Category Archives: deathwalking

Helping A Deer Spirit

deerWell, my usual autumn case of the crud hit a couple weeks ago and left me feelin’ pretty puney and voiceless for almost a week. I spent recovery time curled up with my “blankie” and lots of slippery elm tea with honey, lemon and cayenne. Then it took me over a week to get caught back up in the office. It stunk as I couldn’t even return phone calls. So, the following story got delayed a a while.

Back in early September, I had a very interesting experience with a member of our local deer herd. If you’ve followed us before, you’ll know we live in the forest and share our space with several herd of “Sidhe deer”.

It was just after Labor Day here in the US when I was awaken from my sleep by a horrible smell. I noticed a slight odor when I went to bed, but just passed it off as something fleeting. I have a VERY sensitive sense of smell. Well, about 2 a.m. I came out of a deep sleep to a horrible smell of decomposition near my face. Not only could I smell it but I could taste it! Continue reading →

Shaman as Deathwalkers – Part II

As promised, we’ll continue where we left off before we were so rudely interrupted by Life. We were discussing the role of the shaman as a “Deathwalker” assisting those who are preparing to make their transition to Spirit or those who have already transitioned.

Sometimes when a death occurs, the Soul is caught unprepared. Sometimes the Soul may not understand what happened or that they are dead. This Soul’s natural journey back to its spiritual home, is then interrupted. The Soul needs help, it cannot continue the journey on its own. This is where a shaman can assist the Soul to continue it’s journey home. Continue reading →

Shaman as Deathwalkers – Part I.

To follow up on our topic of a shamanic view of death and dying, we move on to the role of the shaman as a “Deathwalker” or “Psychopomp” (from the Greek word psychopompos, literally meaning the “guide of souls”).

As a shaman, we may be called to assist those who are making their spiritual transitions or those who have already left the physical body that need help completing their transition and returning to their spiritual home.

The shaman may wait with and comfort the soul of a person who is dying and guide them across at the moment of death. Or they can also be with a person who is dying, when they lose consciousness and communicate with them. This is the time when the person who is about to leave the dying body is mostly on the spiritual side but is still anchored to the body. The shaman can ask the soul where it wants to go, then show them where this place is, so they have an idea about which way to go after death. Continue reading →