It was absolutely amazing for me to witness a Medicine Man drumming himself into a trance-like state, drumming to allow himself to alter his mind in order to help me. He was asked to assist me in my poor state of being at the time. The ceremony was remarkable and highly memorable.
I was being inflicted with spiritual weapons by an unknown adversary, and the injury had penetrated deep within my flesh in various locations of my body. The situation was dangerous and well worth a long drive by car with a dear friend, to visit a man I had never met. I was sent there by an elder of the same tribe. He and his family lived on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
It was mid-February. Lake Michigan was frozen and huge banks of ice covered the shore. My “mommy friend” and I set out in this winter wilderness to seek the man who would relieve me of my physical pain. He welcomed us at his home as I presented him with two gifts. The first was his favorite brand of cigarettes. When you ask a favor of a Medicine Man, a gift of tobacco is standard protocol. The second gift was a Native American blanket. His final payment for his “spiritual medicine work” would be a gift of cash for his expertise. Rarely had a “white woman” sought his help.
He instructed me to lie on my back in the center of the living room. He began drumming to the same steady beat and we witnessed that he had gone into an altered state. Before he began drumming and chanting in his natural tongue, he explained to us that that he was going to call into himself his assigned “power animal,” which was intended to give him the supernatural power of the “whole species” of the wolf population. To this day, I can still recall the powerful surge of nature as an actual, very much alive wolf head took the place of his human one! Objects of various shapes had been lodged within my being, intended to cause me much bodily pain and fear — fear that these objects would penetrate through an essential organ, ultimately causing death. It was a very serious matter at hand, and it was not taken lightly by any means!
The ceremony was successful. This experienced tribal elder had saved my life. He accepted only the gifts I had given him and humbly refused anything more for his “spiritual” work. The strong scent of dried, hand-picked sweetgrass burning in the abalone shell followed us as we bid our farewell to our most respected new friend.
The memory of this experience in which nature played the key role in my wellness remains close to my heart as I work to bring healing to others. We healers are called to this purpose which the Creator of our vast universe has enlightened us to pursue.
