Secrets of Shamanism

28 SECRETS OF SHAMANISM

him, making his life miserable and cold. Only Saashima

and a few of the women and children were left in the

camp, the rest had moved on to camp on the other side of

the great river. Saashima, young and beautiful, had been

taught by an old wise one in the ways of the spirit. Ahrit-

mah now called on her for help. She placed her palms on

his eyes, closing out the firelight, and said, "Go inside, tell

me what you see."

"Darkness," he answered. "Nothing but darkness and

night in the desert."

"What do you wish for?" asked Saashima gently.

"For strength, for the new camp, for my life!" Ahritmah

replied.

"Open your mind and find the sky," she told him.

"Make it blue with the day. Look down and see the desert

sand glowing gold like the sun. Find the camp across the

great river and your tent warm as camel's milk and the

color like the tip of the flame of your camp fire. Your

mother is waiting with her heart warm and glowing as the

embers. She hands you a bowl of liquid, red like fresh

saffron; you drink it and feel your strength returning and

the darkness washing away into the earth."

Saashima then removed her palms from Ahritmah's

eyes, turned to the east, bowed low in thanks and was

gone. Ahritmah lay for a long time near the dying fire,

holding the lingering vision in his mind. Then he fell

asleep. The next day he greeted the sun as it came up

over the desert and, feeling himself again, left for the

camp across the great river.

As reflected in the story above, the use of color and other
sensual aids in visioning can not only bring about desired
changes but help to motivate one to make those changes. A
situation that appears grim or "dark" can be lightened just
with the use of these techniques. For example if your present
work situation is depressing, you might try changing the fre-
quency of your office by lightening or brightening the color
you give it in your vision by using natural colors.
llie following exercise is a simple one and uses all of the
principles discussed so far in this chapter. It will help you
practice the basics of effective shamanic visioning. We rec-
ommend that you do this exercise several times in prepara-
tion for the shamanic journey we will introduce to you next.