JOSE AIID LENA STEVENS 57As nursing staff coordinator at a large hospital, Maria
felt her power was constantly being challenged by sev-
eral charge nurses who quarreled among themselves. At
the weekly staff meetings, they made her life miserable
by complaining and bickering about every scheduling
plan she came up with. When Maria began to learn about
shamanism, she discovered a powerful way of looking at
the world that changed her perspective from victim to ac-
tivator. She became exposed to a treasure chest of pow-
erful methods that helped her feel more powerful and
effective in her role as co-ordinator.
During a shamanic journey, Maria was given a bright
lavender crystal by her Badger guide to carry with her
whenever she felt she needed some help asserting her
leadership skills. Although the lavender crystal was invisi-
ble to the naked eye, Maria was aware of it hanging
around her neck on its invisible gold chain. That week,
Maria looked forward to the troublesome staff meeting.
For the first time she felt she had assistance in the face of
so much opposition. As she entered the meeting room,
Maria silently called upon the spirit of the crystal to boost
her power and protect her from the bombardment of the
difficult staff. As the meeting progressed, Maria found
that she was able to communicate more effectively with
the confrontative charge nurses. They became strangely
cooperative after a time; by the end of the meeting she
was amazed at the results achieved. They had managed
for the first time to agree upon a new staffing schedule
that would run for a full three months. Also, for the first
time Maria felt energized and healthy after the meeting
rather than her usual battered self. She did not fail to
thank the badger for her special talisman. She found that
she enjoyed speaking to the crystal and asking its advice
on a variety of matters. All she had to do was listen for
the answers.Typically, a Western psychologist might interpret Maria's
experience as a way of projecting her own unintegrated as-
sertiveness skills onto an imaginary device that she could
then rely on for safety. While this argument has its merit,
shamans would say that this interpretation negates the rela-
tionship that human beings have with a very real spirit world.
In fact, they would say that this is a very arrogant position to
take, because it assumes that we get no help outside of our
own psyches. For shamans, talismans and fetishes are con-