SHAPESHIFTING

With each blog entry, I will take you further into the world of alternate realities and share with you the mysteries and knowledge that were taught to me by a Toltec shaman. As we walk this path, I will pull back some of the veils of our magickal universe to illuminate the scientific aspects of its inner workings as designed by the Creator. However, there will be times when we will encounter Other mysteries that will bring us face to face with the unknowable to which the principles science do not apply! These mysteries can only BE known through direct experience as we embrace them with the very heart of our souls.

And Now Let Us Continue The Journey………….

SHAPESHIFTING

Lets take the first step by asking what exactly is shapeshifting? In the simplest terms, shapeshifting is defined as the action of transforming ones physical appearance into another form either animal or human.

Sound impossible? Perhaps the product of an overactive fantasy writers imagination? There was a time when this is EXACTLY what I thought. As a kid I fell in love with the concept of shapeshifting, werewolves and vampires. But as I grew older I realized that regardless of how much I wanted to believe in the existence of these exciting, and often very sensual creatures, that it was nothing more than a romantic fantasy that I would never witness or experience.

For about 3 years I was lock into this realization until one fateful day I was given a new shimmer of hope as my logic was confounded with an experience that to this day I can only attribute to the phenomenon of shapeshifting.

I was seventeen and living in the small high desert community of Southern California known as Yucca Valley which sat at about 32 miles north east of Palm Springs. I was in 11th grade in high school and had already developed an unquenchable interest in the occult and had a bit of a reputation for it around campus as I was often sent to the principles office for testing the ESP abilities of other students while in class. I had my pack of zener cards which were used to test clairvoyance and telepath, my probability charts, and my set of mimeographed score cards ( LOL I hope I am not the only one old enough to remember mimeograph machines?) I was well on the way to becoming a future parapsychologist! Therefore, I was not too surprised when I was approached by three girls telling me stories about a ranch hand that watched them at an artesian swimming hole in the hills near where they lived. He was really spooking them out when they went skinny dipping in the swimming hole. It seems that he would watch them from behind a Joshua tree about 50 yards away and when they would catch him he would step behind the tree and virtually disappear as they moved from side to side and saw that he was gone. After the second time this happened they decided not to go there alone again. They then asked me if I would go with them and see if it happened again so that I could chase him away and maybe solve this mystery.

Well now, I have to be honest with you….. after hearing the words skinny dipping, my logical mind shut down and was filled with the many visuals that would be expected of a seventeen year old male so I was not even paying attention to most of what they said right up to the part where they asked if I would go with them the next day! I accept so fast that I became tongue tied and had to repeat my answer 3 times before I final got it right.

I met them the next day at the swimming hole arriving a little before them so I took off my clothes and jumped in to wait for them. I had not even given the reason for my being there much consideration since the words skinny dipping was still echoing in my mind. Well they finally showed and started undressing to jump in the water with me and I can’t even begin to explain the feelings that went through me as I saw they were all wearing bathing suits! Here I was naked in the water wishing I had not thrown my clothes out of reach. Once they realized what was going on it took them about a half an hour to stop laughing and teasing me with a game of keep away with my pants!

Once they had their fun I got dressed and sat behind a large rock while they laughed and played in the water. After about an hour we were all ready to give up and go home when saw a coyote running between the bushes disappearing behind a large Joshua tree a few yards away. The next thing I saw startled me so bad that I had to sit down and logically digest what I was seeing…… from behind the Joshua tree peek a man that had not been there moments before and could not have sneaked by me without me seeing him.

I grabbed a large stick and ran toward the tree to find that the only thing behind the tree was a large crow that took flight upon seeing me.

I figured we were facing two possibilities, either there was something in the water that was affecting all of us OR…… I had just had an encounter with a real life Shapeshifter. Although I was a bit scared and shaken by this experience I had to know if the man I saw was really the ranch hand near by and if I saw what I think I saw. So I headed over to the ranch where he worked and since I knew the people that owned it I had no trouble getting to the barn where he was working with the horses. I was vacillating about stepping around the corner and confronting him trying to get a grip on my nerve when he walked out the door nearly crashing into me. It was him alright! The same man I had seen at the water hole. I managed to speak asking him if he had been to the water hole today and he just stared at me with very dark piercing eyes. He was from Mexico and about 30 to 40 years old. I asked again and he slowly smiled and said “No Habla English”. I thought to myself ….. great now what! I wished that I had paid more attention in my Spanish classes as I tried to remember the words to ask the question in Spanish. It soon became obvious that I was not getting anywhere so I turned to leave and got about 30 feet away and he called out “Buenos tardes marcos” I turned around and on the ground stood a crow that flew away in one direction while I took off running in the other!

He left the area shortly after that I think he may have returned to Mexico. But what he had left me with was the prospect of a whole new set of possibilities that I had thought were only science fiction fantasies. It would be yet several more years before I would begin to understand the intricacies of this mysterious phenomenon of shapeshifting……

So…. CAN a person physically transform his physical body into an animal or another person? From the many stories we have heard and based on my personal experience one would say YES, but in realty, the answer is NO . The human body can not transform on a cellular level into cells with animal gene expressions. I recently had a long conversation about this very subject with my daughter Jennifer who was a senior at Washington State University and a genetics major. I wanted to be sure beyond any doubt that human cells could NOT undergo transmogrification. Jennifer provided me with the scientific proof I needed and I am now of the firm belief that physical body transformation are not a possibility.

What then did I see? How can this and many other cases be explained? To answer this question we must examine the three different types of shapeshifting as taught by shamans.

The first and most common form of shapeshifting is used by most shamans of the world and is known as “dancing your spirit animal”. It is performed by using trance inducing drum beats, at a rhythm of usually about 4 beats per second. The shaman then begins a chant and dance that usually emulates the movements of the animal they are trying to merge with and shift into. The shapeshifting occurs sometime into this ritual but happens on a higher plane than the physical. It can be the etheric but usually it is the shamans astral body that changes into the animal and comes into direct communication with the group soul of that animal species. The desired result is a vision, sharing of knowledge, or a keen insight and shift of perception that will aid the shaman in whatever his quest may be.

Sometimes people shift like this while dreaming and have very strange and sometimes vivid dreams of flying or running at high speeds. One word of caution should be noted regarding this type of shapeshifting and that is you should not remain in this state for very long periods of time. The reason for this is that the longer an animals soul is attached to yours the harder it is to release it and you could have problems when it comes time to shift back. Many animals find our sould soothing and are reluctant to disconnect. It’s kind of like feeding a bear in the camp ground and then say scat bear go home now.

Animals do not have the same emotions or thoughts as humans and when you are shifted on an etheric or astral level the physical body looks much like it normally would but the way you act is entirely different. You can be more alert, aggressive, or passionate. This is where the term animal lust comes from. When shifted into an aggressive animal like a wolf many inhibitions disappear and the passion driven forces of survival can manifest within the human physical form. If this were not a PG rated blog I would give more details on this subject so you will have to let your own imaginations play out this scenario.

One other fact that I find very interesting is that the best time to try to shapeshift in any form is during the 3 days of the full moon. The moon exerts its influence on the physical and the astral body as well. The astral body seems to be more energetic and ready to snap into action during this time. This is the reason why people are restless and act odd during a full moon . This influencing force is where the term lunatic comes from.

The second type of shapeshifting occurs exclusively within the astral body and can only be witnessed by others on the astral plane or by some psychics using astral sight. In this type of shapeshifting you astral project into your astral body and then transform your astral body into whatever creature you desire. In this state if you were to shift into a hawk, as far as you could perceive, …..you would be a hawk and you would experience everything that a hawk does or feels including the odd sensation of looking out in two directions from your eyes at the same time! That is a very strange and difficult feeling to master.

One other aspect of this type of shapeshifting is found in the astral possession of a physical bodied animal. In this type of projection you truly become an animal on the physical level while your body lies in trance somewhere else. When doing this one must always respect the animal host and not abuse or endanger its body.

The third and most difficult form of shapeshifting is done with the use of what my teacher called a double. It took me sometime to comprehend exactly what a double was because I kept confusing it with the astral body. A double is a projected etheric body of energy and is very close in vibration to the physical body. It is our energy body and conducts our energy both electrical and etheric to all points within and around the physical body.

When we project our astral bodies we also project our etheric bodies but the etheric body usually stays very close to the physical and seldom has consciousness for more than a few seconds. A skilled shaman learns to increase his or her personal power to a point where the etheric double can move greater distances away from the physical body with the ability to hold the seat of consciousness within the etheric body. The skilled shaman also knows how to manipulate the vibration frequencies of their double so that it materializes into the visible spectrum of the physical plane. In fact, the only apparent difference between a real physical body and a projected etheric body is in its size. The etheric body is about an inch larger in all directions to the physical body, so a person that has projected into the etheric double would appear to be a little bigger than normal.

The projected double would seem to be that person in their physical body. The shaman then could alter his appearance and shift into an animal, for example a coyote, and then shift right back into a human. This is a strong possibility that would explain what I saw when I was younger. The shaman can also use this principal to do a partial shift of his etheric double, while it is inside the physical body, thereby changing the way they appear to others but only for a short time because it takes enormous amounts of energy and control. This is what is known as the art of glamour where you can change your physical appearance in subtle or dramatic ways.

My teacher use to play this game with me whenever he would come to town for my next series of lessons. He would tell me what day he would arrive but would not tell me where he would be waiting for me. It was up to me to find him using the perception skills that I was developing. It usually took me about 15 minutes to a half an hour. I would find him in the super market, waking downtown, in a movie theater, ( that was tough one) and even once in a strip club ( that was an embarrassing one). However, the strangest and most difficult game of all was one evening in august when I could sense him almost immediately and I headed for the large resort area on the lake where I live. I thought to myself “ I am going to nail this game in record time” . I parked my car and started walking on the floating boardwalk that stretched out a ¼ of a mile over the lake. About half way out I started getting the sensation that I was within a few feet of him but that was impossible! The only person within 100 yards of me was an old and I mean REALLY Old man dressed like a bum and with bad body odor.

I was stumped and leaned against a large light pole peering at my reflection in the water getting ready to be chastised by my teacher for failing this task. I then noticed that the smelly old man had walked over to the other side of the post and I stared into his reflected eyes and suddenly this ancient mariner grew about 30 years younger and grinning from ear to ear winked and said gotch YA! Yeah you guessed it was my mentor. I had to buy him dinner as that was the stakes of the game. Over dinner he explained the intricacies of what he had done and gave me several exercises to practice that would eventually give me the same ability. I am getting better at it but I am far from mastering it!

One other interesting thing my teacher told me is that one of the favorite forms a shaman shifts into is that of a crow. The reason being, that a crow does not have many natural enemies and most people do not pay attention to crows since they are so common. So if you ever see a crow that is acting peculiar or making an unusual amount of noise you might want to pay attention to it . Make no mistake my friends OUR world is full of very magickal beings and things are not always, what they seem to be….