What I Do When I'm "Journeying"

In some of my upcoming posts I will describe a “journey” I have taken, and what messages I have come back with. I wanted to set out some basic information about what I do and what my background is before I started posting about journeys. This is so that readers know where I am coming from and the basics about how this process works. I think this is necessary so that readers can have a measure of comfort about what I do, particularly if you decide you would like me to do a journey for you.

“Journeying” is a tool I use to link me into the collective unconscious, get guidance and receive messages from spiritual guides. It is a shamanic practice across many cultures the world over. There are many tools to connect with Universal wisdom and guides that everyone, including me, can access. These might include dreams, “coincidental” conversations with other, messages from songs on the radio and many, many more.

However, journeying is one of the tools I am most comfortable with. It is one of the easiest ways for me to bring back answers and messages for specific questions particularly for people I don’t know. It’s also very fun for me – I love decoding the visual symbols in combination with the messages to intuit an even deeper meaning!! Bringing back messages to help someone else or myself is incredibly satisfying. I feel like it is one of the highest uses of my particular intuitive faculties, which has been given as a gift to me from the Universe.

“Journeying” is a tool of a shamanic practitioner. I was a member of a shamanic journeying group for several years where I learned “journeying” for myself and others. When I use the term “journey” it has a specific meaning as a technique for message retrieval.

Depending on your comfort level, you can think of what I, and other shamanic practitioners do, as being similar to dreaming, tapping into the collective unconscious, asking my imagination for answers or directly receiving messages from guides/power animals or the Universal Life Force (or whatever else you might believe). It all depends upon your orientation and belief system.

I won’t go into the specifics of how to journey here, but there are some good resources and guidebooks on shamanism, such as “Earth Magic” by Stephen Farmer. This book basically sets out the nuts and bolts of shamanic practice for anyone who would like to learn and practice. You may wish to also check out www.shamanism.org. Micheal Harner is the founder of the Foundation for Shamanic Studies, and has developed a program of core shamanism practices and certification, especially for Westerners. Shamanic techniques and tools are similar the world over and used throughout many different unrelated cultures for the same purpose

I use the basic journeying tools, as set out by the authors above. Before I “journey” I call in my guides to accompany me, and set a specific intention for a specific purpose (for example: “Find out why Lisa is sick”), then listen to a drum beat, which takes my mind into a “journey state”. I follow some simple protocols depending on the type of journey I make. I always have as part of my intention the highest good of all of those involved, and if there is any negativity I immediately take safeguards and return. (This is has only happened a handful of times over many years.) Anyone can learn to follow these techniques and learn to do this, although it is important to get guidance and mentoring under others first when you are starting. (See the end of this post for more recommendations.)

As you will see from my posts, I mostly come back with visual messages. I bring back the images that have popped into my head and record them once I am finished the journey. Sometimes these images are very bizarre and don't "make sense" in a rational way. Quite often this is because I am just the messenger and the only image or the message conveyed only makes sense to the person receiving the message. While I am journeying my intellectual mind isn’t fully functioning, so I am not able to interpret messages during that time. This also allows me to suspend any type of judgment or interference from my judgmental intellect, and allows whatever needs to come in, to enter. Journeying is a time of collection for messages only. I journey to where I need to be, ask for guidance or ask specific questions, and wait to be shown answers. When I receive what I have come for, I give thanks, and leave.

Messages and answers come to me personally, mostly in visual format. Visual images seem to be the easier way for me to bring back and make sense of information I’ve been given. Sometimes I receive messages “spoken” telepathically within the journey. Other people I know receive messages through feeling with their bodies or smelling and hearing, but these phenomena aren’t as common for me. Once I come back to waking consciousness, I interpret the meanings of the (mostly) visual symbols in my journeys using my intuition and my intellect. Tying together the whole thing by combining the visual messages with the symbolic meaning of the images themselves is my favourite part! It is even more mind-blowing when I relate the message to a question asker and they interpret the meanings of the messages and symbols according to their own personal cosmology. Helping someone or solving a problem for someone is the most satisfying thing of all for me about journeying.

If You Want to Start Shamanic Practices Yourself
The basic journeying techniques are easy to learn how to do, but when you are starting out it is important to have an experienced practitioner guiding you, particularly someone who is careful about psychic safety. This person should have experience so they can guide you along the correct and respectful paths and teach you a respectful practice. Your teacher should be respectful of all Spirit and of you and your journey along the shamanic path, with your own particular brand of wisdom. Studying and practicing should all feel very easy and good. If it doesn’t, you should stop and seek assistance elsewhere. Be guided by the feelings in your body and heart. They do not lie.

I am not in a position to teach these practices, but I would recommend looking for a group in your area or attending workshops, etc. Bonding with others in a shamanic group is a very intense experience and is intimate in a way that few things are.

Like everything else, the more you practice, the better you will become. Everyone manifests their own talent at receiving psychic messages in their own way, just like some people can sing better than others, or draw in a more skillful way.


If you have further questions about what I do, please email me. I would be delighted to talk about it.