November/December 2022 Alchemical Voice

Alchemical Voice - L2M Issue 17
CHANGING
YOUR
VANTAGE
POINT
John Sjovik
Shaman Healer
www.shamaqi.com
H
ave you ever tried to see
things from a different
angle? My cat does that all
the time. She enjoys lying
on her back to watch the
surrounding scenery upside
down.
She purrs and looks very content. As I
choose to see it, she channels the energy
around her in her own special way. In her
simple way, she alters her perspective and
changes her interaction with her
surroundings by viewing it upside down.
We have all heard the expression “get a
fresh new look on things”. Well, that
wisdom is what my cat puts into practise.
A cat’s vision is quite different from that of
a human being. The range where a cat can
see an object clearly is approximately one
foot to twenty feet. Move in close to her
and she cannot see you. Point to
something in the distance and it will be just
a blur for her. Her vision is selective. It is
designed to optimize what is important for
her, beneficial for her needs and indeed
crucial for her survival as a once wild
animal. In a similar way,
I suggest that we try to alter the way we
see the world. We can squint, half close
our eyes, close one eye or form our hands
into “binoculars” to focus our vision and
hide peripheral distractions.
If you look through a kaleidoscope, you
see daylight passing through a great many
little prisms of many colours. Shake the
kaleidoscope and a completely new image
appears. The content has not changed,
only been rearranged but that creates a
different rendition of the view.
Imagine you are in New York City to enjoy
the Easter Parade along Fifth Avenue. You
are standing on the pavement to be close
to the glamorous people, bands and cars
moving by. You turn your head left and
right and you can see altogether maybe 7
cars in total. A friend of yours is standing
on the 15th floor in a tall building and
watching the parade from there. She can
see more than 20 cars from her vantage
point on a high level. She can see cars that
are moving towards you but that you have
not yet seen. Those cars are in your future
but in your friend’s present moment. In a
way, your friend can predict your future,
make a phone call to you and tell you what
you are about to see. This way, changing
ones vantage point can be a kind of time
travel.
With vision as a metaphor for your
understanding of life around you, maybe it
would be a good thing for you to try to see
things from a new perspective and maybe
even “up side down”? By elevating yourself
to a high floor of an imaginary skyscraper
you may even be able to look into the
future.
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