for us, they were to present it before we took our seat. As I stood there, all 5 embraced me in turn. Now, I don't remember anything specific, but it was all loving and quite inspirational.

In fact, when I got back to my seat, emotions swirled and bubbled to the surface. I felt I was going to burst into tears, from exhaustion, love and a feeling that I was on the right path. It seemed so much had led me here, so many things had come together, pointing the way. I kept it together, mostly, a few sniffles. As I sat there, eyes closed, drinking it all in, an assistant or two quietly approached from behind and whispered, "You are loved" and "You are music to the universe."

If you read this far, thank you! I'm sending good vibes your way! There was so much more in my weekend, but these were the best parts. Stay tuned for what I didn't like.