May/June 2022 Alchemical Voice

I am reminded of a poem by Peter Handke and these words:
“Wie kann es sein, das ich, der ich bin,
Bevor ich wurde, nicht war,
Und dass einmal ich, der ich bin,
Nicht mehr der ich bin, sein werde”
“How can it be that I, who I am
Did not exist before I came to be,
And that, someday, I, who I am
Will no longer be, who I am”
As often is the case, questions seem to be more enlightening than answers. Who are you? Who were you before you
became you? Who will you be, when you are no longer you? Are those proper questions? Or maybe “you” is not really
relevant?
Here is an exercise for you, with the help of a friend, a patient friend. Invite your friend over for a nice cup of tea and
sandwiches. Then start the exercise by having him/her ask you this question: “Who are you?” The question should be put
to you again and again and again. Force yourself to give quick answers. When you have moved beyond obvious answers
such as your name, or “I am a person” or “I am my parent’s child”, you will have to abandon your ego and conscious mind
and start digging into your subconscious and unconscious levels. After a while, with the continued effort of your friend to
keep asking “Who are you?” and the eventual breakdown of your own resistance, something remarkable will slowly begin
to happen. There will be an alchemical transmutation and you will hear yourself give answers of an esoteric nature, such as
“I am light that dances with darkness” or “I am a memory that travels beyond the stars”. By the pure exhaustion of this
exercise, you will move beyond the physical and come nearer to the spiritual, esoteric quality of life.
A mirror's image is all I need
To show the truth of who I am
I hold the frame towards the sky
The starry heavens can never lie
A face appears, it is not me
As I'd been taught that I'd appear
The truth is there for all to see
You need to dare the imagery
Turn the corner to see the you
And find the self that's really true
Do not fear death. It is as natural as birth. Both are portals between the physical and spiritual worlds. One cannot be
without the other. Just like light and darkness. If we run away from darkness, we will never see the light.
In the West, we need to find a new approach to Death. With the present situation, I feel that we no longer know how to
live, because we have forgotten how to die.
For reading matter, there is a lot written on the subject. Here I will only mention one short text. It is an anthology of different
Shamanic perspectives on how to aid a deceased person’s soul to move on to the next realm. It is called “Shaman Pathways,
Deathwalking – Helping Them Cross The Bridge”, edited by Laura Perry. (Text copyright: Laura Perry 2017. Published by Moon Books
2018)
John Sjovik
www.shamaqi.com
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