Advanced Shamanism

Chapter 5

Core Practices

Practice #4

Acquiring Spirit Animal Guides--The Jicara

The animals that are common to where we live are considered just that--“common”--and so are often overlooked when it comes to tapping into their magic and mystery. But, from over twenty years of working as a shaman with both animal spirits and human beings I can tell you that animal spirits come to people as the people become open and ready to receive them. If you live in the city, the spirit of the city squirrel may be much more approachable for you to work with on a daily basis than the spirit of a deer living in a secluded place in the mountains. There is a reason why you both live in the city, or the suburbs, or the country. And by already sharing the everyday sights, sounds, and smells of the area where you live, you already have much in common with those beings that you share your neighborhood with. What you consider to be familiar can tell you a lot about who you are.

A powerful shamanic technique for employing the unique energy and essence of an animal spirit is to fashion a jicara that is infused by the spirit of the animal and by the living 4 entities that support the animal. The word jicara, in this context borrowed from the Wirrarika language, refers to a bowl used to hold sacred items. But in this case, even though the jicara exists in physical form, the objects being held by it come together to form something much more than the physical items themselves. The items contained by the jicara are the embodiment of something truly unspeakable. I’m going to call the unspeakable aspect of the jicara its “spirit,” simply due to the fact that the word spirit is commonly used to refer to a type of invisible animating force.

Fashioning an animal spirit jicara begins with the bowl. The physical shape of the bowl helps create a spiraling vortex which acts as a womb to hold the spirit of the animal. The bowl is usually of gourd or clay and should be fashioned by you or acquired from someone close to you that has a genuine love for the materials of the bowl. The jicara will not be fully activated until the bowl is consecrated with the blood of the animal in the presence of the five life giving energies of the world--Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Spirit.

Since consecrating the jicara with the blood of the animal means that you will need the physical body of the animal in your hands, either alive or most usually dead, it will probably take you some time, maybe even years, in order to make this happen. This is simply part of the process, and in the meantime you will begin to work with the animal spirit in order to establish your connection and initiate your relationship. This implies seeking out the physical manifestation of the animal and spending time with it, watching it, studying it, talking to it, learning everything you can about it. During this time you will be collecting experiences, which will play an important part in the formation of the jicara. As you have more and more experiences with the animal you can gradually begin to collect the essences for the jicara by obtaining specific items infused with the energies that support the animal. These items can include living energies from the animal’s habitat, foods that it eats, items from other animals that are its ally or enemy, in short, anything that you deem significant to the animal through your actual experiences with it (not what you have read or been told about it) can potentially be used to form the jicara.

The decision as to what or what not to use is purely personal, however, the more significant to the animal the items are the more power the jicara will hold.

To illustrate what might be included in a jicara here is a list of things that form my current jicara of the Wild Turkey spirit:

• One fully feathered wing from each of the last two wild turkeys that have given their life to me and that I’ve eaten. The feathered wings hold the key to the turkey’s ability to mysteriously disappear, blend into its environment, and escape powerful entities that want to devour it.

• Drawings on the outside of the bowl depicting various significant events I’ve shared with the wild turkey spirit.

• Important foods that I’ve seen the wild turkey feeding on--acorns, crabapple, red cedar, blackberry, cricket, grasshopper.

• Items from the wild turkey’s predators--red tail hawk feathers, red fox teeth, two bullet shell casings blessed with deer blood.

• Items that form the wild turkey nest--oak and tulip tree leaves, poison ivy and sumac vines

• I put soil from under a wild turkey nest into the bottom of the jicara to stick feathers into and to drip sacred blood into; apple tree twigs from the orchard in which I often find the turkeys; a small piece of deer hide because for me the two are connected; a small Huichol yarn drawing of the sun to honor my Huichol shaman mentor’s connection to the turkey, which is a bird of the sun; and small personal items from moments when the wild turkey spirit aided me in the course of my everyday life or during specific ceremonies and workshops.

These types of periodic additions keep the jicara alive and the relationship with it active. As you acquire new experiences associated with the spirit of a particular jicara the power becomes cumulative and the jicara grows from infancy to maturity as your relationship with the animal spirit deepens and intensifies. The energy of the jicara can be used in many practical ways and is in no way imaginary. All of the energies and essences included in it are real and tangible, and most importantly they have been collected and honored by you through your hard work, time, and effort.

PREFACE
Why Advanced Shamanism?

PART ONE
The Phenomena of Shamanism
1 The Shamanic Worldview
2 States of Consciousness
3 Psi and Shamanism
4 Hyperspace, Holographic Fields, and Phase-Conjugate Mirrors

PART TWO
Primal Practices for Advanced Shamanism

5 Fundamental Practices: Part 1
Practice 1: Bringing Forth the Sacred Fire with Intention
Practice 2: Fire Ceremony--Reclaiming Lost Energy by Healing Energetic Drains
Practice 3: The Three Points of Attention

6 Fundamental Practices: Part 2
Practice 4: Acquiring Spirit Animal Guides--The Jicara
Practice 5: Shamanic Death and Rebirth
Practice 6: Healing Stones--Acquiring Te’ka

PART THREE
The Shamanic Dreamscape

7 Lucid Dreaming
Practice 7: Cleansing Your Day in Preparation for Lucid Dreaming Practice 8: Importance of a Dream Journal
Practice 9: Creating Lucid Goals
Practice 10: Enhancing Prospective Memory--Reality Checks

8 Mastering Dream Cycles for Lucid Dreaming
Practice 11: Waking during Dreaming
Practice 12: Urination-Induced Lucid Dreaming
Practice 13: The Sleep Rhythm Adjustment Technique

9 Autogenic Training and Lucid Dreaming
Practice 14: The “I Breathe Me” Experience
Practice 15: The Heaviness Experience
Practice 16: Vascular Dilation
Practice 17: Regulation of the Heart
Practice 18: Warmth in the Abdomen
Practice 19: Cooling the Forehead for Advanced Practice

10 Visualization for Advanced Lucid Dreaming
Practice 20: The Spontaneous Evocation of Colors Practice 21: Colors on Demand Practice 22: Developing a Lucid Dreaming Practice--A Two-Week Intensive

11 Three Bridges to Shamanic Dreaming Practice 23: First Bridge--Dream Reentry Practice 24: Second Bridge--Dreaming Reality Check Practice 25: Third Bridge--Changing the Dream

12 Sentient Beings in the Dreamscape Practice 26: Feeling the Dream Landscape Practice 27: Animal Totems Practice 28: Interacting with Spirit Animals Practice 29: Human Spirit Guides

PART FOUR
Shamanic Practices for Quantum Healing

13 Shamanic Viewing
Practice 30: Phase-Conjugate Mirrors of the Mind
Practice 31: Targets Other Than People
Practice 32: Direct Viewing of Random People
Practice 33: Direct Viewing of a Client or Person You Are Helping

14 Advanced Shamanic Healing
Practice 34: Cleaning the Holographic Field
Practice 35: Extraction of the Holographic Field and Phase-Conjugate Mirrors
Practice 36: Energetic Infusion of the Holographic Field and Decoding Client Ailments
Practice 37: Making the Energetic Patch Permanent

15 The Five Points of Attention
Practice 38: The Five Points of Attention

EPILOGUE What’s Next?

APPENDIX Ethics and Shamanic Practitioners

Notes

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

James Endredy leads workshops throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada and is actively involved in preserving the world’s indigenous cultures and sacred sites. For more than 30 years he has learned shamanic practices from all over the globe and has lived with the Huichol of Mexico for years at a time. The award-winning author of several books, including Ecoshamanism, The Flying Witches of Veracruz, Teachings of the Peyote Shamans, and Earthwalks for Body and Spirit, he lives in Vermont.

“With competence and authority James Endredy has written a powerful book with clear and precise instructions on advanced shamanic techniques learned directly from indigenous shamans. This is a wonderful contribution to shamanic literature. By bridging quantum physics with ancient shamanic practices, he immeasurably expands our access to the strange and wonderful world of the age-old shamanic path. This is the real deal.” José Luis Stevens, Ph.D., author of Awaken the Inner Shaman and Encounters with Power

“. . . a rich and fascinating journey intended to culminate in increasing levels of shamanic mastery. As the title implies, this is not a book for dabblers but is for advanced practitioners who have the grounding and patience necessary to work through and digest these exercises and resulting experiences over a period of months, even years.” Hillary S. Webb, Ph.D., author of Traveling between the Worlds

“James Endredy births another book that provides theory, personal background, and teaching stories that illuminate shamanic practices and exercises that can produce a meaningful path in life. It makes for ‘powerful medicine,’ if you use what he offers in a respectful and humble way. He expands our notions of ‘self ’ and what is possible at a time of cultural crisis that calls for us to meet the challenges of today’s world with expanded vision and empowerment to create life-affirming ways of living with all our relations.” Tom Pinkson, Ph.D., author of The Shamanic Wisdom of the Huichol and Fruitful Aging

“This remarkable book provides readers already proficient in basic shamanism a rare glimpse into the deeper universe of traditional healers and their most powerful practices. With precision and integrity Endredy provides step-by-step guidance for learning the advanced healing arts of world shamanism, such as interacting with Sacred Fire, recapitulating energy drains, creating animal-spirit jicara bowls, a personal death/rebirth ceremony, lucid-shamanic dreaming, and “quantum” healing through direct shamanic viewing. If you are ready to fully step through the portal of conscious transformation, this book will be your treasured companion and guide.” Jeff Nixa, J.D., M.Div., and author of The Lost Art of Heart Navigation

“James Endredy’s Advanced Shamanism weaves together practices he has learned and used over many years, and his transparency about their origins adds to their validity. There are skills for improving your ability to practice shamanism as well as valuable tools for benefiting your community. A must-have for any shamanic practitioner seeking a solid practical text to learn from.” Lupa, author of Nature Spirituality from the Ground Up

SPIRITUALITY/SHAMANISM

“With competence and authority James Endredy has written a powerful book with clear and precise instructions on advanced shamanic techniques learned directly from indigenous shamans. This is a wonderful contribution to shamanic literature. By bridging quantum physics with ancient shamanic practices, he immeasurably expands our access to the strange and wonderful world of the age-old shamanic path. This is the real deal.”

--José Luis Stevens, Ph.D., author of Awaken the Inner Shaman and Encounters with Power

In this step-by-step guide to more than three dozen advanced shamanic practices, James Endredy shares the wisdom and techniques he has learned through 30 years of working with shamanic teachers from all over the globe, including Huichol kawiteros; Tibetan lamas; Incan, Mayan, and Tukano shamans; Indian siddhas; the Kanaka Maoli of Hawai’i; and elders from many Native American tribes, such as the Seneca, Lenni Lenape, Arapaho, Sioux, Tuscarora, Yurok, Navajo, and Hopi.

Endredy offers hands-on instructions for Sacred Fire ceremonies, direct shamanic viewing, experiencing shamanic death and rebirth, working with and acquiring healing stones, shamanic lucid dreaming, shamanic healing, and advanced methods for acquiring an animal spirit guide, including how to properly retain its spirit in a sacred bundle or altar and how to use its power responsibly for healing. He provides a meticulous step-by-step approach to working with the five points of attention, a Huichol teaching on sacred awareness and shamanic levels of attention. He also examines the many ways that psi phenomena and shamanism are linked and their relationship to the scientific concept of quantum entanglement.

Showing how quantum physics is the scientific expression of shamanism, the author also explores the biological foundations of spiritual experiences, including the roles of serotonin, dopamine, and opioid transmitters, and the connections between altered consciousness and shamanic states. Integrating modern research with ancient knowledge to provide an enlightened view of shamanism that marries science and spirit, this guide offers authentic shamanic wisdom and techniques to help the solitary practitioner move forward on his or her shamanic path.

James Endredy leads workshops throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada and is actively involved in preserving the world’s indigenous cultures and sacred sites. For more than 30 years he has learned shamanic practices from all over the globe and has lived with the Huichol of Mexico for years at a time. The award-winning author of several books, including Ecoshamanism, The Flying Witches of Veracruz, Teachings of the Peyote Shamans, and Earthwalks for Body and Spirit, he lives in Vermont.