Integration of the Savage Beast into my Psyche, a Mandala of Wholeness Breath work Journey May 2007

Integration of the Savage Beast into my Psyche
A Mandala of Wholeness Breath work Journey May 2007

It happened shortly before the sixth gate Venus – Moon conjunction in Cancer of May 2007 at the Oregon House, a beautiful resort located at the beach near Yachats, Oregon. This was my fifth breathwork workshop with Kate McKee, Shamanic Practitioner, and Daniel Giamario, Shamanic Astrologer and head of the Shamanic Astrology Mystery School. Often, individuals will go on epic journeys while they are doing an intensive breathing exercise that lasts for approximately an hour and a half as music is played loudly with the feel or rhythm presented through the chakras of the body from the first chakra up to seventh chakra ending at the heart chakra. These journeys are not drug induced but are breath induced. Some people do not always have the epic journey but during the process really get in touch with their bodies in an active way.

When people go on these shamanic journeys while doing breathwork, there is a relationship that can occur with their archetypal astrological planetary relationships described by their natal chart, and the breathing exercise actively stimulates visual and auditory experiences related to these archetypal energies. As I describe my journey, see if you can pinpoint the archetypal planetary energies that are activated as I undergo this physical, emotional, and spiritual journey brought on by the breathwork.

To start out with, I was born with a Scorpio Moon with a Scorpio job and am moving towards a Taurus job with the Gemini mystery school as defined by Shamanic Astrology. I also have a Sagittarius Descendant. So, how does my journey relate to the astrological influences present in my chart? Some other things to consider in your analysis is that I was having a Venus return although not in my natal Venus cycle. This workshop was designed as an experiential exploration of the Sacred Marriage as described by Shamanic Astrology.

My journey started out with a tragic war between a savage Indian on a stallion and an unknown savage beast of great power. It was a war of savage against savage struggling for victory, not unlike what occurs on the battlefield of the great medieval wars of our past. The victor of this dramatic battle was predestined to win the fight by the heavens. The beast was only an obstacle and barrier blocking the savage Indian’s fulfillment. The fierce Indian reveled in the destruction of the beast as he dismembered it piece by piece on the field of death. The Indian’s face was red as blood as he screamed his sacred war cry while the beast shrieked in pain. The battle ensued and the Indian continued his attack. The beast became a puddle of organic red liquid in the field of his demise.

The scene shifted slightly and darkness fell upon the dreamer. My body was filled with pins and needles, numb from head to toe and I breathed deeper into the sensations. In the darkness I saw and heard young women chanting around a fire in a cave. They were wisdom figures although age had not taken its toll on these puella aeternus women.

Then I returned to the battlefield with the great beast that was rebirthing out of the red goop, not unlike a phoenix emerging from a dark cloudy spherical mass. The field was transformed into a large chamber and the mass dissolved into a corner space behind a wall. I called out to the beast, “Come out come out wherever you are!” The beast remained hidden. I called out again and the beast engulfed me. I took it back into myself and reintegrated it within me.

I felt complete and sent love to the beast being. I accepted it back into my heart that became full of light and we were at peace. The scene shifted once more, and the savage Indian on his great stallion headed out onto a sandy wet beach of a great ocean, Indian and stallion were one and they entered into the deep waters and merged with it. Scene shifted once again; the stallion grew wings, Indian and stallion now united flew into the great blue sky. We emerged into a vast golden field of grass and wheat. In the distance there was a young maiden with golden hair riding a black mare. We met, I, on my mustang stallion and her on her mare. The young maiden acknowledged my presence and no longer were we to be separated we were one. The drum sounded and I returned to Oregon house in an altered state. It took a couple of minutes to regain fortitude when I returned to the enclosure high on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean near Yachats, OR.

This is how I would interpret the archetypal planetary relationships in my journey at this time. First of all, I think the beast the savage Indian destroyed represented the Scorpio job with the Scorpio tribe. Scorpio also has the quality of the phoenix rising out of the ashes. After all, the beast did transform into a dark spherical cloud. Then I believe it was my Venus in Cancer that accepted the beast and integrated it back into myself. The archetype of Sagittarius is represented by the stallion the Indian rode into the ocean and then flew to the golden field where he met the beautiful golden-haired maiden on her mare.

The union of the maiden, mare, Indian, and stallion is my Gemini rising and Gemini Sun. As you can see, there are four entities, and the Gemini energy is an archetype of duality (two times two). The maiden could also be a projection of my Cancer Venus as I was having my natal Venus return cycle as well. The sea is a representation of Neptune retrograde and conjunct my natal moon. In this journey there were also other animals that participated at the beginning that I neglected to mention. They were my power animals, Black Panther, and Wolf. They were the ones that took me to the great psychic battlefield. I think the women around the fire represented my Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter in Taurus in my twelfth house as the feminine expression conjoined, dancing and chanting around a fire in a cave that calmed me down and encouraged me to breathe deeper into the experience when the beast was transformed into a dark spherical cloud. It was scary when your body reflects the tetany that can occur when you do shamanic breath work i.e., the tingling, or the feeling of pins and needles in your muscles, similar to the sensations you feel when your foot or leg falls asleep but if you breathe into it, the sensations will disappear.

Did you have similar conclusions in the interpretation of the dream as I had? Each one of us has a completely different experience in a breathwork journey of this type. Kate Mckee and Daniel Giamario took time after our breath work experiences to discuss these journeys and provided insight into each of our personal psyches defined in part by practice of Shamanic Astrology. They are both very sensitive guides along the way and helped me to make sense of the breath work. Kate McKee and Daniel Giamario co-facilitated these workshops four to six times a year in the early first part of the decade of this new millennium when certain transitory planetary alignments occurred as defined by the Harbingers of the Turning of the Ages, the mother organization of the Shamanic Astrological Mystery School and former school of Kate Mckee’s called Mandala of Wholeness.

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