Shamanic Tests for Now

In ancient, remote and tribal cultures, shamanic tests were made up of challenges such as periods of seclusion in the wilderness with nothing but a blanket, a knife and a water bottle.

When a person survived such an ordeal, they came back with a new realization of life, new views and visions, a new sense that it really takes very little stuff to live in the world. Comfort can come from a fire, a blanket and a drink of water.

In today's urban and suburban world, we don't have to do that. Our challenges are different. For example, when people are forced to reevaluate because they have lost money in the stock market, their house note is getting harder to make, or they lost it. Or they got laid off from work, or got a pay cut or a lower paying job, now they will have to learn about shopping wisely.

For people who are used to just shopping for as much as they want on credit cards, frequently buying stuff that ends up in garage sales or yard sales barely used, the change in shopping to less frequent and more thoughtful can be a shamanic process.

The same is true for a person who really cleans house and decides to rearrange it to enhance the energy patterns. Sometimes we develop emotional attachments to things we have collected and are reluctant to part with them, even thought we do not use them. It is a sign of strength and growth to be able to let go of those things that no longer are useful to us, no longer increase our energy and ability, and have our space cleared enough so that now we have additional room to move in, to be in.

When we clear things out, there is room for more energy, more spirit, more life to enter. There is a place for us and whatever is next in our lives. It is a shamanic test to let go and really clear our space and then bless it.