Protection and Boundary Making
Greetings,
This page of information may well be one of the most important ones in your journey within the spirit realm, so please take your time reading through it and if you have any questions at all I am here to answer them--no question is too small and it may be through your questions that I even add to this page.
Working for the first time with shamanic guides is an amazing experience and yet it is always helpful to have a clear understanding of how our guides can not only help to keep us safe, but also the boundaries that we need to follow ourselves for our own safety.
So let us begin:
What I teach in regards to our work is not overly complex, nor is is dangerous, however it is important for each woman working in the shamanic realm to have a clear understanding of what can become dangerous, and essentially what it means when we enter into the shamanic journey.
In our first session together I teach the art of the spirit journey and how to do it, I also give clear instructions for a sacred and holy path that each woman will follow as she enters into the journey, this path takes you into the forest and to a river, once you cross the river letting go of your worries and stripping yourself down, your prepare for the journey into the grove. Within the sacred grove you are safe and held, within your journey once you cross the river you are safe and held.
However it is important for each woman to understand that once you are in the journey everything you ask and pray for potentially opens you up for answers and potentially unwanted spirit connections, and that just being in the realm of lower earth does not automatically mean that things will always be safe.
Our guides do not have within them the understanding of the human concept of "right and wrong", they are animal guides, they will always be on our side, and they will always take us where we ask them to go. They may warn us, but sometimes we need to know how to ask specific questions in order to receive that warning.
This is the subtle art and discipline of being trained as a shamanic healer, and something only time and practise gives those in that kind of apprenticeship.
Therefore it is important that for our work together each of you follow the same pathways and stick to working for your own healing by following the shamanic journey questions I have set out for you. Of course I always encourage each of you to journey on your own to establish a relationship with your guides and to continue your healing journeys, just as long as you are only ever journeying on behalf of yourselves, and not for others.
To this end I thought that it would be helpful to see a few examples of what can go wrong when we do not follow the boundaries that are set in place to keep us safe.
A few examples:
A few years ago one of my students was feeling very connected to an issue in her area about a woman that had been murdered, her heart and soul cried out for this woman, and so she took a simple prayer for the woman into one of her shamanic journeys, asking for peace for the soul of the murdered woman.
One might think that this is a wonderful thing to do, and to be honest it is. Asking for peace and sending love to someone who suffered a tragic death is a kind and heartfelt thing to do.
However, because this was done in the shamanic journey, the soul of the murdered woman reached out to the student, she was kind and wonderful and over time the student went back to visit her a few more times.
By the time it was mentioned to me however the student had gone into the shamanic journey many times, and over that time the woman who had been murdered and looked gruesome at first had begun to look better, and this is because she was actually taking energy unknowingly from the student.
The student feeling that she was helping the spirit/woman kept going back, and fortunately shared it with me before going in even more times and possibly getting into a more complicated mess as the spirit of the woman attached herself to her.
The trouble here is that unless you are a trained in the shamanic arts, not only would you not recognize that this is a vampiric spirit that has not crossed over, but it may be too late, as these spirits can attach themselves to us and cause many problems, and they often seem and feel safe.
This was not something that I ever thought would be a problem as I felt that by only teaching students to journey on their own behalf, and taking them along a well worn and safe pathway things would be fine.
I also did, and do not want to scare students about these kinds of things, but the truth is it is much more important for each woman working in the shamanic realm to understand what the reality is, and to have a healthy sense of boundaries, then not really know what can happen.
In the end all was well with the student and she discontinued visiting the spirit of the dear woman, instead focusing her prayers and love over onto the woman's living family, sending them her well wishes and thoughts.
Another example:
In this case one of the students was in her journey when she heard a name whispered to her, she noted it but moved on. Then again in another journey it happened again, and finally the whisper got stronger and she finally saw that it was an ancestor of hers contacting her. Right away she came out of the journey and came to me about it.
I asked her some pointed questions, and journeyed with her permission to seek out if this ancestor was indeed safe and already crossed over or if was an ancestor not yet crossed over that was seeking help. What I discovered was that indeed it was an ancestor looking to be crossed over and I was able with my guides to do that for her.
It is important to know that not all ancestors are safe to work with, so if you are contacted by one, again please gently come out of your journey and let them know that you will have someone check in on them, and get in touch with me.
There is no need to feel frightened or worry that they will harm you, because YOU always have control of your journeys, and can say this to them:" I am not able at this time to work with you but I will have someone else check in, I need to leave the journey now, good bye."
Come out of the journey and all should be well.
*Side Note: For women who are interested in moving onto year two I will be teaching how to work with safe ancestors, how to tell the difference between an ancestor that has crossed over and one that has not and is therefore safe or not safe to work with.*
Follow these rules for creating safe boundaries:
~ Remember that we are only journeying for ourselves, and never for others. Unless you are in a shamanic apprenticeship learning how to do this sacred art, please stick to your own healing at this time.
~ One of the primary rules of journeying is to set our intention/question before the journey, and speak this question to ourselves, and our guide 2-3 times so all spirits and subconscious knows our intention. The goal here is to be super clear. If you are unsure about the question I have set in the lessons, or are working on crafting your own question pop me an e-mail before journeying and we can chat about what it means for you, and how to craft it so it feels clear and you feel ready to ask it.
~ When our question/intention is clear, succinct, and precise it is then placed in the hands of our guide who will then take us into our journey.
Our guide is there to do just that, to guide us. We may not see our guide at all times, especially when working with the sacred trees, but we must go into the grove with them so that they are there.
~ We are in control of our own journeys at all times! This is an important thing to understand, if you get sucked into another realm, or a new guide you do not know appears, or something that does not seem to fit with your intention, turn away immediately and leave the journey, you are the one in control-always!
~ Do not feed the fears!
If you are feeling fearful you will scare the poop out of yourself. There is no need to feel fearful, for even "ghosts"/which are essentially just humans who need crossing over, are misplaced energy and will leave you alone if you tell them to, and even more so if you ask your guide to keep watch. They also do not generally come unless we "call" in some way.
This is why I always recommend to ask your guide to work with you if you are using tarot or other forms of divination and to please stay away from games such a ouija boards.
If we have a healthy respect for the spirit world and focus on our own healing, with our known and safe guides there should not be a problem.
Asking your Guide for Protection:
~ Your guide can protect you if you feel unsafe, both with the shamanic journey and energetically when you are not, we just need to ask them.
In a clear voice ask your guide specifically what you would like protection for, make sure to be clear, and if you do not feel too strange, it is always nice to say it out loud, even if you whisper it. If you are not in the shamanic journey your guide can not read your mind, so speaking out loud and calling on your guide for protection and support is important.
Call me, e-mail me, facebook me, I am around most of the time if you feel unsure about something. It may have been nothing at all to worry about or it may be something, but I am here as your guide as you dive deep into your own self healing and to keep you safe within the shamanic realms. I can help you to understand your journeys, and although I will never tell you what your journey means, I may be able to help you to understand them by asking you specific questions and sharing my own experiences, this is what my shamanic teacher did for me and what I am happy to do for you.
~These boundaries and discipline keeps us safe, and allows us to access to realms we would not normally be able to access, so we must respect them!
~I know that I have recommended books that tell anyone who cares to read them how to do all sorts of shamanic journeys, but my experience has shown me that although 98% of the time things can be safe, unless students have some understanding that their questions need to be clear and our journeys ONLY for ourselves, integrity can be lost and frightening things can happen.
This page of information may well be one of the most important ones in your journey within the spirit realm, so please take your time reading through it and if you have any questions at all I am here to answer them--no question is too small and it may be through your questions that I even add to this page.
Working for the first time with shamanic guides is an amazing experience and yet it is always helpful to have a clear understanding of how our guides can not only help to keep us safe, but also the boundaries that we need to follow ourselves for our own safety.
So let us begin:
What I teach in regards to our work is not overly complex, nor is is dangerous, however it is important for each woman working in the shamanic realm to have a clear understanding of what can become dangerous, and essentially what it means when we enter into the shamanic journey.
In our first session together I teach the art of the spirit journey and how to do it, I also give clear instructions for a sacred and holy path that each woman will follow as she enters into the journey, this path takes you into the forest and to a river, once you cross the river letting go of your worries and stripping yourself down, your prepare for the journey into the grove. Within the sacred grove you are safe and held, within your journey once you cross the river you are safe and held.
However it is important for each woman to understand that once you are in the journey everything you ask and pray for potentially opens you up for answers and potentially unwanted spirit connections, and that just being in the realm of lower earth does not automatically mean that things will always be safe.
Our guides do not have within them the understanding of the human concept of "right and wrong", they are animal guides, they will always be on our side, and they will always take us where we ask them to go. They may warn us, but sometimes we need to know how to ask specific questions in order to receive that warning.
This is the subtle art and discipline of being trained as a shamanic healer, and something only time and practise gives those in that kind of apprenticeship.
Therefore it is important that for our work together each of you follow the same pathways and stick to working for your own healing by following the shamanic journey questions I have set out for you. Of course I always encourage each of you to journey on your own to establish a relationship with your guides and to continue your healing journeys, just as long as you are only ever journeying on behalf of yourselves, and not for others.
To this end I thought that it would be helpful to see a few examples of what can go wrong when we do not follow the boundaries that are set in place to keep us safe.
A few examples:
A few years ago one of my students was feeling very connected to an issue in her area about a woman that had been murdered, her heart and soul cried out for this woman, and so she took a simple prayer for the woman into one of her shamanic journeys, asking for peace for the soul of the murdered woman.
One might think that this is a wonderful thing to do, and to be honest it is. Asking for peace and sending love to someone who suffered a tragic death is a kind and heartfelt thing to do.
However, because this was done in the shamanic journey, the soul of the murdered woman reached out to the student, she was kind and wonderful and over time the student went back to visit her a few more times.
By the time it was mentioned to me however the student had gone into the shamanic journey many times, and over that time the woman who had been murdered and looked gruesome at first had begun to look better, and this is because she was actually taking energy unknowingly from the student.
The student feeling that she was helping the spirit/woman kept going back, and fortunately shared it with me before going in even more times and possibly getting into a more complicated mess as the spirit of the woman attached herself to her.
The trouble here is that unless you are a trained in the shamanic arts, not only would you not recognize that this is a vampiric spirit that has not crossed over, but it may be too late, as these spirits can attach themselves to us and cause many problems, and they often seem and feel safe.
This was not something that I ever thought would be a problem as I felt that by only teaching students to journey on their own behalf, and taking them along a well worn and safe pathway things would be fine.
I also did, and do not want to scare students about these kinds of things, but the truth is it is much more important for each woman working in the shamanic realm to understand what the reality is, and to have a healthy sense of boundaries, then not really know what can happen.
In the end all was well with the student and she discontinued visiting the spirit of the dear woman, instead focusing her prayers and love over onto the woman's living family, sending them her well wishes and thoughts.
Another example:
In this case one of the students was in her journey when she heard a name whispered to her, she noted it but moved on. Then again in another journey it happened again, and finally the whisper got stronger and she finally saw that it was an ancestor of hers contacting her. Right away she came out of the journey and came to me about it.
I asked her some pointed questions, and journeyed with her permission to seek out if this ancestor was indeed safe and already crossed over or if was an ancestor not yet crossed over that was seeking help. What I discovered was that indeed it was an ancestor looking to be crossed over and I was able with my guides to do that for her.
It is important to know that not all ancestors are safe to work with, so if you are contacted by one, again please gently come out of your journey and let them know that you will have someone check in on them, and get in touch with me.
There is no need to feel frightened or worry that they will harm you, because YOU always have control of your journeys, and can say this to them:" I am not able at this time to work with you but I will have someone else check in, I need to leave the journey now, good bye."
Come out of the journey and all should be well.
*Side Note: For women who are interested in moving onto year two I will be teaching how to work with safe ancestors, how to tell the difference between an ancestor that has crossed over and one that has not and is therefore safe or not safe to work with.*
Follow these rules for creating safe boundaries:
~ Remember that we are only journeying for ourselves, and never for others. Unless you are in a shamanic apprenticeship learning how to do this sacred art, please stick to your own healing at this time.
~ One of the primary rules of journeying is to set our intention/question before the journey, and speak this question to ourselves, and our guide 2-3 times so all spirits and subconscious knows our intention. The goal here is to be super clear. If you are unsure about the question I have set in the lessons, or are working on crafting your own question pop me an e-mail before journeying and we can chat about what it means for you, and how to craft it so it feels clear and you feel ready to ask it.
~ When our question/intention is clear, succinct, and precise it is then placed in the hands of our guide who will then take us into our journey.
Our guide is there to do just that, to guide us. We may not see our guide at all times, especially when working with the sacred trees, but we must go into the grove with them so that they are there.
~ We are in control of our own journeys at all times! This is an important thing to understand, if you get sucked into another realm, or a new guide you do not know appears, or something that does not seem to fit with your intention, turn away immediately and leave the journey, you are the one in control-always!
~ Do not feed the fears!
If you are feeling fearful you will scare the poop out of yourself. There is no need to feel fearful, for even "ghosts"/which are essentially just humans who need crossing over, are misplaced energy and will leave you alone if you tell them to, and even more so if you ask your guide to keep watch. They also do not generally come unless we "call" in some way.
This is why I always recommend to ask your guide to work with you if you are using tarot or other forms of divination and to please stay away from games such a ouija boards.
If we have a healthy respect for the spirit world and focus on our own healing, with our known and safe guides there should not be a problem.
Asking your Guide for Protection:
~ Your guide can protect you if you feel unsafe, both with the shamanic journey and energetically when you are not, we just need to ask them.
In a clear voice ask your guide specifically what you would like protection for, make sure to be clear, and if you do not feel too strange, it is always nice to say it out loud, even if you whisper it. If you are not in the shamanic journey your guide can not read your mind, so speaking out loud and calling on your guide for protection and support is important.
Call me, e-mail me, facebook me, I am around most of the time if you feel unsure about something. It may have been nothing at all to worry about or it may be something, but I am here as your guide as you dive deep into your own self healing and to keep you safe within the shamanic realms. I can help you to understand your journeys, and although I will never tell you what your journey means, I may be able to help you to understand them by asking you specific questions and sharing my own experiences, this is what my shamanic teacher did for me and what I am happy to do for you.
~These boundaries and discipline keeps us safe, and allows us to access to realms we would not normally be able to access, so we must respect them!
~I know that I have recommended books that tell anyone who cares to read them how to do all sorts of shamanic journeys, but my experience has shown me that although 98% of the time things can be safe, unless students have some understanding that their questions need to be clear and our journeys ONLY for ourselves, integrity can be lost and frightening things can happen.
FAQ
© Nikiah Seeds 2016 Vancouver B.C Canada
Living and working on the unceded Indigenous land belonging to the Coast Salish peoples, including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.