 For many years, I studied the shamanic technique of shapeshifting, learning how to change myself into other forms at both a cellular and personal level. One time, I’d been visiting Tsukanka, an eminent shaman, at his home deep in the Amazon. He and I had taken a mild form of Ayahuasca, and I was feeling very relaxed, enveloped in a sense of wellbeing.
Our shamanic ancestry
A warm breeze passed across me and I felt Tsukanka lay a hand over my eyes. Words came to me, through his chanting. ‘Your ancestors were shamans; everyone comes from a shamanic culture,’ the words said, although even as I heard them I understood the absurdity of the situation. The words were in English. But I could not deny the words – they had been spoken, whether they originated from Tsukanka or someplace else. I thought about them.
It was certainly true that if we go back far enough into our ancestry, we all come from shamanic cultures. It does not matter where we trace our heritage back to – Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East – we all have shamans in our lineage. They are part of our genes, our DNA, our cellular makeup.
This raised a question for me. ‘If we all come from shamanic cultures, what happened? Why did we give up that dream? Why did we replace this earth-honouring way of life with the commercialism and materialism that is now destroying our species?’
A hovering globe of light
I felt his lips touch my ear. He was chanting directly into me. The sound was like the wind in the leaves. As he pressed his hands down on my eyes, I saw a globe of blue light hovering above me.
I was shocked by its presence. Yet it also was somehow expected, as if I had been awaiting it, knowing this moment would arrive, that a part of me had intended it. I was amazed and, at the same time, accepting of what I was experiencing. Feelings flooded me, sweeping over me in waves of indescribable emotion. I remember thinking that all of it, especially my feelings, were beyond description. This was an event that was so out of context with what I have been taught is possible that to this day I have difficulty expressing it in words.
In this heightened state I reached a level where my intellect was very clear, where despite the overwhelming passions I felt, I knew exactly what was occurring and what my role was. I understood that I was supposed to enter the globe. I could see its energy field shimmering around it, as though inviting me in. I felt at peace. I also knew that I was filled with power, that my energy was exactly the same as the energy field I was watching. I remember letting out a long breath, releasing myself into this new reality.
Then I too was hovering. I moved through the air effortlessly – across the lodge, through the doorway, and up over the dark forest canopy.
The thought came to me that although I might never be able to explain this moment, it was absolutely real. As lucid as the canoe trip earlier in the day. It was the opposite of being in a dream and knowing that you are dreaming. This was happening to me physically, on a cellular level. I knew it. I was absolutely certain that I was not dreaming, hallucinating, or imagining, and understood that, although I knew it, I might never convince anyone else that it had happened. I had shapeshifted into a globe of energy. I had been transformed in the most basic way. My body had merged with that of another. Incredibly, the sensation seemed completely natural.
The globe – me – cast a strong light all around. The forest below was illuminated. I studied it carefully. I could pick out individual trees. I spied a nocturnal rodent scurrying through the under brush. Then everything went blurry for an instant, like fast forwarding a video. Just as suddenly, it returned to normal. Looking down, I approached a river and caught a flash of movement. There on the bank was a band of soldiers. I was surprised to see that they wore armour – ancient helmets, breast plates, and shields. Their faces had Asiatic features. In their darkly polished metal and plumed helmets, they looked totally out of place. Suddenly they let out bloodcurdling screams and, brandishing swords, charged into a cave in the river bank. I let myself descend to a better vantage point. After a short interval they emerged, dragging terrified women and children from the dark mouth of the cave, their armour smeared with gore. Their leader unfurled a banner emblazoned with a rampant, fire-breathing dragon. He cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted: ‘For the Emperor, we civilize you.’
Then the oddest thing happened. He glanced up at me. His mouth dropped open. He staggered and fell to his knees. But quickly he recovered and hustled his men, along with their captives, back inside the cave, casting furtive glances at me as he herded them in.
I understood that I not only had shifted into a sort of unidentified flying object that could be seen by people, but that I had also transported myself into another time.
My vision went blurry again. When it returned I was above a huge circular stone building. It was open at the top so I could look down and see bleachers filled with cheering spectators. The middle area was a field, like a football stadium. A group of women and children huddled together in the centre. Three men moved away from them toward a large wooden door at one end of the open space. Their eyes fixed on the door, the three men crouched like combatants preparing to fight. I realized that they were intent on protecting the women and children from some terrible menace that lurked behind the door. I could actually smell the terror of all the people in that little group. Both contestants and spectators concentrated so intently on the activities that no one saw me. Suddenly the spectators rose to their feet. The door swung open. Four lions burst into the arena and charged the three men. ‘Civilize the barbarians!’ the crowd shouted in unison.
I pulled up rapidly, not wanting to see the slaughter I knew would follow. The coliseum fell away below me, until it became a mere speck.
After that, event followed event. They came rapidly, yet each was absolutely real. Eventually, I found myself in more modern times, observing scenes of a different type of horror: huge scars in the earth where emaciated people mined gems and minerals, gigantic factories belching pollution into the atmosphere, children in sweatshops, women working on assembly lines, women selling their bodies on ghetto street corners, stores as big as cathedrals filled with shoppers who appeared to take no joy in shopping, slums packed along hillsides in crowded cities, families living next to open sewers in cardboard boxes and opulent mansions high above the ocean. Sometimes the people I watched also saw me. Usually, however, they were too preoccupied. Those who did notice reacted with shock and fear, although I did nothing to threaten them.
Then I was moving across green hills. The sun was shining and the grasses were swaying in the breeze. I could smell freshness in the air. The place felt altogether different from the others I had experienced. I came over a rise and saw a little valley below where a group of people had assembled – all women, dressed in black, who stood in a formal group, as though posing for a photograph in the late 1800s. There were thirteen of them altogether.
In search of answers
I descended for a closer look. Each of the women held a tall, pointed sowing stick; at their feet was a garden of dead plants and grotesque stumps, a sight that struck me as completely foreign to this place where green abounded.
One of them looked up and pointed. They all spotted me and smiled, as though they had been awaiting my arrival. Unlike the others, they appeared unafraid. The one who had seen me first beckoned for me to join them. They formed a circle and I drifted slowly into the middle of it. They gave off a scent like that of sweet herbs.
‘Your question?’ the first asked. ‘The one about why your culture abandoned shamanic, earth-honouring ways... remember?’ She nodded at me. ‘Of course you do. Well, the answer revolves around the idea of domination. But that word wasn’t the one voiced. Instead they used other words, such as...’
The twelve women chimed in, a chorus of shrill voices: ‘Progress, advances, civilization.’
‘You see, the rich always wanted to get richer, consolidate their power.’ Again the chorus: ‘Take control.’
‘Human history – massive movements toward centralization.’
The chorus: ‘Advanced states, culture, higher standards of living.’
‘Technology.’
‘Control.’
The one who spoke alone turned in a slow circle. ‘You asked, so we are here to explain. But you’ve already seen it. Or at least enough. There is a direct correlation between the rise of ‘advanced, civilized societies’ and the demise of shamanic ones that emphasize closeness to and dependence on nature. That encourage ecstasy.’
‘Ecstasy is what we all desire. It is a natural state of heightened passions when we feel our oneness with all things. But those who would dominate others hate ecstasy. Passion includes anger and rebellion. It threatens their control. They discredit shamans who espouse it. They try to force the goddess out of religion and the priestess out of women. Woman the ecstatic. Instead they teach their sheep that happiness comes from owning things, that heaven is a huge store. ‘Out with the primitive,’ they shout. ‘Tame nature!’
Dominators and shapeshifters
‘To answer your question, think of people as coming from two basic cultural types: faithless dominators and faithful shapeshifters. The first don’t believe that a higher power can be trusted to take care of the world. Their actions are guided by fear and distrust and a belief that they themselves must mould their destinies. They see human beings as positioned at the pinnacle of an evolutionary process that has ended with a man ruling over everything. Whatever is not male and human is mistrusted. Happiness is arrived at through materialistic consumption. They, the ones at the top, encourage and feed their sheep’s appetites. Anyone who does not adhere to their worldview must be ‘convinced’ – civilized – or destroyed. Faithful shapeshifters, on the other hand, believe in a higher power who causes all things to happen for reasons that humans may not comprehend but can accept as being for the greater good. Their actions are guided by trust. To their way of thinking, humans are part of the unity – no better or worse, no higher or lower, than the rocks, plants, animals, and stars. There is no evolutionary pyramid. They believe in the power of the dream – as a way to communicate with the Creator – and that to cause change we need only change our dreams. Since the Creator takes care of material needs, happiness is a matter of feeling our connectedness, our ecstasy. They live and let live, not trying to force their values on everyone else.’
‘Live and let live.’
‘Commercialism became a way of life for the faithless dominators, the way of life, replacing all other religions. It gave them more control.’
‘Amen!’
She smiled tenderly at me. ‘You understand. It was a good question. Now that it has been answered, you can return to your other world where you have work to do.’
I started to rise up from their circle when she raised a hand, stopping me.
‘One thing more. Hopefully you’ve learned this too. Never be afraid to ask, no matter how ludicrous the question – or the situation – may appear:’ She waved me up.
From Shapeshifting © 1997 by John Perkins, published by Destiny Books.
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