Deer as Power Animal Part 1

   Oh Tengre, Tengre, Bonqua Shem
 Oh Tengre, Tengre, Bonqua Shem
Oh Tengre, Tengre, Bonqua Shem
Oh Tengre, Tengre, Shem Bonqua!

  Oh Sacred Spirit Most High, Stag and Eagle
 Oh Sacred Spirit Most High, Stag and Eagle
Oh Sacred Spirit Most High, Stag and Eagle
Oh Sacred Spirit Most High, Eagle and Stag!

 ~The Song of Deer as taught to
Jade Wah’oo Grigori by his Ancestral Spirits

Deer knows the forest.

     As a hunter, a person of the mountains, I know the forest pretty well. I know where in the forest to find a particular herb, where the springs are to be found, which type of trees grow where, at what time of day the various animals are to be found asleep and when awake. I know the mountain ranges and peaks, the valleys and streams, meadows and cliffs.

    Deer knows the Forest. Each blade of grass, every dewdrop, each and every tree and the denizens thereof Deer knows intimately.

    When Deer enters the Forest and sees a tree that has fallen, that tree, in Deer’s noticing of it, becomes upright and strong once again. Where a rock has fallen from it’s lodging, Deer notices it and the rock returns to its placement; a spring that has dried up flows once more in Deer’s notice. A stream that has overflowed its banks and is flooding returns to its course under Deer’s notice. Clouds, roiling and tumbling, drift their appointed path once again when Deer places attention upon them.

    In the Forest of the Celestial Soul, which carries the blueprint of our manifest existence, the tree is a nerve bundle. Spirit Deer, entering into this forest of the Celestial Soul, notices the broken nerve bundle and moves it into wholeness. When Spirit Deer sees a rock/bone that is out of place or broken, that rock/bone returns to its alignment and heals. The spring is a gland of the endocrine system, which having ceased pumping its hormones, flows once again. The stream is a blood passageway, clouds are thoughts.

    We are comprised of three Souls, or aspects of Soul. They are: the Earth Soul, residence of short-term memory and conscious mental functions, the Underworld Soul is the place from which we dream and is the reservoir of our Power (Life Force), which itself resonates with thoughts, feelings, experiences and impressions, i.e. memory, long-term memory specifically. The Celestial Soul is our High Self, the inspirational self through which we receive spiritual guidance and direction here in our daily life. It is like a slide-projector’s film. The light of Creation, shining through this film, projects into the manifest world the 3-D holographic projection that we experience as our reality: mental, physical and emotional reality. 

    Through trauma or debilitation we may deplete the resources of Power stored within our Underworld Soul. The Underworld Soul, in order to acquire enough sustenance to keep us alive, might then begin to cannibalize the field of Life Force of which the Celestial Soul is made. This causes damage to the patterns of the High Self, like unto pinholes or rips in the slide-projector’s film. The light of Creation shining through the film now manifests in those places of damage a blankness, lacking creative manifestation. In these places of nothingness there is no direction given to the Life Force to organize itself. In those areas of life experience we find instead dysfunction, discord and disease. From a Shamanic perspective viruses are bits of Life Force running rampant in the manifest blankness. Any condition of disintegration and disassociation from the creative processes of life-positive regeneration are seen to be resultant from the disintegration of the Celestial Soul that arises from an insufficient resource of Life Force in the Underworld Soul.

    In order to reinstate a wholeness of the Celestial Soul so that we can experience regeneration and wellness in our manifest lives it is imperative that we both repair the damage in the Celestial Soul and recharge the Underworld Soul to a state of empowered equilibrium. This necessitates that the underlying condition that brought about the loss of Life Force, i.e. the trauma and its consequential debilitation, be healed as well. A healing of the Soul must be brought about at the level of the Soul that is injured or conflicted. Mere physical, emotional and mental rehabilitation, while beneficial, are not of themselves sufficient to the task. Healing the Underworld Soul requires a bringing of the light of Awareness into the darkness of separation and despair that has come to inhabit the realms of our dreams. From there a thorough transformation of the life-negative forces into life-positive joyousness is then necessary. Once this healing of the wound of the Underworld Soul is accomplished then the implementation of healing and reconstitution of the Celestial Soul is in order.

    Deer, as has been mentioned, is capable of going into the Celestial Soul to repair the damage that has been wreaked by the Underworld Soul in distress. Not, however, of its own accord. The intimate relationship between Shaman and Spirit Deer is essential. It is the Shaman’s ability to open the portals between the realms of the Soul that provides access for Deer to leap into the Soul of the person who has requested, and is in need of, this particular treatment. In addition it is through the Shaman’s knowledgeable guidance that the client is prepared, in three days of ceremony, to create within themselves the simultaneous opening of the portal within their Soul in the same moment that the Deer is sent forth into that person’s Forest/Celestial Soul by the Shaman. This preparation entails the movement of the client and Shaman into a Near-Death-Experience by means of Shamanically induced trance.

    Still all is not complete until Spirit Eagle flies with and above Spirit Deer through the Forest. Eagle has the function of setting into firmness all that Deer has accomplished. Just as the Shaman must have an existent and well-developed relationship with Deer in order for the Shaman to be able to call Deer forth, so must the Shaman have an equal relationship with Eagle.

    We humans perceive visible light within a specific spectral band. So do we, as a species, all resonate within a defined band of spiritual frequency. That is, the Spirit of each and every human being is found to exhibit a frequency within a particular range. The frequency range of Deer and Eagle each overlap the upper ranges of the Human, while extending beyond the Human range into the extension of each their own bandwidth. It is the ability to orchestrate a harmonic relationship between the Spirits of the Human, Deer and Eagle, which, like the tumblers of a combination lock, enable the effective interaction of all involved on behalf of the client.

    Deer Doctoring, as this Shamanic Healing Ceremony is called, is suited for those who have critical need, such as degenerative diseases of the organs and nerves, cancer, DNA disruptions and other conditions that are specifically the result of the aforementioned self-cannibalization of the Celestial Soul by the Underworld Soul.

    A Deer Doctoring takes place over the course of three days and is held in isolation form the outside world. The person calling for the treatment is responsible for securing six people who, as supporters, are willing to hold ceremonial positions of responsibility on behalf of the client, persons who are willing to state before all of Creation that the individual receiving the Deer Doctoring is worthy of Life. If there is more than one person receiving a Deer Doctoring, say three people, then each client would only have to secure two supporters each for a total of six. The initiators of the Deer Doctoring also are responsible for providing the meals and all attendant needs of the gathering of the involved people present. Usually this will include the building, with the Shaman’s assistance and guidance, of a Sweat Lodge and other ceremonial presentations. Traditional and required payment for a Deer Doctoring is a good blanket (such as a large-size Pendelton) and a good horse. If the person requesting the Deer Doctoring does not have a good horse available, or at the Shaman’s request, a financial consideration equivalent to a good horse (not a nag, not a race horse), along with a representational token of a horse (perhaps a horse statue, painting or other horse-symbolic item) is acceptable. These are offered well in advance of the ceremonial. The requesting individual(s) may secure the resources on their own, or ask the supporters and/or family members to contribute to their healing by contributing financial and work-related assistance. Once the client requesting the Deer Doctoring has initiated the ceremony’s occurrence by formally asking the Shaman to officiate, and securing the required number of supporters, he/she is not allowed to do any of the work in set up and preparation, not even the cooking of food for the three days nor the sweeping of a floor at the location. They are simply to receive support.

The offerings expressed herein are in the spiritual and intellectual caretakership of Jade Wah’oo Grigori and may not be reproduced in any form without written consent. Written consent is hereby given to distribute this article, non-commercially, in its entirety only, with this notice and the following addendums of authorship and contact information:

Written by Jade Wah’oo Grigori, 5/27/03
Web site: http://www.shamanic.net

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