Encouraging New Growth
by Clearing The Way To Free Energy
(Accompanying text is found below the video)

Something I learned from my father is that plants, shrubberies, and trees do well and are much fuller, if they are pruned appropriately. The first time I helped him perform that task, I was shocked to see how much he would cut away. Branches would rain to the ground and often the shrubbery would be nearly halved in the process!

He explained to me that a plant grew best when their old, less successful stalks and branches were removed. This gave the plant not only the impetus to send out more shoots, but the removal of the dead wood meant that it would have more available energy to accomplish the task.

Shamanic dismemberment is a great way for us to do some “spiritual pruning” that opens us up for new, fresh possibilities.

We can suffer from “deadwood” thinking, stuck perceptions, and limited experiences of ourselves that can suck the lifeforce from us unless it is tended to. Shamanic dismemberments are also useful when we have had a period of bad luck or troubling experiences or shock, at the beginning of becoming ill with a cold or flu, or when we have healed from an illness and are still feeling diminished. 

Being able to experience regular dismemberments is one of the most powerful reasons to have a strong, independent shamanic journey practice in which you have developed dependable and trusting connections with a teacher and power animal!  

When we are taken apart and then rebuilt with fresh spiritual energy, we are renewed in a way that ordinary reality experiences cannot match. A dismemberment/rememberment both resets and raises our spiritual and emotional baseline. That then can provide a renewal of our physicality.

Traditional shamans often have one or more experiences of initiatory death and rebirth as a part of their training. These experiences usually involve a stripping away of the initiates’ ordinary way of perceiving reality and a partial loss or detachment from the personality or ego self. These ecstatic experiences include some form of dismemberment or dissolution of the physical body. This spiritual annihilation of the old self is a ritual way for initiates to symbolically “die” and then be reborn as a shaman.

In the ritual, initiates have some sense of being partially or totally obliterated. While in the shamanic state of consciousness, they might be partially or completely eaten by animals or burned up in a fire or torn asunder by the forces of wind and ice or ground to dust. The shamanic initiates would allow the apparent destruction of their physical body by the spirits in order to be free from the old life as an ordinary person. While the physical body appears to be dismembered in the journey, initiates would be experiencing true consciousness—true spirit—as a witness to the destruction. This would allow a visceral sense of the power of spirit and its ability to move beyond the body. Indeed, this loss of the old body would support initiates to attain a kind of shamanic enlightenment. That is, initiates would be freed to perceive the radiance of spirit that unites all things and beings.

Once the initiate has the experience of their “old body” being destroyed and their spirit is revealed, the second phase of the ritual begins. That which is unmade through dismemberment is subsequently remade by the compassionate spirits. During this part of the experience, there is a renewal of the initiates’ flesh; however, this new body is often made differently or has different components than the original.

For instance, while still in the shamanic state of consciousness, initiates might see that their bones have been replaced by crystals, that their new heart is now the heart of an animal, or that all internal organs are now light or stones. In my own dismemberment, I was remade by a legion of helping spirits, each of whom brought a gift of a plant, shell, crystal, star, or animal and placed it on a table. The objects, which came from every region of the Earth and from the heavens above, were piled into the form of a human body.

My primary teacher gave this curious figure an outer envelope of skin with my face. My spirit was then allowed to flow into the doppelgänger-like replacement body that was literally made from aspects of All That Is.

A dismemberment journey has the purpose of healing. Very few people can perceive their wholeness and marvelous abilities. The result is that most people never live to their fullest potential.

In our culture, the negative aspect of the egotistic self—what defends and glorifies our separateness—is what most needs to be dismembered or dissolved away. The egotistic self is what continually fuels the “us and them” mentality, reinforces our feelings of being powerless, and so drives human beings to seek power from others. It creates an unhealthy autonomy and obscures or seeks to destroy our divine self.

When we deeply know our connection, feel our oneness with the Universe, and unshakably understand the existence of our eternal soul-self, we have transcended the limitations of our personality’s egotistic nature. We can then have a healthy sense of self that allows us to function in the world and which understands our connection to the Whole. We can discern what is safe or not in our environment without projection, organize our lives, synthesize information, and be creative. Dismemberment is a tool to release the dark grip of the ego so that the light of our divine self may shine through.

Remember, that even if the dismemberment journey seems frightening, it is a healing from your most trusted spirits. As much as you are able, surrender to their care so that you can receive the most benefit. The dismemberment journey is a pathway to lose egotistic interference and be one with the Universe. It is also an experience that will support you to be much more strongly present and grounded in your daily life on this glorious Earth. When you know yourself as a divine, eternal being, you no longer long for the world beyond this one. You recognize that even the most mundane experiences are part of the beauty that makes us all. It also helps you to realize that whatever is happening in your life, it is just one small part of your existence. That wider perspective makes your mortal life ever sweeter and can heighten your love for the Earth.

Blessings and love,
Evelyn