Jose ATID LENA STEVENS 17nonordinary reality. The way or means we have of creating
a line of communication with the spirit world is critical in
shamanic work. Children, born with this skill, forget a
great deal of it through enculturation and modern emphasis
on strict logic to explain everything in the physical uni-
verse. The door that links children to the realm of spirit
slowly begins to close in their attempt to master the physi-
cal, cultural ways of modern life. To a degree this is a
normal process and a necessary one if they are to learn to
distinguish between the nonordinary spirit world and the
everyday physical world.
Joseph Chilton Pierce talks about this connection
between the two worlds and the realm he calls "mind"
in his book The Magical Child. As many others have
done, he acknowledges the importance of preserving
the childlike process of imagination and of reaching be-
yond the concrete and physical. The magical child, accord-
ing to Pierce, translates to the child who has the ability
to focus and yet does not get lost in content or mem-
ory.
Using shamanic skills requires the reopening of the door
of imagination so that the link between the physical and the
spirit world becomes reestablished. Exercising your imagina-
tion through visualization and shamanic visioning prepares
you for the process of journeying, one of the basic tech-
niques of shamanic work.
Drumming, Intzu closed his eyes and entered into the
big dream. Instantly the golden bird spread its wings and,
grasping Intzu in his talons, flew across the sky into the
land of night. There was darkness all around them and all
he could feel was the brisk wind that whistled through the
feathers of the great bird. Suddenly the bird swooped low
and lit on the branches of a mammoth silver-barked tree
with eight magnificent branches stretching beyond the
horizon. The top of the tree was lost in the heavens and
the great roots penetrated to the very core of the Earth.
Then the great golden bird sang to him in a soft voice:
"Here find you at the center, go and come back, go and
come back, the tree will always be your home. Sing with
the spirit of the silver tree in your heart. Sing this song,
sing this song and you shall be ever with your power."
With a roar the bird was gone and Intzu awoke dazzled
and filled with the spirit of life.
Intzu was overjoyed. Through his vision he had at last
found his path of truth.