The Web of Life (Part 1): We are All Connected

Everything in the universe is alive and we are all related! Shamanic practitioners understand the web of life at a very deep level. We all, and every single thing, come from stardust and therefore stone, tree, flower, bird, whale, worm, and I are, in a sense, brothers and sisters. Animism is another important concept to shamans and it means that all beings, both human and animal, plant life and what we call inanimate objects contain spirit, an energetic burst of life.

This article is about our intimate connection with the animal and plant kingdoms, the land elementals, Mother Earth and the stone people. It is also meant to bring awareness of how our thoughts and actions affect all other beings and objects around us in the web of life. It begins with a delightful and enlightening trip to a place called Happy Trails Farm Animal Sanctuary in Ravenna, OH.

On April 19, 2016, I was invited to Happy Trails by its founder and director, Annette Fisher Bragg. She was looking for someone to shamanically work with their land. My friend, Mary Jane Brigger, connected us and we three spent the day there together.

While my main reason for traveling to Ohio was to work with the land, so much more was revealed during my time there with these two beautiful women. The day was filled with connection, creation, synchronicity, and reciprocity. Like a great flowing river, our thoughts converged to create a much bigger story then any one of us could have planned individually. When two or more people come together, the energy automatically becomes bigger. When we use that energy for the good of all, all good comes from it! This is a great understanding of the web of life!

During the first part of our day together, Annette took Mary Jane and me all around the farm introducing us to the animals that she helped rescue from a multitude of abusive situations. This day, there weren’t any cows to be seen, however, I met a diverse group of roosters, sheep, goats, pigs and both mini and huge horses. While some of these beings were extremely shy due to their previous treatment, many clamored for our attention. There must have been well over 100 animals that I spent time with and I petted as many as would allow me the honor.

Happy Trails not only rescues and takes in animals that are mistreated, they are also an open-ended foster care service. This means that if someone takes in an animal from Happy Trails and it turns out differently than expected, that animal is returned to the sanctuary. Sadly, many are returned for one reason or another.

People often don’t realize what goes into taking care of animals. They may think, “Oh! I’d love to have a potbellied pig!” They purchase one only to discover how challenging it may be. So then, what becomes of this pig, or horse or other animal? Fortunately, Annette understands this problem all too well and has opened her arms wide to remedy the situation.

My heart went out to each animal that I met! I fell in love with them one-by-one and wondered how someone could purposefully harm any of them. As I sit writing this now, it occurs to me that those who hurt others are themselves deeply wounded in some way. Sadly, animals are too often the brunt of people’s pain. And, far too often, it’s not a huge step for one who hurts animals to eventually hurt human beings. I am also aware that many people disregard the feelings of those beings in the animal kingdom because they believe that they are of lesser value.

Above I wrote about the concept of animism, that ALL of creation is alive and has spirit and that we are ALL related! Imagine how the world would be if everyone based life on this understanding! What if everyone understood that whatever I do to another also affects me to the very core of who I am? Our actions do matter!

After meeting and playing with the animals for a couple of hours, the three of us sat and talked about the land and what might be the bigger plan for it. It was a time for talking about hopes, visions and insights. We stepped into creative space and a chain reaction of ideas flowed. The conversation emerged, evolved and educated us as to what may be coming next for the sanctuary and for Annette.

We then formed a plan to go to a new parcel of land that had recently been acquired by the sanctuary. There we would create an altar, call the directions, set an intention and journey on behalf of the land to ask it what it needed from us…if anything. We grabbed our gear and headed over in anticipation of what would occur next.

Listening to the land as we walked, we were guided to the right and perfect spot for ceremony. On the way, we discovered a beautiful old tree who said he was called Grandfather Tree and that he was the oldest of the tree people on this parcel. We stopped and honored him for his wisdom and beauty. Further along on the path, exactly on the property line, we discovered another member of the tree family that was naturally hollowed out at its base. Shamanically speaking, a property line, or any such boundary or demarcation line, is known as a “betwixt and between” place and can be used as a portal into the non-ordinary worlds. This hollowed out tree person, sitting directly on the boundary line, was the perfect portal for our upcoming work.

Between these two wonderful trees, we were called to a tree stump upon which we built our altar using my traveling pachakuti mesa (altar) created during my apprenticeship with Peruvian Shaman, don Oscar Miro Quesada. The word pachakuti is from the Quechua language of Peru. According to don Oscar, it means world reversal or a time to transform or rebalance the world from turmoil. Therefore, the pachakuti mesa, when set up, is a visual tool that symbolizes the earth’s transformation and rebalancing.

The altar is created with intention. Briefly, this is a simplified version of how it was created. After preparing and blessing the tree stump and laying my “manta” (mesa cloth) on it, I began to place my sacred items. Each item represents something important. Beginning in the south, I placed a stone that represents the element of earth and our Earth Mother (Pachamana). In the west, I use a shell to represent water and Mother Moon (Mamakilla). A feather, signifying the element of air and the Supreme Creator Spirit (Wiracocha), is placed in the north and a candle represents the fire and Father Sun (Inti) in the east. In the center is the Qosqo or hub of the mesa that represents the Tree of Life. There I placed another shell representing the womb, upon a flat stone (Misarumi) and inside I added a piece of marble stone. The center of the mesa signifies the place of transformation and world reversal, which is represented by the Rainbow Spirit (K’uychi). Several other sacred items were then placed upon the manta that represent additional aspects of the Peruvian cosmology.

Once the mesa or altar was created, we smudged ourselves (cleared our energies) with some white sage that I had brought with me. I lit a piece of it and, using a feather, I fanned the smoke from the sage first down the front and then down the backs of both Mary Jane and Annette’s bodies. In turn, Mary Jane smudged me.

Next, I said a prayer that included calling in the seven directions and inviting into our sacred space those beings associated with each. In the Peruvian tradition, beginning in the south, I invited Pachamama, and all the beings from the earth including boa and anaconda. From the west, we welcomed the water beings, including whale and dolphin; from the north, we gratefully invited all the winged beings and from the east, we ask that fire and salamander join us in our work. We then opened up to learn what was in the greatest good of all involved.

Quite often, we humans think we know what is best for the earth. How often do we actually stop and ask Mother Earth or Pachamama what she needs? In the shamanic tradition, all things in life are alive and have spirit. This includes the very earth upon which we walk. Do you ever wonder why we are experiencing so much ecological turmoil in the world today? Could it be because we no longer listen to the land and to what it is asking of us? Just what is in its greatest good? And ours?

We then spread out our blankets so that we could settle in to journey to the lower world. Before we began though, we needed to state our intention.