The Spine/Shakti is the Axis Mundi and the Shaman's Tree?

[astoe]

It occurred to me lately - sorry if it is so obvious - that our spine/central channel actually is the axis mundi and the shaman's tree which connects the underworld and the sky.

It seems that Shakti has the ability to make you travel down (the grounding cord?) and can be used to induce a kind of mild trance. It feels very dense and in some sense dark but still with a lot of space.

Following this I was wondering if there is a tradition of Shakti "shamanism". This is also interesting because it underwrites the ancient, shamanic roots of the tantric tradition.

Maybe some of you have experience with this? Lately the call to re-connect with the lower realms became stronger. I am not talking connection to spirits or so. I am talking connecting with the unconscious, with vision and the vast possibilities of the human being. I am also talking about encountering our instinct nature and repressed things which lie in the dark.

I am missing this very much and time is ripe to open the door again. It is like I have to go there.

Any travel advice or sharing of experience will be taken with thanks.

[Ernst]

Dear Astoe

Thank you Astoe for sharing your experiences along your path as each one is unique as snowflakes. I also like to see the same true nature from different perspectives and I had recently a similar one on grounding and the concept of under-, middle- and upper- world.

Shakti can do all ad infinitum as its nature is Cosmic Consciousness (FST lesson: Earth and Sky Energy) - if the ego is out of its way. Ego control on Shakti does not work at all (rough Kundalini awakening is one side effect).
"Shakti shamanism" does not make sense me - Shamans surrender deeply to their guide to do practically whatever is needed. How to work with Cosmic Consciousness? You don't - you surrender.

Grounding is active surrender to get my monkey ego out of the way and surrender to Kundalini Shakti to let it do its work. As my ego loves to create mental concepts as result of interpreting experience (slippery little bugger  ).  Saying that I also made the experience, if I attach too much on a mental concept it grows (Energy follows attention) and I limit myself and in the end surrender is the only way out.
A travel advice from my experience: surrender and trust your inner compass

All the best to you 

Love
Ernst

[astoe]

Hello Ernst,

had several tries at writing an answer and scrapped it. You're right, I am over-intellectualizing and actually that's exactly what I am trying to counterbalance. My feeling is that I want to venture into more archaic, primal instinct territory. I have issues to solve there.

From what I can gather, my K awakening (partial?) happened almost 20 years ago while doing pranayama/yoga on a pretty high dosage of mushrooms. Fantastic experience, if there was not the rest of life to cope with. Basically from that moment on, my life gradually geared towards becoming "normal" and grounded. It took time and effort, but it did work, the wild freak became settled.

Now what happens is that I can surrender a lot, get grounded and meditate. It's nice, makes you feel life is beautiful and everything is shanti. But it didn't get further for a long time now and I feel there's a blockage. Situations and personal feelings currently point in that direction. I feel there's fierce, wild energy below and that it's being blocked. I am sick of trying to tame it. I want to loose the hand brake before it is burning out.

Now I think people may find different ways to achieve this and I am investigating if I can go somewhere less controlled with Shakti, beyond grounding. I used the energy two days before to travel down my grounding cord and rested inside the fiery diamond... as a starter .

Also I wonder if the countless dreams of snakes I have been having for years are linked to this.

Thanks for making me reflecting,

a stoe

[Mystress]

  Yes. I would not say its obvious but sure they correlate, also to the wand of the caduceus, the world tree Yggdrasil, (is that what you mean by a shamans tree?) the biblical tree of life- kabbalah.
 

Following this I was wondering if there is a tradition of Shakti "shamanism". This is also interesting because it underwrites the ancient, shamanic roots of the tantric tradition.

  Well I am a Shaman and I wrote this one? But Shamans and 'shamanic' are not the same. Like Macdonalds calls its cookies 'chocolatey' chip because there's no actual chocolate in them. 

Maybe some of you have experience with this? Lately the call to re-connect with the lower realms became stronger. I am not talking connection to spirits or so. I am talking connecting with the unconscious, with vision and the vast possibilities of the human being. I am also talking about encountering our instinct nature and repressed things which lie in the dark.

I am missing this very much and time is ripe to open the door again. It is like I have to go there.

Any travel advice or sharing of experience will be taken with thanks.

  Sure I can direct you. First, you need to learn soul travel. Practice the soul meditation on my other site:

http://kundalini-teacher.com/meditations/soul.php

  Until you grow very aware of the inner spark that is your soul and can ask or intend it to move around. Your soul is your essential self and your potable eye of perceptions.  Observing the breath is also the best way to return to your body after.

  Once you get the hang of 'where ever your soul goes, there you are" (try a trip to a beach on Hawaii at sunset, and then drop in to say hello to the volcano Goddess Pele.  Give her my regards, and an imaginary bottle of rum and get a hug. ) then revisit the chakra lesson and use soul travel to duplicate the experience there, moving the soul to each chakra and seeing how something looks- my focus in the lesson was a glass of water but when I teach it live or in chat, I get students to just focus on how it feels to be there.

  When you have learned to move up and down the tree like that, move deeper with the earth heart meditation.  You have done it before?

http://kundalini-teacher.com/meditations/earthh.php

   Go meet Mom.    Hang out inside the fiery crystal, feel the love... don't try to talk to Her right way, a few visits for Her to cleanse and adjust you so communication can be clearer, then ask about anything. She is interesting, unconditionally loving and sublimely ruthless because She knows we are all eternal. She loves you unconditionally and will not grieve when you die. Why would She?  She set the evolution game up like that and you will join Her and the collective.

  I like to live a very green lifestyle, to honour Her but She shows no concern about global warming, just another goad to our evolution and if we wipe ourselves out She will start over with the paramecium or whatever is left, eternal patience. 

   Sometimes if I am very tired and feeling worn and muddy, I go to sleep there.

  At any time, you can login to secondlife and go visit Yggdrasil on Kundalini Mystic Isle.  Climb the blue ramp from the second spiral level on the east side, and sit on the Buddha pillow next to the trunk so it sets your avie with your back against the tree, as you would to get grounded with a rl tree.

  The virtual art that is the giant tree is sentient and you will feel it is aware of you, and it is connected to the mythology trees of the collective consciousness and all that vast knowledge.   Yggdrasil will give your central channel a tune up while whispering in your mind of the mysteries it represents: the unity of trees in the world and in mythology, and the central channel of the spine where Kundalini rises.

[astoe]

Dear Mystress,

thank you for your answers. I have some homework for now .

Soul travel sums up most of what I am looking for. In the past I used to have so many dreams of flying and water/diving. But in the last two years it became less. I have become entangled in a working/producing frenzy where I don't find rest. Also I am aware that I am replicating family karma.

On the other hand my wish for more presence/soul, is very strong.

Maybe there's a middle way? I would very much to walk along.

I'll get back in touch!